SAHCC 89th Texas Legislative agenda

Access to Capital

• Supports legislation and funding that increases access to capital and fosters growth and development for micro and small businesses, through lending vehicles, minimal interest rates, and flexible terms by financial institutions.
• Supports legislation to expand and monitor accountability for the $635.6 million in State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funding that Texas received from the U.S. Government. The funding should be expanded to support the Texas Small Business Credit Initiative (TSBCI), which is made up of two programs: the Capital Access Program (CAP) and the Loan Guarantee Program (LGP). The legislature should monitor these programs to ensure they provide economic growth for small businesses across the state.

Business Certifications

• Opposes any legislation that diminish the Texas Historically Underutilized Business (TXHUB) program or certification for minority-owned businesses to contract with public agencies.

Business Regulations

• Opposes any legislation that adds regulations that negatively impact private business’s daily operations and or overall employment practices.
  

Broadband

• Supports working with the State and private internet service providers to explore the best options to increase availability, adoption, and quality of high-speed internet service in underserved areas where connectivity is needed the most.
• Supports funding for emergency communications and communications equipment, including school safety upgrades, NextGen 9-1-1 and ensuring first responder equipment interoperability.
• Supports tax policy encouraging investment and efforts to increase access to modern communications infrastructure.
• Supports funding to ensure the State of Texas’ government cyber networks are secure.
• Supports deterring copper/metal theft and associated communications infrastructure vandalism.

Economic Competitiveness

• Supports preserving, modernizing, and increasing the availability of economic development tools that keep the Texas economy competitive, encourage significant job creation, attract, and retain capital-intensive projects.
• Opposes legislation that would potentially discriminate against Texans based upon race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age or disability.
• Supports the establishment of a comprehensive working partnership with the State of Texas in support of Port San Antonio’s effort to develop and construct a new, consolidated campus for Air Forces Cyber and its related agencies, to include state investment in and support of enhancing critical infrastructure, the development and construction of shared facilities, and the integration of academic and research institutions for mission support.
• Supports the development of Advanced Air Mobility technology in Texas through the implementation of the full recommendations of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee. Support Port San Antonio’s efforts to establish itself as a principal place of performance for the development of eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) technology at Kelly Field and the broader Port campus.
• Supports infrastructure legislation that directs Texas state agencies to leverage funding where appropriate with funds from the North American Development Bank (NADBank).

Energy

• Supports the continued protection of the Municipally Owned Utility (MOU) business model, which allows CPS Energy to directly serve the needs of the San Antonio community.
• Supports an “all-the-above” energy strategy that is affordable, reliable, and sustainably derived from diverse sources, including establishing tax strategies that attract and facilitate the utilization of low-carbon technologies.
• Supports proposals that enhance the reliability and resiliency of electric and natural gas systems in a manner that appropriately balances the associated costs with customer benefits and affordability.
• Supports proposals to enhance the viability and productivity of our State’s electrical infrastructure/grid, while maintaining accountability at ERCOT.

Housing

• Supports the expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) at the state and federal level and explores ways to make it more effective in San Antonio.
• Supports increased funding for affordable housing construction and preservation from state and federal programs in order to leverage city investments.
• Supports reducing the costs for the development, preservation, and management of affordable housing to make affordable housing economically feasible and sustainable.
• Supports removing barriers that prevent the production and preservation of affordable housing with legislation that streamlines processes and enhances the opportunity for construction and preservation of affordable housing to come to fruition.

Local Control

• Opposes legislation that would erode and limit the authority of municipalities and local government entities to address the unique needs of their communities, including any prohibition of advocacy and/or communicating community priorities with legislators.

Military

• Opposes any legislation that would threaten current and future military missions in the San Antonio region.
• Supports continued funding for the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant (DEAAG) and growing the biennial appropriation from the current level of $30 million.
• Supports addressing food insecurity among military and veteran families through targeted policies and increased funding that address food insecurity, ensuring they have reliable access to nutritious food.
• Support expanding child care access for military families by improving access to affordable, high-quality child care and supporting their readiness and stability.

Taxes and Regulations

• Supports legislation that reduces the regulatory and property tax burden on all taxpayers.

Transportation

• Supports preserving all existing TxDOT funding streams, including Propositions 1 and 7, and identifying new mechanisms to help fund transportation projects.
• Supports initiatives that protect and expand the ability of VIA, Bexar County, and the City of San Antonio to fund and deliver local transportation projects and public transportation services.
• Opposes legislation that would negatively impact funding, expansion, or renewed infrastructure for public transportation in Texas.

Water

• Supports groundwater laws and regulations that provide a stable and equitable framework for developing and managing water supply projects needed for the economic growth of our state.
• Supports continuing the efforts of the 88th Legislature with respect to increased infrastructure funding, as well as facilitating the development of alternative supplies such as desalination, Aquifer Storage & Recovery, and recycled water.
• Supports legislation to require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to update water availability models (WAMs) for the Guadalupe-San Antonio River basins and provide funding for these updates.
  

Early Childhood Education

• Supports strengthening the Child Care Services (CCS) program to better serve Texas parents and the providers who serve them.
• Supports building up the supply of child care programs that meet urgent needs by providing competitive grants through a pilot program that empowers communities to expand affordable care in high-need areas, (e.g., infant & toddler care, alternative hour care, care for children with disabilities, child care deserts, proximity to major employers). The Legislature should also address unintended zoning barriers to expand the supply of licensed child care homes.
• Supports programs that can recruit and retain qualified and effective staff and help low-income educators access high-quality care for their own children through the Child Care Services program.
• Supports increased access to public pre-k by expanding opportunities for partnerships with community-based child care settings. Streamline processes and build supports to enable the creation and expansion of pre-k partnerships that deliver high-quality pre-k in a full working-day setting to meet the needs of Texas families.

Higher Education

• Supports the adoption and full funding for all recommendations of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s formula advisory committees for the 2026-2027 biennium and support for rate enhancements needed to adequately fund the actual per capita cost of educating students.
• Supports sustaining non-formula funding for remaining special/exceptional items within the institutional bill pattern at 2024-2025 funding levels into 2026-2027 and investing in new exceptional items to support leading-edge and innovative programs not otherwise supported by formula funding.
• Supports the Texas Research Incentive Program (TRIP).
• Supports the Hazelwood program supporting military-affiliated students and their dependents.
• Supports the Texas Grant program for low- income and first-generation students.
• Supports debt service funding to support the Capital Construction Assistance Program (CCAP), if enacted, which is critically important to all public universities that have aging buildings and significant deferred maintenance; this would also enhance modernization and expand supplemental research space.

Public Education

• Supports a state school finance system based on a combination of attendance and enrollment, including adjustments for changing student learning needs, workforce shortages, and inflationary costs.
• Supports sustainably and systematically incentivizing greater opportunities for career expansion and career growth for educators across the K12 pipeline, including counselors, social workers, and school psychologists, to meet the needs of public schools through tuition reimbursement programs, school-based residency partnerships, scholarships for aspiring teachers, or similar initiatives.
• Supports implementing an automatic inflationary annual adjustment to the basic allotment using a nationally recognized third-party economic statistic due to escalating costs of goods and services, rising inflation challenges, and school districts’ ability to provide high-quality education to over five million Texas students.
• Requests that the State of Texas honor high-quality teachers by ensuring that their salaries increase proportionately with inflation and affordable healthcare insurance mirrors benefits packages offered to state governmental employees.
• Requests that all educational institutions in Texas receiving public funds should be held to equitable and transparent accountability and fiscal management standards.
• Requests that the scope for the Texas’ A-F accountability system be expanded to include factors beyond STAAR standardized test scores that schools provide such as family and student engagement, quality instruction, job training, and extracurricular activities.
• Requests that the State of Texas fully funds all school safety mandates for school districts.

Workforce Development

• Supports the expansion of opportunities for all Texans to access quality workforce training to upskill and reskill to obtain high-wage, in-demand jobs leading to economic mobility and greater prosperity for our region and state.
• Supports legislation to enhance School-to-Work Transitions it is crucial to strengthen partnerships between school districts and local businesses to ensure a smoother transition for students, especially those with disabilities, from education to employment. This includes advocating for enhanced pre-employment training programs and more robust support systems within schools to prepare students for the workforce.
• Supports Increased funding for the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant (DEAAG) within the Governor’s Trusted Programs. Support the use of criteria to ensure funded projects maximize Return on Investment in terms of job creation and mission support. Support refinement of program guidelines to allow for funding of projects above the current $5M grant cap.
• Supports increased access to affordable, high-quality childcare and early education programs; and out-of-school (OST) programming.
• Supports strengthening the childcare sector and ensuring more Texas families have access to reliable, affordable, high-quality childcare.
• Supports education and workforce initiatives that align with the Port’s vision to extend applied learning opportunities in STEM-related fields at its campus:
• Track and support State legislation that would authorize and fund grants for nonprofits in support of workforce training (example: The Lone Star Workforce of the Future Fund)
• Facilitate opportunities to utilize cyber-training capabilities provided by ARSOC (Alamo Regional Security Operations Center) to the benefit of the State (agencies, legislators, or other).
• Support reauthorization and funding for workforce, education and training programs, including apprenticeship programs and workforce programs that target historically disadvantaged populations.