Columns

On this day in 1865, Greenville S. Dowell, a Virginia native born in 1822, and a group of local physicians formed the Galveston Medical Society.

My dad was born in 1921, in Panola County, Texas. He was the youngest of nine children, born into a sharecropper family. He grew up chopping, hoeing, and picking cotton. His dad died when he was 15 and as one of the few left at home, he took care of and helped provide for his mother.

A year ago, the economy had begun to stabilize after two months of cataclysmic decline due to COVID-19 and the massive response. Almost overnight, millions of jobs disappeared, and an economy in the midst of a record-shattering expansion suddenly went into free fall.

There were times in the last year or so that I thought we were really having to sacrifice due to what was going on around us with the pandemic. Businesses closed down, no travel, difficult to find what you needed for your home. Of course, you follow that up with the snowstorm to end all snowstorms.

Calm down! Recent inflation reports have caused alarm and, frankly, overreaction. The overall Consumer Price Index increased again in May, bringing the rate over the last 12 months to 5.0%.

Over 20 years ago, the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Economic Development Act, which allows school districts to offer tax incentives for businesses that invest in their communities.

Two years! That’s the Chamber work anniversary I’m celebrating today. It certainly has been full of unexpected twists and turns thanks to COVID. I joke with my coworkers and our board members that I’m a redshirt freshman.

The recent legislative session will not soon be forgotten. The focus was perpetually on anything but initiatives required to move Texas forward. Some high profile measures stalled but will no doubt resurface; others passed.

The Texas Legislature sent a $248 billion two-year state budget to Gov. Greg Abbott after the House approved the measure last Thursday. The 140-day legislative session ended at midnight May 31.

With COVID-19 cases continuing to fall and vaccination rates rising, things are beginning to feel a bit more normal. The economy is growing, and the outlook remains positive as the health crisis abates.