You may hear us at the Abilene Chamber of Commerce say that we are working for your business. However, you don’t see us behind a cash register, or welding parts, or out selling the product or service of your business.
One of the most important activities we do to work for your business is advocacy. And that function is going full force right now with the Texas Legislature opening last week. We are representing you. We are advocating for the things you have told us you need to grow your business, and likewise, we are letting lawmakers and their staff know about proposals that would not be good for business.
You’ve read in this column about our Legislative Agenda, the culmination of six months of gathering information from our membership. It is an extensive, bullet-by-bullet document outlining our stances on 76 issues. The general topics range from things like Education to Healthcare and Human Services and from Transportation to Economic Development.
Probably the hottest topic at this biennium’s 140-day legislative session is how to spend the $32 billion-plus of increased revenue the state has. We certainly will be fighting to make sure the business sector, and your business, benefit from those funds.
The Chamber staff is monitoring the Legislature’s activities every day. But what can you do?
You can let us know what’s important. While we may already have conducted a membership-wide survey that helped us formulate the Legislative Agenda, we know other things may come to light that need our attention. Share them with us.
You can contact your legislators and let them know what would help or hurt your business.
And you can travel with us to Austin to help us advocate for a pro-business environment by attending Big Country Day at the Capitol sponsored by Taylor Telecom. Participants will also view House and Senate sessions and take a tour of the State Capitol and the event includes a reception hosted at the Texas Association of Business headquarters.
This event is presented by Taylor Telecom and is in partnership with the Abilene Industrial Foundation.
Find information including registration cost, dates, etc at the link here.
We look forward to continuing our work on behalf of the Big Country business community.