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Nurturing Arizona’s Economy
By Allie Bell
AAED makes a push for public policy
conomic development initiates the growth and health of cities, so when problems block economic expansion, groups like the Arizona Association for Economic Development come into the forefront. AAED educates its members so members are equipped to talk with their elected legislators on issues most important to them.
“If legislators hear from members of a local economic development organization, they’re more apt to vote for the issue at hand than if they get lobbied from one statewide lobbyist,” says Dave Naugle, chair of AAED’s Government Affairs Committee.
Naugle says AAED informs its members of the legislation process and who their legislators are, encouraging them to develop working relationships by communicating with legislators on a regular basis.
“The key thing is to maintain economic relationships and membership in our organization to give us statewide credibility,” says Naugle.
Executive Director of AAED, Bruce Coomer, says the group holds monthly governmental affairs meetings to decide which issues need to be included in that year’s legislative program for economic development.
“It’s a bit of a struggle because we’re a statewide organization,” says Coomer. “So something that is good for Phoenix may not be good for rural Arizona.”
According to Coomer, issues are chosen to bring before the legislature based upon statewide impact.
“We go through all the bills introduced at the beginning of session and see which ones affect us,” says Coomer. “We could be for 50 bills, but we have to cut it down. Some of them aren’t even bills but programs that would benefit from bills that we feel would be positive for economic development in Arizona.”
Naugle agrees selecting a handful of key issues is important, as is educating AAED members on a limited number of bills and programs, which makes it easier for them to pass on that information to their legislators.
Two major issues included in the AAED's 2007 Legislative Program are reauthorization of the Job Training Program and restoration of the Commerce and Economic Development Fund.
Coomer says the reauthorization of the Job Training Program is important because economic developers will not be able to offer cash incentives to motivate manufactures to build high-wage facilities here in Arizona with out it.
“The Job Training Program is self-funding, and it’s a great incentive to get new, high-wage manufactures to come to Arizona,” says Coomer. “It’s a really important thing to have, and if it goes down, it will really hurt economic development in Arizona immensely.”
Over the past several years, AAED has gained ground in economic development issues addressed by legislators just by educating their members.
“At first we struggled,” says Naugle, “but today [AAED] has gained a significant position within the state. A lot of people are aware of it.”
AAED concentrates on educational and reactionary methods to bills passed, rather than proposing new ones or resurrecting bills.
“However in the future [proposing or bringing bills back] may happen, but we don’t have the time for it right now,” says Coomer.
     

 

  
 
       
     
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