The Senate Committee on Texas Ports has released their interim report to the 85th Legislature which includes discussion and recommendations. Below is a spotlight on the recommendations directly from the report; however, for complete details please refer to the report.
Spotlight from the Report
After studying Texas ports and those in neighboring states, we discovered a set of similarities between operations and aspirations. Every state handles its port infrastructure needs in different ways. Florida and Louisiana seem to offer the most comprehensive models for appropriating state funds to ports on an ongoing basis.
Texas ports are responsible for over 30 percent of the Texas gross domestic product and are integral to the Texas manufacturing and energy miracle that sustained the Texas economy through the depths of the economic downturn. However, Texas ports and manufacturing face an unprecedented ompetitive threat as ports in neighboring states are beating Texas in the race to improve their depth and infrastructure to meet the opportunities created by the new, deeper Panama Canal. Texas cannot afford to fall behind.
With uncertainty of the business climate and labor availability in competing states, we need to insure that Texas continues to be the obvious place for the world maritime business.
One might argue that each port’s geographic location makes it a stand-alone governmental entity, but we must recognize that their waterways make Texas accessible to the world. To take advantage of the Panama Canal expansion, Texas waterways must be dug deeper.
Channel projects occur only once in every few decades. However, they are extremely expensive. Generally, Texas navigation districts are currently expected to pay the non-federal share without state assistance. While other State’s have fewer ports and often support their ports with direct appropriations to fuel their economic engine, Texas ports are entirely self-supporting. Even with the unprecedented need for billions of dollars of infrastructure investment, Texas ports have indicated they are prepared to meet the challenge and only seek the ability to access favorable loans from the state for channel improvements.
The Senate Select Committee on Texas Ports believes that this is a session to create the parameters of a fund which will provide loans similar to the Texas Mobility Fund for port infrastructure. Given that the major infrastructure plans for Texas ports will likely not commence before 2019, it is possible to set up the structure of the fund in 2017 and determine actual funding in a future legislative session.