Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to start a $3 million business development fund is a “generous start,” says Clark Krause, executive director of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce’s economic development arm.

Otter backed a plan in his 2014 budget for money that economic developers could use to help close a deal with a company looking to bring more jobs to Idaho.

Krause, executive director of the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, has sought the fund as a tool to help land businesses that look at Idaho for a place to locate but often move on to somewhere else.

Lawmakers will consider Otter’s proposal in this year's legislative session, which began last week.

A business development fund would require companies to meet agreed-upon goals in capital expansion or job creation, said Jeffery Sayer, director of the Idaho Department of Commerce. Money would be paid out after a company meets its performance goals. Agreements and funds paid out would be public, according to a bill Sayer is preparing.

Krause and other economic developers in the state sought a $5 million fund during the 2012 Legislature. Their proposal was overshadowned by a $5 million commitment from Otter to start the Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission — IGEM — aimed primarily at turning Idaho National Laboratory and Idaho college research into companies that would create jobs.

Krause said Otter’s $3 million proposal will give economic developers a starting point to prove the fund’s effectiveness to lawmakers.

Bill Roberts: 377-6408