Keeping the Texas Economy Humming

According to CNBC, “Texas has added more than 350,000 jobs in the past year… Put another way, one in seven jobs created in the United States in the past year was created in Texas.”

CNBC uses a variety of criteria to rank the states, from quality of workforce and life to infrastructure, technology and cost of living. But one part of the study jumped out at us the most.

“Since we introduced our rankings in 2007, Texas has never finished outside the top five overall, always following the same basic formula… The state prides itself on business-friendly regulations, smart spending and low taxes… The state does not always meet those priorities. This year, for example, it finishes… No. 21 for Business Friendliness because of a sometimes difficult legal climate.”

That’s right. Texas—the national example of successful, common-sense tort reform—ranked near the middle of the pack in business friendliness because of our legal environment. An excellent reminder that while we have accomplished many critical, historic reforms that have helped us shake the reputation for jackpot justice that plagued us in the 1980s and 1990s, there’s still much more that we must do to make our legal system work better for all Texans. The CNBC report highlights that we must strive for a judiciary that is honest, competent, decisive and impartial.

TLR continues to look for ways to make Texas’ legal system less “difficult.” Our goal continues to be a civil justice system that is fair and efficient; one that is accessible and affordable for plaintiffs and defendants alike. When people of all backgrounds and means have full access to the courts to resolve their disputes, everyone benefits. We’ll continue rolling out our proposals for how to achieve these goals in the months leading up to the next legislative session in 2019.

Texas would not be the success it is today without tort reform. There’s no doubt the Lone Star State would have fared much worse in this ranking—and countless others—if job-killing lawsuit abuse had been left unchecked. We’d likely be talking about this ranking for a completely different reason.

The good news is that we know the path to success. We’re blessed with elected officials who’ve worked hard to get us to where we are, and who understand the role our legal system plays in keeping our economy strong. We spoke with some of these leaders recently and, as you can see in the video above, they had a lot to say about what tort reform has done for the Texas economy.

Texas has the nation’s attention. In a good way. Let’s keep giving them something to talk about.

Earlier this year, Texas received Site Selection Magazine’s Governor’s Cup for job creation and economic growth. Revisit Gov. Abbott’s remarks about how tort reform has played a critical role in Texas’ economic success.