Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took to bragging that (contrary to popular belief)vthe state's fringe right-wing politics were actually super popular with the business community. “People vote with their feet, and this is not slowing down businesses coming to the state of Texas at all," Abbott told CNBC.
Abbott made his assertion the day after the Supreme Court OK'd the Texas abortion ban, in which Republicans promoted vigilante justice as an enforcement mechanism to evade judicial review of the law. About a week later, Abbott would also sign into law one of the nation's most draconian voter suppression bills, targeting the state's largest metro areas and voters of color, in particular.
Tech companies that have already relocated to Texas are now fretting over the possibility that the state's extreme politics will hamstring their ability to recruit top talent. As the Washington Post writes, "In August, Texas had 33,843 tech job openings — the second highest in the United States after California. That’s up 56 percent from a year earlier.
Vivek Bhaskaran, chief executive of QuestionPro, an Austin-based software company that produces online surveys, said the company was already finding it "extremely challenging" to attract tech workers to the state.
In fact, just two days after the abortion ban went into effect, Bhaskaran was forced to convene a virtual town hall for female employees of the company and offer up company-paid trips out of the state should any of them require abortion services. The company's director of marketing, Crystal Wiese, said the town hall was comforting on one level but disconcerting on another. “There was a reassuring feeling, but it’s not the kind of conversation you expect to have with your CEO," she said.
Similar to Bhaskaran, the chief executive of the Dallas-based dating app Match is also having to cover employee costs for anyone traveling out of state for abortion services. Chief executive Shar Dubey, who immigrated to America from India a quarter-century ago, circulated a company memo blasting the abortion ban. "I am shocked that I now live in a state where women’s reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India,” Dubey wrote. “Surely everyone should see the danger of this highly punitive and unfair law.”
The Texas abortion ban also prompted Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff to send a Slack message to employees nationwide saying the company would help employees and their immediate families move to another state if they felt reproductive healthcare wasn't accessible enough where they lived. Benioff later explicitly invoked Texas in a tweet offering to help staff "exit TX."
Wapo also talked to workers who have either moved to Texas or considered it. To say that GOP governance of the state isn’t exactly a draw would be an understatement.
Valerie Veteto, a freelance copywriter specializing in tech writing, relocated to Austin from San Francisco just last fall. Guess what? The hip vibe and lower cost of living aren't worth the tradeoff for the state's right-wing bent and governmental incompetence. Between the great power grid freeze earlier this year and fringe GOP politics, Veteto and her boyfriend are hightailing it to New York City.
San Diego-based David Panarelli, a user experience designer, had also considered making the move with his wife. But they balked at the Texas GOP's handling of the pandemic, immigration, and other issues. The abortion ban was the final nail in the coffin. “If I’m in a situation where I have to make an extremely irreversible decision, I don’t want anyone making that decision for me,” Panarelli said. “It’s not about women. It’s about human rights.”
Seems like banning abortions, targeting voters of color, freezing your constituents to death, and ensuring the pandemic would flourish in your state isn't the hot seller Abbott says it is.
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