All across Texas, cities and counties are working to nurture small business, encourage entrepreneurship, advance commerce, and create jobs. Fortunately, Texas law offers many tools for local leaders seeking to generate economic development and opportunity. This Handbook is intended to inform Texas cities and counties about the wide-range of legal tools that are available to local communities.

The requirements that define appropriate use of TIF vary from state to state, and in states like Texas have been interpreted very broadly. Utilizing data provided by the TIF Registry maintained by the Texas Comptroller, this explanatory research uses multiple regression analysis to determine if factors that influence TIF adoption identified in the current body of literature also influence the size in acres of TIF districts adopted by municipalities in Texas.

Gov. Rick Perry announced Fritz Industries Inc. is opening a manufacturing and office facility in Greenville, creating 250 jobs and $37.5M in capital investment. The state is providing $800K through the Texas Enterprise Fund to close the deal on this expansion and job creation.

The nonprofit business association 'Keeping PACE in Texas' will spend the next year assembling "PACE in a Box" for the state of Texas. It will offer some of the streamlined advantages of state-run programs like the one in Connecticut, such as standards for program underwriting, but also take advantage of ways PACE has been implemented in cities and counties across the country.

Starting Sept. 1, Gov. Rick Perry will replace the current Texas Water Development Board by appointing three full-time government employees, who will make $150K a year. The board would also have control over $2B in a revolving fund for water supply projects across the state, should voters approve creating such a fund in November.

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Laura Radcliff with Stifel Nicolaus led a panel of experts as they discussed how communities redevelop after natural disasters. Hear from local experts who shared successful financing solutions and first-hand experience restoring neighborhoods, transit systems, farms, and businesses following a devastating storm.

Preston Bryant with McGuireWoods Consulting discusses Virginia's P3 law and legislative history, how the Virginia law works and how it has influenced other states' P3 initiatives, as well as what P3 legislation has been passed or is being considered in other states.

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