In an attempt to protect its oil and gas industry, Texas has passed legislation that seeks to punish investment firms that divest from fossil fuel related investments. On 16 March 2022, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Glenn Hegar, sent a letter to 19 major financial companies which was not limited to US or Texas-based companies and included Japanese companies requesting verification that they do not engage in investment policies that result in the boycott of fossil fuel-based energy. This request was made pursuant to Texas Government Code Chapter 809: recent legislation prohibiting the Texas Government from investing in financial companies that take any action intended to penalize, inflict economic harm, or limit commercial relations with a company based on the company’s involvement in fossil fuel-based energy.

In groundbreaking news, the Texas Third Court of Appeals has withdrawn its earlier opinion and issued a new opinion in the Hegar v. El Paso Electric Co. case.  In the case, which has attracted widespread attention, El Paso Electric filed a refund claim with the Texas Comptroller for sales taxes that it had paid on transactions involving “telemetry units that are related to step down transformers,” which are pieces of equipment used to transmit electricity.

On 2 September 2020, the Baker McKenzie State and Local Tax (SALT) Subpractice Group covered the latest coast-to-coast state and local tax developments.

The Baker McKenzie State and Local Tax (SALT) Subpractice Group presented “Handling a State Tax Controversy”, the twelfth in a series of short webinars to keep members of the SALT community abreast of recent developments in these less than certain times on 10 June 2020.