§5B-3-1. Legislative intent.

(a) West Virginia: A shared vision statement. -- West Virginia's strong commitment to future generations has created a vibrant and diverse economy balancing quality jobs and the state's irreplaceable natural beauty. West Virginia has a highly skilled and educated workforce, is a leader in innovation and offers an excellent quality of life for all residents.

(b) "West Virginia: A vision shared" vision statement is meant to be used as a touchstone to ensure that actions being undertaken are in line and on course.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to set economic development goals for the state and that the joint commission on economic development, created in this article, use the goals in bringing all agencies performing economic development and workforce investment activities together to improve the economic situation in this state.

(d) Furthermore, it is the intent of the Legislature that the state work toward accomplishing three overall goals:

(1) The development of a comprehensive statewide economic development strategy;

(2) The effective statewide coordination of economic development programs; and

(3) The development of meaningful agency and program benchmarks and performance-based evaluations.