Recently, the state’s Office of Trade and Economic Development (OTED) published a list of ten recommendations to attract more businesses to Washington state. OTED issued the list in response to criticism from the nation’s top site selection companies that Washington is bad for business because of its high taxes and excessive regulations.

The ten action steps include some good ideas, such as enlisting the Governor and marquee companies like Microsoft as business “ambassadors” for our state. In addition, OTED recommends a concerted effort to get to know the nation’s top site selection consultants and bring them to Washington state so they can personally see what we have to offer. Other suggestions include creating a top-notch economic development Web site and developing a program to proactively pursue businesses interested in expanding or relocating in Washington.

OTED Director Martha Choe acknowledges that the list contains several items the state should have been doing all along. She believes that during the early ‘90s there was a sense of complacency with business booming, and the state hadn’t felt the need to market itself. Now, she says, that attitude must change.

Choe is right and is to be commended for her actions.

We lead the nation in lost manufacturing jobs and unemployment, and our state leaders recognize that we have become a high-cost state for employers. Fortunately, lawmakers now understand that they need to change those punitive and cumbersome laws and regulations if we are to keep employers and jobs here - and they have begun to take corrective action.

Governor Locke started the ball rolling with the Competitiveness Council and the Priorities of Government (P.O.G.) process that sets spending priorities within current revenues. In the last legislative session, lawmakers approved much-needed changes to our state’s unemployment insurance laws and made progress in improving tax fairness and reforming the state’s costly workers’ compensation system.

But that’s just a first step.

In the years ahead, our state and local elected officials must continue to streamline regulations and reduce costs of doing business for employers because, like it or not, that is exactly what competing states and foreign countries are doing. Those competitors want our employers and the jobs they create, and they’re willing to do what it takes to get them — including reducing taxes, enacting user-friendly regulations for employers and citizens, investing in better transportation networks, and ensuring they have a high-quality education system.

For OTED’s campaign to be successful, Gov. Locke, our agency directors and the Legislature must continue to improve the business climate with real, positive changes. Then OTED will have more tools with which to sell Washington.

The Governor and his successor must stay the course on the competitiveness and Priorities of Government programs. The road back to competitiveness for Washington is long and difficult and while the Governor and Legislature made some good progress this year, much work remains.