Texas Lobby Group Report for the Hotel and Lodging Association
The Texas Lobby Group has posted a Lobby Report for the Texas hotel and Lodging Association. Highlights include:
Texas Political Primary Date Analysis:
The Texas political primary elections will be May 29th, which is also the time of the traditional travel season in our state. Redistricting is a big issue this year. The Texas redistricting process is done every ten years. The latest attempts to redistrict have been in the courts off and all since the end of the 2011 legislative session. Everyone with an interest has been keeping an eye on this, but finally the lines have been drawn and the campaign season is beginning.
Analysis of Legislative Turnover:
In the Texas House, one fifth of the congressmen are running for another office or retiring. This is inevitable, but it does mean that a lot of experience and knowledge will be leaving with them. This is a time when representatives from our industry should be available to help educate our new legislators about important issues in the Texas tourism and travel industry.
Texas Budget Discussion Analysis:
In Texas the state legislature only meets every other year for 140 days. That means we must begin working now. Budget discussions for the next session have started, and our state budget is under examination, even after the deep cuts from the last session. Medicaid costs threaten to swamp us, and education activists have sued the state in an attempt to garner funds for education.
The good news is that Texas tax revenues are up, and we have created more jobs than any other State in the United States of America. The Texas economy is robust. Texas Comptroller Susan Combs stated that our sales tax revenue was up in February $2.10 billion dollars over 2011 figures – a 14.8 percent increase.