As the primaries approach, the candidates have been fleshing out their policy platforms. And while a certain amount of poll-tested cant is to be expected in any well-run campaign, Virginia’s candidates for governor also have rolled out a series of proposals that deserve thoughtful consideration and even applause. This week brought an especially worthy, and innovative, proposal from Republican Ed Gillespie, the front-runner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Gillespie unveiled a plan to boost job creation. Nothing surprising about that. But his most important point in doing so was the acknowledgement that “a governor does not directly create private-sector jobs.”
The state, however, can create an environment that is more conducive to job creation. Rather than engage in “whale hunting” by “trying to lure Fortune 100 companies to move their headquarters” here, Gillespie said he wants to “grow our own whales.”
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To that end, he suggested a series of measures aimed at clearing away the regulatory red tape that interferes with job creation. The commonwealth is one of the worst states in the country with regard to occupational licensing, for instance — requiring, for example, nine months of training for barbers and cosmetologists. Gillespie would require tougher scrutiny of such licensing.
He also would push efforts to review existing regulations, ensure that new rules impose the minimum possible burden, encourage businesses to flag especially onerous rules, and even take into account the cumulative effect of new regulations that do not, by themselves, seem particularly costly. He also would encourage the state to streamline operations that oversee business so companies don’t have to jump through a long and repetitive series of hoops.
These are good ideas. Combined with a repeal of the Business, Professional, and Occupational License (BPOL) tax, an onerous levy that applies to gross revenue rather than net profit, they could help reverse Virginia’s recent slide down the list of states friendly to business.