January 20, 2022

Fiscal Notes: The Good For Texas Tour — Supply Chains

(AUSTIN) — This fall, as part of his ongoing Good for Texas series of statewide tours, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar visited several Texas businesses with strong trade relations and supply chains that exemplify the risks and resilience of their respective industries. He also visited a Texas port of entry that serves more than 150 manufacturing plants in Mexico.

In this issue of Fiscal Notes, the Comptroller's office reveals the findings of this tour and examines how global supply chains comprise the highly connected and interdependent world trade system. They create value, contribute to lower consumer costs and increase economic efficiencies. 

“Before COVID-19, the global network of supply chains created efficiencies for companies, saved them time and money and generally performed well,” Hegar said. “The pandemic disrupted production and transportation lines, revealed supply chain vulnerabilities and made clear the global interdependence of our current supply chains. As the nation’s top state for international trade and the ninth largest economy in the world, limiting supply chain disruptions is critical to the Texas economy.”

This issue also looks at cybersecurity and why cybercriminals sometimes target supply chains. Disrupting those networks can affect multiple companies, and such “opportunities” attract bad actors looking to extort government and business entities. But as you’ll learn in this edition, Texas lawmakers have taken meaningful steps to address potential cybercrime, and agencies such as the Texas Department of Information Resources are implementing those steps and are daily preventing attempted cyberattacks.

Fiscal Notes furthers the Comptroller’s constitutional responsibility to monitor the state’s economy and estimate state government revenues. It has been published since 1975, featuring in-depth analysis concerning state finances and original research by subject-matter experts in the Comptroller’s office.

Fiscal Notes is available online and can be received by subscribing via the Comptroller’s website.

For questions about how our agency functions are continuing during the pandemic, visit our COVID-19 News page or our Virtual Field Office.