(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – Two campers were in the forest, the old joke goes. As a grizzly bear charged at them, one began putting on his sneakers. The other, looking for a place to hide, said, “What’re you doing? Do you think you can outrun that bear?” “No,” replied the first, “I just need to outrun you.”
So it goes in the competition for new businesses as Nevada tries to lure companies away from the anti-business, legislative and bureaucratic nightmare that is California. While we should certainly trumpet our successes, raising the bar and creating an atmosphere where we can build on those successes is a necessity.
USCB, Inc. is an accounts receivable management company from California. They have offices in both the northern and southern areas of the state.
However, when it was time to expand recently, they looked across the border to Nevada. They have located “collections, call center, insurance billing and follow up” operations to their new office in Henderson, according to Senior Vice President Albert Cadena in an e-interview conducted by the Nevada Business Coalition.
“The cost of doing business” and an “anti-business legislature” in the Golden State were cited as reasons for expanding into the Silver State instead of their home state.
The tax and regulatory environment in Nevada is “50 times better” than California, Cadena said. USCB, Inc. has very aggressive future plans in Nevada as well.
They currently employ 65 workers in Nevada and are looking to expand rapidly in their new home. They “plan to be at 110 early in 2012” and their “goal is to be at 300-400 in four years.”
This is exactly what this state needs. It wouldn’t take very many companies growing at this rate to restore Nevada’s status as the fastest-growing economy in the country.
Addressing the complaints of the higher-tax advocates who say that companies avoid Nevada because we don’t spend enough on education, Cadena stated the education system was “not a factor” in their decision. Nor have they had any problems locating skilled staff. “So far so good,” he said of their ability to find qualified people in the Las Vegas area.
As pleased as they appear to be with the Silver State, Cadena did indicate there is room for improvement and, not surprisingly, he offered a familiar recommendation. “Streamline the professional licensing procedures…It takes way too long,” he suggested.
In Nevada we have some very vocal interests who would like us to become more like California, not less. But we should heed the words of those who know, people like Albert Cadena and the others at USCB, Inc., businesses who are successful and looking for a place to grow.
Businesses want an atmosphere where the elected officials and bureaucrats don’t try to stifle them every step of the way and don’t strangle them with oppressive laws and burdensome regulations. And if the government doesn’t stand in their way they can not only survive but thrive.
That’s the blueprint. It takes less government, not more, and making Nevada less like California and more like Nevada used to be. That is the only way we’re going to outrun the competition.
(Michael Chamberlain is Executive Director of Nevada Business Coalition.)
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