By MIKE BAKER and MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. – In the quest to create jobs, some states are getting creative: Nevada may hold contests to encourage entrepreneurs. Ohio is giving control of its liquor profits to a group of business leaders. And Washington and Alabama are “selling” income they don’t even have yet.
More than four years after the start of the Great Recession, state lawmakers have few options left to stimulate economic activity. With little room for new spending or tax cuts, several have turned to more imaginative, sometimes quirky, proposals to encourage job growth.
“Jobs, jobs, jobs,” is how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo summed up his agenda. His $15 billion “New York Works” plan is a version of traditional jobs programs, but with a twist he calls “entrepreneurial government.”
Instead of handing out government money, the Democrat plans to extract matching commitments from private companies to rebuild 2,000 miles of highways and countless bridges and tunnels. Difficult fiscal times required a new approach, he said.