Economic
Development
Florida’s businesses created
216,000 new jobs, while unemployment
remained well below
the national average. |
Why Does it Matter? |
The sustainability of Florida’s
business community depends
as much on looking into the future
as it does living in the present.
Responsible elimination of overburdensome
regulation and
taxation are key to keeping
businesses running strong.
Yet, finding ways to enhance the
state’s economic diversity and
broadening the job market is
essential to our future.
Businesses and their role in the
state’s economy are the keys to
Florida’s vibrance. Without a
healthy job market, communities
will grow stagnate and opportunities
will go outside the state.
Florida must be aggressive in
providing existing and potential
businesses a fertile economic
climate.
|
Florida is blessed to have one
of the most business friendly
climates in the United States.
Led in recent years by pro-business
policymakers bent on making the
state an attractive place to live and
do business, Florida has risen to the top in job creation and employment
among the 50 states. In 2006 alone, according to reports, Florida’s businesses
created 216,000 new jobs, while unemployment remained well below the
national average. The creation of quality jobs that attract a talented workforce,
coupled with safe communities and high quality education where families
can thrive, are all driving forces behind Florida being one of the great economic
engines.
Priority number one for the 2007 Session for economic development
should be to provide strong leadership in the way of encouraging companies
to remain in Florida. Nurturing our existing businesses through
responsible reduction of burdensome regulations and over-taxation while
finding economic aid and incentives for domestic businesses is paramount
for our economic sustainability. From the small, two-person business to our
state’s Space Industry, we must recognize that domestic companies are the
heart and soul of Florida and the key ingredient that keeps Florida’s engine
running.
Keeping an aggressive eye on finding entities looking to locate in Florida
is also vital. In 2004, then Governor Jeb Bush (R) and the Florida Legislature
used $310 million in incentives to lure the Scripps Research Institute to Palm
Beach County. Florida must continue to be proactive in seeking these
opportunities and wisely use public funds as a way to attract private sector
opportunities to our state.
Florida’s strong secondary and post-secondary education system provides
a terrific entrée for high tech companies to locate and prosper in Florida.
As does the funding of Florida’s Technological Development Fund that
creates nine Centers of Excellence where university-produced innovations
are given the needed boost to the commercial market, thus creating
workforce opportunities in areas such as bio-medicine and bio-technology.
In addition, several pieces of legislation have been filed for the 2007 Session
that would provide tax credits for venture capitalists, funds for quality
job training, biomass energy development, and incentives for economic development
in rural areas of the state. These are all key areas of developing
and sustaining Florida’s robust economy. However, the details and implementation
of these concepts should be debated and discussed in order to
attain their maximum benefit to Florida. |
