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HISTORY OF THE TEXAS WAREHOUSE ASSOCIATION
The beginning of the Texas Warehouse
Association came in 1989 when 7 DFW Metroplex warehousemen met to discuss plans
for improving the image of the warehouse industry.
State and federal agencies and commissions were daily writing directives
and passing laws that would make it difficult for an individual warehouseman to
continue to serve customers and make a profit.
The seven warehousemen decided that an organized effort was necessary and
set out to form a statewide trade association in From the beginning, the Texas Warehouse Association has grown to include 87 member companies, many with multiple locations. On two occasions the Texas Legislature has moved to place our
storage and handling rates on the state sales tax list which would have required
us to increase our rates by 8.25% or absorb that amount in reduction of profits.
We were able to use our new organization strength to keep our sales tax
exemption. In that year we started
our effort to eliminate Through an overture to the Interstate Commerce Commission, TWA
was able to secure an ex parte ruling that stated that shipments from outside
the state to a warehouse in the state and then beyond to a customer also in the
state, were deemed to be interstate in nature all the way from origin to
destination. When enforced by the
federal government, this had the effect of lowering the rates on 85% of the
freight that warehouses had tendered to In the 1995 session of the legislature we proposed HB 2608
which would have extended the Freeport Amendment to all parts of In 2007 under a bill sponsored by Representative Norma Chavez
in the House and Senator Robert Duncan in the Senate, we were able to get signed
into law HB 621 which provided an option to exclude ad valorem tax on goods
moving in interstate transit and held not more than 175 days in storage.
The execution of these property taxes would have made While our legislative efforts are important, they are not the only contributions made by your association. Dozens of calls have been received at the association office from members and member’s customers for assistance with state and federal agencies and commissions. Most of these problems are brought about by a total misunderstanding on the part of both parties and the problems have been worked out readily. Since the association represents the entire industry, we can take stands that an individual may hesitate to take. Your association has intervened in controversies with such agencies and commissions as EPA, both state and federal, Texas Department of Health, Texas Department of Agriculture, Comptrollers Offices, Governor’s Office, Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation, The U. S. Surface Transportation Board, OSHA, both state and federal, and others. We have been able to make them understand us and we have been better able to understand them. The association has donated $46,000 to the Texas Logistics Education Foundation and we have sponsored or co-sponsored seminars on such subjects as Safety, Employer-Employee Relations, Hazardous Material Handling & Storage, Computers, Insurance, Warehouse Management Systems and others. We will continue to sponsor programs that are of interest to our members. We work in concert with the International Warehouse Logistics Association on most of their educational programs and in most cases, members of this association who are not members of IWLA can have the benefit of a “member cost” on IWLA seminars. We are open to suggestions from any and all who may have input for us. |
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