A recent article in the New York Times reported that the state of Texas had gives out more incentives than any other state, around $19 billion a year, to lure the most dynamic businesses in the United States to the Lone Star State. [i] The governor of Texas stated that "Facebook, eBay, Apple - all of those within the last two years have announced major expansions in Texas... [t]hey're coming because it is given, it is covenant, in the boardrooms across America, that our tax structure, regulatory climate and legal environment are very positive to those businesses."[ii] Although Texas offers tax incentives and a favorable business climate, high tech businesses may have, in the past, understandably been reluctant to relocate to Texas because of the prior anemic protection granted to businesses in the arena of non-competes. These businesses, one assumes, have no interest in training their best and brightest today, only to have them become competitors tomorrow.
[i]Louise Story, Lines Blur as Texas Gives Industries a Bonanza, New York Times(December 3, 2012)
[ii] Id. at p. A18.