Lawmakers get update on economic development reforms

State lawmakers on Thursday heard an update from Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker on her department's massive reorganization, which will create new public-private partnerships to boost the economy around the state.

Decker told the Joint Legislative Economic Development and Global Engagement Oversight Committee that the new entity will be in operation early next year. She is in the process of hiring a chief executive officer for what will be the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

Legislators budgeted $1 million to set up the new entity. Programs will be split between public and private sector programs. The private sector programs will be overseen by a 15-member board, comprised of appointments by the governor and General Assembly.

Meanwhile, a five-member temporary board will handle the legal work to get the new entity up and running.

Decker has been on a “listening tour” across the state to come up with ways to stimulate economic growth. That information will be part of a 10-year strategic plan by December.

Legislators on the committee were also told that about $24 million will be coming to the general fund as a result of the state disabling the Rural Economic Development Center after a critical audit this summer. Many of those Rural Center programs – such as assistance to restore buildings and improve water and sewer projects – will now be done by the new Rural Economic Development Division of the Commerce Department.

Recruiting business and branding the state will be among the private sector programs.

“We don’t have to have the best incentives to offer, but if we had no offer we would not be in the game,” Decker told legislators, speaking of financial inducements to attract new businesses. “…The states around us are very aggressive.”