83rd Legislative Session will have great impact

Juan A. Navejar Jr.

Prior to each Legislative Session, the Texas Association of Business (TAB) Chamber Partners reconvene in Austin to discuss the upcoming Legislative agenda. At this year’s session this week TAB approved an agenda of specific policies and objectives in support and/or against to legislation that will have an impact on TAB members.
With the 83rd Texas Legislature convening in January 2013, the TAB Board has considered what business remained to be completed from the previous session and how recent developments in the state’s economy and regulatory climate have demonstrated the need for a response by the state’s leadership.
TAB touched on subjects from economic development, education and workforce, environmental quality, health care, taxes and spending, tort reform, transportation, water and workers compensation.
Here are some of the issues TAB supports or opposes:
Economic Development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area. Such actions can involve the development of human capital, critical infrastructure, regional competitiveness, environmental sustainability, social inclusion, health, safety, literacy and other initiatives.
The progress Texas has made in the past decade clearly shows the importance of its focus on economic development. That success by maintaining a positive source of job growth and capital investment. Texas’ tax structure and rational regulatory policies have enabled us to attract businesses and potential employees from other states. Texas is investing money through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) for expansion of manufacturing facilities and other capital investments. Texas cities dominate Forbes’ list of “Cities Where a Paycheck Stretches the Farthest.”
The focus of TAB’s agenda for economic development is to continue to support those legislative measures that provide businesses in Texas a competitive advantage when making decision to invest capital or create new job opportunities and oppose those proposals that would create obstacles to economic opportunity.
Education and Workforce
TAB is the leader and champion of constructing a strong business infrastructure and a friendly business environment.  An educated workforce is a necessary component of that infrastructure. TAB is at the forefront of building on the progress made in our public schools and institutions of higher education, while continuing to advocate for the necessary reforms that will expand opportunities for students to meet their potential, entering the real world either career or college ready.
Ensuring that students meet this goal secures the educated workforce needed in Texas. TAB will continue to review the structures and results of our public schools and institutions of higher education to ensure that the state is always at the forefront of the global economy.
Environmental Quality
Consistent with past sessions, TAB’s priorities for environmental quality continue to focus on the use of sound scientific evidence in decision-making, reasonable and achievable goals for pollution reduction understanding of both the costs and benefits of environmental regulations.  For the 83rd Legislature, TAB will be specifically addressing the issues related to the contributions of foreign sources to background pollutant levels in Texas, the role of contested case hearings in creating competitive disadvantages for environmental permit applicants and the increasing use of the Endangered Species Act to negatively affect business expansion and property in Texas.
Health Care
TAB seeks to promote strategies and solutions that will help businesses control their health care costs. In past Legislative Sessions, TAB has taken the lead in advocating for the highest quality of, and the greatest access to, health care at the best cost available, both for the employers that provide health care insurance to their employees, and for the state taxpayers who support Medicaid,
TAB’s legislative priorities for health care reach across the spectrum, covering issues such as transparency, access, quality of service and fraud prevention. TAB’s central goals are to continue to work with the Legislature to improve health care delivery models, to help consumers understand their role in their own health care, to rein in Medicaid fraud and abuse, and to be the leader in supporting initiatives for workplace wellness and disease management programs that are non-burdensome for employers.
Taxes and Spending
TAB’s policy priorities for tax, revenue and spending legislation are those that support fairness and equity in the assessment of costs to businesses and transparency in the collection, management and spending of state revenues. Businesses in Texas have every reason to expect that their tax burden will not only be equitable, but will not impose hidden or unnecessary costs or reduce their ability to compete with businesses in other states.
During the next legislative session, TAB will be particularly focused this upcoming session on essential budget reforms in the collection of revenues in dedicated accounts that are not spent, but instead used to certify the state budget spending levels.
Key issues will be faced in the next legislature to include casino gambling, financial soundness for state disaster preparedness and a balanced state budget.
Tort Reform
Through the passage of tort reform legislation that addressed medical malpractice, venue shopping, asbestos lawsuit abuse, and other legal inequities . TAB helped bring balance to the Texas civil justice system. As a result, the Texas economy is healthy and moving forward. The substantial efforts taken to create our state’s business and job-friendly climate have made Texas one of the nation’s top job creators, generating more than 550,000 new jobs between July 2009 and July 2012.
Although Texas has been called a shining example of what other states can do to reform their civil justice systems, there is still an uphill battle in maintaining a hard fought reform and correcting additional burdens on the system. The 82nd Legislative Session was no exception to demonstrate how trail attorneys are attempting to dilute the gains made in the previous legislative sessions.
Transportation
An adequate transportation system is absolute essential to the movement of people, goods and services and the preservation of economic opportunities in Texas. It is TAB’s position that all transportation policy decisions must be focused on increasing the efficient and cost-effective movement of commerce between our neighboring states and countries. We must identify the transportation system that Texas needs and then determine all reasonable means to pay for it.
All modes of transportation that support our economy and jobs deserve support, as well maintenance and modernization of our existing infrastructure. All methods of finance, including toll roads , alternative methods of funding and state revenues will be essential to providing all levels of government – state, regional and local – the tools to plan, design and implement transportation projects that serve the needs of this state.
Water
Perhaps no other issue is as critical for all businesses in Texas as our water supply. The latest update to the Texas State Water Plan confirms that in drought conditions, Texas businesses do not have the water that is needed to sustain economic opportunity. The report projects that by 2060 water supplies will decrease by 10 percent while our population will grow by 82 percent from 25.4 million to 46 million. The need for additional water in Texas during drought conditions will reach 8.3 million acre-feet.
Future water availability will depend on significant financial investment in water projects and infrastructure measured in the tens of billions of dollars. The failure to meet this water demand by 2060 will mean the loss of $116 billion in lost corporate and personal income annually, and over 1 million jobs in Texas. Addressing the issue of water supply will help control costs which will become exorbitant for all users when demand far exceeds supply.
Clearly, conservation of existing water resources, development of additional cost-effective supplies and sound scientifically-based and economically rational standards for protecting water quality will be key to our ability to continue to attract business opportunity in Texas.
For a complete listing of where TAB stands on all issues for the 83rd Legislative Session, contact the Chamber and we will provide you a copy of the entire listing.