August 6, 2008      4:58 PM GOVERNOR'S COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL RELEASES REPORTS ON HOW TO BOOST TEXAS' STANDING IN GLOBAL MARKETPLACE Many of the recommendations hearken back to many of Governor's closely held policy priorities. Today’s twin reports from the Governor’s Competitiveness Council make a lot of the anticipated conclusions on the need to improve the public educational system and the need to ensure a diverse energy mix in the future. But something else struck Buzz Central at today’s rollout for the ad hoc committee’s conclusions on how to make Texas more competitive in the global marketplace. Here’s a sampling of some selected recommendations:   Encourage universities to place more emphasis on research that leads to easily commercialized discoveries. To encourage this, use the higher ed incentive fund as a carrot.   Create a public/private partnership of state agencies, energy producers and large electrical consumers to teach Texans about the high costs of carbon cap legislation.   Continue tort reform to manage liability issues, especially those related to blending of biofuels.   Revisit comprehensive development agreements (CDA’s) "as the use of private investment for public infrastructure construction is a valuable tool with proven results."   Remove preferences for natural gas-fired power plants currently in the law. The CDA recommendation might be the big giveaway but it would appear on cursory reading that the Council’s work is at least in part about repackaging and resuscitating the Governor’s biggest public policy initiatives. So are these conclusions designed to serve as a platform for a legislative agenda or another run for the Governor’s Mansion? Time will tell. Those interested in reading the Competitiveness Council’s reports can click here for the Energy Report and here for the Council’s Report to the Governor. ã Copyright August 6, 2008 by Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved