HEB Chamber Government Affairs Newsletter - Vol. 11

Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast with Senators Kelly Hancock and Beverly Powell

Join us and Senators Kelly Hancock and Beverly Powell for an informative breakfast hosted by the Business Advocacy Goal Team. If you pay attention to the news, you know that the members of the Texas Legislature were mighty pleased with the changes they made to our system for funding public education and slowing the growth of property taxes. Come hear the Senators talk about the impact of the 86th Legislative Session on their activities. CLICK HERE to register.

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Save the Date

October 15-17 for the Coalition Washington D.C. fly-in

The Coalition of East Tarrant Chambers of Commerce will be joining with the North Texas Commission for a Fly-In to DC October 15th through October 17th. This will be a chance to see our Congressmen and Senators at the Capitol and let them know we are watching. The Coalition Chambers will be scheduling private meetings with the five members of Congress who represent our area early in the afternoon of the 15th. We will then join the NTC for their program starting with an early evening reception.

Registration fee includes two nights stay in Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill hotel, agency and congressional briefings, meetings, and most meals.

CLICK HERE to register.

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New But Not Improved

Changes driven by new state laws

Two bills signed into law by Governor Abbott will impact the way planning and development interacts with the local development community effective September 1 st . These continue the trend of the state restricting the ways cities do business. The details below will help you appreciate the added complexity the state is imposing on the local planning and development process.

HB 2439 amends Chapter 212 of the Texas Local Government Code which is related to plats (or subdivision of land into smaller parcels). Cities authority to specify which building materials are acceptable for residential and commercial construction was preempted by this state law which mandates cities accept any building material approved by any "national model code" in the last three approval cycles. These changes will not apply to previously created special districts which are exempted from the law.

HB3167 creates a 30-day "shot clock" for approval of plats and plans. It was also included in Chapter 212 related to plats, so it will apply only to new plats and plans associated with them. If a new plat request and the associated plans are not approved, approved with conditions or rejected within 30-days, they automatically are approved. If a builder wants to build on an existing plat, the "shot clock" will not apply. It was not uncommon for developers and engineers to submit, get comments, and resubmit multiple times. This new law will make the process less convenient.

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A Pleasure Doing Business

Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition Legislative wrap-up

The TRTC used its monthly meeting in August for an overview of the 86th Texas Legislature by State Representatives Chris Turner and Tony Tinderholt and State Senator Kelly Hancock. All three praised the non-confrontational way the session was conducted.

The session opened with significant pride expressed by all at the legislature's success in passing school finance reform (HB3) and property tax reform (SB2 and HB3). The only reservation was by Representative Turner wondering if future years funding would support all of the innovative changes made.

Senator Hancock started the conversation on the topic of taxpayer funded lobbying of the legislature. He said taxpayers did not want it to continue. He also said that he is a pretty involved member of the Senate and only one paid lobbyist for a city is actually known in his office. He suggested that cities and counties are not getting what they pay for. Representative Tinderholt added that he and the others on the dais want to be the representatives of the cities, counties and school districts in the legislature.

Representative Turner offered SB25 as another win in this legislative session. The bill makes it easier for course credits to be transferred from one state college to another and from community colleges to four year schools. He also expressed disappointment that tuition revenue bonds did not pass this session. (HB2000) He said we used to have a tuition revenue bill passed every second session. We last had one in 2015, so 2019 should have produced another. Tuition Revenue Bonds are the vehicle for funding construction of new facilities at colleges and universities.

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Deep in the Heart

Legislators not running in 2020

Jonathan Stickland has decided not to run again for the Texas House of Representatives in 2020. The four-term State Representative says he has no plans to run for public office. He made an appearance at a Tarrant County Republican Club meeting and was reported to have taken a hard swipe at Senator John Cornyn who is running for reelection to the Senate in 2020.

North Texas Congressman Kenny Marchant joined a growing list of Republican members of Congress from Texas who have decided not to run again in 2020. One congressman recently described the atmosphere in Congress as "toxic" -- everything is about political advantage and there is little concern for the people's business.

Ross Ramsey detailed the exodus in a Texas Tribune opinion piece. CLICK HERE to get his take.

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Technology on Demand

North TX region will court virgin hyperloop for first US operation

Virgin Hyperloop, a Richard Branson company, has just signed a contract to build an 800 mile connector in India. They are looking for a region in the US to build the first US connector. They are on a tour of nine US regions who have expressed an interest in being the first US location. The North Texas Council of Governments is determined to launch an "Amazon sized" effort to make North Texas the winner.

Michael Morris, Director of Transportation for NTCOG described the technology as a radical departure from any existing form of transportation. It is not an incremental improvement in an existing technology like high speed rail improved on rail travel. This, he said, is a revolutionary idea that will change how people travel much as the first flight at Kitty Hawk changed travel forever.

The technology is on demand. You don't wait for the 5:03 pod, you put your destination into a screen and you are told what pod to enter. The pod then takes you, at 667 miles an hour, directly to your destination with no intermediate stops. Pods travel in a tube that will be above ground and have a much smaller footprint than rail or highways. They estimate Fort Worth to Austin in 29 minutes instead of 3 hours on a good day on I-35.

NTCOG does not see Hyperloop replacing the bullet train from Houston to Dallas. They are proposing it first for the Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth route. They envision a left turn at Fort Worth continuing all the way to Laredo.

The plan is to carry both high value freight and people on the same system. Most of the investors in the project are from the freight side. It is planned as a public-private partnership.

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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, maryfrazior@heb.org.

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.

chamber@heb.org heb.org