Tuesday on KFYO Mornings with Dave King and Matt Martin, The President and CEO of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce joined Dave and Matt to talk about businesses being short-staffed, the Texas Legislative Session, Arrington's upcoming summit, downtown Lubbock, upcoming Chamber events, and more.

McBride started the conversation by talking about how the Texas legislative session and recent decisions made by the Governor affect local businesses. When asked how he thinks the Governor's decision to take away the extra $300 a week for unemployment in Texas would affect Lubbock, Eddie said that he expects people to start trying to find jobs near the same time, around June 26th, rather than sooner. McBride went on to say that he has talked to some restaurant owners, and knows that many restaurants, and even some retail businesses, are having trouble finding workers. He does, however, ask that people be patient with these businesses while they have fewer staff, saying, "Folks, give the businesses a break, and just realize that they might be shorthanded." When asked for the Chamber's position on masks in businesses, Eddie said that their position is still left to whatever businesses think is best.

Shifting the focus to specifically the legislative session, McBride said that the Governor anticipates 2 special sessions, but that the Lubbock Chamber can't anticipate any impact those would have until they see what kinds of things will be discussed. When asked through a text if the Chamber will continue to oppose any transgender bills, Eddie said that the Chamber has never had any position on that in the first place, as it isn't the kind of thing to affect business, and since they have never been asked to deal with that kind of thing. Eddie went on to say that there were several bills that they were very happy with, and thanked Senator Perry and Representatives Burrows and Frullo for helping them out with things such as the Midwestern State University transfer to Texas Tech, as well as the biggest thing that the Chamber wanted, being business reliability protection. Overall, he said there was a lot of pro-business legislation.

McBride also took the opportunity to talk about Congressman Arrington's upcoming summit to try to help people recognize things that rural Texas needs. They will have the Texas legislative recap, and then will cover things like tax and trade policy, transportation and critical infrastructure, Ag policy, healthcare policy, and energy policy. The summit will start at 8 pm on Thursday, June 10th at the Texas Tech Museum. He went on to say that if you want to go, you need to let them know by calling 763-1611. "If you want to hear the most current, on the ground stuff that's going on in Washington DC about supporting rural Texas...I think this would be an excellent place for y'all to be able to listen and be able to pay attention," Eddie said.

Another topic discussed by Eddie was Downtown Lubbock, and how it seems like things are starting to happen there again. Eddie said that he knows that people exist in Lubbock who never have a reason to go North of 82nd street, so he is excited to see Downtown Lubbock bringing things that will make people want to go there, such as the Buddy Holly Hall, the Cotton Court Hotel, and especially South Plains College, which will bring thousands downtown. Additionally, Eddie said that the downtown park that the city is planning on making will be perfect for those students.

Finally, McBride talked about upcoming events at the Chamber. The Chamber has the golf tournament coming up in July, they will host their Hub City BBQ Cookoff in October, and finally, the Uncorked Wine event will take place on a Saturday in November after previously being cancelled in April. He says that it will be one of the biggest wine events in Lubbock, and sure to be a good time.

 

Find more info at lubbockchamber.com and listen to the full interview with Eddie McBride in the audio above.

KFYO Mornings with Dave King & Matt Martin airs weekday mornings live, from 6:00 AM to 8:30 AM on News/Talk 95.1 FM and 790 AM KFYO, online at KFYO.com, & on the free KFYO app.

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