BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center C.S.S.C.R. 19
79R11807 CME-F By: Madla, Estes
Committee Report (Substituted)
AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
In recognition of both the direct and indirect revenues that could be generated for the state by a robust wine industry, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst charged the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations of the 78th Legislature to study and make recommendations relating to the development of the Texas wine industry, assess the impact of state and federal laws on the shipment and delivery of wine, and make recommendations for increasing the economic impact of the wine industry in Texas;
The Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations found that Texas has all the elements necessary to be a competitive force in the national and international wine industries; the Texas wine industry could prove to be a stellar economic generator for the, and with the proper policies in place, the Texas wine industry is positioned to boom within the next five to ten years;
Although progress has been made through the years, insufficient funding and budget reductions for new and existing education, training, and research hinder the development of the industry; moreover, the lack of a consistent, coordinated, and centralized effort among industry stakeholders and public policy makers to develop appropriate programs and policies, to explore, develop and access relevant funding streams, and to communicate concerns and needs to appropriate parties impedes the development of this industry to its full potential;
It is difficult to compete successfully in a market if there is no clear picture of the status of the competition and although there is a great deal of data available regarding wine industries throughout the United States, there are also great inconsistencies in what data is collected, how it is collected and compiled, the resources and standards that are applied, the time frames that are employed, and the form in which the data is published;
An annual posting of comparable data from those states in closest competition with Texas should prove to be a valuable tool to our wine industry.
RESOLVED
That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby respectfully request the Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute at Texas Tech University to include in its data collection and reporting, as funding and information resources allow, a basic comparison of the economic impacts of the Texas, California, New York, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Virginia, and other closely competitive wine industries, and that the data to be compared be published annually and include certain specified information for each state.
That the Texas secretary of state forward an official copy of this resolution to the chairman of the board of regents of the Texas Tech University System.