Texas Association of Business IDs six legislative priorities

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Texas Association of Business CEO Bill Hammond

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Colin Pope

Editor- Austin Business Journal

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More doctors, more road funding and less bureaucracy are called for at the Capitol by the state's most influential business advocacy group.

The Texas Association of Business has unveiled its legislative priorities in what it calls the 2015 Jobs Agenda. Download the 23-page agenda here.

According to TAB, which counts as members 4,000 business with 600,000-plus employees, key elements of the 2015 Jobs Agenda includes proposals to:

• Cut regulatory red tape and reform the environmental permitting process
• End state government involvement in private business and allow the state's leading provider of workers' compensation insurance coverage the ability to better serve Texas employers.
• Improve higher education by embracing an outcomes-based formula in state funding and fully funding the Towards Excellence Access and Success (TEXAS) grant program
• Increase Texas' transportation infrastructure by removing barriers to innovative financing solutions and ending diversions of state highway funds
• Promote budget transparency by ensuring dedicated revenues are used for their intended purposes
• Improve access to health care in Texas by increasing the number of primary care practitioners in the state

Texas lawmakers will convene for the next session in January. Hundreds of bills have already been filed.