Brownwood News – The October luncheon of the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce featured Joe Morris, of Bob Turner and Joe Morris Rural Issues Consulting.  Morris talked about the 2019 Texas Legislature, future issues facing the state, and the ten Texas Constitutional amendment propositions on the ballot next month.

In the 2019 Legislature, 7324 new bills were filed, and 1373 of them were passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Abbott.  The biggest task of the Legislature is to write the state budget.  The state budget is now $251 billion, an increase of 4.9%, but the legislature was able to increase the budget without new taxes because of the strong Texas economy, especially in the energy sector.     The new budget provided for increased funding for education, including a public school teacher pay raise.

Senator Dawn Buckingham, who represents Brown County, submitted SB 1367, which would allow Municipal Development Districts to spend funds outside their city limits (for some projects in the Camp Bowie industrial area, for example).  This bill has the support of the Brownwood Municipal Development District.  The bill worked its way through the legislative process, eventually gaining support of the Speaker and committee chairmen, but eventually died in committee when the Legislature recessed after the maximum 140 day session.

Issues to keep an eye on in the future:

***  WATER  As the population of Texas grows, access to water will become increasingly important.   As an example, the 1970 census counted 250,000 residents in Austin, and their water supply was the Highland lakes.  Now the Austin area has 1,500,000 residents, but has the same water supply, no more.

***  CONCENTRATION OF POLITICAL POWER  The Texas population continues to grow east of I-35, and decline west of I-35.  Morris pointed out that Harris County (Houston) has more state representatives than all of Texas west of I-35.  So political power is being increasingly concentrated in east Texas.  Also, the growing counties in east Texas will be looking outside their areas for resources to support their populations, water being an example.  Counties west of I-35, and their representatives in Austin, need to be aware of this and protective of their assets and resources.

*** STATE BUDGET  In years past, the energy industry provided 50% of the state budget, but that was difficult for the state as the energy industry had good years and bad years.  The Texas economy is now more diverse, the energy industry contributing 13% of the state budget, allowing for greater stability to the state budget.

***  TAXES  Texas currently has sales taxes and property taxes, but no personal income tax.  Many in Austin feel that we are maxed out on sales and property taxes, thus some interest in personal income taxes in the future.  Currently there is not enough support for this, but that could change.

***  SPEAKER DENNIS BONNEN  A recording has surfaced of House Speaker Dennis Bonnen speaking with Michael Sullivan of Empower Texas (a political advocacy organization), about certain members of the Legislature that did not support Bonnen, and who Bonnen is targeting for defeat in the 2020 elections.  There have been some calls for replacing Bonnen as Speaker.  Morris does not know how this will play out, but currently it is taking up much time and energy in the Legislature, pushing other issues aside.

***  REDISTRICTING  The state will re-draw its legislative districts after the 2020 census.  Most likely West Texas will have fewer representatives, and East Texas will have more.

Morris concluded by going over the ten Texas Constitutional Amendments on the ballot in November, with a brief explanation of each.

(by Mike Blagg)