Lt. Governor Lawton testified on December 10 at a joint hearing of the Assembly Committe on Jobs, the Economy and Small Business and the Senate Committe on Economic Development.  She focused on the proposed Connecting Research Opportunities and Entrepreneurship (C.O.R.E.) bill . Below are her remarks:

"I applaud the authors and co-sponsors of this bill for providing leadership to address a critical need in a time of crisis.

First, I appreciate an emerging vision for economic development that doesn’t get stuck in a corridor between Milwaukee and Madison.  Investment in WiSys, a UW System-wide business plan competition, and an expanded definition of research institutions eligible for grants all demonstrate that embrace of a statewide plan for prosperity.

I agree with bill authors that the job of state government is to enrich the matrix in which businesses grow and jobs are created, to seed future economic prosperity.  I believe strongly we must train our focus on small businesses, given their success in creating 70% of net new jobs every year for the past decade across the nation. 

The feedback I get from entrepreneurs, especially in the high-tech and biotech arenas, is that the cost of doing business is not a major obstacle: for them, opportunities for investment and growth are the magnet that brings them and their businesses here.

Accordingly, increasing the cap on Act 255 is a critical signal to both the entrepreneur and investor; it tells them we are serious about connecting opportunity to great ideas.  Minnesotans were already wringing their hands as we leap-frogged over them in this realm, and this increase will build our competitive edge and contribute to the creation of good jobs here.

I appreciate the value of investing in green retrofits of idle manufacturing facilities.  We could then dramatically boost attendant job creation by creating a ready market for products coming out of those plants. Were we to shift from energy efficient grants to regional revolving loan funds for energy efficiency, making that money work over and over, we could dramatically decrease the cost of doing business here and create good jobs.  The Clinton Foundation is heavily invested in this area because it is a great strategy to reduce carbon emissions while bumping up employment. They claim that for every $1 billion invested in new coal generation, 890 jobs are created; the same investment in energy efficiency creates 6000 jobs.