“Prisoners” of Private Industry: Economic Development and State Sunshine Laws

Edmondson, Aimee; Davis, Charles N.

doi:10.1080/10811680.2011.586304

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…34 Third, there is considerable evidence that both states and firms conduct economic development deals under limited public scrutiny. In an extensive review of state laws, Edmondson and Davis (2011) finds different strategies across states. Twenty-seven states shield economic development negotiations from public records requests through state statues, while eleven states shield negotiations with prospective investors using the structure and rules of their state economic development programs and commissions.…”

Section: Public Information Requests and The Texas Enterprise Fundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who's Afraid of Sunlight? Explaining Opposition to Transparency in Economic Development

Jensen¹,

Thrall²

2021

Bus. Polit.

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Firms and governments often negotiate economic development deals, such as tax abatements, with limited transparency, using exceptions to public records laws or other strategies for nondisclosure. In this article we explore the motivations of firms for keeping economic development deals out of the public eye. We explore legal challenges to public records requests for deal-specific, company-specific participation in a state economic development incentive program. By examining applications for participation in a major state economic program, the Texas Enterprise Fund, we find that a company is more likely to challenge a formal public records request if it has renegotiated the terms of the award to reduce its job-creation obligations. We interpret this as companies challenging transparency when they have avoided being penalized for noncompliance by engaging in nonpublic renegotiations. These results provide evidence regarding those conditions that prompt firms to challenge transparency and illustrate some of the limitations of safeguards such as clawbacks (or incentive-recapture provisions) when such reforms aren't coupled with robust transparency mechanisms. We speculate that the main motivation for these challenges is to limit scrutiny of these deals that could lead to backlashes against future economic development agreements.

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Section: Public Information Requests and The Texas Enterprise Fundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who's Afraid of Sunlight? Explaining Opposition to Transparency in Economic Development

Jensen¹,

Thrall²

2021

Bus. Polit.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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The Human Side of Public-Private Partnerships: From New Deal Regulation to Administrative Law Management

Amán

Dugan

2015

SSRN Journal

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During the New Deal era, Congress created a thenunprecedented program of economic and regulatory reforms, establishing independent agencies, and empowering them to shape and enforce pragmatic industrial policies. Twenty-first century regulation looks strikingly different from the New Deal vision. While New Deal agencies continue to perform some regulatory functions, market approaches have replaced many traditional command-and-control formulations, with private entities stepping in to perform tasks historically reserved to government. Though government-by-contract is becoming the new normal, neither the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") nor many of its state equivalents provide adequate guidance to ensure that individual rights are protected and democratic values preserved during these changing times. This Article proposes a practical response to the outsourcing revolution: a new statutory framework derived from the elements of contract and directed toward public-private partnerships and contemporary delegations. If successful, our proposal would address the democracy deficit that inheres in the shadowy outsourcing processes that are common today; it would invite public stakeholders into the contracting process; and it would establish an essential safeguard for individual rights.

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“Prisoners” of Private Industry: Economic Development and State Sunshine Laws

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Who's Afraid of Sunlight? Explaining Opposition to Transparency in Economic Development

Who's Afraid of Sunlight? Explaining Opposition to Transparency in Economic Development

The Human Side of Public-Private Partnerships: From New Deal Regulation to Administrative Law Management

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