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.