Task Force Seeks Ways To Spread Prosperity To Rural Areas

It seems that we are constantly hearing that Washington’s job market has never looked better. Unemployment is reaching record lows, while new business and job opportunities continue to soar to record highs.

There is only one thing wrong with that picture. Almost exclusively, it reflects the job situation in the Puget Sound area. For those of us who live elsewhere in Washington, and particularly those of us in the northeast counties, the view is quite different.

In many of our state’s rural communities, unemployment has reached completely unacceptable levels. Less-developed regions of the state that once depended on natural resource industries are now fighting to create new jobs. State and federal regulations and requirements are often expensive to meet, and their impact is being felt most in already hard-hit rural communities.

This situation was brought into sharp focus by a recent national study that ranked Washington next to last among all the states with respect to the widening economic gap between rural and urban communities.

What can be done about the ongoing rural-urban economic rift in our state? The bipartisan Task Force on Rural Land Use and Economic Development, of which I am a member, is one way in which the state Legislature is searching for answers and developing ways to put new economic life into Washington’s rural counties.

The task force, which has held one hearing in southwest Washington and another in Colville, will continue to hold meetings throughout the summer and fall. It includes seven Republican members and seven Democrats. Eight are state representatives and six are senators. The task force members know from firsthand experience just what sort of challenges face rural communities because all of us have one thing in common - we all serve rural districts.

By talking with local officials and citizens in the state’s rural communities, task force members hope to identify the causes of the rural-urban economic divide, as well as determine what the Legislature can do to promote economic development in rural areas.

At our first meeting, in Chehalis on May 27, we began to see several dominant themes emerge. For starters, rural areas need economic diversity. They cannot depend solely on one industry or business to generate jobs and personal income. In order for rural areas to prosper, local economies must have balance. A healthy business climate is necessary to allow growth for smaller local companies and to encourage start-up enterprises.

Most of the state’s economic development efforts in recent years, however, have taken an entirely different approach. They are based upon providing tax breaks in order to entice large, out-of-state companies into locating their operations in rural communities with high unemployment rates.

Local officials are understandably hesitant to adopt this approach, not just because it has seldom been successful, but because it creates another problem. Granting a big tax break for one company actually erodes the local tax base and transfers the tax burden to individuals and existing businesses.

These local officials suggest it’s far better in the long run for the state to help create an economic climate in rural communities that encourages homegrown businesses to thrive. Outside industries should not be discouraged from moving in, they just should not be looked upon as the only means by which economic development can occur.

Rather than taking this narrow, shortsighted approach, we need to evolve a comprehensive, long-range vision for economic development in our state, one that empowers local communities to encourage growth of existing businesses, as well as attract new ones.

Another roadblock to economic development in rural areas is state land use policy. Without roads, water lines and sewage treatment plants, businesses can’t grow and create more jobs. But massive, costly and often confusing state and federal regulations make it difficult for rural communities to expand infrastructure or find sites for new industries to locate.

Local officials emphasize that proper land use planning is a necessity before successful economic development can occur. They are frustrated by existing land use restrictions that stifle growth.

As our legislative task force goes around the state in the coming months, we will gather the recommendations of local officials and citizens, and incorporate them into legislation for the 1999 legislative session.

I fully expect to see bills introduced which will give rural communities much more control over local economic development and land use planning.

Washington’s rural areas have been left out of the state’s economic resurgence for far too long. By refraining from excessive state government regulation and heeding the advice of residents in rural areas and small communities, I feel certain this task force can develop ways to bring new economic vitality to all of Washington.