Global Trade Alert

In July, 2013 the state of Texas provided $12 million in incentives to Chevron USA for the establishment of oil and gas facilities in Houston, Texas. The company's capital investment in the project is projected at $662 million. The project will, according to state officials, result in the direct creation of 1,752 jobs (and 3,090 jobs altogether).This assistance was provided via the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF), a program approved in 2003 (and reappropriated in 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011) to help attract new jobs and investment to the state. Touted by Texas state officials as the largest 'deal-closing' fund of its kind in the United States, projects under the TEF are subject both to an objective screening process and a final, political decision (i.e., the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the Texas House must unanimously agree in favor of a project in order for an award to be granted). Among the criteria applied in allocating TEF funds are the requirement that the 'applicant's business sector must be an advanced industry that could potentially locate in another state or country.' The rules also require (among other points) that competition with another state for the project must exist, and the business must not have already made a location decision; projected new job creation must be significant; and the new positions must be high-paying jobs.