The Commonwealth of Virginia receives another designation as America's most business-friendly state. The most recent award came Monday, when Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced the state landed the top spot in an annual independent study, "Top Ten Pro-Business States: America's Economy in the 21st Century."

This is the second such designation for the Commonwealth, which placed No. 1 last August in Forbes.com ranking of the "Best States for Business." The ranking in the recent study, conducted by Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc., was based on factors including taxes, human resources, labor climate, energy costs, infrastructure spending, workers' compensation legislation and jobs lost or gained.
The evaluation also considered 14 state government-controlled factors based on incentive programs and state economic development departments, according to a press release from Gov. Kaine's office.

"This recognition from Pollina, based on an examination of 28 objective measurements, validates the results of our hard work to create a business environment," Kaine said in a statement. "In Virginia, we work to support our existing businesses while also working creatively to recruit new investment and jobs. Our incentives are rational and performance-based, and we emphasize our diverse workforce, top-notch educational resources, and Virginia's high-quality, low-tax business climate as we compete for new jobs and investment."

The Pollina study is limited to factors over which state government has control.

"Virginia has benefited from increased government spending on defense and is pressing to stay aggressive in other industries in order to maintain a diversified economy," said Dr. Ronald Pollina, president of Pollina Corporate Real Estate. "Virginia's business-friendly tax environment, location, market access, education, and infrastructure are especially enhanced by one of the strongest and most professional state economic development agencies in the nation. The people of Virginia should be very proud of the effort their governor and legislators have made to foster quality job opportunities for them. Virginia is clearly a winner."
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