It’s time to get to work!
At noon today, the 84th Legislative Session convenes and I will be sworn in for my third term in the Texas House of Representatives. It’s an incredible honor to be the voice for House District 101 and to represent Arlington and Grand Prairie in Austin.
The beginning of each session brings with it the promise that elected officials will work together in good faith to address our state’s priorities for the next 140 days. The 150 members of the House come from all over the state, and our viewpoints can be as varied as the Texas weather — but we all love our state and want to do what’s best for its people.
If the Legislature and state leaders put partisan politics aside and do what is best for Texas, I know we can work together and get results. Of course, there’s no escaping the reality — there will be a lot of tough issues to confront this session and many strong and passionate voices on all sides of any given issue.
As the representative for District 101, I have heard loud and clear what people in our community want the Legislature to address:
- fully funding our public schools, improving access to affordable health care,
- providing more local transportation options,
- curbing the outrageous interest rates and fees charged by payday and auto-title lenders, and
- bringing new businesses and good paying jobs to our neighborhoods.
Those are some of the key priorities I hear about in our district often — priorities my staff and I work on year-round, and that I will continue to work on during the legislative session and beyond. I look forward to doing so side-by-side with you and hearing feedback from members of our community as the session gets underway.
I’ve already filed a number of bills and there will be more to come. If you would like to learn more about the measures I have filed, or if there’s a law you think should be changed, please let me know. You can email me at any time at chris.turner@house.state.tx.us.
Thanks for your support and continued friendship. I look forward to continuing to work together to fight for the issues that matter to our community.
