SACRAMENTO—Corporate executives who haven't considered investingin California for a long time suddenly have new reasons to do so.That is according to a recent report from the Governor's Office ofBusiness and Economic Development.

Gov. Jerry Brown is now rolling out the welcomemat to expanding companies with a “new set of tools in hisrecruitment arsenal.” Armed with new tax credits, more funding foreconomic development, balanced budgets and improved credit ratings,California now competes for jobs and industry without the burden offinancial shackles, says the Governor, who says that the resultsspeak for themselves (see below examples):

• After years of stagnation, the California economy is growingfaster than the national average. The state's economy grew by 2% in2013, better than the US average of 1.8%. And after a slow start to2014, the state's economy grew by 4% in the second quarter of theyear.
• California accounted for 14.2% of the country's net employmentgain in the second quarter of 2014, as state businesses added109,800 new jobs.
• Nearly 700 California companies made the annual Inc. Magazineranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing firms in the country—by farthe most of any state. California boasts the No. 1 company on thelist—Fuhu, the El Segundo firm that makes large tablet computersfor kids - and four of the top 10.
• California boasts the two highest ranking US metro areas inper-capita GDP: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($100,115) and SanFrancisco-Oakland-Hayward ($78,844).
• California added 35,600 construction jobs from Aug. 2013 toAug. 2014 - the second highest amount in the country. The jumpincreased construction employment in the state by 5.6%.
• Existing home sales in California rose by 6.9 percent duringthe second quarter of 2014.

These performance benchmarks have been set as Brown, theone-time mayor of Oakland and now three-term Governor, continues toremake the California business climate. “The capstone of thismakeover is the governor's $750-million annual plan to attract andretain business,” says the Governor's office.
After years of experimenting without much success with communitydevelopment programs, California scrapped them and replaced themwith new business tax incentives. The new programs include a taxexemption for R&D in manufacturing and biotech; a job taxcredit for increasing the number of full-time workers; and aCalifornia Competes tax credit given to companies that relocate orexpand in the state.

One of the most recent business losses to the State wasToyota, which announced plans to slowly move its North Americanheadquarters to Dallas, TX. The move will take threeyears and displace approximately 2 million square feet ofspace.