As the days grow increasingly shorter with the change in seasons, many East Texans wonder why it’s necessary to change our clocks back an hour around this time every year. Over the last several weeks, my office has received numerous phone calls regarding the observation of Daylight Savings Time in Texas. While some support changing the clocks back, many others simply don’t understand why we must “fall back” every year only to see the sun set before supper time. While I understand both sides of this issue, you might be interested to know that I voted in favor of a joint resolution — HJR 117 — that would have given Texans the opportunity to decide the fate of this issue at the ballot box. Though this resolution ultimately failed to make it through the Senate, I think this legislation is worth reconsidering during the next legislative session so that voters have an opportunity to decide whether we stay on Standard Time year-round or observe Daylight Savings Time year-round.
With that here’s this week’s legislative update. . .
Legislative Update
I recently had the pleasure of hosting the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Glenn Hegar, at an event in our district. He spoke on several topics ranging from the upcoming election cycle to the current state of our growing economy. The comments made by Comptroller Hegar, the state’s Chief Financial Officer, reminded me that it might be a good time to provide an update on the current state of Texas budget.
In October, the Comptroller updated his available revenue models for the current biennium, which runs until August of 2021. He stated that Texas has an additional $2.9 billion in the bank, due mostly to growth in revenue from consumption taxes and revenue from oil and gas reserves across Texas. While certain sectors of our economy are facing headwinds, both of these revenue drivers speak to the continuation of a healthy state economy overall. Since our budget was balanced before the end of last session, these extra dollars will serve as a nice head start for the 2022-2023 budget next session.
Reminders
The mobile office is on the road this month and looks forward to seeing you on the following dates, in the following locations: 9-11 a.m. Nov. 20 at the Houston County Courthouse Annex in Crockett, or from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Trinity County Courthouse in Groveton.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact our office if we can help you in any way. Our District office may be reached at (936) 634-2762, or you can call my Capitol office at (512) 463-0508
