Coronavirus: Austin Chamber Offers Blueprint On Economy Reopening

AUSTIN, TX — The Austin Chamber of Commerce on Friday released its task force recommendations centered on ways of gradually reopening the regional economy while prioritizing public health amid the ongoing threat of new coronavirus.

To that end, chamber President/CEO Laura Huffman sent reccommendations outlined by the organization's "Opening Central Texas for Business Task Force" to Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt as both were poised to extend local "stay at home" orders to help blunt the spread of illness.

"This is a complex situation, and policies must adapt to account for the evolving landscape in this unprecedented time," Huffmann wrote to Adler and Eckhardt. "As conditions change, the task force is committed to providing you with real-time industry-specific input, as well as general recommendations and feedback, that will help inform and guide your policymaking."

Even as the chamber has lauded the reopening of the economy as outlined by Gov. Greg Abbott, Huffman stressed the chamber would allow for collaboration and consideration of residents' health: "It is our goal to be transparent in our efforts and to lead with collaboration, innovation, and heart. With that in mind, the following document is the first work product of the task force and represents our best efforts to strike a balance between public health and reopening the economy."

The chamber document promotes the notion of community partnerships 0n a number of key fronts:

• Childcare availability: With schools closed for the remainder of the academic year and more businesses allowed to reopen, increasing childcare options is vital.
• Reduce the digital divide: A lack of equity in access to broadband and connected devices presents obstacles to remote work and learning. Enabling creative solutions and future technologies, including the latest wireless broadband, will be important to this discussion. School districts can build upon recent innovations to expand access through use of emergency spending powers and private sector partnerships.
• Public outreach and input: Near-term outbound communications should focus on Phases I and II reopening of businesses. An inbound feedback process to hear about successes and concerns from the public and to inform effective policy should be implemented. Feedback should be received from multiple stakeholder levels including public health, workforce, community organizations, and businesses.

Read the Austin Chamber task force recommendations here.

The work of the chamber task force will be informed by a set of guiding principles, as outlined in the planning document. Those principles are:

• "It is critical to recognize that COVID-19 has created a complex situation that touches every aspect of our region. No one person or organization can succeed alone. Our efforts will be successful because they are authentically collaborative."
• "Transparency and clear communication are important. The health criteria that are used as the underpinnings of reopening the region must be clearly communicated to the public."
• "Phasing our community back into business will be contingent upon meeting health criteria first and foremost. We must design our recommendations with evidence-based data."
• "Designing policies during a pandemic is new for us all. We will adapt as we learn."
• "We will capture the incredible innovation happening in our community and share best practices in a thoughtful and consistent way."
• "We will recognize the various weaknesses and inequities exposed by the pandemic and begin to imagine how to make our economy and community stronger and more resilient."

The Austin Chamber was among the first organization to publicly endorse the governor's plans to reopen the economy, a goal he first expressed during an April 17 press conference. Huffman applauded the move at the time, issuing a prepared statement in the immediate aftermath of Abbott's press conference telegraphing plans to restart the economy.

"As leaders of the Texas business community, we applaud Gov. Abbott for focusing on the incremental steps necessary to reopen the Texas economy," Huffman said in a prepared statement. "We recognize this effort will need to balance public health considerations while restarting economic activity in a phased and gradual approach that guards against subsequent spikes in infections."

Huffman singled out the task force component as a critical cog of the plan to reignite the state economy: "While each of our communities is different, we recognize that businesses play a vital role in enacting specific measures to keep their workforce safe and thereby protecting the entire community," the chamber president said. "We are encouraged by the governor's willingness to work collaboratively with the business community. While COVID-19 will have long-term impacts on our state, smart policy decisions made now can greatly accelerate our economic recovery. We appreciate the governor's leadership on this issue and look forward to working with the task force."

She lauded the inclusion of several chamber board members in the governor's own task force: "We especially look forward to working with many of the Austin region's own who have been appointed to the Governor's Strike Force to Open Texas, including, former Austin Chamber board chair Sen. Kirk Watson, Michael Dell, Kendra Scott, Robert Smith and Adriana Cruz," Huffman said at the time. "We're delighted former Austin Chamber board member James Huffines is leading this strike force. The work and insight these community and business leaders will provide is paramount to getting our region back to work."