New Mexico pushes an aggressive ED agenda Tuesday, January 21, 2003 Governor Richardson in New Mexico promises to spend 25% of his time on economic development, and he is proposing an aggressive agenda in his State of the State address. First off, he is pushing education to the front of his economic development agenda. To improve performance, he's recommending higher pay for teachers, stronger truancy enforcement, and budget reallocations to push money out of administration and into the classroom. These are practical, focused ideas that can work. He's also got some good language on the connection between education and economic development: "...we will find ways to make certain that every child learns to read, learns math, learns the indispensable basic skills to further learning and to life itself. Improving education is a basic quality of life issue, it is part of economic development, it is part of crime prevention, is, in fact, the first priority of my administration..." In addition, he is proposing across the board income tax and capital gains tax cuts. He is also recommending: + strengthening the teaching of business and entrepreneurial skills in New Mexico schools. + strengthening incubator programs. + $3 million in tax incentives for investment and job creation -- including a tax credit of $1,000 and up for rural businesses that create jobs paying at least 110 percent of local prevailing wages. + incentives for startup technology companies, renewable energy companies and film production. + investing up to $200 million - about 2 percent of the total in the state's permanent funds - in New Mexico businesses. + $15 million to the in-plant training fund, bringing it to $20 million when combined with existing funds. + $3 million to fund a nonprofit corporation to recruit new businesses. + $9 million as a one-time expenditure to complete the funding of endowed chairs in business and technology research at the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech and New Mexico State University. + $100,000 to create an economic development commission to follow up on trade expansion with Chihuahua. + $250,000 a year for three years for a new commission charged with protecting New Mexico's four military bases. Read more. Go posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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