From Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, Speaker Dennis Bonnen to the Republican led House and Senate, to our local Republican County Judges including my own, Harrison County Judge Chad Sims, Republicans are not being Republicans!
Gone are the days of limited government and personal responsibility. What we see today is Big Government overreach, trust the government because we know whats best for you. Executive orders demanding business shut down, citizens to stop living their lives, stop gathering with your friends, stay at home and "flatten the curve" all because we have less than 1% of a chance of getting an infectious disease.
As of April 20, 2020 there have been 22 deaths related to COVID-19 in East Texas. In the two largest communities alone, Smith County & Gregg County, there have been 540 deaths unrelated to COVID-19. The news station CBS DFW is even reporting suicide hotlines have increased 300% since these draconian measures have been implemented, but COVID-19 is not the CAUSE of these increases, as former State Representative Matt Rinaldi says in a tweet; its the RESPONSE to this crisis by our leaders that has led to this crisis in mental health.
I never thought I would see the day where so called Republicans would cower to fear and hysteria over reason and facts. This virus is no more dangerous than the common flu, SARS, H1N1, or any other strain we have dealt with in the past. Everyone of those has killed more people than COVID-19 has. We didn't shut down the economy then, we shouldn't shut it down now.
I agree with Jonathan Stickland, current HD 92 representative, when he says, "The lack of leadership Governor Abbott has shown through this situation is beyond disappointing. He has proven to me that he does not care about the Constitution or liberty." The same can be said of our County Judges and Mayors. Only Mayor Richard Newton of Colleyville is leading the charge to re-open business. This last week, he issued a proclamation to begin opening up fitness centers, salons, and restaurant patio areas. Why more Republican mayors and county judges are not doing the same is beyond me. What happened to the promises of limited government? Where are these leaders, who supposedly believe in free enterprise, self-governance and personal responsibility?
The unprecedented actions of declaring all citizens, to stay at home and shelter in place, not to mention, closing businesses, commerce and issuing restrictions on travel have not only crippled our economy, but these orders have gone against America's very fabric of existence. These leaders took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and they have clearly violated that oath. I've pointed out before, that the responsibility of elected leaders in these types of crisis, is to first have a compelling reason to issue executive orders, and when that reason exist (I believe it does) the orders must be narrowly defined and be implemented in the least restrictive way. Punishing all citizens, restraining the American worker and halting business commerce does not meet Constitutional muster.
It's time elected Republican leaders start acting like Republican leaders and stop acting like fearful Democrats. State Representative Kyle Biederman. HD 73 says, "The longer we wait, the more damage is being done to Texans livelihoods. By forcing people into a recession, you are not allowing people to take personal responsibility for their actions. Every job is essential in Texas. The rights of all citizens are being violated by Federal, State and Local governments. People are getting restless. I urge you Governor Abbott, county judges and mayors" (Especially those that claim to be Republican), "to fight for the rights of small business and allow them to get back to work now."
#OpenTexasNow
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Thursday, May 23, 2019
PAC's & Lobbyist and their control of the Texas Legislature
To see the table below correctly, you'll need to view on a desktop or laptop.
On Monday May 20, 2019 the Texas House of representatives had a chance to curtail a long running practice where taxing entities like cities, schools and toll road projects would no longer be able to hire professional lobbyist with tax payer dollars, in order to lobby our legislators, many times against those same tax payers.
Senate Bill 29 authored by Senator Bob Hall who represents Senate District 2, originally sought to stop the practice outright. It was very similar legislation and companion to House Bill 281, authored by Rep. Mayes Middleton in the house. Middleton's bill died in the House Calendars Committee on April 11. This bill had 37 co-authors including East Texas reps Cody Harris, District 8, and Cole Hefner, District 5. SB 29 passed in the Senate on April 17, 18-13 with all Republicans voting Aye except Kel Seliger of SD 31.
On May 17, Rep. Dade Phelan of House District 21 offered a substitute to SB 29 in the House Committee on State Affairs. The substitute offered language that restricted any political subdivision that imposed a tax or regional mobility authority, toll road or transit authority from lobbying efforts. Read the substitute here. The substitute actually made it through the committee process on to the house floor.
For whatever reason, Rep. Middleton offered an amendment to the substitute that effectively exempted school districts, toll roads and the RMA's, leaving only in place county's and cities. There were several other changes that effected the bill within his amendment, to many to go through here but if you'd like to read through it, click here. Rep. Ashby, District 57 out of Lufkin offered an amendment to Middleton's amendment where the bill would only effect county's with populations larger than 250,000 residents. This amendment would limit the law to only a handful of counties in Texas. Ashby's amendment was approved by a vote of 90-54. East Texas reps voting for: Ashby, Bailes, Clardy, Dean, K. Bell, Harris, Paddie, and VanDeaver.
Amendment 1 as amended was approved by a vote of 81-59, All of the above Yea votes stayed the same with the exception of Paddie and Dean. Dean said he intended to vote Yes. Harris said he intended to vote No.
Several other amendments were offered that watered down this bill even further and when all was said and done, the bill failed by a vote of 58-85. East Texas reps that voted NO were; Ashby, K. Bell, Bailes, Clardy and VanDeaver. Voting FOR were Dean, Harris, Hefner and Schaefer. Over all, there were 24 Republicans that voted NO, in order to keep the practice of tax payer funded lobbying.
To sum up, the correct vote for Ashby's amendment would have been NO, the correct vote on Middleton's amendment would have been NO (watered down bill), and the correct vote on the bill itself was YES. (It at least would have been a start)
BTW, here are the campaign donation numbers for all in the last reporting cycle. Notice a pattern?
Paddie Ashby Bell, K. Dean Clardy
PAC's $226,564 $97,292 $54,606 $41,500 $50,375
Lobbyist $ 36,000 $10,650 $ 1,000 $ 800 $ 3,500
Ind. Out of District $ 27,500 $100,475 $19,000 $ 9,150 $26,375
Ind. In the District $ 28,775 $ 2,350 $16,250 $33,750 $ 450
Total $318,839 $210,767 $90,856 $85,200 $80,700
VanDeaver Harris Hefner Bailes Schaefer
PAC's $36,735 $29,541 $20,015 $19,750 $8,500
Lobbyist $ 1,500 $ 4,650 $ 3,700 $ 00 $ 500
Ind Out of District $16,720 $ 4,498 $ 8,100 $ 7,500 $1,100
Ind In the District $ 500 $ 9,050 $10,050 $ 3,350 $ 630
Total $55,455 $47,739 $41,865 $30,600 $10,730
On Monday May 20, 2019 the Texas House of representatives had a chance to curtail a long running practice where taxing entities like cities, schools and toll road projects would no longer be able to hire professional lobbyist with tax payer dollars, in order to lobby our legislators, many times against those same tax payers.
Senate Bill 29 authored by Senator Bob Hall who represents Senate District 2, originally sought to stop the practice outright. It was very similar legislation and companion to House Bill 281, authored by Rep. Mayes Middleton in the house. Middleton's bill died in the House Calendars Committee on April 11. This bill had 37 co-authors including East Texas reps Cody Harris, District 8, and Cole Hefner, District 5. SB 29 passed in the Senate on April 17, 18-13 with all Republicans voting Aye except Kel Seliger of SD 31.
On May 17, Rep. Dade Phelan of House District 21 offered a substitute to SB 29 in the House Committee on State Affairs. The substitute offered language that restricted any political subdivision that imposed a tax or regional mobility authority, toll road or transit authority from lobbying efforts. Read the substitute here. The substitute actually made it through the committee process on to the house floor.
For whatever reason, Rep. Middleton offered an amendment to the substitute that effectively exempted school districts, toll roads and the RMA's, leaving only in place county's and cities. There were several other changes that effected the bill within his amendment, to many to go through here but if you'd like to read through it, click here. Rep. Ashby, District 57 out of Lufkin offered an amendment to Middleton's amendment where the bill would only effect county's with populations larger than 250,000 residents. This amendment would limit the law to only a handful of counties in Texas. Ashby's amendment was approved by a vote of 90-54. East Texas reps voting for: Ashby, Bailes, Clardy, Dean, K. Bell, Harris, Paddie, and VanDeaver.
Amendment 1 as amended was approved by a vote of 81-59, All of the above Yea votes stayed the same with the exception of Paddie and Dean. Dean said he intended to vote Yes. Harris said he intended to vote No.
Several other amendments were offered that watered down this bill even further and when all was said and done, the bill failed by a vote of 58-85. East Texas reps that voted NO were; Ashby, K. Bell, Bailes, Clardy and VanDeaver. Voting FOR were Dean, Harris, Hefner and Schaefer. Over all, there were 24 Republicans that voted NO, in order to keep the practice of tax payer funded lobbying.
To sum up, the correct vote for Ashby's amendment would have been NO, the correct vote on Middleton's amendment would have been NO (watered down bill), and the correct vote on the bill itself was YES. (It at least would have been a start)
BTW, here are the campaign donation numbers for all in the last reporting cycle. Notice a pattern?
Paddie Ashby Bell, K. Dean Clardy
PAC's $226,564 $97,292 $54,606 $41,500 $50,375
Lobbyist $ 36,000 $10,650 $ 1,000 $ 800 $ 3,500
Ind. Out of District $ 27,500 $100,475 $19,000 $ 9,150 $26,375
Ind. In the District $ 28,775 $ 2,350 $16,250 $33,750 $ 450
Total $318,839 $210,767 $90,856 $85,200 $80,700
VanDeaver Harris Hefner Bailes Schaefer
PAC's $36,735 $29,541 $20,015 $19,750 $8,500
Lobbyist $ 1,500 $ 4,650 $ 3,700 $ 00 $ 500
Ind Out of District $16,720 $ 4,498 $ 8,100 $ 7,500 $1,100
Ind In the District $ 500 $ 9,050 $10,050 $ 3,350 $ 630
Total $55,455 $47,739 $41,865 $30,600 $10,730
Friday, January 25, 2019
Texas House Dis-Appointments
Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen released his much anticipated committee appointments on January 23rd for the 86th session of the legislature. Even after a disappointing general election for Republicans, where they saw their numbers dwindle in the House, there was still some optimism going into this session simply because of two factors. 1. Republicans still controlled the House and 2. Speaker Straus was no longer in charge. The latter was famous for putting in place committee chairs that would thwart any real conservative legislation getting through to the House floor. People across the State heard Speaker Bonnen say, the Republican Legislative Priorities were his Priorities and he would be more fair to let members control what goes on in the House.
So lets take a look at how the committee's fared. Out of 34 committee's, 22 have Republican Chairs, and 17 Vice Chairs. Only four committee's had both a Republican Chair and Vice Chair. Of the 22 Republican Chairs, they have a combined negative -.17 score on the 2017 Liberal-Conservative Score composed by Mark Jones of Rice University. This means, as a combined group, they are less conservative than 1/3 of the Republicans in the House. A score of .02 according to the study means you are more conservative than half your peers.
I also looked at the combined scores of the Committee Chairs from the Fiscal Responsibility Index by Empower Texans. That average score was 56 out of 100. Of the four most important committees in my opinion, State Affairs, Homeland Security, Ways & Means, and Calendars, the average Lib-Con score is -.51, with a far left Democrat, Pancho Neveraz chairing Homeland Security. This committee usually sees gun rights issues come up. Even the makeup of these four committee's do not lend confidence in any conservative policies coming to the floor.
It is hard to see how any of the Texas GOP Legislative priorities will see daylight in this session with these committee makeups. Property Tax Reform and School Finance Reform might come in some form but they probably won't be anything conservatives will like. Gun rights and Abortion issues will probably be dead in the water. I won't be holding my breath.
So lets take a look at how the committee's fared. Out of 34 committee's, 22 have Republican Chairs, and 17 Vice Chairs. Only four committee's had both a Republican Chair and Vice Chair. Of the 22 Republican Chairs, they have a combined negative -.17 score on the 2017 Liberal-Conservative Score composed by Mark Jones of Rice University. This means, as a combined group, they are less conservative than 1/3 of the Republicans in the House. A score of .02 according to the study means you are more conservative than half your peers.
I also looked at the combined scores of the Committee Chairs from the Fiscal Responsibility Index by Empower Texans. That average score was 56 out of 100. Of the four most important committees in my opinion, State Affairs, Homeland Security, Ways & Means, and Calendars, the average Lib-Con score is -.51, with a far left Democrat, Pancho Neveraz chairing Homeland Security. This committee usually sees gun rights issues come up. Even the makeup of these four committee's do not lend confidence in any conservative policies coming to the floor.
It is hard to see how any of the Texas GOP Legislative priorities will see daylight in this session with these committee makeups. Property Tax Reform and School Finance Reform might come in some form but they probably won't be anything conservatives will like. Gun rights and Abortion issues will probably be dead in the water. I won't be holding my breath.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
The 86th begins without the fireworks
Last Tuesday, January 8th was the first day of the new legislative session in Texas. The biggest and most notable difference was that Joe Straus was no longer in attendance. Gone are the days of favoritism, lobby controlled legislation winding its way through committees, and stopping ones that would benefit the conservative cause. Tuesday, saw a new speaker sworn in to office for the first time in 10 years. Dennis Bonnen, a representative from Angleton, Tx., assumed the mantle of Speaker of the House for the 86th session. Speaker Bonnen was elected by unanimous vote of the entire body and perhaps more importantly, nominated unanimously by the House Republican Caucus earlier in December. You can see his acceptance speech Here starting at the 1:16:00 mark
The only other item of business for the week was the passing of the House Rules for this session. After last year, where the Rules debate became quite contentious and lasted several hours, this years debate barely lasted an hour and the fireworks were mostly duds. Only two amendments drew the ire of some activist across Texas. The first was an amendment by Rep. Matt Schaefer, (read here) from Tyler, which sought to increase staff budgets during the period between sessions, to the same amount they get during the session. It failed, but he and many members of the Freedom Caucus received criticism for it, due to it being perceived as not being fiscally conservative. The second amendment that drew some flak was by Rep. Jonathan Stickland, from Bedford. (read here) He proposed that constituents should be able to register their opinions, for/against a bill, at House District offices, rather than having to drive to Austin to do so. This amendment also failed but with mixed support from Freedom Caucus members. This particular amendment received the greatest amount of backlash from conservative activist around the state.
For some context, in the 85th session, during the rules debate, there were many amendments brought forth that tried to increase the transparency in which the House conducted its business. For instance, Rep Tony Tinderholt tried to pass rules that required the Calendars Committee to publish a record vote when that committee decided to pull a particular bill from reaching the floor. Many people, were expecting for this session to see the same types of rule changes proposed. Rep. Stickland's amendment, which he proposed in the 85th, was the only attempt this year at some resemblance of requiring the House to be more transparent. This author reached out, to several representatives from East Texas, in order to get a better understanding of why this rule was defeated so easily. Only Matt Schaefer and Cole Hefner responded. The biggest concern for each of them was that this rule change would have put some undo pressure in the district offices, which are already understaffed and underpaid. They also said the process and implementation of the rule change hadn't been completely vetted and properly studied in regards to fiscal issues. See Matt Schaefer's comments.
One thing is for sure, transparency in the House is still lagging. The House may operate on a better tone and less divisiveness, now that a new Speaker is in charge, but until Texans start seeing actual changes to how the House operates, there will always be some skepticism.
The only other item of business for the week was the passing of the House Rules for this session. After last year, where the Rules debate became quite contentious and lasted several hours, this years debate barely lasted an hour and the fireworks were mostly duds. Only two amendments drew the ire of some activist across Texas. The first was an amendment by Rep. Matt Schaefer, (read here) from Tyler, which sought to increase staff budgets during the period between sessions, to the same amount they get during the session. It failed, but he and many members of the Freedom Caucus received criticism for it, due to it being perceived as not being fiscally conservative. The second amendment that drew some flak was by Rep. Jonathan Stickland, from Bedford. (read here) He proposed that constituents should be able to register their opinions, for/against a bill, at House District offices, rather than having to drive to Austin to do so. This amendment also failed but with mixed support from Freedom Caucus members. This particular amendment received the greatest amount of backlash from conservative activist around the state.
For some context, in the 85th session, during the rules debate, there were many amendments brought forth that tried to increase the transparency in which the House conducted its business. For instance, Rep Tony Tinderholt tried to pass rules that required the Calendars Committee to publish a record vote when that committee decided to pull a particular bill from reaching the floor. Many people, were expecting for this session to see the same types of rule changes proposed. Rep. Stickland's amendment, which he proposed in the 85th, was the only attempt this year at some resemblance of requiring the House to be more transparent. This author reached out, to several representatives from East Texas, in order to get a better understanding of why this rule was defeated so easily. Only Matt Schaefer and Cole Hefner responded. The biggest concern for each of them was that this rule change would have put some undo pressure in the district offices, which are already understaffed and underpaid. They also said the process and implementation of the rule change hadn't been completely vetted and properly studied in regards to fiscal issues. See Matt Schaefer's comments.
One thing is for sure, transparency in the House is still lagging. The House may operate on a better tone and less divisiveness, now that a new Speaker is in charge, but until Texans start seeing actual changes to how the House operates, there will always be some skepticism.
Friday, November 30, 2018
The session is coming, the session is coming!
As of this writing, there are only 39 days until the 86th Texas Legislative Session begins. The general election back on Nov 6th saw a few changes in the makeup of both the House and Senate but not so much that Republicans lost control of either body. Going into the session, the House will be made up of 83 Republicans and 67 Democrats. The Senate will comprise 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Lt Gov. Dan Patrick won re-election and will preside over the Senate while Representative Dennis Bonnen out of Angleton, Tx., just south of Galveston, is considered the presumptive Speaker of the House. On January 8th, the House will vote to make the Speaker nominee official.
I'm hopeful the new session will address issues that Texans have been wanting for several cycles now but haven't been able to receive, mainly due to big money lobbyist and some outgoing legislatures that blocked those reforms each chance they got. In fact, Rep. Bonnen has indicated that the biggest influence on legislation in previous sessions, an Austin lobbyist, will no longer have a seat at the table this year.
In the March 2018 primaries, Republican voters went to the polls and voted on eleven different propositions, priority subjects that the Texas Republican Party wanted feedback on. All eleven propositions passed and here in East Texas, they did as well. Some of these propositions coincide with the Legislative Priorities developed at the Republican Party Texas Convention of 2018.
The biggest priorities I believe Texans want to see addressed, are property tax reform and school funding. In the primary, voters across the State said they wanted to replace the property tax system with a consumption base system, (Prop 1) with 68% of the vote and to cap revenue increases at 4%, (Prop 10) with 94% of the vote. Voter Fraud (Prop 8) and school choice, (Prop 5), were also propositions on the primary ballot.
The East Texas breakdown by house districts and the percentage each proposition received as an aggregate:
Prop 1 Prop 5 Prop 8 Prop 10
HD1, Gary VanDeaver 62 73 97 94
HD5, Cole Hefner 66 71 97 88
HD6, Matt Schaefer 64 81 95 94
HD7, Jay Dean 67 73 96 94
HD8, Cody Harris 67 75 96 93
HD9, Chris Paddie 65 77 97 95
HD11, Travis Clardy 68 79 96 95
We will continue to watch our legislatures and see if they vote the will of their constituents or continue to block reform and pay homage to special interest groups.
I'm hopeful the new session will address issues that Texans have been wanting for several cycles now but haven't been able to receive, mainly due to big money lobbyist and some outgoing legislatures that blocked those reforms each chance they got. In fact, Rep. Bonnen has indicated that the biggest influence on legislation in previous sessions, an Austin lobbyist, will no longer have a seat at the table this year.
In the March 2018 primaries, Republican voters went to the polls and voted on eleven different propositions, priority subjects that the Texas Republican Party wanted feedback on. All eleven propositions passed and here in East Texas, they did as well. Some of these propositions coincide with the Legislative Priorities developed at the Republican Party Texas Convention of 2018.
The biggest priorities I believe Texans want to see addressed, are property tax reform and school funding. In the primary, voters across the State said they wanted to replace the property tax system with a consumption base system, (Prop 1) with 68% of the vote and to cap revenue increases at 4%, (Prop 10) with 94% of the vote. Voter Fraud (Prop 8) and school choice, (Prop 5), were also propositions on the primary ballot.
The East Texas breakdown by house districts and the percentage each proposition received as an aggregate:
Prop 1 Prop 5 Prop 8 Prop 10
HD1, Gary VanDeaver 62 73 97 94
HD5, Cole Hefner 66 71 97 88
HD6, Matt Schaefer 64 81 95 94
HD7, Jay Dean 67 73 96 94
HD8, Cody Harris 67 75 96 93
HD9, Chris Paddie 65 77 97 95
HD11, Travis Clardy 68 79 96 95
We will continue to watch our legislatures and see if they vote the will of their constituents or continue to block reform and pay homage to special interest groups.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
What is a Speaker?
While most voters are focused on the midterm elections, taking place on Nov 6, 2018, there is another election that quite possibly may be of bigger significance for Texas residents.
On December 1, members of the Texas House Republican Caucus will meet to decide among themselves, who they want to be their choice as the next Speaker of the Texas House. With the retirement of Rep. Joe Straus, a Republican, who has held the position since 2009, a new Speaker will be chosen when the 86th Legislative session begins in January. For historical purposes, Speaker Straus won the speaker race in 2009 by garnering all 74 votes from the Democrat party along with 11 Republicans. In the preceding sessions, he continued to receive all democrat votes and a handful of Republican votes until 2017 when he received 100% from both sides. In 2017, he ran unopposed.
Ever since Rep. Straus took the speaker position, there has been a growing concern that many conservative bills were not being passed. There were many that believed conservative legislation, involving but not limited to policies such as gun rights, abortion and property taxes were not being passed, or even heard and passed out of committee's, while Straus was the speaker. The House Speaker has, among some of its duties, the responsibility to appoint committee chairs and assigning bills to respective committee's. In 2017, Republicans controlled the House 95-55. Of the 40 main committee's in the House, only 9 had a Republican Chair and Vice Chair, two committee's had a Democrat Chair and Vice Chair. Overall, Speaker Straus appointed Democrats to chair 14 committee's, and Republicans to chair just 26.
Because of the groundswell of voices throughout Texas, Republican Caucus chairman Tan Parker appointed a working group, that included our own Chris Paddie, HD9, to come up with a legal and enforceable procedure whereby the Texas House Republican Caucus selected the next speaker. The full report can be seen here. This group said among other things, 'there is no legal restrictions on the Republican caucus selecting or otherwise endorsing a nominee'. They also suggested that a Speaker candidate be selected from a majority of votes by the caucus. If there are more than 3 candidates and none of the candidates receive a majority of votes, then voting continues with the person receiving the least amount of votes eliminated, until one person receives the required majority.
In the March 2018 primaries, Texas Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of House Republicans selecting their speaker nominee and in June at the Texas GOP State convention, delegates said in their platform, "Republicans in the Texas House should select their Speaker nominee by secret ballot in a binding caucus without Democrat influence". There are currently six confirmed individuals that have declared their intention to be speaker. It has also been reported that some of those six are recruiting democrat support ahead of the Dec 1 vote.
Will Texas House Republicans keep to what Texas Republicans want and elect a speaker candidate without Democrat influence? Will they reject any candidate that claims Democrat support? And will all Texas House Republicans stick to the candidate that comes out of the caucus? Voters should call or write their representative and tell them to only elect a candidate that is not courting Democrat votes and to stick with the plan to support the Republican Speaker nominee.
Jan 8, 2019 is the first day of the 86th legislative session and when a new speaker will be confirmed.
On December 1, members of the Texas House Republican Caucus will meet to decide among themselves, who they want to be their choice as the next Speaker of the Texas House. With the retirement of Rep. Joe Straus, a Republican, who has held the position since 2009, a new Speaker will be chosen when the 86th Legislative session begins in January. For historical purposes, Speaker Straus won the speaker race in 2009 by garnering all 74 votes from the Democrat party along with 11 Republicans. In the preceding sessions, he continued to receive all democrat votes and a handful of Republican votes until 2017 when he received 100% from both sides. In 2017, he ran unopposed.
Ever since Rep. Straus took the speaker position, there has been a growing concern that many conservative bills were not being passed. There were many that believed conservative legislation, involving but not limited to policies such as gun rights, abortion and property taxes were not being passed, or even heard and passed out of committee's, while Straus was the speaker. The House Speaker has, among some of its duties, the responsibility to appoint committee chairs and assigning bills to respective committee's. In 2017, Republicans controlled the House 95-55. Of the 40 main committee's in the House, only 9 had a Republican Chair and Vice Chair, two committee's had a Democrat Chair and Vice Chair. Overall, Speaker Straus appointed Democrats to chair 14 committee's, and Republicans to chair just 26.
Because of the groundswell of voices throughout Texas, Republican Caucus chairman Tan Parker appointed a working group, that included our own Chris Paddie, HD9, to come up with a legal and enforceable procedure whereby the Texas House Republican Caucus selected the next speaker. The full report can be seen here. This group said among other things, 'there is no legal restrictions on the Republican caucus selecting or otherwise endorsing a nominee'. They also suggested that a Speaker candidate be selected from a majority of votes by the caucus. If there are more than 3 candidates and none of the candidates receive a majority of votes, then voting continues with the person receiving the least amount of votes eliminated, until one person receives the required majority.
In the March 2018 primaries, Texas Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of House Republicans selecting their speaker nominee and in June at the Texas GOP State convention, delegates said in their platform, "Republicans in the Texas House should select their Speaker nominee by secret ballot in a binding caucus without Democrat influence". There are currently six confirmed individuals that have declared their intention to be speaker. It has also been reported that some of those six are recruiting democrat support ahead of the Dec 1 vote.
Will Texas House Republicans keep to what Texas Republicans want and elect a speaker candidate without Democrat influence? Will they reject any candidate that claims Democrat support? And will all Texas House Republicans stick to the candidate that comes out of the caucus? Voters should call or write their representative and tell them to only elect a candidate that is not courting Democrat votes and to stick with the plan to support the Republican Speaker nominee.
Jan 8, 2019 is the first day of the 86th legislative session and when a new speaker will be confirmed.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
City of Longview Texas looking to increase its Debt
Will the city of Longview start to be known as the debt capital of East Texas?
I attended the town hall event last night held by city councilman David Wright at Spring Hill High School. He discussed plans for the proposed 20 year $104.2 million bond package the city is considering putting before the voters. He said the city council must decide by August 22, 2018. There were about 40 in attendance of which almost half were city employees. At one point, Mr Wright said of the bond, (I'm paraphrasing), "We can't live on our current budget, to do the things we want, we need more money". In other words, 'We need to raise your property taxes'.
The city of Longview operates on a $162M budget of which 8% is designated to pay down existing debt. It's current debt obligation according to the city's website is $65M in General Obligations (GO) that is not scheduled to expire until year 2033 and another $84M in Revenue Debt according to the Texas Comptrollers office (2016 numbers). The new bond would increase Longview's debt obligation to almost $245M.
That's not all, the four local school districts have also passed bonds in the last few years that have also raised property taxes. LISD in 2007 passed a $267M bond package and according to the TxComp. has $351M in GO debt and another $8.3M in Capital Appreciation debt (CAB). PTISD has $91.25M GO debt and $1.83M CAB debt, and SHISD has $63.4M in GO debt and $3.8M CAB and those residents that touch HISD are subject to $98.5M GO debt.
Longview City Council will hold its regular meeting this Thursday night the 26th. If you're concerned about all the debt this city is racking up, I encourage you to make your voice heard. Tell the city council to vote NO on any more bond elections. Longview residents just can't afford it.
Here are the particulars: (I have it broken down further if you're interested)
Building Projects - $52.4M
Infastucture - $28M
Parks - $ 24.7M
Infastucture - $28M
Parks - $ 24.7M
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