HOUSTON – Time to go to work for Texans.
This is exactly what at 12 p.m. on Tuesday at the state capitol as members of the House and Senate were sworn in to officially start the state’s 88th legislative session.
While there are many questions going into this cycle, what is certain is the fact that there are more revenue dollars - $188 billion - than ever in the state. The state comptroller also revealed on Monday the state has a surplus of $32 billion from the previous two years.
“It’s historic. We are starting off with a lot of money that we never had before,” said Republican State Senator Paul Bettencourt.
This said, how should lawmakers invest that money back in Texas?
“I’m hoping that we can convince leadership to spend it in the right places,” said Democratic State Senator Borris Miles.
There are several key areas that lawmakers are looking to tackle impacting all Texans. Let’s begin with the power grid.
“The grid has got to be fixed. We cannot go every two years losing 200 people in Texas because of something we failed to fix,” said Miles.
Across the aisle, Republican State Senator Joan Huffman agreed.
“It’s very important to make sure that we have a solid grid that will provide the energy that we need for all future Texans, but most importantly, be secure from any outside threats,” said Huffman after being sworn in.
Another issue legislators from the Houston area are looking to tackle is crime.
“It’s been on the rise for some time,” said Democratic State Senator Carol Alvarado.
Alvarado is focusing on a bill to give law enforcement greater strengths when it comes to the theft of catalytic converters. For others, the legislative focus on crime is securing more personnel.
“Public safety needs to be addressed by the state in all of our metropolitan areas. The state needs to help us recruit law enforcement officers from other states,” said Democratic State Sen. John Whitmire, who also is campaigning to become the next mayor of Houston.
Huffman agrees with her Democratic counterpart Whitmire, but also believes in enhancing bail regulations. This is one piece to the crime puzzle the legislature did gain ground on in their last session.
“We need a constitutional amendment that will allow judges to hold violent offenders who they view as a threat to the community without bond, pending trial,” said Huffman.
One issue impacting homeowners, renters and business owners is the issue of property taxes. After property taxes skyrocketed earlier this year, there were calls to use a portion of the surplus to provide relief.
“We’ve got a record surplus. We need to look at property relief, not just in property taxes, but in other tax revenue streams as well,” said Bettencourt.
Miles believes relief needs to not only be permanent but also significant.
“I want property tax relief if we are going to make some serious tax cuts. If we are just going to put something that Republicans can put on their mailers for their next election that we did some property cut, I’m not down for that,” said Miles.
While there was talk concerning several key issues, Democratic Representative Jarvis Johnson from the northwest area of Houston drilled down into his own district and highlighted the problem of batch plants,
Johnson’s bill calls for new plants to be built with nothing around them within 800 feet.
“We certainly want to make sure that places like Houston, that don’t have zoning, have the power to be able to create the type of ordinance that would protect communities,”' said Johnson, who also pointed out that such an ordinance also would impact property taxes.
The legislature will be meeting over the course of the next four and a half months.