84th Legislative Session Wrap-Up June 8, 2015
Now that I have had a full week to reflect on the end of my second legislative session, I would like to share with you my personal thoughts and impressions on the work done by your Texas Legislature. Overall, I believe that the 84th legislative session was largely a success, based principally on the fact that we passed a conservative budget combined with significant tax cuts. The one constitutional requirement of the Legislature each session is to pass a balanced budget,…
Sine Die – Last Day of the 84th Legislative Session June 1, 2015
As today is officially the last day of the 84th Texas Legislative Session, I want to share with you several big picture thoughts about my just completed second session in the Texas Legislature. While everyone will have different opinions on this, I feel that this was a fairly successful legislative session (though often that depends on whether you are focused on the things that were done or on the things left undone)…
Update on Budget and Tax Cuts May 25, 2015
We are down to one week of session to go, and things are moving at a frantic pace. While the vast majority of the major issues coming into session have now been agreed to between the House, the Senate and the Governor, there are still many bills on their final push to become law. Bills that aren’t passed by June 1st must wait almost 2 full years before they have another chance to become law…
Last Week to Hear House Bills May 18, 2015
I spent much of this weekend recovering from last week’s marathon sessions. We were on the House floor until 10:00 pm Monday through Wednesday only to finish with a midnight session on Thursday. The reason for the breakneck pace? Any House bills that were not voted to 3rd reading by midnight on Thursday were officially dead (which unfortunately included 2 of my more coveted bills of the session)…
21 Days Left in Session May 11, 2015
This week in the Legislature… With only three weeks left in the regular session, things at the Capitol are at a breakneck pace. We have a lot of deadlines coming up, so I wanted to take the time to lay them all out and explain their effects on legislation.
Tax Cuts and More: 28 Days Remain in Session May 4, 2015
The past week in the Texas House was truly outstanding for anyone who is a fiscal conservative. We passed 5 major pieces of legislation that I believe will serve Texas well for many years in the future. All 5 will now have to pass the Senate; from there, 4 will have to be signed by the governor, and one will have to be voted on by the public. However, if they end up close to their current form, I will be most pleased…
Update on Session April 20, 2015
This week in the Legislature… Every week, I use my intro letter to highlight what I believe are the most important issue(s) of the week. While there were several important issues debated and voted on over the last 7 days, I wanted to discuss something a bit more personal…
50 Days Left in Session: Explanation of House and Senate Proposed Tax Cuts April 13, 2015
This week in the Legislature… It’s amazing to consider that the biggest “showdown” that we may have in the Legislature this year is not whether we are going to cut taxes, but what type of taxes we are going to cut. Currently, the proposed House plan focuses on cutting sales taxes and business franchise taxes, while the Senate plan focuses on property taxes and the franchise tax…