MARYSVILLE — State Commerce Secretary Joe Nguyen has one solution to make it easier to operate a business in Washington.
Streamline government at the state level.
Nguyen was the keynote speaker on Tuesday during the annual meeting of the Economic Alliance Snohomish County and the Snohomish County Awards at the Tulalip Resort Casino.
Nguyen said reducing the large state bureaucracy, would help his department speed up grants and aid to businesses in Washington state that are grappling with tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
“We’re facing global trade volatility on a daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis,” he said.
The program at the Tulalip Resort Casino also saw the Economic Alliance issue six awards to individuals and organizations for their community contributions.
Nguyen, a former senator and keynote speaker at the event, said Snohomish County could be particularly hard hit from the tariffs given Boeing and other aerospace companies’ huge role in international trade. Snohomish County has 12% of the aerospace jobs in Washington, according to state Employment Security Department statistics.
His department offers an online tariff information and resource guide.
His own department is particularly complex. He said his department covers 485 programs with its $8 billion budget, including economic development, small business grants, housing and behavioral health.
To give grants, the department must use the state’s administrative and accounting manual, Nguyen said, which is 1,067 pages. When combined with federal guidance and additional rules, it can exceed 1,500 pages.
“That’s longer than ‘Game of Thrones.’ That’s the whole of ‘Lord of the Rings.’ That’s double the longest ‘Harry Potter book,’” he said.
Nguyen also talked about Washington’s housing crisis Tuesday.
He said Washington needs more than 1.1 million additional housing units by 2040, adding that proposed $600 million investment in the Housing Trust Fund won’t do much. He said that would only amount to 2 percent of the needed housing on an annual basis.
Another issue he addressed was the shortage of day care facilities for children of working parents, saying that state safety regulations, such as those requiring safety doors between rooms, were too costly for some potential providers. He proposed that his department offer grants of several thousand dollars to pay for the grants.
2025 Award Recipients
STEM Rising Star Award — Laasya Chintamani
Henry M. Jackson Award — Dave Somers
John M. Fluke Sr. Award — Craig Skotdal
Elson S. Floyd Award — Mel Sheldon
Opportunity Lives Here Award — Port of Everett
Chair’s Legacy Award — Paul Roberts
Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.
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