I’m humbled to have recently been named the Chairman of the House Committee on Corrections for the 87th Legislature.  I was also reappointed to serve on the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence and will serve on the House Committee on Redistricting.  The jurisdiction of these committees cover many topics and issues that I am passionate about and that are of serious concern to law enforcement, local government and the 12 counties that I serve in the Hill Country, South Texas and West Texas.  As one of 11 rural chairmen selected in the House this Session, I am especially appreciative of the leadership role that I have been asked to provide as Chairman.  I look forward to a hardworking legislative session!

To view my full press release, click here. 

You may have seen that Governor Greg Abbott recently prioritized five key Emergency Items for the Legislature to address during the 140-day legislative session.  Now that committees have been assigned, legislation centering on each of these items can be taken up during the first 60 days of the session (unlike other bills affected by the 60-day calendar rule).

As a review, Governor Abbott identified the five Emergency Items below. I’ve provided my thoughts on each of these items and welcome your continued input as well.  

No matter one's political affiliation, we can all agree that the integrity of our election is essential to our democracy.  The legislature will be shoring up loopholes where election fraud can occur and protecting the public's right to complete transparency throughout the election process.  Texans deserve to have confidence in the outcome of our elections and we must do everything in our power to make sure every vote is counted and every voice is heard.
 

Governor Abbott emphasized his commitment to stop any measures to defund the police, especially since public safety is essential to the protection and well being of all Texans.  We all agree that ensuring public safety is a core responsibility of city, county and state officials, and adequate funding for this essential responsibility should never be in doubt. This session, we must ensure that law enforcement continues to receive the tools, training and paychecks needed to protect and serve all of our communities. 

This session, one of my priorities will be helping the thousands of employers who have been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic.  Small businesses are the backbone of the Texas economy and serve to create jobs and opportunities for so many.  Employers have gone above and beyond to operate safely and those who have operated in good faith should not have their livelihoods destroyed by government overreach or frivolous lawsuits.  To help ensure that businesses are protected as the state recovers, the Legislature will push for COVID-19 liability protections for all businesses to ensure that they can keep their doors open throughout the pandemic and after. 

From medicine to education to business, broadband access is not a luxury- it’s an essential tool that must be available to all Texans.  Expanding broadband services will provide more than 800,000 rural Texans, like many in our region, with adequate broadband connectivity to ensure that they can participate in classroom education, work, church, doctor's appointments, and remain connected with family and friends. This is crucial for our part of Texas and I look forward to supporting increasing broadband access every chance I get. 

In the Governor's State of the State address, he spoke of DPS Trooper Damon Allen, who was gunned down and killed during a traffic stop by a criminal out on bond who had previously been convicted of assaulting a sheriff’s deputy, and who was arrested on charges of evading arrest and aggravated assault on a public servant.  Trooper Damon Allen should have never died at that routine traffic stop on Thanksgiving Day in 2017.  In 2019, I filed a comprehensive bail reform bill also called The Damon Allen Act.  This bill would have better protected our communities, including our law enforcement by affording magistrates with more information about an arrestee when setting bond, and decreasing the financial burden to counties who house, feed and support low risk defendants.  This session, I’m proud to be working in collaboration with the Governor to reform our bail system and keep violent criminals off the street by providing our judges the necessary tools they need to make a better-informed bail decision.

In addition to the Emergency Items listed above, Governor Abbott also identified a number of other key legislative priorities elected officials should promptly address during the 87th Legislative Session. Those include:

Protecting Life
 

Protecting our Border
 

Religious Freedom
 

Second Amendment Sanctuary State
 

While the emergency items outlined by Governor Abbott and the issues he noted above as well are excellent starting points, there will be a cascade of policy issues the Legislature will take up over the next several months.  In addition to working to address these items, I will be pursuing solutions to other key issues affecting the Hill Country, South Texas, and West Texas.  In the coming weeks, I will be outlining more of the policies I plan to author and others that I will be fully supporting this session.  I invite you to reach out to my office anytime to offer your thoughts, advice or support about particular legislation as we move throughout session.