Small employers say lawsuit reforms have allowed them to focus on their businesses and helped lower costs of doing business, according to a survey of members of the Texas Association of Business released Friday at an event hosted by Bay Area Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.

More than nine of 10 employers surveyed said lawsuit reform is important to the business climate in Texas.

"Small employers -- the very backbone of our economy -- say reforms are working, and rightly so," Bob Parker, chairman of the lawsuit reform group, said in a statement. "In part because of lawsuit reform, our jobs climate is the envy of the nation. Texas is now a model for lawsuit reform, and those reforms are worth preserving and protecting."

Parker made his comments at a "Create Jobs, Not Lawsuits" event in Corpus Christi. The 2012 Create Jobs, Not Lawsuits Tour is sponsored by Sick of Lawsuits and Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse groups across the country.