Harris' new chairmanship could help boost Dallas-Fort Worth economy

AUSTIN — As chairman of a newly minted Senate committee on economic development, Sen. Chris Harris of Arlington is positioned to assume a major role in efforts to keep Texas at the forefront of job expansion and business development even as the state weathers fallout from the national recession.

North Texas business leaders are looking to the senior Republican senator to help stoke developing nanotechnology centered on research at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Wes Jurey, president and chief executive officer of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, said Harris is an enthusiastic supporter of an upcoming venture-capital conference in Arlington, the largest of its kind in the United States.

Harris, who has been in the Legislature 24 years and is the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate, was given the chairmanship by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst last week. The economic development committee was one of three panels created by Dewhurst, the chamber’s presiding officer, as the Senate organized for the 2009 legislative session.

In an interview, Dewhurst called Harris one of the Senate’s "smartest members" and said the Arlington attorney has a strong understanding of business incentives and tax credits that would be used to lure businesses to Texas. Harris is also vice chairman of the Business and Commerce Committee and serves on three other committees — Finance, State Affairs and Jurisprudence.

Expanding the economy

"I thought by making economic development a committee, he could help us at this critical time," Dewhurst said. "His background and his ability will help us as we continue to grow the economy and hopefully outpace the nation."

Gov. Rick Perry, in his state of the state address to legislators last month, called on lawmakers to continue pro-business policies that have helped Texas lead other states and stay relatively healthy despite the recession.

Texas has created 1.2 million net jobs since 2003. From November 2007 to November 2008, roughly 70 percent of jobs created in the United States were in Texas.

Perry, who has made job creation and economic development a cornerstone of his 9-year-old administration, has asked lawmakers to "replenish" the Emerging Technology Fund and the Texas Enterprise Fund, designed to spawn new industry and expand existing enterprises.

Investments of $344 million from the enterprise fund have generated $14 billion in direct capital investment in Texas.

Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Business Association, said his organization expects Harris to support much of its legislative agenda. Although lawmakers are working under tight budget constraints, Hammond’s group hopes to boost money for Perry’s business development funds, or at least protect them from cuts.

"We’re very excited about the fact that Sen. Harris was appointed to that position," Hammond said. "He’s a champion of free enterprise."

Harris, whose Senate District 9 includes parts of Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties, said his chairmanship will help him "take care of my constituents" in Arlington and the surrounding area by nurturing what he called "major, major" business undertakings in North Texas.

Nanotech opportunities

Jurey said North Texas ranks near the top nationally in technology-based jobs and is attracting capital from across the country, partly because of UTA’s research in nanotechnology, which offers a broad range of new applications through development on a molecular scale.

The Parus Fund, an early-stage venture-capital fund with corporate offices in Cleveland and Moscow, has raised $10 million from Russian investors and hopes to raise an additional $10 million in Texas to advance nanotechnology, Jurey said. Nanotechnology can also be used to convert Texas coal into crude oil at a cost of about $24 a barrel, the chamber president said. Jurey said the venture-capital conference, scheduled for March 23-25 in Arlington, will attract early-stage venture funders from all over the country.