Real Estate Councils of Texas Hold First Lobby Day in Austin
On Tuesday, February 24, 2009, members from the Real Estate Councils of Texas, a statewide coalition representing the commercial real estate industry, met in Austin for the first biennial Lobby Days. This new coalition, consisting of real estate councils from Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, was established in September 2008 to create a more collective statewide footprint for the commercial real estate industry.
While in Austin, members from participating organizations of RECsTX networked with each other and legislators at a cocktail reception at the Terrace Bar at the Stephen F. Austin Intercontinental Hotel, attended a breakfast with keynote speaker Texas Comptroller Susan Combs and descended upon the Capitol to lobby legislators on important issues affecting the commercial real estate industry.
RECsTX was honored in resolutions both the House and the Senate Key legislative issues on the RECsTX agenda include eliminating an inequity in the revised franchise tax and increasing transportation funding.
Comptroller Addresses the Real Estate Councils of Texas at Lobby Days Breakfast
On Tuesday, February 24, 2009, members from the Real Estate Councils of Texas, a statewide coalition formed to advocate on issues that are important to the commercial real estate industry, hosted a breakfast at the Austin Club for Texas Comptroller Susan Combs before heading to the Capitol to visit legislators.
Joining RECA in the coalition are: The Real Estate Council in Dallas, the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council, the Houston Real Estate Council, Houstonians for Responsible Growth, and the Real Estate Council of San Antonio. The new coalition was formed on September 23, 2008 and launched publicly at a press conference in Austin on November 13, 2008.
At the breakfast, Combs congratulated the group on the enormous contribution the commercial real estate industry makes to the state's economy and went on to outline key facets of the biennial revenue estimate for 2009 and 2010. She pointed out that the gross state product (GSP) for Texas registered a solid 4.2 percent growth rate in fiscal year 2008 despite the U.S. recession that began in December 2007. However, the national downturn has finally made its presence felt in Texas, and Combs forecasted that Texas will lose 111,000 jobs during fiscal 2009 while the GSP is predicted to drop down to 1.8 percent and then rise slightly to 1.9 percent in 2010.
Combs pointed out that the state's economy will continue to grow--just at a slower rate. She shared that only one out of 967 mortgages in the entire state of Texas has been foreclosed as compared to one out of every 64 mortgages in the city of Las Vegas alone, an example that gives perspective to the fact that the Texas market was less reckless than other parts of the country.
Combs also addressed the state's new business franchise tax and promised the group that her office will be reviewing all 214,000 business entities that were taxed to analyze how the new law has been applied. Some legislators have already proposed that there is a need to raise the threshold for a small business exemption to businesses that have revenues of $1 million.
After the breakfast, members of the Real Estate Councils of Texas descended on the Capitol building to visit legislators from each of the cities represented in the coalition. RECA members visited each office in the Central Texas delegation and left materials outlining the RECA 2009 Legislative Program. Altogether, 63 members of the Texas House and Senate received visits from members of the Real Estate Councils of Texas.