| 1 | 1 | | 82R26696 BPG-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Button H.C.R. No. 147 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, Neighboring cities often compete with each other for |
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| 7 | 7 | | business investment, offering cost reduction incentives to recruit |
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| 8 | 8 | | individual firms or developers rather than collaborating at the |
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| 9 | 9 | | regional level to create the conditions for sustained economic |
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| 10 | 10 | | growth; and |
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| 11 | 11 | | WHEREAS, Striving to foster job and tax revenue growth, |
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| 12 | 12 | | cities use tools such as the popular 4A/4B economic development |
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| 13 | 13 | | sales tax to fund incentives for businesses; unfortunately, |
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| 14 | 14 | | unhealthy competition reduces the value of incentive packages by |
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| 15 | 15 | | diluting the free market concept; a competitive, incentive-driven |
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| 16 | 16 | | approach focuses on local, short-term gains, often to the detriment |
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| 17 | 17 | | of the important development assets that allow a region to prosper |
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| 18 | 18 | | over the long term; and |
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| 19 | 19 | | WHEREAS, Employment and business activity extend across |
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| 20 | 20 | | municipal boundaries to impact regional development patterns and |
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| 21 | 21 | | the location of future growth; when cities fail to coordinate their |
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| 22 | 22 | | efforts, they often intensify uneven investment in |
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| 23 | 23 | | neighborhoods--for example, promoting the creation of major job |
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| 24 | 24 | | centers at a distance from affordable housing and thereby |
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| 25 | 25 | | contributing to traffic congestion, environmental problems, and |
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| 26 | 26 | | other symptoms of sprawl; not only do these side effects negatively |
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| 27 | 27 | | affect current residents, but they make the region less appealing |
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| 28 | 28 | | to the very businesses the incentives are designed to attract; and |
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| 29 | 29 | | WHEREAS, Research shows that access to an educated and |
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| 30 | 30 | | skilled workforce is generally more crucial to employers than the |
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| 31 | 31 | | availability of tax abatements and that individuals often choose |
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| 32 | 32 | | quality of life over job prospects when deciding where to locate; a |
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| 33 | 33 | | city undermines the regional coordination required to develop human |
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| 34 | 34 | | capital and the quality of life essential to retaining that human |
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| 35 | 35 | | capital when it adopts a localized, reactive, incentive-driven |
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| 36 | 36 | | approach that emphasizes short-term goals over comprehensive |
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| 37 | 37 | | planning; and |
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| 38 | 38 | | WHEREAS, Regional coordination is now more important than |
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| 39 | 39 | | ever, as high-growth industries tend to be highly mobile and are |
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| 40 | 40 | | frequently the target of intense competition on the global level; |
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| 41 | 41 | | and |
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| 42 | 42 | | WHEREAS, In order to compete for business investment in an |
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| 43 | 43 | | increasingly complicated global marketplace, while maintaining the |
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| 44 | 44 | | quality of life that fosters long-term prosperity, neighboring |
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| 45 | 45 | | cities should avoid bidding against each other for firms and |
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| 46 | 46 | | development and coordinate their actions within a comprehensive |
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| 47 | 47 | | planning framework at the regional level; now, therefore, be it |
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| 48 | 48 | | RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 49 | 49 | | hereby encourage cities to promote long-term economic development |
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| 50 | 50 | | and job growth by working together on the regional level to attract |
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| 51 | 51 | | and retain business investment. |
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