Working for East Texas

Representing District 11 in the Heart of East Texas House is a great honor. Right in the heart of East Texas, our district includes Cherokee, Houston, Panola, and Rusk counties. When it comes to fighting for our communities and for our values, make no mistake: I take that responsibility very seriously.

I have two legislative goals:

That means working for:

I will continue to be a voice for our traditional rural East Texas values in the Legislature — to protect our quality of life and make this a better place for our families.

Thank you for your input and continued support. God bless Texas.

Proven Independent Leadership with the Right Values for East Texas

East Texans deserve experienced, honest and independent leadership that cuts through the partisan bickering and reflects the true values of our communities. We need public education reform that brings real improvements and accountability to our public schools and delivers a real pay raise to our educators. We need significant property tax relief that won’t be taken away by more hidden tax increases. We need access to quality, affordable health care for our families. And we need the guarantee of a safe and secure economy that brings more jobs to East Texas and builds stronger communities.

As an independent pharmacist for over 35 years, I understand the importance of quality, affordable health care for our seniors, children, and families. As a small business owner, I have first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing working families. As a former Jacksonville School Board member, I have worked for our schools and fought for our teachers. And, as a City Councilman, I have worked to create jobs and improve our local economy.

And, finally, as your state representative, I have tried to be a leader for East Texas on all these issues: health care, education, and economic development—and in other areas like protecting our water supply and our natural resources. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I worked to cut wasteful spending, while balancing our state budget.

Simply put: I understand our values, our needs, and our challenges. And I will continue to work hard to make sure your concerns are addressed and that our values are reflected in the Texas House.

Education Reform Requires Real Tax Reform

For too long now the state has shortchanged our public schools. This has increasingly placed the burden of school funding onto the backs of local property and homeowners. The ratio of state-to-local school funding is 62 percent to 38 percent–the lowest state contribution to public education since World War II. Recently, repeated attempts to address this problem in the Legislature have resulted in misguided tax proposals and empty reforms over multiple special sessions. Yes, significantly more funding is needed for education. Additional funds are needed to bring Texas’ teacher salaries up to the national average, and to restore the cuts that have been made to teacher health insurance and retirement benefits.

I support the following tax reform plan:

1) Reduce local property taxes by at least 30 percent to 50 percent;

2) Revamp the franchise tax to close existing loopholes so that all businesses in Texas assume their fair share. The current system allows franchise taxes to go unpaid by 5 out of 6 businesses.

3) I will never support a state income tax.

When I served on the Jacksonville School Board, I benefited from first-hand observation of what happens in the classroom. Additionally, my wife, Billie, was a teacher and counselor for over 30 years. Those experiences proved to me that good teachers are the most important ingredient of a first-rate education. We have a serious teacher shortage in Texas. We are unable to keep great teachers in the classroom for long and we are unable to consistently attract the best and brightest in the profession. That is why I think the two most significant improvements we can make in public education are to raise teacher salaries to at least the national average, and to restore their health insurance and retirement benefits which the Legislature recently cut, but I voted against. A good teacher is just as important as a good doctor, lawyer, plumber, or mechanic…it is time for them to be fairly compensated.

Skyrocketing Healthcare Costs

The Legislature cut hundreds of thousands of eligible low-income children from the Children’s Health Insurance program (CHIP), a measure I did not support (HB 2292). The impact of this denial of adequate healthcare for Texas children is far-reaching. Not only has the health of children been negatively impacted, but hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching funds have been lost. Taxpayers are seeing increased healthcare costs because these people now have to rely on more expensive emergency room care. As a pharmacist, I see this first hand every day. Medicaid is and will continue to be one of the most daunting challenges facing Texas. Healthcare costs are rising at an alarming rate, and fewer Texans have or can afford health insurance–including more than one million children.

The Medicaid program, the costs of which are shared between the state and federal governments, consumes more than 20 percent of the state’s budget. While I believe there are steps we can take to increase and maximize federal matching funds, and further weed out fraud in the system, these initiatives alone will not solve the problem in the long term. I support creating a long-term solution that would involve a public/private partnership between the state and businesses both large and small to pool their resources and assets for increased health care coverage.

Public Integrity & Open Government

I am in favor of holding all our elected officials accountable for their actions.

That is why I have voted for requiring record votes in the Legislature. I believe the public has a right to know how their representative is voting on issues important to them.

I am in favor of eliminating our current system of perks and sweetheart deals for elected officials. I favor campaign finance reform. I believe there should be reasonable caps on the amount of money PACs and wealthy individuals can directly contribute to campaigns. No one individual or organization’s cause should be able to buy a seat in the Legislature.

I believe that all agencies of the state should be required to make broadcasts of their official meetings available to the public through their individual websites. Furthermore, I believe all public documents should be made available for public review and research via the internet.

Stop Illegal Immigration

In Texas, thousands of illegal aliens cross the Mexico border every week. Our border patrol is understaffed. We cannot ignore the threat a porous border poses to our national security. Criminals and terrorists can easily enter Texas hidden in the flood of illegals.

Illegal immigration has created problems we can no longer ignore. Illegal immigration continues to stress our security, our economy, our healthcare system, and our education system.

In addition to threatening our national security, illegal aliens stretch our state resources. Our public schools are required to educate these students, taking time, attention, and money away from our children and grandchildren.

Too often, illegal aliens use our hospital emergency rooms as their primary care facilities because they lack insurance coverage. Emergency rooms are required to treat anyone who presents themselves, insurance or not. Their inability to pay gets passed on to you and me - the cost of healthcare is skyrocketing.

Illegal immigration places a significant economic burden on our local communities. For every uninsured patient hospitals see, taxpayers are forced to pick up the tab in indigent healthcare costs born by the city, county and state. When our schools are overcrowded and required to offer additional courses, resources, and personnel, our homeowners are stuck with rising property taxes.

America is the land of opportunity, and I want America to be that city on a hill for generations to come - but I also want the federal government to step up and do its job and protect our border.

Insurance Reform

Texas homeowners and drivers have been paying far too much for far too long for their insurance. It is time for us to enact real insurance reforms that force insurance companies to lower their rates, end the use of unfair insurance credit scoring, and give Texas families a policy that provides the security they need.

Transportation & Eminent Domain

While I support economic development projects, individual property owners should be justly compensated for property turned over for transportation projects. Our land is our life, and eminent domain procedures must be constantly evaluated. That is why I will continue to hold landowner’s rights paramount.

Environmental & Pollution Protection

Texas is a big state. If there is one thing we have plenty of, it is renewable energy sources like wind, sunshine, and water. With skyrocketing prices for gasoline, natural gas and electricity, we must expand our energy options - not to mention lessening our dependence on foreign oil. Also, we need to focus even more on protecting our precious natural resources. We are Texans–we can do better. The nation looks to Texas for its expertise and experience within the energy industry. Texas needs to look to the future and make a definitive decision to take control and lead this nation’s renewable energy efforts.

Stop Outrageous College Tuition Increases

When the Legislature voted to de-regulate state college and university tuition – a measure I did not support, it abdicated its role in determining tuition rates and has effectively passed a massive tax increase on middle-class families. The effect has been to make the dream of a college education unaffordable for many. The Texas Tomorrow Fund, which my grandkids are enrolled, has been closed to new enrollees because tuition rates have shot up so dramatically. We must resume the responsibility for setting tuition rates and for appropriately funding higher education in a productive collaboration with our universities.

 

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