Pages tagged "accountability"
Texas IAF Calls On State Comptroller to Abandon Plan to Gut Chapter 313 Subsidy Accountability Requirements
[Excerpt]
"Lawmakers have ordered Comptroller Glenn Hegar to wrap up Texas’s biggest corporate tax break program, but he wants to give companies one last gift: an end to public accountability.
Activists, corporate relocation specialists and lawmakers are scrambling to comment on Hegar’s proposal that companies no longer report key data about their progress toward meeting the terms of their property tax abatement agreements.
....
Interfaith groups that fought the corporate giveaway that hurts Texas children demanded Hegar roll back his plan on Wednesday.
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“What is the benefit of less accountability and less transparency?” San Antonio state Senator José Menéndez asked at a Texas Industrial Areas Foundation press conference. “The taxpayer should know how their money is going to be used and what they are getting in exchange.”
[Photo Credit: Mark Mulligan, San Antonio Express News]
Texas Comptroller Proposes Covering Up Corporate Welfare Program, The Houston Chronicle [pdf]
Taylor: The Chapter 313 Monster — the Mother of All Corporate Welfare — Revives?, San Antonio Express News [pdf]
COPS/Metro Assembly Draws 600 Leaders Online for Accountability Session with Candidates for City Office
[Excerpt from San Antonio Express-News]
More than 600 San Antonio community members tuned in to a virtual accountability session where city politicians and candidates addressed police reform, workforce development, education and February’s power outages.
Communities Organized for Public Service and the Metro Alliance, or COPS/Metro, hosted the session Sunday in the runup for the city election May 1. Early voting starts Monday.
Nearly 40 incumbents and challengers running for mayor, city council and San Antonio Independent School District board seats joined the conversation....
COPS/Metro Assembly Draws Virtual Crowd of 600 to Quiz San Antonio Candidates, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]
Video, NOWCastSA
City Council & Mayoral Candidates Accountability Assembly, Sun, Apr 23, 3PM
Leaders of COPS/Metro Alliance, a broad-based organization of churches, schools, and unions, will hold an Accountability Assembly with San Antonio City Council and Mayoral Candidates on Sunday, April 23, 2017 at 3:00 PM at the St. Henry Catholic Church Parish Hall (1619 S. Flores Street; SATX 78204). The leading Mayoral and Council candidates from Districts 1-8 have been invited. Nearly 500 delegates from COPS/Metro institutions are expected to attend. Leaders will share stories about immigration, housing, workforce development and wages, and the candidates will be asked to respond to specific questions about these issues.
Accountability Assembly - April 19, 2015
Leaders of COPS/Metro, a broad-based organization of churches, schools, and unions, will hold an Accountability Assembly with Candidates for Mayor and City Council, Sunday, April 19, at 3:30 PM in St. Henry’s Parish (1619 S. Flores St) to advance a Living Wage strategy for the lowest paid City of San Antonio workers and for outsourced & subcontract service jobs. Over 300 delegates are expected to attend the session, the top 4 candidates for Mayor, and City Council candidates from Districts 2, 3, 5, and 7.
"This is an exciting turning point in what has already proven to be a successful campaign,” remarked Esmeralda Rodriguez of St. Timothy Parish and co-chair for the assembly. “Since we began organizing around this issue last June, we’ve gained the support of 4 of the 5 Bexar County Commissioners to raise wages for the lowest paid county employees to $14.91 over three years, starting with $13 next year. And the Alamo Colleges have already raised wages for their lowest paid employees as a direct result of our actions. Now, we’re turning our attention to the City.”
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