Your Chamber held its first Board of Investors meeting on Thursday, with Interim President and CEO Dave Petersen welcoming Board of Investors members and giving a quick review of two of the Chamber’s key 2022 accomplishments – the governance restructure and the development of a three-year strategic plan.
Following Dave’s introduction, Chamber Chair Katie Harvey, CEO KGBTexas Communications, welcomed Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who joined our Public Policy Chair Jeff Webster, VP of Business Development, Jacobs Engineering Group, on stage for a discussion that covered topics including the budget surplus and broadband.
Next, Katie shared with the Board of Investors that during the Executive Board meeting on February 16, the Chamber’s Executive Board discussed the Justice Charter, the proposed city charter amendment that will appear on the May ballot. Following the discussion, the Executive Board directed us to actively oppose the components of the Justice Charter that would negatively impact businesses in San Antonio – primarily the codification of a cite and release policy. She then invited City Attorney Andy Segovia to the stage to give a brief, factual overview of the Justice Charter. Andy covered the verbiage of the Charter, pending lawsuits against it, and the fact that five of the proposed Charter changes are governed by state law and unenforceable.
To end the meeting, Katie reinforced how the cite and release policy in the Justice Charter is bad for business and reminded the group that if the charter amendment is passed in May, the next eligible date for charter amendment is November 2025.