The committee met for a formal meeting to discuss findings from previous hearings and recommendations for the coming session.
Rep. Joe Deshotel
- Oversight will be a major issue with incentives going forward
- Next session the legislature will want to work on restructuring and increased oversight within economic development programs
- Wants to ensure it doesn’t look like money is being given away
Rep. John Kuempel
- Texas is forced into having incentive programs because other states have them
- Would like the programs to be as transparent as possible
- Any changes need to be made expeditiously
Rep. JM Lozano
- Reiterated the previous comments and added that he would like to see some simplification of the application process
- The Enterprise Fund should allow for infrastructure development through industry fund matching; this would help to build roads in areas where they are needed for industry to thrive
Rep. Drew Springer
- The speed of our economic development programs is an issue
- Need to get the message out to site selectors that smaller communities have incentives to offer and need to be considered alongside larger communities
- Workforce training through community colleges needs to increase
- Need to look at the way job requirements are waived for Chapter 313 agreements
- The Events Trust Fund and Major Events Trust Fund are different and more money should probably be going to the Major Events Trust Fund because those events actually are seen by people around the world and do a better job of advertising the state
- The moving image industry incentive should have tougher requirements to ensure jobs that are being created are more permanent and that in productions, Texas is featured prominently and positively
- Need to be offering less incentives to smaller video game companies because other industries with larger companies such as manufacturers are not incentivized as much
Rep. Trent Ashby
- Suggested doing away with the Texas Small Business Industrial Development Corporation program; there is a consensus at the Governor’s office that the program should be shuttered
- Struggling with the film incentives and determining whether they bring long-term benefits
- The video game portion of the moving image incentive should be separated from the main film portion
- Chapter 313 needs a new definition for “average county wage”
- Need to evaluate the best place to house the Events and Major Events Trust Funds; the Comptroller’s office is not the right place
- Need to create an Economic Development Incentives Commission made up of House members Senators and members of the public to review all incentive applications and make awards
- The Events and Major Events Trust Funds need to be rebranded; they are not trust funds, they are reimbursements
- Need to do more work on assessing why rural Texas is not participating in the trust fund programs
- Supports continuation of the Enterprise Fund but would like to see the following changes
- Record retention requirements should be strengthened
- There needs to be standardized objective scoring for applicants
- There need to be regular audits
- Clawback provisions should be strengthened
- There should be increased access for rural Texas
Rep. Rene Oliveira
- Serving on a commission like the one proposed would be a lot of work for part-time legislators
- Wind energy incentives should have their own chapter outside of Chapter 313
- Perhaps wind incentives should be awarded based on how much energy is produced
- Chairman Angie Chen Button noted the audit of Chapter 313 incentives will be coming out later this month
- Deshotel noted he would also like to see wind incentives moved from Chapter 313
Rep. Borris Miles
- There are other ways to incentivize businesses coming to the state such as investing in public and higher education
Rep. Mary Ann Perez
- Agree with most of the previously stated comments and opinions
- Transparency and speed are keys to staying competitive among the states
- Also concerned about using legislators in the theoretical incentive commission; they would be too busy during session
Rep. Jason Villalba
- The Emerging Technology Fund should be done away with; it needs to be phased out and a next-generation fund of funds approach should be taken
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez
- Would like to see a single clearinghouse web portal for the application process
- Recommends changing the name of the Events and Major Events Trust Funds to reflect the fact that they are reimbursements not actual funds
Chairman Angie Chen Button
- Need to restructure the Economic Development incentive programs and merge the Texas Enterprise Fund, Emerging Technology Fund and moving Image incentive program into one fund called the Texas Growth Fund
- Funds need to focus on rural development, high paying jobs and targeted industries
- Need to formulate some type of fast track process for approval for projects that meet certain criteria
Button noted that the committee will attempt to have a draft report out to members by early December.