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Teachers for Turner

I’ve got more good news to share today — the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) has endorsed my campaign for state representative! TSTA is one of the largest educator groups in the state, and I am excited to once again be working with their membership in support of public education in Texas.

Texas State Teachers Association Endorses Chris Turner

Sarah Scoggins Spurrier, President of Arlington TSTA: ”On behalf of Arlington Texas State Teachers Association, we offer our endorsement and support for Chris Turner for Texas House Representative, District 101. “Chris Turner’s proven record of fighting for public schools is appreciated by our members. Please help him to continue working for Texas children by voting for him on May 29th.”

Growing Support

Both the Texas Medical Association TEXPAC and the Texas Hospital Association HOSPAC have endorsed our campaign for HD 101! Now I need your help to carry this momentum out to the neighborhoods in our district. We are having our second Mega Walk of the campaign Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 9:30 am.

Transportation

Chris has worked closely with leaders and citizens throughout southern Tarrant County to find ways to improve the transportation infrastructure at look at alternative methods of travel, including light and commuter rail systems. Chris understands that the lack of public transportation in Arlington and Grand Prairie is a difficult obstacle for many families who are unable to commute to work or school. Chris believes the state’s transportation priorities should include strategies to upgrade and expand mass transit in major urban areas. He strongly believes that State Highway 360 must be extended south of Green Oaks.

Pocketbook Protection

Chris wrote the law that now requires residential electric providers to give at least 30 days written notice that a customer’s electric contract is scheduled to expire, allowing the customer time to shop around and select a new plan. When Chris was in office, he wrote and filed several measures aimed at holding insurance companies accountable for the high premiums they charge consumers. For his work on consumer protection issues in 2009, Chris was named “Freshman of the Year” by Texas Watch, a leading consumer advocacy organization.

Strengthening Our Public Schools

Chris Turner will fight to reverse the Republican education cuts that have resulted in teacher layoffs and larger class sizes across Texas. Chris believes education funding was already inadequate and that Perry and the Legislature should have used the billions of dollars in the state’s Rainy Day Fund and closed tax loopholes in order to save schools from devastating cuts. Chris will fight for a more fair and better financed public education system for all Texas children. Chris also believes we must reform the school accountability system that has become entirely too dependent on standardized tests.

Higher Education

Making college more affordable and accessible to every Texan is one of Chris’s top priorities. Rising tuition costs and reduced financial aid opportunities have closed the door of opportunity to too many Texans. Chris supported increasing the Texas Grant program, which made college financial aid available for an additional 24,000 middle-class Texas families in 2010-2011. Chris co-authored legislation that opens the door for “emerging research universities,” such as the University of Texas at Arlington, to become a “Top Tier” research university. Chris wrote and passed the law requiring all Texas colleges and universities to have a financial aid specialist trained on the GI Bill and the Hazelwood Act.

Healthier Families

Chris supports expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in order to decrease the number of uninsured children in our state. In 2009, Chris co-authored a measure that would expand CHIP eligibility to include children whose family incomes are between 101 to 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

Chris also authored a measure that would allow parents to deduct child support payments made from the income amount used to determine CHIP eligibility. Chris also supports extending the Medicaid enrollment period from six months to one year, as it is in most other states.

Chris also believes we must crack down on insurance companies who deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or drop people because they get sick.

Chris supports President Obama’s health care reform and will work for its implementation in Texas.

Honoring Our Veterans

Chris has a proven record of leadership on veterans’ issues: he was the author of the bill that created the veterans scratch-off lottery ticket, which has raised more than $17 million for veterans’ assistance programs in just two years.

Chris also authored and passed legislation requiring Texas colleges and universities to have a designated financial aid officer for veterans, authored and passed a law that would allow state employees to continue to accrue sick and vacation time when they deployed for active duty military service and wrote a measure that would allow the spouses of soldiers killed in the line of duty or 100% disabled as a result of their service to be eligible for Hazlewood educational benefits. This was added to a larger piece of legislation, passed and signed into law.

As a result of this work, and other measures benefiting veterans and their families, Chris has been repeatedly recognized by leading veterans’ organizations.

Job Creation

Chris believes we must invest in education and job training to create more economic opportunity for all Texans, not just a privileged few.

At the local level, Chris understands that the lack of public transportation in Arlington and Grand Prairie is a difficult obstacle for many families who are unable to commute to work or school. Chris believes the state’s transportation priorities should include strategies to upgrade and expand mass transit in major urban areas.

Chris has a 100 percent voting record with the Texas AFL-CIO. In order to help prevent manufacturing layoffs, Chris’s first bill signed into law in 2009 made improvements to the shared work unemployment compensation program. Chris co-authored legislation to exempt many small businesses from paying Texas franchise taxes. Chris also helped pass legislation to expand the back-to-school sales tax holiday to cover school supplies.

Big Thanks

Thanks to your support and your generosity, we were able to meet and exceed our $10,000 online fundraising goal, pulling in a total of $10,110 in just 10 days!

Just $1,225 left to raise

I need your help right away. My campaign manager just sent me an e-mail telling me that we have $1,225 left to raise to meet our $10,000 fundraising goal. The deadline is midnight tonight, so if you’ve been waiting to join the campaign with a $100, $75, $50, or $25 contribution, now is the time to do it.