A Focus on Small Businesses
January 22nd, 2010
DURANT, Okla. – Hello again, everyone! This is the final week before the 2010 session of the Oklahoma Legislature begins.
The last few days before session are packed with meetings and studying the issues that are ahead. This will be a challenging session – perhaps as challenging as any in my 25 years working in public service.
The worldwide recession, which was kept at bay in Oklahoma by the energy industry, has finally hit our state. Even so, I fear there is no escaping a significant and serious impact on the state services on which Oklahomans depend.
“Job One” – writing the annual state budget – will be more difficult than any time in history. The only hope for sustained recovery of state services is to strengthen Oklahoma’s economy.
Our efforts to encourage energy exploration and drilling in Oklahoma helped us weather the national economic downturn better than most of our sister states. We must continue to support policies to preserve those jobs. Energy jobs, however, must not be our only focus.
One of the lessons of the economic slowdown of the 1980s was that Oklahoma must have a diversified economy. Over-dependence on any one segment of the economy – putting all our “eggs in one basket” so to speak – puts state services at risk.
Among the tremendous resources we have as a state are those individuals who take an idea or dream and turn it into a small business. These entrepreneurs create jobs, strengthen local economies and provide goods and services that improve quality of life for us all.
In fact, small businesses – independent businesses with fewer than 500 employees – represent more than 99 percent of all entities that provide jobs. Small businesses have created 64 percent of all new jobs over the past 15 years. And, no segment of the economy has been hit harder during the economic downturn.
That is why I have introduced a bill that would focus state and local efforts on encouraging entrepreneurs to create those small businesses and provide them even greater support as they struggle to grow. Currently, only seven out of 10 small businesses survive longer than two years; with enhanced support, that number could be even higher.
Job creation and preservation are the best ways we can protect our state budget and – more importantly – family budgets. As we struggle to keep our state afloat in perilous times, we dare not turn our attention away from preserving and protecting the economic strength with which we have been blessed.
I believe job creation and a strong economy go hand-in-hand. That is why many of the bills on which I have worked the hardest over the years have been proposals to strengthen our economy. Those efforts have helped in this difficult time; I am confident renewed job-creation and preservation efforts will help bring Oklahoma through the economic challenges we face.
Thanks again for reading this week’s “Senate Minute.” Have a great week, and may God bless you all.