Perry visited with executives from several large medical device companies, said Mark Cafferty, chief executive of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. Perry talked to the companies about the benefits of relocating to Texas, a state with no corporate income tax, relaxed environmental regulations and reduced land costs, Cafferty said.
“(Perry) certainly was here. He certainly met with CEOs of companies within San Diego, seemingly with a heavy emphasis on the biotech industry,” Cafferty said. “Our region has a target on our back. And people are coming in very charismatic to lure jobs away. While we do the best we can locally at EDC, we need state leadership to fight back.”
A spokeswoman for Perry’s office would not confirm his visit in voicemails Wednesday, but said that Perry often visits other states to court employers.
“We are always looking to reach out to companies who might be interested in moving or expanding,” she said. “We’re always trying to tell the Texas story of low taxes and reasonable regulations.”
Perry also visited California in December to court employers, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
That visit came a month after voters in California approved Proposition 30, which raised the income tax rate for earners making more than $250,000 and added a quarter cent to the sales tax. In California, large corporations other than financial companies pay 8.84 percent in corporate taxes.
When Perry returned to Texas in December, he told a tea party rally in Tarrant County why he made the trip to San Diego.
“The passage of Proposition 30 in California this last November, which raised their tax rate substantially on businessmen and woman, has made California a target-rich environment for pro-business, low-tax, fair and predictable regulatory states,” he said.
One target for Perry appears to be ResMed, a San Diego manufacturer of sleeping devices.
“Gov. Perry was in San Diego in December and visited with a few members of our executive team for about 30 minutes. There wasn’t an offer on the table. It was more of a fact-finding mission to learn about ResMed’s concerns,” company spokeswoman Gretchen Griswold said Wednesday.
Peter Farrell, ResMed’s CEO, made some pointed comments on California’s business climate at the time.
“The whole place is very Democratic, very union-friendly and tax-unfriendly,” Farrell said. “And we just see the costs going up, and the benefits going down. We see more regulation and more taxes, and more of an anti-business kind of environment.”
He went on to say, “The unemployment rate in Texas is 7 percent; we’re over 10 percent. Surely they must realize that the policies here are incredibly negative … They’re just anti-growth.”
Life Technologies spokeswoman Patty Zamora said the company already has operations in Texas, but could have even more in the future.
“Life Technologies currently has facilities in Austin and Houston,” she said. “We have invested in these facilities in the past and would consider doing so again as necessary to support our on-going business.”
