It’s hard to believe that there are just two weeks left in the 83rd Legislative Session. I’ve been proud to work on legislation that addresses everything from public education to tenant’s rights and more. Here is a quick recap of where some of these bills are in the process and what I hope they will do for Texans and their families.
Measure creates notification process between utilities, landlords, tenants, and municipalities in the event of an electric or gas utility disconnect
Texas House of Representatives has given final approval to HB 1772, which would establish an important process of notification between utility service providers, municipalities, landlords, and tenants in the event of an electric or gas utility disconnection. HB 1772 deals specifically with nonsubmetered master metered multifamily properties. These are “all bills paid” properties which do not have individual meters assigned to each unit. Bills for utilities such as gas and electricity are generally paid directly by the landlord, using funds built into the tenants’ rent.
“This consumer protection measure empowers tenants by ensuring they have advanced notice if gas or electric service is about to be disconnected through no fault of their own,” said Turner. “This type of situation has occurred all too often in Arlington and elsewhere: the landlord doesn’t pay the utility bill, tenants are left high and dry, and cities are faced with a potential public health crisis because they have citizens who are displaced or suffering from heat or cold exposure,” Turner continued.
“HB 1772 addresses this problem by giving both tenants and cities advanced warning so that both can plan accordingly,” Turner said. “I appreciate the City of Arlington’s leadership in crafting this measure, along with the other stakeholders who have helped in this process.”
AUSTIN (AP/CBSDFW.COM) – Updated: 9:15 p.m. On the same weekend that the National Rifle Association gathered in Houston for their annual convention, Texas lawmakers passed a series of bills that would make it easier and cheaper to own and carry a gun in Texas.
The gun laws softened by the approved batch of bills were already among the country’s most firearms-friendly, allowing college students to carry handguns in class, putting potentially armed marshals in public schools and exempting the state from any future federal bans on assault rifles, high-capacity magazines or universal background checks. The hours required to obtain a concealed handgun license would also be cut in half.
House Democrats support smart investments in water infrastructure, which is why every Democratic member of the House voted for House Bill 4, the landmark measure that establishes the funding mechanism to support the state water plan. We face many challenges in Texas, and water is one of them. However, our children should be our No. 1 priority.
That’s why House Democrats believe Texas should first restore the $5.4 billion cut from public education before spending money from the rainy-day fund for other issues. And because a drawdown from the rainy-day fund requires the support of two-thirds of the House, the minority party has more leverage than usual — and we intend to use that leverage to help our schoolchildren.
Texas is 49th in the nation in education funding, spending $3,000 less per student than the national average.
Texas schools are still feeling the impact of the budget cuts: larger class sizes, teacher layoffs, cuts to pre-kindergarten funding, fewer tutoring opportunities to help students pass state tests, cuts in teacher training for science. And the list goes on.
The situation faced in our classrooms is no less dire now that it was when we started this session, or when we were on the campaign trail. State legislators made a commitment to their constituents to get this right.
To date, the House has passed proposals that only restore 55 cents on the dollar from what was cut in 2011. Specifically, the House-passed budget restores $2.5 billion for public schools over the next biennium. As you may know, I could not support this version of the budget because it did not fully fund public schools. An additional $500 million was appropriated just last week, but even still, this leaves funding $2.4 billion short. That is just not good enough — not for our kids, their parents or our teachers.
I have not and will not waver in my belief that our top priority must be to restore funding for public education. There is no reason at all why we can’t make smart investments in our children, who are vital to our state’s future. With four weeks left, there is still time to get this right.
When state Rep. Chris Turner started looking for other states that allow their politicians to retire without leaving their jobs, he could only find one: Texas.
At a public hearing Monday evening on his bill to end the practice, the Grand Prairie Democrat said the lucrative benefit — which got widespread attention when Gov. Rick Perry revealed that he was both collecting his salary and a pension from the state — flies in the face of the oft-repeated brag that Texas stands out as a beacon of budgetary restraint.
“At this Capitol we frequently tout Texas as a national example for fiscal responsibility,” said Turner, who has filed House Bill 413, which would ban “double dipping.” “This legislation helps us make that case more credibly, I think, by barring elected officials from being paid twice by our state taxpayers for one job.”
Turner said he was inspired to file HB 413 after learning of Perry’s early pension draw, but his bill would not cut off the governor’s pension. It would only apply to future state officeholders. Nor would it apply to nonelected retirees, including teachers or state employees, who are elected to state office, he said.
In compiling research for the legislation, Turner asked the National Conference of State Legislatures to identify states that allow the type of double-dipping Perry is doing. The group told him Texas was the only state the NCSL could find.
The organization said that more than a dozen states specifically prohibit their elected officials from receiving a pension annuity unless they actually leave office and retire, Turner told the House Pensions Committee on Monday.
Days after the House voted to strip a 22-year-old reference to climate change from Texas law, a House committee heard testimony on Earth Day about the adverse effects that climate change could bring to the state.
The hearing came just days after the House voted to strike a provision referring to climate change from Texas Law. House Bill 788, authored by state Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, attempts to reclaim regulatory powers for the state from the EPA. Currently, the EPA issues permits to industrial facilities that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases.
HB 788 aims to let the state regulate the emission of greenhouse gases. But in the process it strikes five words from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s mandate, which date from 1991. The provision allows the TCEQ to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for the purpose of controlling “climatic changes, including global warming.”
The bill passed 119-23, and now goes to the Senate for consideration. A last-minute effort by state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, to restore the climate change language fared a little better, but was also defeated 91-50. Turner called the language deletion a needless regression.
“I don’t believe it makes any sense for this Legislature to turn back the clock 22 years and remove references to this topic in Texas law,” he said. “And I think we need we tie our hands if we do not give TCEQ the option of dealing with this issue if circumstances necessitate.”
After Monday’s House panel hearing, committee member Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, said the politicization of the debate on climate change made future action by the Legislature unlikely.
“You can only send a message if somebody’s listening.” And those listening, he said, are “not the people who need to.”
“There’s a lot of evidence that the 1999 passage of the renewable portfolio standard was not only good for the environment but great for the economy. But in the last eight years its been really tough to replicate that success,” he said. “The disposition of the Texas Legislature seems to be to pin its hopes on the past, and not the future.”
It is located on the southwest corner of E. Pioneer Parkway and Browning Drive in the Chase Bank building. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
It is a top priority of our office to provide prompt and thorough assistance to constituents when they have problems or issues with state government. Although our office can’t guarantee the outcome in any constituent matter, we will work hard to cut through red tape, get answers and reach a favorable resolution, if possible.
Visit our constituent services page for a full list of state government matters that our office can try to assist you with.
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Turner’s bill will help local law enforcement officers better patrol Texas waterways
AUSTIN − State Representative Chris Turner (HD 101 – Grand Prairie) announced today that the Texas House of Representatives has passed HB 1222, a bill which allows citations issued on Texas waterways by municipal law enforcement officers to be heard in municipal court. Currently, these citations can only be brought before justice and county courts. State Senator Royce West has filed an identical bill in the Senate (SB 501).
“This bill was an issue brought to me by the City of Grand Prairie before the legislative session even started,” said Turner. “HB 1222 is a product of local and state governments working together on legislation that benefits everyone in this state. With warm weather quickly approaching, giving our law enforcement officers every possible resource to keep Texans safe on our lakes and rivers is critical.”
Late Thursday night, I voted against the proposed state budget in the Texas House of Representatives. I would like commend the work of my colleagues serving on the Committee on Appropriations for the hard work that went in to creating this budget. It is a tough job, with long hours, and took a great deal of compromise and effort to arrive at what was proposed.
However, government budgets are, at their core, an expression of what we value most. And put simply, this budget does not pass the values test.
Tracking Abbott suits
Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, sought to include a requirement that the attorney general detail the costs of lawsuits against the federal government. Since 2003, Turner said, Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed at least 27 lawsuits at a cost of $3 million.
“There’s a lot of money, there’s a lot of time suing the federal government, and I think the Texas taxpayers have the right to know simply how much those lawsuits are costing,” Turner said. But the amendment was defeated by a vote of 103-38 after the budget’s sponsors opposed its inclusion in the document.
House budget plan underfunds education, delays payments to Medicaid, and denies women family planning and women’s health services, while leaving $13 billion in state’s coffers unspent
AUSTIN — Tonight, State Representative Chris Turner voted against the proposed state budget in the Texas House of Representatives. Turner’s main objection centered on public school funding, which was cut by $5.4 billion two years ago, and remains underfunded in the budget passed by the House.
“I think people in Tarrant County and across our state expect a government that makes smart decisions to invest in our future,” said Representative Chris Turner. “There is no greater investment in our future than doing everything we can to help the nearly five million school children of Texas realize their full God-given potential by providing the very best public education for each and every one of them. This budget falls well short of that basic values test, which is why I voted no.”
