Gov. Rick Perry Speaks at Toyota Suppliers Conference

Thank you Dennis (Cuneo.) I am honored to be with men and women who risk capital, create jobs and drive the engine of our economy, the many Toyota suppliers from across this nation. Few can match the record of the company that has drawn us here today. They are a tremendous job creator, a leader in the auto industry, and the source of great hope and optimism here in San Antonio, of course, I am talking about the Toyota Motor Corporation. Dr. Toyoda, we are truly honored by your visit and we look forward to a long and prosperous relationship between Toyota and Texas.

We are honored to have with us many of Toyota’s top officials in addition to Dr. Toyoda, including Mr. (Tag) Taguchi, who I was honored to meet a few months ago, Mr. (Art) Niimi, Mr. (Dennis) Cuneo and Mr. (Simo) Nagata. And I must mention an individual who we like to call Texas’ honorary trade ambassador in Japan. She played an instrumental role in bringing Toyota to San Antonio, and she just happens to be Dr. Toyoda’s cousin by marriage, Ms. (Naoko) Shirane.

When people think of the tundra, they usually think of Alaska, or maybe the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. We’re proud now they will think of San Antonio too. When the first Toyota Tundra rolls off the line in 2006, 2,000 men and women will have good jobs and a better future. Texas will benefit from more than $100 million in payroll generated annually by Toyota, and the $2.4 billion the Toyota investment will add to our economy over the next ten years. And this investment will have a strong ripple effect that will lead to the creation of more than 5,000 spin-off jobs in related industries, businesses like the ones represented here today at this suppliers’ conference.

As governor of Texas, one of my main missions is to ensure the private sector has the freedom and the incentives to create jobs and grow our economy. We have done some things in the last few months to make Texas wide-open for your business. We created a new, $295 million enterprise fund to lure new jobs and industries to our state. With public investments similar to what we made in support of Toyota, we are aggressively competing with other states and nations to pursue jobs and opportunity. We also did something unique in this difficult economy, we solved a $10 billion budget problem without raising one cent in new taxes. One of the reasons we did that is simple: you can’t create jobs by passing the tax hikes that kill jobs. And we did something else, we took on one of the top job killers in America, the unseemly, greed-driven, frivolous lawsuits that force businesses to invest their dollars on legal help rather than in the economy. We passed the most sweeping tort reforms in the nation to stop lawsuit abuse and make it easier for the private sector to innovate and invest in the economy.

We hope Toyota’s investment in Texas will bring many new suppliers to San Antonio. And if that is not reason alone, we hope you will be attracted to Texas because we are a low-tax state with a highly skilled workforce and the highest export total in the nation. Texas is a great place to start or expand a business, raise a family and realize your future. We have great schools, an entrepreneurial mindset, and even the Dallas Cowboys are winning again.

We hope you are enjoying your visit, including that great Hill Country golf. We are honored you are here and hope you come back soon. Thank you.