Governor Rick Perry's Radio Address - Texas Enterprise Fund

Texas Enterprise Fund

My fellow Texans:

Earlier this summer, Texas Instruments announced a new $3 billion plant in the North Texas area. Critical to luring the thousand jobs that come with this business expansion was an investment by the state of $50 million from the new Texas Enterprise Fund.

This $50 million investment will be used to improve the science, math, engineering and computer science programs at the University of Texas at Dallas - assuring high-skilled workers for this company as well as others statewide.

With this wise investment, we all win.

You'll recall that during the legislative session I made a strong push for the creation of the Texas Enterprise Fund. Legislators set aside $295 million to help attract companies looking to expand or re-locate to a better competitive environment.

Texas Instruments represents the first success story for the Texas Enterprise Fund, but I don't expect it to be the last.

The best way to fund our schools, hospitals and roads is to grow our economy and create new and permanent jobs that provide a stable source of revenue our state needs to fund priorities. As we look to the future, we must continue to invest in job creation while ensuring Texas remains a business environment that is conducive to growth.

That's why it was so critical for legislators to pass a balanced budget that did not rely on one cent in new taxes. You can't create jobs while passing the tax hikes that in turn kill those jobs.

In Texas, we have many business advantages, including low taxes, reasonable regulation and a tradition of entrepreneurialism.

And now we have the Texas Enterprise Fund which will help us attract companies in fields like technology, biotechnology and health care that can improve our quality of life.

Having passed a balanced budget with no new taxes, invested more than $2 billion in new funds for education and health care and refocused our economic development efforts, I'd say the future of our state is looking brighter and that's the way Texans like it.