Texas House Speaker calls for incentives reform, report says
Send this to a friend
- Michael Theis
- Digital Editor- Austin Business Journal
- Email | Twitter
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.
Most Popular
- Most popular
- Emailed
- Mobile
- Southwest Airlines rolling out four weddings and a lot of dance moves
- Turkish developer to buy land near Dallas City Hall for $1.2B project
- Exclusive: Jack Matthews to buy historic Dallas High School
- Dallas real estate investor buys Turtle Creek building; plans redo
- Roger Staubach talks real estate, Romo and the Redskins nickname
- Mark Cuban invests $1M in Austin startup
- Aggie 100 ranking recognizes 14 high-growth North Texas companies
- SEC says Wyly is burning through cash before assets can be frozen
- Toyota's North American CEO: 'We will be melding these organizations' (Video)
- Toyota says 'howdy' to Plano with $1M donation to school district
Sponsored by
People on the Move
-
Channel Sales Executive Houston Business Journal | Houston, TX
-
Audience Development Account Executive Dallas Business Journal | Dallas, TX
-
Insurance Agency Owner Brightway Insurance | Georgia, North Carolina, Texas
-
Trend Micro Career Day Trend Micro | Irving, TX
-
Patent Agent Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP | Dallas, TX
Featured Property
Comments
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.