GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 187

Short Title:  GPAC/Development Performance Indicators.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Perdue; and Martin of Guilford.
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Referred to:  Government Performance Audit.
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February 17, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT A RECOMMENDATION OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE TO DIRECT EACH STATE AGENCY INVOLVED IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO ESTABLISH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PERFORMANCE INDICATORS TO BE USED BY THE AGENCY, THE GOVERNOR, AND THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN MEASURING OUTCOMES, UPON WHICH BUDGET ALLOCATIONS MAY BE BASED.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The General Assembly finds that:
(1)	The term "economic development" encompasses all activities conducted for the express purpose of increasing and maintaining the economic vitality of North Carolina, including industrial and business recruiting, business retention, facilitating business creation, providing small business assistance, job training and work-force preparedness programs, and investing in infrastructure, both physical (roads, utilities, etc.), and technological (fiber optics networks and other information system links).
(2)	State General Fund expenditures for the 1991-92 fiscal year for economic development were approximately eighty-four million dollars ($84,000,000).
(3)	This eighty-four million dollar ($84,000,000) expenditure on economic development was allocated among 40 different State and State-associated programs and entities, which can be grouped into five broad categories:
a.	Nonprofit agencies.
b.	The Department of Community Colleges.
c.	The Department of Commerce.
d.	Other State Departments, including the Department of Agriculture, the Business Licensing Office of the Department of Secretary of State, the Department of Administration, and the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.
e.	The University of North Carolina.
(3)	The results of State economic development activities are not effectively monitored and evaluated because, although the State employs several conventional methods of ensuring accountability of agencies involved in economic development (such as budgets, department plans, and internal audits), these accountability measures focus on inputs or on programs and budget levels, rather than on outcomes–the results of their efforts.
(4)	Most State agencies involved in economic development activities have not yet designed and implemented meaningful measures to evaluate and report on performance; as a result, the General Assembly has only a limited ability to evaluate the outcome of its significant investments in economic development.
(5)	To implement a truly integrated approach to economic development, each key agency must be accountable for its contribution to meeting the overall economic development goals of the State; performance indicators would provide an effective and appropriate means to assure this accountability on a regular basis.
(6)	The General Assembly should base its economic development budget allocations on outcomes, as measured by performance indicators.
Sec. 2.  Each State agency involved in economic development shall develop, in conjunction with the Office of State Budget and Management, performance indicators that are appropriate and measurable criteria, including criteria that each agency can influence and criteria based on baseline data and reasonable recommendations.  The performance indicators should articulate specific, measurable results for each agency and should be comprehensive, so that the General Assembly may base each agency's continued economic development appropriation on its effectiveness as measured by the performance indicators.
Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1993.