The House Committee on Redistricting will begin its interim field hearings in Austin and San Antonio in several days. The Committee will conduct hearings throughout the State of Texas over the next several months. The purpose of the interim field hearings is to solicit public input on the 2021 legislative redistricting process and provide context to the official 2020 Census data that the 87th Legislature will receive by April 2021. Since the Legislature will not receive official data from the U.S. Census Bureau until the 87th session is underway, these interim field hearings seek to maximize the opportunities for Texans to share information they believe relevant to the upcoming redistricting process, including information about communities of interest within our state. As a member of this vital Committee, State Representative James White looks forward to traveling our great state and listening to my fellow Texans’ vision of their representative democracy.

The first hearing will be in Austin, TX, on September 10th, 2019, and subsequent hearings will take place in various cities across the state. I am excited to announce that Southeast Texans are scheduled to have two opportunities to participate in this discussion. The hearings closest to House District 19 are Lufkin and Beaumont. The Committee will post the official postings for the hearings here: https://bit.ly/2L6Qbze.

Tentative Hearing Dates & Locations

9/10/19 – Austin

9/12/19 San Antonio

10/9/19 – Fort Worth

10/10/19 – Dallas

10/22-23/19 – Houston

11/4/19 – Corpus Christi

11/5/19 – Rockport

12/13/19 – Edinburg

12/14/19 – McAllen

1/9-10/20 – El Paso

1/21/20 – Collin County

1/22/20 – Mid-Cities (North Texas)

3/28-29/20 – El Paso

4/15/20 – Marshall

4/16/20 – Lufkin

5/6/20 – Conroe

5/7/20 – Sugarland

5/28/20 – Beaumont

5/29/20 – Galveston

6/15/20 – Odessa

6/16/19 – Midland

6/24/20 – Brenham

9/9/20 – Victoria

9/10/20 – Austin

“It is an honor to be able to serve on this committee and I am grateful to Speaker Dennis Bonnen for the opportunity serve on this Committee. Our hearings throughout the state will ensure that we receive the adequate information to inform our decision when we begin to draft up district maps according to our U.S. and Texas Constitutions and the laws of our nation and state, when the 87th Legislature convenes,” said State Representative James White. “I encourage Southeast Texans to make sure their elected Texas House of Representatives hear their voices at these important hearings.”

Please do not hesitate to contact Saul Mendoza, Chief of Staff, with questions regarding this release at 512-463-0490 or 409-283-3700.

It’s September, and that means football season in Texas is back in full swing! Like so many of you, I relish spending my Friday nights this time of year under the bright lights of a football stadium, munching on a box of popcorn, and supporting our East Texas schools. From the band to the drill team, and from the cheerleaders to the football players, I love the way this timeless tradition brings students, parents, grandparents, and residents of a community together to support both their team and each other. Additionally, we’ve got students across our region participating in fall extracurricular activities such as volleyball and cross country, with basketball and soccer just around the corner. Whatever your fancy, I hope that you get to spend some time over the next few months supporting our students and showing your community pride.

With that here’s this week’s legislative update. . .

Legislative Update

This week we’ll dive into propositions three and four, as we continue our weekly examination of propositions that will be on the ballot in November.

Proposition 3 proposes a constitutional amendment to authorize the Legislature to provide for a temporary property tax exemption on portions of land located in an area declared by the Governor to be a disaster area. Given the inherent challenges with appraising property in the wake of a disaster, this amendment would offer home and business owners peace of mind by providing a lower and more easily administrable method of property tax relief to affected parties. It’s important to emphasize that this would only apply to political subdivisions setting tax rates on or after the date the Governor declares a natural disaster.

Proposition 4 has created some confusion that I’ve addressed in a previous column, but I’d like to reiterate in this column. Proposition 4 proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit the Legislature from imposing a state income tax – something Texas does not currently have. This ballot measure DOES NOT create a statewide income tax. The vote you cast is whether the state should constitutionally ban a state income tax. By voting ‘yes,’ you are saying that the state should constitutionally prohibit the state from imposing an income tax. By voting ‘no,’ you are saying that the state should not include this in the constitution, thus allowing for the possibility of an income tax in the future. Importantly, neither vote – yes or no – would create an income tax on Texans.

Reminders

The mobile office is on the road this month and looks forward to seeing you on the following dates, in the following locations: September 18th at the Houston County Courthouse Annex in Crockett

from 9:00-11:00am, or at the Trinity County Courthouse Annex in Groveton from 1:30-3:30pm; and finally, on September 25th at the San Augustine County Courthouse in San Augustine from 9:00-11:00am.

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.

Angelina College on Thursday hosted the Texas Tribune’s Rural Texas and 86th Legislature forum featuring State Representative Trent Ashby and State Senator Robert Nichols. Texas Tribune CEO and Co-Founder Evan Smith served as the panel’s host, while Ashby and Nichols fielded questions from Smith and the audience.

Those topics ranged from gun reform in response to recent mass shootings in the state to education reform, health care, property taxes, transportation and expanding broad band access to rural areas.

“We do about 50 events every year around the state where we put elected officials or other newsmakers up on the stage in front of a live audience, on the record and open to the public, free to attend,” Smith said. “We ask questions about the work being done on behalf of the people in the room. These speakers are often people who represent communities, constituents, voters, and in the room are the people they represent. We want the people to hear from their elected representatives: ‘Here’s what we did or did not do on public education,’ or ‘Here’s what we did or did not do on infrastructure or health care,’ and other topics.”

Smith said the event’s focus around the state is to include the rural areas of Texas, which he said don’t often have enough of a voice in the state legislature.

“East Texas is not in the conversation in Austin enough,” Smith said. “We hear a lot about the big cities and other parts of the state, but we have to have a deliberate and intentional focus on East Texas because it is a big part of the state. The decisions made in Austin affect those folks here every bit as much as they affect the people living in the big cities.

“So when we travel around the state, we especially try to go to the places where there is not a regular conversation of this kind going on. Bring those elected officials back home and have them talk in front of the people they represent.”

A relationship with area leaders helped bring Thursday’s event to Lufkin, according to Smith.

“We have a great relationship with many folks here, but especially with Wynn Rosser and Ellen Temple and a number of other people at the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, among other foundations, who have helped us turn intentionally toward rural Texas.”

Smith cited the changing population in the state’s rural areas as evidence of the need for more support from the state legislature.

“Right now, more than 85 percent of the state’s population lives east of I-35,” Smith said. “The overall population in Texas is going to grow from 29 million today to 54.5 million by 2050. All but about five percent of that growth is going to be in the 82 metropolitan counties in Texas. It’s not like the trend line is going to reverse. There are still about 1.5 million people in Texas who live in rural communities, and that’s a conservative estimate.

“So there are a lot of people living here. There’s a big need for public education, for health care – more rural hospitals have closed in the last 10 years in Texas than in any other state. A big need for infrastructure investment, economic development, including broad band access, which is not where it needs to be in rural Texas. We need legislature’s attention to turn more toward rural because there are a lot of people here who need something from Austin. Not big government, but the kinds of services the rest of us in the state get without having to think about it.”

Smith also pointed out the need for East Texas to grow its economy in order to keep its talented youth closer to home.

“A lot of kids are growing up in East Texas, going away to college and then not coming back,” Smith said. “There’s no economy, no industry.

“The question is, does rural Texas put up its hands and a white flag and give up, or does it fight for the opportunity to rebuild from within and create the economic opportunity that keeps the population here and allows the area to grow?”