Texas House Speaker calls for incentives reform, report says

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Scott Eells

Texas Rep. Joe Straus' (R-San Antonio) comments come in the aftermath of the release of a report from the Texas State Auditor's Office that found that hundreds of millions of dollars of incentives from the Texas Enterprise Fund – which is administered by Gov. Rick Perry's office – went to companies that submitted no applications or made no promises to create jobs, among other discrepancies.

Michael Theis

Digital Editor- Austin Business Journal

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Texas House Speaker Joe Straus thinks that state lawmakers need to overhaul the state's economic incentives programs, according to the Austin American-Statesman, which reported comments Straus made at a gathering of members of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association last week.

The comments made by the Republican from San Antonio come in the aftermath of the release of a report from the Texas State Auditor's Office that found that hundreds of millions of dollars of incentives from the Texas Enterprise Fund went to companies that submitted no applications or made no promises to create jobs, among other discrepancies.

The Austin American-Statesman has a story on Straus' comments. The Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio business journals published this morning a cover story investigating the likely future of incentives in Texas.

Gov. Rick Perry's office, which administers the Texas Enterprise Fund and other incentives programs such as the startup- and university-supporting Emerging Technology Fund, defended its actions regarding incentives awards in a statement after the report was released saying "that funds awarded through the program have been allocated in accordance with state law. Administrative processes and procedures are regularly reviewed and updated as necessary to ensure effective, efficient and responsible distribution and oversight of all TEF awards."

Thursday, however, Straus told Texas Taxpayers and Research Association members that reform was needed to rebuild the public's confidence in the incentives programs, according to the Statesman. But Straus did not call for the incentives programs to be eliminated outright, instead calling for more public oversight of those programs.

"These programs need reforms, and they will get them," Straus said, according to the report. "Many say we should just eliminate them entirely. And that would be understandable. But...Texas doesn't compete for jobs in a vacuum."

Michael Theis is the Austin Business Journal's digital editor.

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