Area state reps list top priorities for Texas Legislature this session

January 25, 2007
By Jennifer Litz
Special to LIVE!

Children’s Health Insurance, Educational Aid Top Legislator To-Do Lists this Session

With a budget surplus and the specter of regime change in House leadership, Texas legislators return for the 2007 session primed to make changes. Southwest Texas legislators see health and human services and education-related issues as the priorities.

The 2003 legislative session necessitated reducing some programs’ funding due to a $10 billion budget shortfall. Now with an estimated $15 billion budget surplus, legislators must decide how to allocate the surplus, and which programs will be reimbursed.

Kids and Teachers Should Benefit from Surplus

Democratic Sen. Carlos Uresti, San Antonio, emphasizes directing surplus dollars toward lacking mental and physical health programs. “All those cuts we made four years ago, we need to restore now that we have money,” Uresti says. He was past chairman of the House’s Committee on Human Services before defeating the late Sen. Frank Madla in the Democratic primary last March.

Uresti says the Children’s Health Insurance Program, whose funding was cut in 2003, is particularly worthy of reimbursement. CHIP provides medical attention and supplies to children whose parents don’t qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford insurance.

Uresti’s emphasis on state protective services doesn’t end there. In a state known for its Child Protective Services’ dubious “catch and release” track record—several children have died in past years after having been returned to “rehabilitated” biological parents--the Senator thinks the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services still needs some refurbishing.

“[As the past head of the House’s Family and Protective Services Committee] We did a lot of work on child abuse prevention, reforming CPS, but we haven’t done enough,” Uresti says. “That’s going to be one of my top priorities, because children are still being abused and neglected in Texas, and the numbers are increasing every year.

“Adult protective services [need attention] as well. We reformed that last session also, because caretakers and family members can abuse the elderly. That doesn’t make the news, but I could tell you horror stories about seniors being neglected or abused-- financially as well.”

Uresti is also working out the details of privatizing the foster care system, allowable by last session’s Senate Bill 6.

Democratic Rep. Tracy King, Batesville, also thinks the surplus would be well-spent returning CHIP to “previous funding levels.”

Besides funding CHIP, Uresti and King agree surplus dollars should also buttress teacher salaries. “I’m always a big advocate of funding for public education,” King says. “Retired teachers need an increase in their annuities.”

King thinks newly approved taxes will help allay perpetual property tax and school finance issues. “Leadership in the Legislature chose to provide more state funding for public education as opposed to local funding from property taxes, so [there is a] reduced property tax rate; they increased state funding [via the] cigarette tax and new business tax they passed last time. It is anticipated those taxes and others will provide funding available to ‘buy down’ property taxes,” he says.

But Uresti thinks this state funding isn’t enough. “We haven’t done enough for textbooks for children; or for helping aging school districts with their buildings,” Uresti says. “In Del Rio, some of their buildings are very old, and need help. Also, transportation is a big deal; the cost of gas has increased and the school district has to eat that. We need more monies from the budget to go right back to our schools.”

Legalizing gambling is often resurrected in the Legislature as a possible tax source for education. But King thinks it faces insurmountable roadblocks.

“I think it will be considered, but I think its chances of passing are less than before,” King says. “Because it requires a 2/3 vote of legislature to pass, and that’s difficult to get because of coalitions that are formed against it: One is the advocates for the poor, because it’s been shown that a disproportionate share is spent on gambling and lottery [by the poor]; and [the other coalition] is the religious conservatives on moral ground. That will block legislation.”

Democratic Representative Pete Gallego, Alpine, also thinks monies should be allocated for education—specifically, for higher education.

“One of the top priorities [this session] ought to be to make college affordable again for people who need help going to school,” Gallego says. “One of the most disturbing trends in recent years, especially the last four, has been the fact that college tuition has skyrocketed. It’s up in some places by over 50 percent from what it used to be.

“We’ve priced people out of the market—especially the middle class—and we need to be able to help with that. We’ve got to give additional revenues, make sure students have access to grant programs and financial aid, and make sure we offer the kinds of degrees that the economy is going to need; that we tailor our offerings to where the economy is going and what kind of classes we need to offer, whether you’re in Del Rio or Uvalde or Fredericksburg,”

Other issues: Transportation and Veterans’ Benefits

Transportation issues are close on the heels of education in terms of urgency, especially with the toll roads that cropped up around the close of 2006. “As far as the Trans-Texas Corridor up to Highway 35 that Governor Perry is pushing, it is my understanding that the company that contracted with the state is still studying [possibilities],” Rep. Tracy King says. “So we’ll have to see what happens. I personally have some concerns on the amount of land they have to acquire, eminent domain, and the costs involved.”

King is more interested in the growth that his District 80 area has seen, and how infrastructure can be melded to accommodate it.

“One of my goals is to make sure the Texas Department of Transportation puts emphasis on fast-growing areas to try and accommodate the growth we’re seeing in Maverick [and Medina counties],” King says. “I think [TxDot] needs to increase the funding and the calendar for funding the projects; funding should be expedited and steered toward the border areas more.”

Closely related to transportation concerns is the rising cost of energy. King says he’d like to see something done about high electric bills in the face of the recently deregulated electric market. “Deregulation has been met with some mixed results in my opinion,” King says. “There used to be a fee that was charged that was used to help the indigent pay electric bills. I hope to restore that fee.”

Senator Uresti, a former marine, also has a close-to-home concern for his constituents: Veterans’ benefits, which he believes are sorely lacking. “Veterans that have served during World War II need assistance,” Uresti says. “There are things we can do at the state level, like provide for more veterans’ homes for retiring, or nursing homes for veterans. There are also many veterans coming back now who suffer from post-traumatic stress.

“We need to step up at the state [level] to provide services. The VA’s not providing; the federal government is not providing. We need to step up and do that. Veteran’s issues are very important to me. I’m a little more sensitive about it because my son is a marine.”