Brown pledges to re-examine small biz regulations

Published 10:30 am Thursday, February 26, 2015

SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown wants to make her mark on economic development in Oregon’s rural communities — and one of her early pledges may be to re-examine state regulation of small businesses.

During an interview Thursday with the EO Media Group/Pamplin Media Group — her first since Brown took office last week — Brown said the latter idea stems from having Oregon’s small-business advocate during her tenure as secretary of state.

“I want to take this to the next level in terms of having a regulatory climate that makes sense for small businesses and makes sure they can grow and thrive,” Brown said.

Democrat Brown sounded a theme usually mentioned by Republicans.

In 2013, lawmakers created the office of small-business assistance within the secretary of state’s office, which also is home to Oregon’s one-stop portal for business information. The small-business advocate looks into business complaints about state regulation.

She is focusing attention on rural communities in response to critics who raised questions about her commitment to outlying areas of Oregon because she’s lived in Portland for 30 years.

“It’s important that we continue to utilize our natural resources in a way that will enable communities and rural economies to thrive,” she said.

Brown said she hasn’t formulated all her ideas about economic development, but in the interview, she did hint that she would carry on some form of state assistance to regional efforts.

It is not yet clear whether it will be in the same form as her predecessor, John Kitzhaber.

Although the regional solutions program has existed in some form since 1987 — it began with a portion of lottery proceeds earmarked to help regions shape their own economic development projects — Kitzhaber created a network of staffers that extends into every part of the state.

“Their concept is to support communities to create their own path forward,” Brown said.

She said she supports a coordinated effort by state agencies to pull as a team to help communities. Brown said communities should forge their own identities and not resemble each other.

Brown said she has not yet had time to devise her own ideas. But she mentioned a recent speech by Sean Robbins, the director of the Oregon Business Development Department since June 2014, who said his agency (Business Oregon) will refocus on growth of existing businesses rather than recruit them from elsewhere.

“It’s really important that we invest in creative and innovative businesses that are there to help them grow and thrive,” she said.

Brown said that same point was made to her about two years ago, after Jeld-Wen — a manufacturer of doors and windows that had been Oregon’s largest privately held company — moved its headquarters to Charlotte, N.C., in 2012. She said Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, told her that Klamath Falls was unlikely to acquire another business of Jeld-Wen’s size, and that the community needed to look to other ways of developing jobs.

Brown was then secretary of state.