The Metro 8 Chambers of Commerce met this week to discuss strategy on the most pressing issues facing the Texas Legislature in 2019.
President and CEO Richard Perez and Vice President of Public Policy Stephanie Reyes headed to Dallas to join CEOs from the Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, and Houston Chambers of Commerce - the eight largest Chambers of Commerce in Texas, who collectively serve more than 20,000 Texas companies that employ the vast majority of the state’s workforce. While each of the organizations operate individually and serve the interests of unique constituents, each organization is committed to pursuing policies that drive the state’s economy and create jobs.
The primary focus of the meeting was to draft the 2019 Metro 8 Legislative agenda; however, the group also discussed other local and federal issues that would make a significant impact on the Texas business economy, such as NAFTA negotiations, tariffs on steel & aluminum, and local policies like paid sick leave, predictive scheduling and fair chance hiring.
Dale Craymer from the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association provided the group an outlook on the state budget, school finance and state taxes, including property, sales and franchise taxes. Craymer emphasized that the 2018-19 budget is really tight due to various factors, including the nearly $3 billion shortfall in Medicaid as well as Hurricane Harvey. Craymer says the state revenue is healthy but unlikely to satisfy the state’s needs. While there is strong interest in tapping the state’s rainy day fund, severe hurdles still remain, most notably school finance.
The group also had a conference call with representatives from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). USTR staff provided an update on NAFTA negotiations and spoke at length about tariffs on steel & aluminum, China and the 232 Auto Import Review.
CEOs closed the meeting by sharing voter engagement efforts. Each of the Chambers committed to sharing resources and education tools to be made available to their membership in an effort to get them and their employees to the polls.
