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Introduced Version House Concurrent Resolution 1 History

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HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 164

(By Delegates Fleischauer, Manypenny, Brown, Poore,

         Guthrie, Hatfield, T.Campbell, Morgan, M.Poling,

         Kominar, Hunt, Perdue, Manchin, Stephens, Lane,

Carmichael, Michael, Mahan, Caputo, Fragale,

              Stowers, Skaff and Marshall)

 

Requesting that the Joint Committee on Government and Finance authorize a study of the feasibility of increasing transparency and accountability requirements for job creation and retention subsidies awarded through development assistance programs utilized by the various agencies in the State of West Virginia.

    Whereas, The Legislature has provided numerous tax incentives, grants and economic development programs for the creation and retention of jobs in this State; and

    Whereas, Despite repeated requests from legislative committees, the Executive Branch under several different administrations has failed to provide comprehensive data on the total amount of state revenue which has been afforded to private businesses for job creation and retention or the total number of jobs actually created or retained; and

    Whereas, The Maine Legislature conducted a 2010 study assessing the transparency and accountability of economic and community development assistance in their state and all fifty states and concluded that only a few states, particularly Washington State, had an effective data collection program for evaluating job creation subsidies; and

    Whereas, The Maine study also concluded that the total amount of state economic development subsidies in their state exceeded the entire budget for the State of Maine; and

    Whereas, In a recent study by the nonprofit group Good Jobs First, West Virginia received a score of only twelve out of one-hundred for its online economic development disclosure practices; and

    Whereas, A November 2010 Performance Evaluation Review Division (“PERD”) report, that tracked job creation efforts in West Virginia and other states, concluded that West Virginia tied with twenty-five other states for last place in terms of transparency of state economic development subsidy incentives; and

    Whereas, The November 2010 PERD report further concluded that those states with statutory mandates were most effective in obtaining development outcome data; and

    Whereas, The November 2010 PERD report further concluded that the Legislature "should consider having statutory requirements specifying that . . . targeted and actual outcomes be reported by the grantor of economic development funds”; and

    Whereas, To facilitate consistent information and comparative evaluations, the Legislature should study the feasibility of requiring that applications for development assistance, development assistance agreements and enforcement mechanisms be standardized across all state agencies; and

    Whereas, The Legislature should evaluate whether clawback and other enforcement provisions have ever been used and whether they have been effective in deterring misuse of state funds; and     Whereas, The Legislature should study whether annual reporting on job creation and job retention efforts by state agencies to the Department of Revenue should be standardized so that the Legislature can more effectively evaluate the return on investment of incentives provided; and

    Whereas, The Legislature should further study whether the Department of Revenue should be required to submit an annual unified economic budget to the Legislature so that the Legislature can more effectively evaluate the total amount of economic development incentives provided and whether such incentives have been effective; and

    Whereas, The Legislature should consider whether to mandate that agency reports on economic development assistance be posted on the Internet so that the citizens of West Virginia may more effectively evaluate the return on the taxpayers' investment in job creation and retention; therefore, be it

    Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby requested to authorize a study of the current development assistance programs utilized by the various agencies in the State of West Virginia; and, be it

    Further Resolved, That the Development Office, Department of Commerce, Department of Revenue and the Department of Administration cooperate with the Joint Committee on Government and Finance related to this study; and, be it

    Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance report to the Regular Session of the Legislature, 2012, on its findings, conclusions and recommendations, together with drafts of any legislation necessary to effectuate its recommendations; and, be it

    Further Resolved, That the Legislative expenses necessary to conduct this study, to prepare a report and to draft necessary legislation be paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.

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