SSTI Digest

With the start of the new year, most governors deliver State of the State addresses or Budget addresses laying out their priorities for the coming year. With revenues for many states relatively consistent with forecasters expectations, lawmakers, with a few exceptions, continue to maintain cautious or constrained views of their funding priorities and proposed initiatives. As a result, many governors in SSTI’s analysis of addresses delivered so far this season, are speaking more about previously implemented programs and their continued successes rather than rolling out many new programs. However, new priorities for growing stronger innovation economies have not been completely overlooked. The following highlights have been selected excerpted from eight of the 20 State of the States or Budget addresses given between Dec. 2024 and Jan. 16, 2025, by governors from Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.   Additional addresses and states will be covered in future Digest issues. On Jan. 14, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave her second State of the State address, proposing a plan to improve access and…

After a busy election season that saw gubernatorial elections in 36 states, newly elected and re-elected governors delivered their annual State of the State addresses, kicking off new programs and reviewing the conditions of their states. SSTI reviews the speeches every year and covers news of new developments and initiatives the governors have highlighted as they relate to the innovation economy. New programs are laid out here in the governors own words as excerpts from their State of the State or budget addresses. Not all governors delivered a State of the State, and some that did may not have revealed new innovation-related initiatives and so are not included in our coverage. Common initiatives among the governors that touched on innovation included an emphasis on workforce, education and broadband; water issues for Western governors; and, clean energy. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey delivered her 2023 State of the State on March 7 and called on legislators to “look ahead and crate an economic development strategy for the 2030s.” “… I am calling on you to get behind our playbook for economic success, what I am calling The Game Plan.” “We will…

The recently approved Inflation Reduction Act with new incentives for electric vehicle ownership and energy efficiency is likely to continue a trend among states for the location of major economic development projects, a trend toward everything mega—megasites, megadeals, mega factories, and mega projects. These large-scale manufacturing projects typically feature incentives from state and local governments, such as access to shovel-ready megasites or large tax incentive packages. These new "mega" trends have raised the stakes and increased competition between states as they advocate for the bid of electric vehicle and battery companies looking to expand. The most recent announcement came as Panasonic Corporation committed to building a new $4 billion factory for electric vehicle batteries in Kansas, planning to create over 4,000 jobs. The Panasonic deal featured an $892 million incentive package with payroll rebates, investment tax credits, funds to cover training and education costs, and sales tax exemptions for construction. Kansas was not the only state vying for the Panasonic plant — Oklahoma was planning to offer a $698 million incentive package to draw the company…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced today that five states — Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan and West Virginia — have had their State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) capital programs approved by the agency. Not all programs to be run by these states have been announced at this time, but they include: HI-CAP Invest program, which will support impact funds; GROWKS Angel Capital Support Program; Maryland’s Neighborhood Business Works Venture Debt Program; and, West Virginia’s seed capital co-investment fund. Maryland TEDCO reported that it will receive $50 million of the state’s SSBCI funding and will split those resources between four existing programs targeting technology-based businesses and entrepreneurs. Three programs — the Venture Equity Fund, Venture Capital Limited Partnership Equity program, and Seeds Funds Equity program — are primarily focused on venture capital and startup funding. The fourth, the Social Impact Fund, provides investment and support to entrepreneurs who demonstrate economic or social disadvantage. Through these programs, TEDCO will continue to leverage its relationships with top-tier technology companies, entrepreneurs,…

The last of the governors have delivered their State of the State addresses. With 36 gubernatorial elections this fall, many governors appeared to be more conservative in their addresses this year, speaking more about past accomplishments rather than rolling out new programs. This week features comments from California, Louisiana, Nevada and Ohio’s governors as their addresses related to the innovation economy. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (March 8) Gov. Gavin Newsom talked about transformation in the state’s public education system, including free community college. “Infrastructure, research and development, investing in our conveyor belt for talent, the finest system of higher education anywhere in the world: our CSUs, UCs and community colleges. And ensuring society provides a hand up when people need help, maintaining, maintaining our pro-immigrant policies and welcoming refugees from around the world.” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (March 14) Noting that the state has “hundreds of millions in surplus, even more in current year excess, and billions in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure Investment…

A “fire breathing economic development initiative” is unfolding at Kansas State University, and if it succeeds, it could add 3,000 jobs and $3 billion in new, outside investment to the state in the next 10 years. The new initiative is the university’s Economic Prosperity Plan, approved in December by the Kansas Board of Regents, and is in response to the board’s strategic plan that focused on advancing Kansas families, business and the Kansas economy. Each state university was asked to create an economic prosperity program that would align with job creation and direct investment metrics from the regent’s plan. It was in response to that third pillar of the plan that universities were asked to create an intentional economic prosperity program. Kansas State’s plan was approved by the BOR in December. Calling the initiative a “fire breathing economic development initiative,” Kent Glasscock, president of the Kansas State University Institute for Commercialization, or KSU-IC, said the leadership team behind the plan considered how the university could bring in more money from outside the state and create jobs with it. They considered their strengths, how they could…

Last month, Gov. Laura Kelly (D), alongside former state governors Mike Hayden (R) and John Carlin (D), and the Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Commerce David Toland, announced “Framework for Growth”, the state’s first economic development plan in over 30 years. The plan, which was a year in the making, is a collaborative effort that involves input from over 2,000 Kansans, the staff of the Department of Commerce, and two former governors.

Across the country, the governors have begun delivering their State of the State addresses, an annual ritual where they have the opportunity to review where the state’s economy stands and preview their plans for the coming year. This year’s remarks reflect the dire conditions most states are experiencing with the pandemic, economic fallout, racial strife and national political upheaval. Despite the heavy focus on states’ efforts to respond to the pandemic, governors have struck a hopeful note and are focusing on recovery. Some governors have noted that the fallout in their state was not as severe as they originally anticipated and there are resources for new initiatives. Some, like Arizona and Virginia are considering gaming revenue to boost their budgets, while legalization of marijuana is being pursued in Connecticut, Kentucky (medical marijuana) and Virginia. Each year, SSTI reviews each of the governors’ addresses for news about initiatives affecting the innovation economy in our Tech Talkin’ Govs series, and this week we bring you the first round of those addresses looking at Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, New…

Governors’ focus on initiatives particular to their state in this latest round of state of the state addresses. As SSTI continues to review the speeches for new innovation proposals, we found states continuing to focus on education with more attention on teacher salaries and efforts extending all the way down to pre-K with a recognition that the future workforce is influenced by many factors. Florida is also hoping to grow its aerospace and manufacturing sectors, while Kentucky’s new governor is looking to ag tech and sports betting as new revenue sources. Occupational licensing reform is also a recurring theme in many states this year, along with clean energy and renewable fuels. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attributed the in-migration of residents from other states to the lack of a state income tax in Florida, and said he will continue that policy with the expectation that further growth will ensue. “We have the good fortune to be attracting investment and business activity and have good potential for further growth in aerospace, financial services, health care and manufacturing.” “We have a good [occupational licensing] reform bill pending before…

This week, we see broadband investment in Indiana; education initiatives that begin with pre-K and extend beyond high school in a number of states; lifelong learning approaches; apprenticeships; climate change and green energy initiatives in Nevada and Washington; and more on governors’ agendas. As governors across the country continue to deliver their state of the state addresses to their legislatures and constituents, SSTI monitors the speeches for news of innovation related initiatives. This week we bring you news of innovation funding from governors in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Rhode Island and Washington. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb gave his address Jan. 15 before the General Assembly, highlighting among other things the state’s growing tech ecosystem. His plan is to take the state to “the next level”: “But to stay ahead of our competition and keep breaking those jobs records, we must keep sharpening our economic development tools to give us the flexibility to attract more capital investment and more people to locate here. …” “… But all students should be doing their…

The ability of states to deliver the services promised to its residents relies on their fiscal soundness. With most states beginning their fiscal year in July, SSTI has reviewed the current fiscal standing for each state and here presents a snapshot of our findings. Most states ended their fiscal year with a surplus and continue to recover from the Great Recession, with a growing economy and job gains. However, they face continuing demands on their budgets, with expanded Medicaid payments and the growing opioid crisis confronting nearly every state. Such decisions affect the state’s ability to fund innovation efforts, from the amount of support available for higher education and STEM programs, to funding for entrepreneurship, and forging public private partnerships to strengthen innovation programming that the private sector cannot fully support. Our analysis found that some states that rely on the energy sector to fund their spending priorities continue to struggle, while others are already factoring in anticipated revenues as a result of new Supreme Court rulings involving gaming and online sales tax collections.

Workforce development programs and apprenticeships continue to win favor in many of the governors’ state budget proposals. In our latest review of TBED initiatives being proposed in state budgets, we found Kansas asking for additional funds for research, worker training and apprenticeships; Massachusetts is looking to double community college scholarship funding and increase several workforce development initiatives; and in Michigan, skilled trades training would receive a boost.