As a member of the TRA, you can rest easy knowing that someone is protecting and advancing your business interests at the local, state, and federal levels of government. You don’t have time to monitor thousands of policy proposals, so we do that for you!

State -

The Texas Legislature only meets for six months every-other year in a regular session to update our state’s laws. This year, we delivered one of the industry’s best sessions to date thanks to the TRA’s 70 Wins in 70 Days.

 

2023 Legislative Session by the Numbers:

• The TRA worked in a bipartisan, collaborative way to deliver a historic 25+ offensive wins and 45+ defensive wins.
• We tracked 1,143 bills.
• We sent 2,889+ emails to lawmakers on TRA priorities.
• We testified before a legislative committee 22 times.
• And most importantly, we had a 100% success rate blocking harmful legislation.

  Some of our wins include:

• Creating regulatory consistency for economic issues like labor, natural resources, property rights, and finance.
• Repealing duplicative permit fees.
• Prohibiting local governments from mandating predictive scheduling or other terms of employment.
• Blocking straw bans and other packaging and utensil restrictions.
• Leading the business sector to address childcare access and affordability.
• Driving new funding for community colleges that graduate students with meaningful credentials.
• Authorizing restaurants to purchase wine that is at least 20 years old directly from wine collection sellers.
• Stopping legislation requiring restaurant employees to take opioid overdose response training.
• Defending the tip credit, valid tip pools, and right to work protections.
• Ensuring online privacy laws do not block restaurant websites, loyalty programs, third-party reservation and delivery platforms, or franchise agreements.

 
If any of these wins is meaningful for your business, please invest in our ongoing advocacy efforts. Only by working together can we continue to improve the regulatory climate for all foodservice businesses in Texas. Giving with corporate or personal funds is easy; sign up here.

Additional resources:

• 2023 Texas Legislative Session Report Card
• 2023 TRA Legislative Tracker
• TRA Webinar: "What We're Fighting for in the 88th Legislative Session"
• Emily & Kelsey’s Texas Tour: Celebrating 70 Wins in 70 Days
• TRA members,  email Erica for a copy of our members-only webinar, “From Policy to Practice: A Breakdown of the New Laws Going into Effect on 9/1”

Local -

With 254 counties and thousands of cities, there’s a lot to track at the local level. We monitor and engage on restaurants’ behalf when proposals come up regarding many issues including:

• Noise and amplified sound ordinances
• Permitting processes and fees
• Patio and parking rules
• Temporary events and catering restrictions
• Mobile food unit regulations
• Recycling and waste rules
• Public safety
  
  

Federal –

We work closely with our partners—the National Restaurant Association and our 52 sister state restaurant associations from across the US—to influence federal policy. By working together, we have tremendous influence in our nation’s capital. Our current federal priorities include:

• Protecting the tip credit
• Creating competition that will drive down restaurants’ swipe fee costs
• Expediting and extending ERTC payments
• Creating new pathways for temporary workers to come to the US and fill vacant jobs in essential industries like the foodservice industry
• Relieving supply chain bottlenecks
• Immigration reform and protection for DREAMERS
• Ensuring restaurants have pro-growth tax and regulatory policies

If you have any questions or feedback on our local advocacy work, please reach out to your region’s executive director. 

If you have any questions or feedback on our state or federal advocacy work, please reach out to Kelsey Erickson Streufert, TRA’s Chief Public Affairs Officer.

Please also visit http://www.restaurantsact.com to learn more about the work we do with the National Restaurant Association and our 52 sister state restaurant associations.