Phillip Jones with Visit Dallas says in 2017, leaders from Texas Welcomes All, Texas Competes, the North Texas Commission, Chambers of Commerce and Texas largest employers said those two bills in particular ,bills Lt. Gov. Patrick placed on his "top 30" priority list and at least a dozen other bills filed are unnecessary and will bring significant damage to the Texas economy and brand.
Texas lost conventions totaling $66 million of dollars worth of economic impact due to the fight over the bathroom bill. "We were hoping to leave the bathroom battles in the past. But now we're seeing a new angle on the same old problem. We're watching the license to discriminate bills pile up. 18 of them filed today."
He says two years ago, Texas lost conventions totaling $66 million dollars in economic impact because of ongoing uncertainty over the bathroom bill, and had it passed the number would have risen to one point four billion dollars, "At some point we have to say enough is enough. We know discrimination when we see it, we know it's bad for communities and bad for the Texas economy. Enough."
Michelle Crowley with the professional convention management association says the entire country is watching Texas closely and will react accordingly to the passing of these bills. "We have seen what has happened across the United States and it is clear that the Texas travel and tourism industry will suffer if discriminatory legislation is passed in Texas. Important and valuable events and conventions will go elsewhere."
A long list of Texas employers, including Apple, Dell, PepsiCo, Amazon, Facebook, HP and Paypal signed a letter to lawmakers criticizing the bills.
Supporters of the bills say there's a general fear in Texas that people will lose their livelihood because of their faith.