HEB Chamber Government Affairs Newsletter

Cold Shoulder

Why did New York reject Amazon's new office and 25,000 jobs?

New York State Budget Director Robert Mujica gave his perspective on how New York lost Amazon in an open letter to citizens. One major contributing factor was a large labor union that wanted to organize Whole Foods. This union organized resistance, hired demonstrators, cowed politicians and led the fight against Amazon. Amazon realized they were not going to have the stable political climate necessary to effectively develop HQ2 in Long Island City and withdrew.
There are lessons the residents of HEB and Texas can learn from New York's mistakes. We have equally powerful influencers of public opinion in Texas. These voices use the same logic in arguing against economic development tools like Chapter 312 tax abatements. They use language like "corporate welfare" and "all other taxpayers make up the lost taxes."
These arguments seem logical on the surface, but actually put our economic growth at risk. Nothing illustrates it better than the experience of Queens. Amazon would have generated some $27 billion in tax revenue and would have received a $3 billion tax credit, according to Mujica. Now there will be no new revenue and no new jobs. Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio Cortez said on TV that now the $3 billion can go to fixing our subways and roads. Really? What $3 billion is that? Read Mujica's letter in its entirety.

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School is in Session

Education finance reform bills filed in the House and Senate

Chairman Huberty of the House Public Education Committee filed HB3 on March 5 and it was scheduled for a hearing in his committee. The preliminary House budget plans to dedicate about $9 billion in new money for education finance above what is needed to cover student population growth. The bill is just under 200 pages in length and is still being studied to determine exactly what is proposed.

Chairman Taylor of the Senate Education Committee filed SB4 at the deadline for bill filing on Friday, March 8. We can assume it will be assigned this week to the House Education Committee and will start the process toward consideration by the committee, then the full Senate. By comparison, the Senate bill is a streamlined 50 pages, about one-quarter the size of the House bill. Chairman Taylor has said that his bill will contain incentives for districts that achieve desired student outcomes like reading at grade level at grade 3. It proposes higher incentives for districts that achieve the same results with economically disadvantaged students. He has also said it would include funding for districts what want to add pay for performance to teacher compensation.

The low numbers assigned to each bill indicate these bills are high priorities for the Speaker in the House and the Lt. Governor in the Senate. The Senate has already passed SB3 which provides a $5,000 across-the-board raise to teachers and librarians which will cost $3.7 billion in the coming biennium. The Senate budget proposes $6 billion in new spending for education, which leaves about $2.3 billion to fund Chairman Taylor's bill.

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Act Two

Bills can no longer be filed, so now it's on to debate and voting

The Texas Constitution says the first 60 days of a legislative session are for filing bills. The next 80 days are for debate and legislative action. By the filing deadline of 6:00 pm Friday, 7864 bills and resolutions had been filed in the House and Senate. That does not include 1130 resolutions which generally honor a person, commend an achievement, declare a special day at the capitol, etc.

It is estimated that 1200-1800 will eventually become law. The rest will never get assigned to a committee, will die in committee or will be defeated on the floor of the House or Senate. Last session the Governor vetoed about 50 bills that had passed both the House and Senate.

Bill numbers are significant. The lower numbered bills are priorities of the Speaker in the House and the Lt. Governor in the Senate. To see a list of the Lt. Governor's priority bills, click here.

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Strength in Numbers

Largest delegation ever went to Austin for Tarrant County Days

A total of almost 500 people from Tarrant County made the pilgrimage to the Capitol in Austin to let our members of the legislature know we support them and care about what they are doing on our behalf. This was the largest organized group from Tarrant County ever.
Fort Worth's Chamber of Commerce organized Tarrant County Days at the Capitol for March 6-7. This year they did not go it alone. The Coalition of East Tarrant Chambers (Arlington, HEB, Grapevine and Northeast Tarrant) held their Coalition to the Capitol on the same days. The Leadership classes from the HEB Chamber, Colleyville, Grapevine, Northeast Tarrant County, Northwest Metroport and Southlake coordinated their trips to the Capitol on March 6. UT Arlington also held their first ever UTA Day at the Capitol on March 6.
Activities that day started with a luncheon with Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune as the featured speaker. The Chamber and Leadership groups then filled the 350-seat Extension Auditorium to hear presentations by eight Tarrant County members of the Legislature plus the Deputy Comptroller. The day finished with a reception honoring members of the Legislature.
March 7 began with a Legislative Breakfast at the Austin Club at which the mayors of five Tarrant County cities and the County Judge spoke. The keynote address was given by House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. Resolutions declaring March 7 Tarrant County Day at the Capitol were presented by Senator Jane Nelson and Representative Charlie Geren. After a photo op, the group moved to the Old Supreme Court room in the Capitol to hear presentations by more members of the Tarrant County delegation.

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We're working for you

The Chamber's Board has five goal teams. One of these teams is Business Advocacy, and it is chaired by Howard Shotwell. The team's responsibilities include government relations, issues identification, identifying collaboration opportunities and ensuring Chamber members always have a "seat at the table." We welcome your support! If you would like to get involved in the Chamber's business advocacy work, contact Mary Frazior, 817-283-1521, [email protected].

We thank our business advocacy sponsors:

Sponsorship does not necessarily imply endorsement of the Chamber's policy positions.

The Chamber is 4-Star accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

[email protected] heb.org