Chamber of Commerce officials from Oklahoma's two largest cities told lawmakers Wednesday focusing on social issues can harm economic development in the state.
Tulsa Regional Chamber Senior Vice President of Economic Development Brien Thorstenberg told House and Senate members who gathered for a joint interim study that his organization constantly receives phone calls from businesses about Oklahoma's stance on issues like North Carolina's bathroom bill and Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“This is a workforce talent attraction aspect, and being able to attract talent,” Thorstenberg said. “They want diversity, and they want inclusion. And that is almost in all major companies' core values."
State Sen. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, asked Greater Oklahoma City Chamber vice president Kurt Foreman if events like State Rep. John Bennett's interim study about radical Islam on Tuesday harms the state's business recruiting.
"Absolutely. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have a variety of opinions about things, but I don't think we should be fearful of differences,” Foreman said. “I was very disappointed to see that. To call Oklahomans terrorists and stuff is a pretty harsh path.”
Foreman also said he has an openly gay daughter who thought twice about staying in Oklahoma after college because of some of the rhetoric she’s heard.
Susan Winchester, a former state Rep. who’s now the director of the Research Insittute for Economic Development (RIED), also advised against putting other issues on the backburner to focus on a social agenda, eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley reports:
She said her organization's members were concerned early in the 2016 session about members' focus on "guns, guns, guns and other issues that took up a considerable amount of time" when lawmakers should have been working on solving the state's budget problems without hurting businesses.
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