Economic Development & Business Support

Local policies, tools and services should be designed to help local companies become more competitive and grow and thrive where they are rather than relocate. We support investments in infrastructure that will help attract desired businesses with good paying jobs and development that will generate the tax base to sustain and produce a return on those investments. Further, local government must support the Chamber and other groups in attracting new employers and industries to Sonoma County that can increase local wages and generate new economic growth. We support the installation of tax credits and incentives to eligible businesses that encourage job creation—particularly focused on good paying jobs—workforce development, and business growth and investment. Strong relationships between local businesses, government, and the community will foster prosperity community wide.

As the economy changes and consumer patterns evolve, it will be important to protect key community sectors to healthy communities whose business models have been impacted, such as health and human services, arts and culture, and the media. The health and human services sectors are indispensable pillars of a thriving community, allowing individuals to lead fulfilling and productive lives, improving community health, and enhancing overall quality of life. The arts sector and cultural initiatives foster community engagement and contribute to economic growth by attracting tourists, supporting local businesses, and creating jobs while enhancing quality of life. A healthy local media environment can be linked to a healthy local economy, and plays a pivotal role in fostering a thriving community by serving as a conduit for information, dialogue, and accountability.

Numerous economic impact studies cite an economic multiplier effect when local governments spend their money with local businesses that in turn rely on local supply chains boosting local economic activity, employment, and tax revenue. Local governments must maximize use of local business to fulfill logistical, material, food, medical, professional services, and other needs not available within the local governments’ normal functions.

Project Labor Agreement policies represent a choice to limit competition, even among employers of a local skilled workforce, and to spend more tax-payer dollars to complete local projects. We’ve seen local PLA policies eliminate local contracts for local workers, and we know that this can stifle innovation, limit opportunities for locally owned small and minority-owned businesses, and hinder economic growth. PLA policies undermine our ability to maximize taxpayer dollars and to foster a competitive and vibrant local economy.

To ease our housing crisis, government should do what it can to offset the impact of inflation and rising interest rates by reducing fees for multifamily housing development and refraining from imposing new or increased permitting, local development impact, or other construction related fees for a meaningful period of time.

The other eight sections of this platform are inextricably linked to our economic success. Transportation investments with a local and regional approach support our workforce and improve connectivity with the broader Bay Area economy, housing downtown and incentives for businesses in the downtown core support downtown vitality as a key economic driver.