I recently led a delegation of Texas business and economic development leaders to New York for meetings with business leaders, investors and site selectors, to sell them on the strengths of the Lone Star State. Time and again, I heard the same question: Why Texas?
As governor of Texas, I can tell you one thing: I love that question.
I love it because it gives me a chance to brag on our balanced budget, the tax cut we have just given to 40,000 small business owners and a rainy day fund that is fast approaching $9 billion. It also gives me a chance to explain the unique collection of programs we have created to help Texas cultivate, attract and sustain thousands of jobs.
Commercializing new technologies will keep Texas and our nation increasingly competitive, which is why I am proud of our Texas Emerging Technology Fund, a $200 million fund that helps turn promising discoveries made at Texas universities into high-potential businesses that improve lives while creating jobs for Texans.
Just within the past month, the ETF awarded $250,000 to Shape Memory Therapeutics, which is developing a new technique to treat cerebral aneurisms. MacuCLEAR Inc. and Mystic Pharmaceuticals announced a successful clinical trial in their collaborative effort to create a revolutionary treatment for macular degeneration, the nation’s leading cause of blindness.
Not only were these projects born in Texas; they’re growing up here, too, because the ETF is enabling them to continue their fine work during the lengthy trip from laboratory to marketplace.
Will Shape Memory, MacuCLEAR, Mystic and the other 91 companies we’ve funded all strike it rich? Not necessarily, but many will, and Texas will reap a return on its investment. Without the ETF, the ideas at the core of these companies would either be collecting dust on a university shelf or taking shape as a legitimate company somewhere beyond our borders.
When it comes to attracting new jobs, one of our most important tools is the Texas Enterprise Fund, a resource we use to close the deal with companies considering creating jobs in Texas by moving here or expanding their current operations in Texas.
When Medtronic Inc., a global leader in medical technology, was looking for a place to expand its diabetes division, it was attracted to our business climate and skilled workforce, but an investment by our Enterprise Fund sealed the deal on its move to San Antonio.
That single investment will bring 1,400 new, high-quality jobs to Texas, along with more than $23 million in capital investment.
To date, the TEF has invested more than $377 million in projects that have generated nearly 54,000 new jobs and $14 billion in capital investment.
Not only do we work to create and attract jobs; we invest in keeping them here too, through our Enterprise Zone Program.
The EZP enables communities to work with the state to give local businesses refunds on state sales and use taxes, using a formula based upon the number of jobs created, allowing companies to put their money into new employees, instead of taxes. Throughout these tough economic times, EZP has supported more jobs than any other state effort.
For example, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. in Fort Worth successfully used the EZP to preserve 3,674 jobs that would have otherwise been lost, allowing Texans to continue earning a living to provide for their families.
These three programs, combined with our state’s low taxes, predictable regulations, tort reform and world-class workforce, make Texas one of the most attractive destinations for businesses and the jobs and investment that come with them.
Our efforts have not gone unnoticed. CEO Magazine has identified Texas as the best place to do business for the past four years. Moody’s Economy has included seven Texas metro areas in its list of “first cities to emerge from recession.”
I’m proud to share these indicators of our state’s comparative economic strength, but we still have work to do. We cannot rest until every Texan who wants a job has a job.
Fortunately, we’re standing on a firm foundation, facing in the right direction and setting an example the rest of the country can follow out of recession.
