The Texas Association of Business releases its "legislator scorecard" after a contentious session in Austin this year.
Despite their support for the new anti-sanctuary cities law, Chief Executive Jeff Mosely says a handful of Houston area lawmakers still scored well on their list.
“Sen. Paul Bettencourt was clearly was one of those, Sen. Joan Huffman had an outstanding record, those are the two off the top of my head that we know did a very good job representing jobs and paychecks,” says Moseley.
“Hail storm litigation reform, air quality permit reform, the Texas emissions reduction program, outlays in technology for early college and high school called P-TECH, and port financing.”
Moseley says the TAB wants to mobilize more business-friendly candidates for next year's primary.
“Funding public education, fighting for better highways so we don't have traffic gridlock, the reforms that we need to do on our property tax, these are things that are critical to businesses in Texas,” he says.
He points out that Texas this year dropped from number one to number four in CNBC's ranking of “America’s top states for business.”
Moseley calls it an indication the state’s business community needs to become more engaged in vetting political candidates.