Guest columnists
Stay committed to state's improving business climate

By Judith Runstad and Kerry Killinger
Special to The Times

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Gov. Gary Locke speaks last year at a Boeing Field rally to announce his proposal to win Boeing's 7E7 project.

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There has been a lot of talk recently about the business climate in the state of Washington. There are many different variables that contribute to the creation of a positive atmosphere for businesses. One of the few factors that government can control is the system of regulations managed by the state. Fortunately for businesses in Washington, Gov. Gary Locke and his state agencies have made considerable progress in reforming and improving state regulations.

The goals of the state regulatory system should be to protect the environment and maintain a high quality of life for the state's citizens through rules that are as clear and simple as possible. This is an important balance to strike, and Washington has made significant improvements in recent years to ensure both goals are met.

Throughout the '80s, regulations were enacted in a piecemeal fashion. These programs were established with the best of intentions to address environmental problems. But they were not done with a sense of integration or a consistent long-term vision.

As a result, we were left with a patchwork of laws and rules that were overlapping, redundant and oftentimes counterproductive. Those laws and rules focused on specific issues and problems. There was no sense of how they fit into the bigger picture; no sense of how to make them work as a system.

	Judith Runstad

Over the past eight years, the state has worked to make every state agency more efficient and effective, and their rules more understandable to the people they serve. In 1997, one of Locke's first acts after taking office was to issue an executive order requiring every state Cabinet-level agency to review all of its rules. He directed agencies to streamline, simplify and clarify their rules and regulations.

This was an extraordinary effort that agencies took very seriously. State agencies reviewed nearly 24,000 regulations. They repealed 6,550 administrative rules. Agencies tore up more than 2,000 pages of rules and simplified thousands more into plain English.

	Kerry Killinger

Another important step was the creation of the Washington Competitiveness Council, a group for which we served as co-chairs with Boeing executive Alan Mulally. One of the primary recommendations of the council was that the state should reduce regulatory red tape to help businesses and citizens get development and other permits in a timely manner, while still protecting citizens and the environment as intended.

The state took many actions to see that this goal was met. The Office of Regulatory Assistance was created. The Economic Development Commission was launched by executive order and then passed into law. The governor appointed a special assistant for business and regulatory reform to oversee permit streamlining. The state Department of Ecology established its regulatory performance advisers group.

All of these efforts resulted in significant progress in all aspects of state government, but particularly in the area of environmental regulation. Ecology has set timeliness targets for the permits it issues. It is meeting its goal of 90 percent of water-quality certifications issued within 90 days. Ecology has also developed flow charts that visually set out the permitting process so that everyone knows what the process should be, what the steps are, and what actions are expected at every stage of the process.

Ecology recently conducted a survey of all its customers. The respondents expressed that the department had made great improvements in transparency, timeliness and customer service. This survey showed that, without a doubt, a transformation has occurred.

These and other improvements have had a real effect on the state's ability to attract and maintain businesses. Indeed, eight national companies have chosen Washington over Oregon, Idaho and even California for major distribution or operations centers, employing 2,500 new employees.

There is other evidence as well of the state's improving business climate. In evaluations conducted over the past eight years, Governing Magazine and Cornell University have each time named Washington among the five best-managed states in the nation. The Small Business Entrepreneurial Council ranked Washington the nation's fourth friendliest business environment.

A few months ago, the National Policy Research Council issued its national rankings of all states and major U.S. cities. Washington state was ranked No. 1 in "government," which considers such areas as tax burdens imposed on the state's residents, the efficiency and effectiveness of government programs, and the degree to which governments utilize technology to deliver public services to their citizens. Washington was ranked third in economic dynamism, reflecting the competitiveness and performance of the state's economy.

Business and government must continue working together to grow our economy while preserving the environment and quality of life that has attracted and kept so many companies here in our state. There is more to do. But Locke has created the kind of future that many of us did not think was possible.

Judith Runstad is of counsel to Foster, Pepper & Shefelman in Seattle. Kerry Killinger is chairman, president and CEO of Washington Mutual, headquartered in Seattle.