regarding third-party delivery companies and their practices. Here are three areas where the restaurant industry could see legislative change in the 2023 session that would impact their operations.than there were before the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association.
To address the staffing shortage, the Texas Restaurant Association is lobbying for accessible and affordable child care, which they identified as a substantial barrier for restaurant workers. Emily Williams Knight, president of the TRA, says the organization is working with a bipartisan group to come up with solutions.
“For the majority of [restaurant] employees, the math doesn’t work with what the cost of child care has become,” Knight said at a news conference this week. “We’re looking at lots of different options like is there an opportunity like in Georgia and North Carolina where the state has leaned in to create more affordable solutions and allow the private market to come in in a more meaningful way, which we don’t have here in Texas today.
Knight says they’re also looking into subsidies for increasing the number of childhood educators, and if some of the state’s budget surplus could be used to allow cities and local governments to create more child care options. Health care accessibility is another workforce issue to watch closely. Knight says the TRA is lobbying to remove the red tape in the way of making affordable telehealth options more accessible to restaurant workers and their families.