GRACEVILLE, MN – Small business owner Jay Backer, Republican candidate for Minnesota House of Representatives presented his six point plan for economic development in his district.

“The number one issue for western/southwestern Minnesota is the creation of more jobs,” Backer said. The State of Minnesota needs to change its policies in order to facilitate private industry growth. We need to provide a climate that promotes both an investment in current businesses in our region as well as improve our opportunities for new business development,” stated Backer.

Backer’s strategy includes the following:

1. Investment in business development through tax incentives and a business development investment fund. Minnesota ranks 43rd in the Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index for 2010. We need to lower the tax rates and decrease the red-tape it takes for a business to advance their plans in our state. The surrounding states of the Dakotas, Iowa, and Wisconsin have a competitive edge for recruiting and retaining businesses. Iowa, for example, has a business development investment fund that can be directly applied in a quick fashion to incentive packages for growing businesses. Minnesota does not.

2. Streamline the regulation and permitting process for new small businesses – cut the red tape. Employing a “one stop shop” in which new small businesses can secure all the permits and comply with regulatory orders necessary to open their doors will take days and weeks off what is now a burdensome process. Other states use such a system, Minnesota can too.

3. Help expand domestic and international markets for Minnesota’s manufactured goods. Small businesses, particularly those in rural Minnesota, rarely have access to state-sponsored marketing efforts that their larger counterparts in the metro area can access. It is one thing to have such programs in existence, quite another to bring them to the small towns and communities where they can be used effectively by small businesses.

4. Get Minnesota’s fiscal house in order. Returning fiscal solvency to the state budget process is long overdue. Government must live within its means. By prioritizing spending, separating “wants” from needs and employing zero-based budgeting we can level out the “boom and bust” budget cycles that Minnesota currently experiences.

5. Reopen Appleton State Prison – Appleton Prison provided 200 steady jobs with benefits to our community. Right now it sits vacant while there is a constant need for prison space in the state. Reallocating resources to this prison will not only provide work but is also economically the right choice for the entire state. It costs about $70 per inmate to be housed in Appleton. The average for other prisons in the state is $110-$130 per head.

6. Provide for energy needs for Minnesota instead of political agendas – Losing the Big Stone II power plant was a disgrace. It not only would have provided jobs for people in our area, it was also economically the right choice that would have used existing transmission lines to transport power to where it was needed most. Now, new transmission lines will need to be built at taxpayer expense for energy transported from further west. We must also be looking at an “all of the above” approach to energy development, meaning, the inclusion of wind, solar, biomass, and nuclear in future energy plans. Energy sources developed and maintained here in the state mean more jobs and more tax based income for the state.

Jay Backer admits there will be a great deal of work to do if elected to office. Backer said, “We as a state must have the resolve to make tough decisions that achieve worthy goals and aspirations for Minnesota. The state budget is not good and the current House leadership has not lived up to the standards we expect from our elected leaders. That is why I decided to run,” Backer said “As a small business owner, balancing budgets and satisfying customers are things I have to do every day. I’d like to bring those same skills to the state house of representatives to help our state succeed,” Backer concluded.