House Speaker Wills on Accelerate Arkansas, Venture Capital
New Speaker of the House Robbie Wills, D-Conway, gave his first speech to a joint session of the 87th General Assembly.
In his remarks, he touched on his goals for the session, which include issues in education, economic development and health care.
Wills also talked about job creation, and had this to say about growing business in Arkansas:
He said Arkansas should continue to invest in workforce training to strengthen the skills of its people, who Wills said is the state's biggest economic development asset.
"Let's increase our ability to act quickly when these economic development opportunities come along," he said. "Let's strengthen our economic infrastructure fund to help our communities complete, not just for the jobs of today, but for the careers of tomorrow."
Wills also said the legislature should help the state grow its own businesses, in addition to attracting firms from outside the state.
"Let's bring broadband access to every area of the state. Let's move forward with the ideas proposed by Accelerate Arkansas and the Task Force for the 21st Century.
"Let's fund the research and development, here, in Arkansas. Let's raise the venture capital to start these news businesses, here, in Arkansas," Wills said. "Let's grow these high-paying, new economy jobs, here, in Arkansas."
Read more about Wills' speech on ArkansasBusiness.com here.