Tina Kotek on Budget & Economy

We have to be proactive and say we are open for business

Kotek: I'd give us a B, and we need to be an A. We want to have value-based regulatory frameworks in our state, but we have to make sure that people who are in the permit process know when it's going to be done, know that they can be supported, and that's why the Joint permitting council that I've set up is going to make that happen for very large investments that we want to bring into the state. We can look at those tools and do it differently at the state. That's why we need a new Department of Commerce and the Prosperity Council's recommendation to do that makes a lot of sense. We've asked our agencies to do things that are good. But we have to get more creative. We have to be more proactive. We have to say we are open for business, and that's just not our biggest companies.

Drazen: Outside groups have put us between a D and an F. We have to be partners with business, and not just during election season.