Austin — TechNet, the national, bipartisan
network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, today announced its
opposition to discriminatory legislation in Texas that will significantly harm
the state’s economy. The following statement
can be attributed to Caroline Joiner, executive director for Texas and the
Southeast.
“Discriminatory legislation like
Senate Bill 6 has no place in Texas. Our
state has established itself as one of the nation’s strongest economies
precisely because we value and embrace a talented and diverse workforce. Efforts like Senate Bill 6 threaten to upend
this growth by hindering the recruitment of the best and brightest to live and work
in Texas. Simply put: Texas must do all
it can to ensure that it remains open to business for all. This means emphatically rejecting
discriminatory legislation like Senate Bill 6.”
TechNet
is a member of Keep Texas Open for Business, a coalition of Texas businesses
that educates state leaders on the negative impact discriminatory legislation
could pose to the Texas economy.
In
December 2016, the coalition released a report finding that Texas could face an
$8.5 billion decline in the state’s GDP and lose 185,000 jobs if discriminatory
legislation becomes law. The full report
can be read here.
Caroline
Joiner authored an op-ed on this issue, “The Lone Star State must be open to
business for all,” in November 2016. The
op-ed can be read here.
About TechNet
TechNet is the national,
bipartisan network of technology CEOs and senior executives that promotes the
growth of the innovation economy by advocating a targeted policy agenda at the
federal and 50-state level. TechNet’s
diverse membership includes dynamic startups to the most iconic companies on
the planet and represents more than two million employees in the fields of
information technology, e-commerce, advanced energy, biotechnology, venture
capital, and finance. TechNet has offices in
Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Austin, Boston,
Seattle, Albany, and Tallahassee.