Weekly Newsletter – June 17, 2011

June 20, 2011

Dear Friends,

Over the last two and a half weeks, the House of Representatives has been hard at work in the first called special session of the 82nd Legislature. While over 100 bills were filed during this special session, legislators’ main priority has been items placed on the call by Governor Perry. The Governor placed the following issues on the call:

  • Legislation relating to fiscal matters necessary for the implementation of House Bill No. 1 as passed by the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, including measures that will allow school districts to operate more efficiently.
  • Legislation relating to health care cost containment, access to services through managed care, and the creation of economic and structural incentives to improve the quality of Medicaid services.
  • Legislation relating to Congressional redistricting.
  • Legislation relating to reform of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.
  • Legislation relating to the elimination of sanctuary cities.

Fiscal Matters

Proving that education is our highest priority, the House approved a state budget last week that will provide $1.6 billion more dollars to our public school system than the last budget. Plagued by a severe budget shortfall, we were unable to fund growth in the end, but our school districts are set to receive a 5.6 percent increase in state funding, from $27.6 billion in the current two-year budget cycle to $29.2 billion for 2012-13. In fact, education is the number one category of funding for this legislature, making up nearly 60 percent of the overall state budget. Legislators were required to make tough cuts this session in part because we are not receiving the same amount of federal funds for education in the next biennium.

In addition, during the regular session and the special session, legislation was filed by my Republican colleagues in an effort to provide “increased flexibility” to schools and help them to better navigate these tough economic times. In the beginning, at the urging of local school board members in Richardson ISD, I indicated I may be in support of such “increased flexibility.” However, after speaking to numerous teachers, parents, and education advocacy groups such as the Texas State Teachers Association, the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, and the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, I ultimately determined these proposals would be much too detrimental to our education system. As one constituent put it, these initiatives will be responsible for “enlarging class sizes and making it easier to lay teachers off, cut their pay and take away contract rights.” There are better ways to increase efficiency and cut costs than raising classroom sizes, cutting teacher salaries, and altering teacher contracts.

Health Care Cost Containment

Texas House voted in favor of SB 7 which seeks to make numerous changes to health care law in Texas in an effort to contain costs. SB 7 includes measures such as:

  • Increased use of technology to prevent food stamp fraud. The bill would require the Health and Human Services Commission to use appropriate technology to confirm the identity of food stamp applicants and prevent duplicate participation in the program by a single person.
  • Incentives to increase preventative services and reduce emergency room visits.
  • Revised health care facility policies on vaccine-preventable diseases. The bill would require health care facilities to enact mandatory immunization policies for workers who were exposed to patients. The policy would have to require certain health care workers to receive vaccines for any vaccine-preventable diseases. The policy could grant exemptions for religious reasons.
  • Defunding Planned Parenthood. Two pro-life amendments were also added. One requires more detailed reporting of information relating to abortions, and another prevents tax funding for abortions by hospital districts.

Congressional Redistricting

This week, the House approved a new Congressional redistricting map. Due to tremendous population growth, the State of Texas picked up four new seats in Congress. In addition to re-drawing the current congressional lines, lawmakers were also responsible for incorporating four new districts. The four new districts are as follows:

  • District 33 is in North Texas, including Arlington, Western Tarrant County, Parker County, and part of Wise County
  • District 34 is in South Texas from Cameron county running north to DeWitt county
  • District 35 is in Central Texas from Bexar running north to Travis
  • District 36 in eastern Harris county and East Texas.

In the end, Republicans picked up three new congressional districts. The redistricting map for the State Board of Education is now law. The House and Senate redistricting maps were simultaneously passed during the regular session and now await the Governor’s signature.

Texas Windstorm Insurance Association

The House also passed HB 3 this week. HB 3 is aimed at reforming the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA). Recently, the Texas Department of Insurance placed TWIA under administrative oversight due to numerous management problems that have plagued the agency. The Travis County District Attorney’s office also announced a criminal investigation into possible fraudulent activity related to claims from Hurricane Ike as well as the events surrounding TWIA management oversight practices.

This legislation is imperative so that we are adequately prepared for future hurricane seasons. TWIA must be operating at maximum efficiency in order to adequately protect consumers.

Sanctuary Cities

On Tuesday, the Senate passed SB 9 which would prevent cities, counties and other governmental entities from adopting policies that prohibit law enforcement from asking a person legally detained or arrested their immigration status. Under the bill, entities refusing to comply are at risk of losing state funds. Legislation prohibiting sanctuary cities was passed by the House in the regular session but time constraints prevented the Senate from doing the same.

With the surge of violence on the border and the relocation of drug cartel members and their families into Texas communities, the Legislature has the obligation to protect Texans by eliminating sanctuary city policies in the State. Sanctuary jobs and entitlement benefits are magnets that draw criminal illegal immigrants to Texas. I am confident that the House will join the Senate and vote to end these safety zones that allow criminal illegal immigrants to have free reign.

(Pictured: Rep. Carter and students from Richardson High School Law.)

As we continue our work here in Austin during the special session, I encourage you to stay in touch by visiting my House website and my Facebook page.

As always, I’m honored to be your voice in Austin.


Sincerely,
Stefani Carter