
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 27, 1994                   TAG: 9401270063
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

BUSINESS CONFERENCE COMING TO VIRGINIA

Gov. George Allen unveiled plans Tuesday for a national business conference next year and said the event could offer "a conduit in the way we can promote Virginia across the nation."

Allen said Inc. magazine, a publication that focuses on small but growing companies, will conduct its Inc. 500 Conference in Norfolk in May 1995.

The conference, named for the magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing small companies in the United States, is expected to draw as many as 700 chief executives and generate about $400,000 in revenue.

It will help demonstrate that Virginia is "indeed open for business again," said Bob Poole, vice president of the Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau, which lobbied to host the conference.

Allen said small businesses are the backbone of economic activity in Virginia and his administration is committed to ensuring they can pursue their goals unfettered by needless regulation.

He said the state needs to provide a climate that encourages economic prosperity "for those individuals who have an idea and want to make an investment and take a risk."

Toward that end, Allen said, his administration wants the General Assembly to prepare an economic impact statement on bills that would impose regulatory burdens "so that we know what we're getting into."

Similar impact statements are made for bills affecting state revenues.

"We're going to make [regulation] as minimal as possible in Virginia," the governor said.

by CNB