Senator Burton’s Comments on SB 632

I voted against SB 632 because it moves tax dollars from one corporate welfare fund to another equally wasteful corporate welfare fund, the Texas Enterprise Fund. It also moves tax dollars to a grant program that will subsidize the recruitment of Nobel Laureates and National Academy members to public universities. The University Research Initiative Fund, created in this bill, is touted as a “catalyst for economic development”. However, wealth redistribution via government grant programs is never an efficient use of our state’s finite available capital. I believe the best approach to achieve that goal would be to return these funds to the taxpayers of Texas who will make the most efficient use for them in our market economy.