BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez has urged state lawmakers to provide more incentives to attract space companies so Texas does not get overtaken by other states looking to advance in the industry.
Mendez spoke to lawmakers during the recent Rio Grande Valley Partnership 2023 Valley Legislative Tour. The event was held at Texas Southmost College.
Mendez said there were two big agenda items for Brownsville he wanted the lawmakers to be aware of. One was fiber-to-the-home broadband and the other the space industry. He told the visiting legislators that they should expect to see him a lot at the state Capitol during the current legislative session.
After finishing his remarks about broadband, Mendez said: “The next thing (I want to make you aware of) is really going to be something that’s important to Texas, which you saw a little bit of today. And that’s the space industry.”
Earlier in the day the visiting lawmakers had visited the SpaceX launch facility at Boca Chica.
“So, we’re really advocating for the legislature to allocate some monies for incentives for space companies. This is projected to be a trillion dollar industry over the course of the next couple of decades,” Mendez told the lawmakers.
“Texas has been an historical leader in space. Texas is one of the two states in the U.S. that actually can do a launch.”
Mendez continued: “So you saw the SpaceX facility. We really want to tell the Legislature, hey, there are other states that are on our tail. You’ve got Alabama, Georgia, California and Colorado. They’re looking to get a piece of this pie.”
Mendez pointed out that Texas and Florida have traditionally been the leaders in the space industry.
“Do we want to keep being the leaders? I think the answer to that is ‘yes’. So, I would just ask you, please continue to allocate funding for space. Please continue to allocate incentives for companies that are looking to relocate to Texas,” Mendez said.
Mendez said Texas is doing a great job drawing companies to the state.
“I just say, hey, let’s focus on bringing some of those space dollars and some of those space companies to Texas. So please, that’s something that’s really important to us as well.”
Here is a video recording of Mayor Mendez’s remarks to state lawmakers and policy makers on the RGV Partnership tour:
Video
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