As 2011 gets up to speed and we try for yet another year to financially regroup as a state, it is more apparent than ever that there is not enough being done to bring California back to its rightful position as a national and global economic leader. Businesses large and small pay the second-highest taxes in the nation to a state government with the nation’s worst credit rating. This and other business-stifling factors have sapped remaining businesses and sent others – and the vital jobs they create – scurrying elsewhere. In a white paper to Governor Brown last month, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group noted that during the past decade, competitor states like Texas added 1 million private sector jobs and Arizona added 500,000 while California had no net increase in private sector employment. Not one job in 10 years. Now, on top of that, local municipalities have been sent scrambling as the Governor attempts to shut down redevelopment agencies and enterprise zones – assets that keep businesses of all sizes operating in these tough times. With that kind of scenario, how can we blame any business for looking to move to a more friendly business environment? All of a sudden, those Arizona and Texas summers do not seem so dry. It can be easy to believe that the problems California faces are so vast and so severe that they cannot be solved, that they will continue to control us and ultimately define us. But in reality, that is not the case. There is plenty that can be done – it is just a matter of recognizing the problems and following through with solutions. We can and should be able to do it ourselves. The state of California is dealing with an economic disaster. It is time we acted like it. To be sure, there is a differing idea on how to move forward for every dollar in the deficit. But recently, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) brought some of the region’s top economic minds – including former California governors Gray Davis and George Deukmejian, State Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton and SCAG President Larry McCallon – together to create a roadmap for recovery. These participants and others agreed on a series of definitive steps to put the state back on track: Reject Job Destroyers. The state of California has done quite enough to cut its own businesses off at the knees. Over the next three years, Governor Brown and other state leaders should reject any new legislation that will negatively impact businesses. Emergency Action. In the event of a natural disaster that threatened to cripple the state’s economy, the Governor can declare a state of emergency to take steps to immediately rectify the situation. Why should this economic mudslide – with double-digit unemployment – be any different? While the devil is in the details, a declaration of a temporary economic emergency until the jobless rate is lower would empower Governor Brown to address and correct the obstacles standing in our way in this current economy. Nurturing Emerging Sectors. Keeping jobs and creating new ones must be a TOP priority, particularly in emerging industries. To retain and expand markets like high-tech, manufacturing and green industries the state should: restore manufacturing investment credits, provide $100 million funding to the State Infrastructure Bank for installation of pollution reduction equipment, create a “Green Team” to help green industries grow, and designate entire “Enterprise Counties” in regions where the jobless rate has soared past 10%. Beat the Panama Canal. If we are to recognize potential benefits, we must also prepare for potential competition. The health of our ports and harbors is paramount to California’s economic vitality – proof of that is seen in the tens of thousands of jobs they support and the record improvement in 2010 cargo statistics. But an expanded Panama Canal is set to open in just 3 years – allowing shipping companies to bypass West Coast ports completely if they choose. This is not an abstract scenario – it is a very real and serious economic threat. We need to immediately expedite shovel-ready trade infrastructure projects using voter-approved Proposition 1B funds, as well as expand state authority to local jurisdictions regarding public-private partnership funding of such projects. Lights, Cameras, Action. Finally, after a year of great job loss in the local entertainment industry, California must return to its place as the go-to location for film and television shooting. The successful State Film Incentive Program should be accelerated and extended by eliminating the current sunset, and the state should also guarantee tax credits for productions moving to California for two succeeding years, and develop a green-tech credit program to stimulate further return. These are just a few of the concrete, actionable, common-sense steps that can be taken to help immediately ease California’s current economic woes. Of course, there are also other crucial issues that MUST be tackled – public pension reform, fiscal governance reform, regulatory streamlining, and the list goes on. But as the national economy begins to slowly turn the corner in the wake of the worst economic collapse of our generation, California must waste no time taking ACTION on at least some of these steps NOW. We have been paralyzed by arguing and dissension long enough. We have pointed blame long enough. It is now time for us, as a region and as a state, to unite around the proper leadership with a plan that we can all get behind. Mark Wilbur is Chair of BizFed (Los Angeles County Business Federation) and CEO of Employers Group; David Fleming is BizFed’s Founding Chair and counsel at Latham & Watkins LLP.