Governor Rick Perry can make equity investments in private companies through the Texas Emerging Technologies Fund. This is in addition to grant monies the Governor awards. A Senate bill updates the reporting requirement, but does not have Perry showing his investment performance.
a brief description of the equity position that the governor, on behalf of the state, may take in companies receiving awards and the names of the companies in which the state has taken an equity position.
Governor Perry's 2011 TETF report states:
The Texas Emerging Technology Fund has made awards under Subchapter D, Incentives for Commercialization, to recipients that included the issuance to the Office of the Governor, on behalf of the state, of either:
• a warrant exercisable to purchase shares of common stock of the company receiving the award, subject to the occurrence of certain vesting events; or
• a right to purchase shares of common or preferred stock of the company receiving the award, subject to the occurrence of certain vesting events.
The bill heads to the House, which failed to hold Perry accountable for problems with the Emerging Technologies Fund or prior excesses with a sister fund, the Texas Enterprise Fund. Ironically, Governor Perry tapped the Rainy Day fund for his corporate welfare projects.
Governor Perry has the skills to work for a shadowy, private equity underwriter (PEU). When will he do so? My guess is it will be after his Presidential run. There's bigger payola to share with donors.
Update 4-12-11: The Texas House will consider a bill incentivizing solar projects in Texas by charging a fee on residential, commercial and industrial electric bills. It's expected to provide $300 to $400 million in rebates to solar producers over a five year period. The logic is: "Our goal is, we want to see these companies come to Texas. But these are people who, if we don't create the program, they will go somewhere else and these other states will reap the benefits of the sales tax, the sales dollars and job growth." Isn't that what the Texas Enterprise Fund and Texas Emerging Technology Fund are for, incentivizing firms to come to Texas?
