The economic vitality of Nevada is certainly critical to the quality of life for all Nevadans, and the tourism and hospitality industries continue to be steadfast anchors to our state’s robust economy. We must never lose sight, however, of the strategic importance of continuing to diversify our economy to protect this state from potential downturns in these historical sources of revenues. We must build upon previous significant efforts in the area of economic development in bold and substantial new ways. Working closely with Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Commission on Economic Development, my office is developing a new approach to funding economic diversification efforts by establishing a mechanism for the state to engage in groundbreaking public/private partnerships.
Modeled after the highly successful Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), the Nevada Business Partnership (NBP) is an innovative model that would substantially enhance the ability for the state to participate in the type of economic development vital to the long-term economic diversification and health of our state. The GRA was developed in 1990 and, since that time, has compiled an impressive array of accomplishments. According to information available on the GRA website, the program has channeled more than $2 billion in federal and private funds into Georgia’s economy, created more than 100 technology companies with high-value jobs that are a direct result of university research, and returned $5 into the economy for every $1 that has been invested in the GRA.
While Nevada leads the nation in job growth and maintains an extremely attractive business environment, we must establish an alluring pathway so that the private sector will create jobs in Nevada in those industries that are most desirable. The NBP would be based upon enhanced partnerships with some of our finest institutions in research and science – such as the Nevada System of Higher Education, including UNR and UNLV and the Desert Research Institute, the Nevada Cancer Institute and the Ruvo Alzheimer’s Institute – to create new high-tech/bio-tech/and other types of employment opportunities.
Funding for this plan will come from a unique source. In his executive budget, Gov. Jim Gibbons has allocated $5 million of unclaimed property revenues in each of the next two fiscal years toward the project. This money would then be leveraged into approximately $50 million by issuing revenue bonds backed solely by the unclaimed property trust fund. The Nevada Legislature still needs to
approve this funding source, but for example, these funds could be used to hire world-class researchers who would bring their pioneering projects to Nevada – along with their multi-million dollar research grants. Funds could also be used to provide traditional infrastructure for these activities or to provide wireless technologies to our rural areas. It could even assist in the deployment of a concerted statewide renewable energy program.
The NBP would provide high-end job opportunities for Nevadans, and is ideally suited for the current 38,000 Millennium Scholars who are expected to graduate in the coming years. One of the original intents of the Millennium Scholarship was to secure the state’s future economic development potential by ensuring that we were able to provide an educated and trained workforce to those businesses and industries looking to locate and expand in our great state.
The possibilities are vast. I believe the NBP is visionary and will create the type of entrepreneurial business activity in Nevada that this country has witnessed in Silicon Valley, Atlanta and the Highway 128 corridor outside of Boston. This is a smart investment in Nevada and her people, and one that will yield rich returns in the years and decades to come.