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Former George W. Bush advisor Dan Bartlett, president and CEO of Public Strategies Inc., will speak at the North Texas Commission’s Signature Series presented by Fidelity Investments on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at noon at the Hilton Anatole, L’Entrecote Ballroom in Dallas. Bartlett will discuss “Building Public Trust: Defining American Confidence in Government and Business.”

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The North Texas Commission has opened the application period for the 2010-2011 Leadership North Texas class. Leadership North Texas is a graduate-level, regional leadership program designed to recruit, develop and support leaders who have a commitment to civic engagement and to the North Texas region. Participants will hear from regional and national experts on various issues facing North Texas with discussion on how to address the challenges facing our region. …Continue Reading

The North Texas Future Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving critical issues affecting North Texas’ growth, is looking for nominations for the second annual North Texas Future Fund Bridge Awards to honor individuals, community organizations and corporations that have made significant contributions to improving literacy in North Texas.

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Texas Comptroller Susan Combs updated her economic outlook. Below we post the Nov. 20 update in its entirety: …Continue Reading

The North Texas Commission presented Representative Vicki Truitt with its Transportation Excellence Award in Mobility (TEAM) at the annual Working for Clean Air Award ceremony on Oct. 20. …Continue Reading

Resolution Urges Voters to Support Constitutional Amendment on Ballot Nov. 3, 2009

The Board of Directors of the North Texas Commission passed a resolution during its September board meeting urging voters to support Proposition 4 on the Nov. 3, 2009, ballot. …Continue Reading

The North Texas Commission, a regional organization of public and private sector leaders, will launch a free Webinar series that examines challenges the region is facing with experts facilitating a discussion focused on creating solutions. …Continue Reading

‘Reverse Logistics and Test & Repair Programs: Managing for Enhanced Customer Goodwill and Optimal Financial Return’ …Continue Reading

Graduate-Level Leadership Program Aims to Build Regional Stewards

IRVING, TEXAS – The North Texas Commission, the one and only public-private regional organization; and the North Texas Future Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving critical issues affecting North Texas’ growth, announce the inaugural class of Leadership North Texas. …Continue Reading

The following is a recap of legislative priorities concerning North Texas Transportation, Air Quality, Economic Development and Long Range Water Supply.

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The Rest & Recuperation Program continues to be a significant and rewarding program in the North Texas region. If you have had an opportunity to participate in this program, you know just how moving this experience is day after day as troops from Iraq are welcomed home by groups of volunteers from North Texas. …Continue Reading

The House meltdown to avoid the Voter ID bill coming up on the calendar killed or jeopardized many, many important bills including SB 16 (the omnibus clean air bill), SJR 9 (curtailing diversion of transportation funds), and SJR 52 (allowing use of local motor fuels tax and registration fee revenues to fund transit and rail). The two constitutional amendments are dead but Senator Averitt was able to add much of SB 16 into HB 1796 (CCR adopted), so a lot of the important clean air provisions did make it. …Continue Reading

There will be a major press event in support of TLOTA on the south steps of the Texas Capitol in Austin at 1:00pm Friday. Please make a sincere effort to attend. Senator Carona has asked that we have a very strong showing at this event to demonstrate support of local option transportation funding. The CSHB 300 Conference Committee will be appointed tonight after 10:10pm. We must show them that there is widespread and deep support for TLOTA. …Continue Reading

Just Another Day at Office (Texas Weekly, May 18, 2009)

Remember the cartoons where the sheepdog and the coyote would meet at the time clock every morning, say hello, ask about the families, punch in, harass each other all day, then greet each other pleasantly as they punched out for the evening?

That’s not a bad metaphor for lawmakers right now. There’s some time pressure, but they’re in pretty good humor.

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Monday, May 11, 2009 (119th day)
Last day for house committees to report house bills and house joint resolutions
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 (120th day)
Deadline for house to print and distribute last House Daily Calendar with nonlocal house bills and joint resolutions
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 (121st day)
Deadline for house to print and distribute last House Local and Consent Calendar with consent house bills
Thursday, May 14, 2009 (122nd day)
Last day for house to consider nonlocal house bills and joint resolutions on second reading
Friday, May 15, 2009 (123rd day)
Last day for house to consider nonlocal house bills and joint resolutions on third reading and to consider consent house bills on second and third reading
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There are four weeks remaining in the session. Some of the approaching deadlines:
May 11 – last day for house committees to report house bills and joint resolutions
May 23 – last day for house committees to report senate bills and joint resolutions
May 29 – last day for House to consider senate amendments
May 31 – last day for House to consider conference committee reports
June 1 – corrections only in House and Senate – last day of session

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Action Alerts

1. Contact House Calendars Committee members and urge them not to move HB 2639 to the floor, to preserve municipal authority for red light camera enforcement.
2. Contact House Transportation Committee members and urge them to support CSHB 9 (The Local Option Transportation Act) and HJR 9 (the constitutional amendment allowing vehicle registration fee and motor fuel tax revenue to be used for transit and rail)
3. Contact House Ways & Means Committee members and urge them to support HB 3462 by Todd Smith, indexing the motor fuel tax and reducing transportation funds diversions
4. Contact SB 1 Conference Committee members and urge them not to include in the Conference Committee Report House amendment numbers 161 & 162 by Rep Robert Miklos, which would stop LBJ, North Tarrant Express, DFW Connector and other priority projects

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The House adopted 416 amendments to the annual appropriations act Friday and Saturday, some of which impose limitations on comprehensive development agreements, toll projects and managed lanes projects that may jeopardize projects very important to our region. We will be assessing the damage and organizing an effort to get needed corrections in the conference committee. …Continue Reading

North Texas’ Exxon Mobil tops annual ranking

IRVING – The North Texas Commission and Fortune magazine recognize the 25 North Texas companies ranked in the 2009 Fortune 500 listing released April 19.

Exxon Mobil, headquartered in Irving, surpassed Wal-Mart Stores as No. 1 on the 2009 Fortune 500 list, which ranks companies by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. …Continue Reading

The Local Option Transportation Act (HB 9 / CSSB 855), the region’s highest priority bill this session, was passed to engrossment in the Senate last Wednesday and will be up for third reading and final senate passage Tuesday. Fifteen amendments were attached to the bill during second reading. Counties in three regions were added to the bill–Corpus Christi, the Valley and Waco. A provision was added saying the bill does not take effect unless the Legislature and voters approve a constitutional amendment limiting diversions from the state highway fund. In effect, local option authority is now linked to passage of SJR 9 in addition to SJR 52. Assuming CSSB 855 passes the senate on third reading Tuesday, hearing in House Transportation will be on April 21 at the earliest or more likely on April 28. May 11 is the last day for bills to be reported from House committees. …Continue Reading

The volume of bills to be heard and the ticking time clock on the 140-day session have led many committees to increase meeting frequency. Senate Transportation & Homeland Security is now meeting on Mondays and Wednesdays. This week will a short one due to the Easter break. …Continue Reading

North Texas Future Fund Announces Nominees, Winners Of The Inaugural Bridge Awards

IRVING, TEXAS – The North Texas Future Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving critical issues affecting North Texas’ growth, announced the nominees and winners of the inaugural NTFF Bridge Awards. The nominees and winners will be honored at the NTFF Bridge Awards and Recognition Luncheon on April 7, 2009 at 11:15 a.m. at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth. …Continue Reading

The 81st Session has reached the half-way mark, with bills now moving through committees at a fast pace and being acted upon on both the senate and house floors. …Continue Reading

The 81st Session has filed a record number of bills – 7,155 – 4,708 House Bills and 2,447 Senate Bills as of March 19. So far the House has passed 0 bills and the Senate has passed 73. …Continue Reading

The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area added more people from 2007 to 2008 than any other region in the country, according to census data release today. North Texas was among four regions to add more than 100,000 people in that time span, along with Houston, Phoenix and Atlanta. The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area ranks fourth in the nation in total population at more than 6.3 million people. Visit our page on the Top 25 Metropolitan Areas.

Leadership North Texas, the new, graduate-level regional leadership program, has extended its application deadline to May 1, 2009. In addition, the program has lowered the tuition rate for the first year to $3,000. For more information, go to the Leadership North Texas Web site or contact Kimberly Walton at 972-621-0400 ext. 110 or Kimberly@ntc-dfw.org.

With the exception of local bills, emergency appropriations, and bills that have been declared an emergency by the Governor, bill filing ended Friday with 1,223 or 21% more bills having been filed than last session.

Because of the very high volume of bills filed in the days leading up to the March 13 deadline, not all bills of interest have been reviewed. …Continue Reading

IRVING, Texas – The North Texas Commission, the one and only public-private regional organization, will host its 38th Annual Membership Luncheon at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Tuesday, September 22, 2009. The luncheon will take place on the field to give attendees the full experience of the size and scale of the new state-of-the-art facility.

“The Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington is one of …Continue Reading

The bill filing deadline is March 13. If the current pace continues, more bills will be filed this session than during the 80th Session. To date the House and Senate have filed 4216 bills.

The Local Option Transportation Act (HB 9 / SB 855) is the region’s highest priority bill this session. Tentatively SB 855 is slated to be heard in the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee March 18. Letters to Senator John Carona in support of SB 855 would be helpful. …Continue Reading