Election 2014

We have an important election coming up and early voting in Arkansas and Texas begins October 20^th.  Election Day is November 4^th. 

There are a number of business related issues on the ballot that you should take the time to look at.  If you are like me, you probably follow some of the local individual candidate races and try to pick your favorites.  We see the yard signs and the ads.  Then we get to the ballot box and find a host of other candidates and issues that we are asked to vote on without much information upon which to base that vote.  In this week’s blog, we want to make you aware of what some of those issues are and provide resources for you to link over to in order that you may make some more informed decisions.

Let’s start with Texas, since their list is a little shorter:

STATE PROPOSITION 1.  This proposition involves the permanent use of a percentage of the oil and gas severance tax (often referred to as the Rainy Day Fund) to fund highway projects throughout all the TXDOT districts in the state.  Estimates place the initial tranche of available funding at about $1.7 billion, which is a down payment on about $5 billion in unmet needs.  The Texarkana Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors endorses Prop 1.  For a  look at both sides of the issue please visit:  http://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Transportation_Funding_Amendment,_Proposition_1_(2014)

Allowing Texarkana, Texas Beer and Wine Sales.  This perennial battle to make Texarkana “wet” will come to a head again this year.  The Chamber has not taken a position on this initiative.

AMENDMENT 3 - REVISING THE CITY CHARTER, ARTICLE VIII – BUDGET. This amendment modifies certain instructions to make them consistent with other accounting authorities, like the State of Texas and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.  It also requires the Council to Adopt an annual budget development calendar and to report all debt, not just bond debt.  It also allows budgetary funds transfer to be handled through an administrative action and allows the City Council to approve budget amendments while maintaining a balanced budget.  The Chamber has not taken a position on this.

AMENDMENT 5 – TERMS OF OFFICE FOR CITY ELECTED OFFICIALS.  Changes the term of office of city elected officials from two years to four years, staggering implementation of the change of the terms of office for the 2015 and 2017 regular City elections and extending by one year the current terms of office of the Mayor and Council members for Wards 1, 4, and 6 to facilitate transition to four year terms.  The Chamber has not taken a position on this.

Texarkana Independent School District Capital Bond Referendum.  TISD is seeking authority to borrow money to build some important school improvements.  To find out more about this topic, watch our extended interview with Mr. Paul Norton, Superintendent of TISD @  minute :42  http://www.texarkanabusinessjournal.org/broadcasts/the-business-of-education/  The Chamber has not taken a position on this.

In Arkansas, there are 5 state wide ballot initiatives that are up for a vote and some of them are a bit complicated to understand.

Item 1.  EMPOWERING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO PROVIDE FOR LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF STATE AGENCIES’ ADMINISTRATIVE RULES. An amendment to the Arkansas Constitution providing that administrative rules promulgated by state agencies shall not become effective until reviewed and approved by a legislative committee of the General Assembly. Click here for a more detailed understanding of this initiative.

Item 2.  AN AMENDMENT ALLOWING MORE TIME TO GATHER SIGNATURES ON A STATE-WIDE INITIATIVE OR REFERENDUM PETITION ONLY IF THE PETITION AS ORIGINALLY FILED CONTAINED AT LEAST 75 PERCENT OF THE VALID SIGNATURES REQUIRED. Proposing an amendment to Article 5, Section 1, of the Arkansas Constitution concerning initiative and referendum; and providing certain requirements for the correction or amendment of insufficient state-wide petitions.  Click here for a more detailed understanding of this initiative.

Item 3.  THE ARKANSAS ELECTED OFFICIALS ETHICS, TRANSPARENCY, AND FINANCIAL REFORM AMENDMENT OF 2014.  To amend the Arkansas Constitution concerning elected state officials; prohibiting members of the General Assembly and elected constitutional officers of the executive department from accepting gifts from lobbyists, and defining key terms relating to that prohibition; prohibiting members of the General Assembly from setting their own salaries and the salaries of elected constitutional officers of the executive department, justices, and judges; establishing a seven member independent citizens commission to set salaries for members of the General Assembly, elected constitutional officers of the executive department, justices, and judges; establishing the appointment process for members of the independent citizens commission, and prohibiting members of the independent citizens commission from accepting gifts from lobbyists; prohibiting certain contributions, including contributions by corporations, to candidates for public office; prohibiting a member of the General Assembly from registering as a lobbyist until two (2) years after the expiration of his or her term; and establishing term limits for members of the General Assembly.  Click here for a more detailed understanding of this initiative.

Item 4.  THE ARKANSAS ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE AMENDMENT.  A proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to provide that, effective July 1, 2015, the manufacture, sale, distribution and transportation of intoxicating liquors is lawful within the entire geographic area of each and every county of this state; that “intoxicating liquors” is defined for purposes of the amendment as any beverage containing more than one-half of one percent (0.5%) of alcohol by weight; that the manufacture, sale, distribution and transportation of intoxicating liquors may be regulated, but not prohibited, by the General Assembly; and that all laws which conflict with the amendment, including laws providing for a local option election (wet-dry election) to determine whether intoxicating liquors may be sold or not sold, are

repealed to the extent that they conflict with the amendment. Click here for a more detailed understanding of this initiative.

Item 5.  AN ACT TO INCREASE THE ARKANSAS MINIMUM WAGE.  An act to amend the Arkansas Code concerning the state minimum wage; the act would raise the current state minimum wage from six dollars and twenty-five cents ($6.25) per hour to seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) per hour on January 1, 2015, to eight dollars ($8.00) per hour on January 1, 2016, and to eight dollars and fifty cents ($8.50) per hour on January 1, 2017.  Click here for a more detailed understanding of this initiative.

Please exercise your right and your responsibility to vote!!!!

- Bill Cork

Are you a predictable, boring leader? For Google, those are good leadership traits.

Google surveys its workers about their supervisors to discover the personal qualities of their best performing managers.  Interestingly, they find that in their business “predictability” is one of the hottest traits of a good leader.  Employees at Google like the freedom to perform, within limits, and having some predictability to those limits is highly valued.

Read more about this here….

http://blog.idonethis.com/google-most-important-leadership-trait/

                                                                                                   Retrieved from IDone This Blog

Do you agree that a “predictable” boss is a good one?  Send us your thoughts…

-Bill Cork

The Race for Tesla: Nevada Wins. (We can blame the sun.)

In many of the economic development circles that I run around in, the discussion of who would win the new Tesla electric battery production facility was always a hot topic. At one point, the Dallas area was a contender and even the TexAmericas Center site in central Bowie County, Texas was looked at by several lobbyists and others trying to land a deal for Texas. But it’s not to be for Texas.

To learn more about the Tesla announcement read the article in the link below…but also follow some of the sub links in the article.

https://www.uschamber.com/blog/tesla-motors-gigafactory-goes-nevada

Many local people have asked me why we couldn't have competed for this plant.  The answer is as simple as the sun in the sky.  Or lack thereof.  The entire plant is planned to be powered by solar power and Texarkana USA is not in a competitive solar gradient.  What that simply means is that there are other places in the USA that have abundant sunshine and Texarkana USA isn't one of them.  If you look at the map below you will notice that Nevada offers a much higher concentration of solar power potential than Texas does.

This is precisely the point most often overlooked by average citizens trying to critique the efforts of economic developers. Companies ultimately are accountable to shareholders and want to maximize return on their investment in assets.  They also need the skilled labor to make it happen.  There is only so much a state can do to offer incentives and provide a world class business environment before locational advantages and things we can’t control take over.  Each business is different.  In this case, Elon Musk, may have preferred Texas, but if you are trying to build a plant that is totally powered by the sun, you have to be where the sun intensity is the highest in order to maximize one of your critical inputs to production.  That may have put the deal out of reach.  Maybe not. But part of deciding how to deploy capital is to minimize risks and the risk of the sun not shining on your roof is one big issue in this case.  Take a look at the building design…

Retrieved: Tesla Motors

So, the job of local economic developers is not to chase every possible deal.  It is our job to chase the deals where we have an obvious competitive advantage in helping a company create a sustainable low cost of production, which in turn allows them to maximize their return on investment.  That is our challenge and that is what we are working hard on.

-Bill Cork

What Millennials Want—And Why Cities Are Right to Pay Them So Much Attention

Anthony Flint writes a compelling article in The Atlantic - City Lab blog.  He argues that Millennials are…

“Characterized, fairly or not, as competitive and driven, entitled and narcissistic, thoroughly technology-savvy, and more practical than ideological, they are finding their way in the world, and making the time-honored calibration of professional career and preferred place of residence.

Two public opinion polls came out in the last month suggesting the kinds of places Millennials like. Spoiler alert: it’s Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, as well as communities such as—I’m inclined to say once again, of course—Boulder and Austin. The key characteristics seem to be walkability, good schools and parks, and the availability of multiple transportation options.”

Read his whole post here….
http://www.citylab.com/housing/2014/05/what-millennials-wantand-why-cities-are-right-pay-them-so-much-attention/9032/

There has been much discussion amongst the thought leaders here in Texarkana about how to attract and keep millennials in our community and remediate the demographic trough of 20 to 30 something’s.  Of course, we have bets on the fact that Texas A&M University – Texarkana will help with the attraction of more and more of this generation along with the other high quality educational institutions in our region.  But it’s pretty clear from the survey work presented in this article that this generation is looking for quality of life. 

It’s not surprising.  Unemployment rates with this demographic group are high.  They must be able to lower their personal overhead cost and many are avoiding auto purchases and looking at shared living arrangements.  This make public transit and public spaces important.  When you think about baby boomers retiring we find similar interests as they lengthen their retirement savings by slashing their personal overhead. 

If we are a community that wants to attract and retain these generations, we must reimagine certain aspects of our community and create the kind of quality of life amenities in demand by these important groups.

Something to think about…


Bill Cork

Study: Is American Entrepreneurship Growing "Less Dynamic Than Ever?"

Entrepreneurship is often touted as the fuel that fires our economy.  But this new study casts doubt on that assumption.

Follow the link below to read more on this topic:

 https://www.uschamber.com/blog/study-american-entrepreneurship-growing-less-dynamic-ever

Here in Texarkana USA, we need to find new ways to fuel entrepreneurship to include:

·         Establishment of a small business development center that is active and thriving;

·         Development of venture and early phase start-up capital programs that connect high net worth individuals and funds with individual entrepreneurs; and

·         A university culture at Texas A&M University Texarkana and in our community colleges that encourages innovation and risk taking.

Thinking about how we create and sustain a viable culture of entrepreneurship is something we are working on at your Chamber.

America’s leadership in media and information content exported around the world is certainly one area were entrepreneurs are flourishing.  To make Texarkana USA a viable option for this kind of market, we need make sure we can access the latest in communications and broadband internet technology.

Just like the new interstate highways bring new opportunities in logistics and manufacturing, development of our information networking capability will help us grow that part of our economy.

Next week we will be hosting a meeting with leaders from the States of Arkansas and Texas to help our region begin the planning process to revolutionize our broadband network.  Subsequent meetings will involve business and institutional leaders who will help us inventory and plan for our future broadband needs.

This unseen and often taken for granted infrastructure will be key to the success of companies who need to move information globally.  Stay tuned for more updates on this vital effort.

It’s another great day at the Texarkana USA Chamber of Commerce….Bill Cork