“I think, therefore I spend” is the motto of most polticians and it isn’t any different here in Texas. You might say at least Texas isn’t as bad as Washington DC but that really isn’t saying much. In 1978, Texas passed a constitutional amendment to limit government growth and out of control spending but the wording is so vague that Republicans and Democrats alike have ignored it. In fact, not only has the Texas government continued to grow but it has experienced a growth spurt! Texans would have paid $40 billion (yes billion) less in taxes since 1990 if we would have implemented a constitutional amendment that limited government growth to population and inflation. Below is a great graph that shows the disrecpency in past governemnt growth compared to the growth if it would of been tied to population and inflation.

The blue bars in the chart shows unadjusted state spending and the green line represents spending levels if were set for population growth and inflation. As you can clearly see, the gap in between the green line and blue bars continues to expand which has led us to the budget crisis we face today. This is why I am excited to support and tell you about a very important piece of legislation facing the Texas Legislature this session, House Joint Resolution 70. Its authors include Representatives Paxton, Hughes and Weber among others.

According to a HJR 70 fact sheet, “HJR 70 will limit the growth in appropriations from state tax revenue to the rate of population increase plus monetary inflation each biennium.” Furthermore, 2/3rds of revenue surplus will go to relieve property taxes. However, if the legislature sees fit that more funds need to be approperiated it must be done by a record vote and approved by 2/3rds of the members in each house.

This is the type of common sense legislation that we all hope to see from our legislators. HJR 70 will keep government growth and spending in check with a reasonable but high standard to circumvent if necessary. Remember if this was in place in 1990 Texans would have $40 billion extra dollars burning a hole in their pockets. Wouldn’t that be nice to say one day and it be a reality?

Whether you like Rep. David Simpson or not he is sure making a name for himself in the Texas House. He was one of two Republicans who voted against the House budget because it did not cut enough programs and he did not feel money that was being spent was being spent wisely. He is now unilaterally knocking local and consent bills off of the House calendar. Local and consent bills only apply to a representatives district or are not controversial enough that they need any further debate therefore they are fast tracked to passage. So you can imagine the feeling when one House member knocks another House members bill off of that calendar. It is essentially like poking the bills author in the eye so you better have a good reason for doing it. When the bill is knocked off the L&C calendar it doesn’t kill the bill but it does slow it down and is subjected to further points of order.

The Texas Tribune reports that he has knocked 3 bills off the L&C calendar and is suffering the consequences. They point out that he has not broken any House rules but co-authors on his bills are starting to jump ship and he was quoted as saying, “It’s been a little lonely up there today.” This begs the question is Rep. Simpson is doing the right thing or should he be playing more nicely with his colleagues? The way Rep. Simpson sees it he is standing up for his values and principles and isn’t going to let politeness stand in the way. His colleagues see him as breaking unwritten decorum rules and being “annoying.”

So instead of allowing politicians decide whether he is a hero or a heretic(the political kind) I think YOU should decide. Vote in the poll below to voice your option.

I was invited to be apart of a conference call with Rep. Dan Branch to discuss the current legislative session. The call was hosted by Americans for Prosperity – Texas in conjuction with RightOnline. He opened up the call by touching on the budget and talking about his work as the Chairman of the Higher Education Committee. He highlighted a couple of bills that were important to him, two of which are HB 9 and HB 10. House Bill 10 relates to the state considering the readiness of student when distributing grant funding. House Bill 9 intends to reward universities for higher performing students in order to further incentive universities to graduate their students. Neither one of these bills have a fiscal note and their overall purpose seems to improve how our tax dollars our spent. Both of the these bills have received a large amount of support and it seems they are on there way to pass.

When it opened up for Q&A I was able ask a question that has been on my mind the past couple of days. I inquired to why, even though each chambers budgets are different, they always seem to have an overall similar theme but this years has proven to be different. As the process moved forward the House’s budget became leaner and leaner while the senate’s budget has grown by the billions ($9 billion to be exact). Why was there such a large discrepancy this year?

His answer proved to shed some light on the ture feeling in the Texas house. That feeling was that House members were just elected in a sweeping election in which people wanted less spending and less government. I could almost hear the fear in his voice. Like you, I’ve this heard this sentiment before but never knew if the legislators really believed it. I can now tell you with certainty that Republicans, especially the freshman, will not cross a Republican primary voter or the Tea Party over the budget. The House’s lean budget has already proved this. However, on the Senate side they are searching to raise fees, liquidate some state owned land, tap into the Permanent School Fund, and yes… tap $3 billion from the Rainy Day Fund. This is a result of the Senate pushing to further fund elderly care and education but to also secure enough Democrat votes to get pass the senates 2/3rds rule.

At this point in session everything is beginning to move in slow motion but not is a good way. The kind of way as you see a bug coming straight for your windshield and just makes a terrible mess. This is what is happening this session. The House and Senate budget are flying toward each other there is going to be an unavoidable result…. SPLAT a.k.a a Special Session.

Today is the LAST day you can file you taxes without having the full force of the federal government coming after you. The deadline is midnight tonight to file your return online or have your return in the mail. So stop wasting time and get it done!

Just because I am such I nice person and I want to make sure you don’t have to mess with pesky audits I want you to read the American Tax Code. It’s only 71,648 pages so read up and good luck!

In case you were wonder if the tax code has always been this long and complicated… it hasn’t, not even close in fact. Take a look at the chart below that shows the rapid increase in number of pages in the tax code. Notice the sharp increase in the past two decades. This data was provided by the CCH Group.

This weekend I was up in Temple, TX for their Bloomin’ Temple festival that includes live music, unhealthy food, and arts and crafts. The best part of the weekend was being invited to meet country music legendary, Charlie Daniels(queue the devil went down to Georgia song). I was able to go back stage and get his autograph right before he went on stage.

He did an awesome job that night including another favorite of mine Brandon Rhyder, a rising Texas country music star. Thanks for putting up with my braggadociousness(I think that’s how you spell it) but I will get back to Texas politics later this afternoon.

Rep. Burt Solomon, who chairs the Redistricting Committee, has released the first proposal for the redrawn districts of the Texas House. Below I have graphics of the whole state and the major metropolitan areas in Texas to so you may compare the maps. It is important to note that because of population shift there are 7 districts that have been combined which pits current reps against each other. However, there are 8 open seats in areas that saw population growth. You can view Rep. Burt Solomon’s statement on his proposed map by clicking here.

(more…)

Last week I did a post on the rise of social media in the Texas Legislature but the use of social media also has a strong presence in the U.S. Capitol. Today at 2PM Texas’ own US Senator John Cornyn will appear on Facebook Live to talk about how members of congress are using it to connect with their constituents. I will live stream his interview from DC on this blog so be sure to tune in at 2PM.

Yesterday, I decided to go the staging area for the Save Our State rally that was put on by the AFL-CIO, Texas Impact, Texas State Employee Union, and a handful of other left wing groups. What you will see in the video below is protest organizing 101 for those on the left. And that is to bus as many people in on luxury buses giving the perception of grassroots support.

In the video you will see about HALF of the reported 40 buses that protesters were shipped in on. It is also worth noting that renting a 60 person charter bus(the buses you see in the video) for the day usually cost around $1,000. That is $40,000 alone just for transportation.

Even though some members in the #txlege don’t have Facebook or Twitter accounts the use of social media has exploded this session. Legislators and their consultants are starting to understand that social media allows them to send direct unfiltered messages to their constituents instantly. We have seen members tweet out messages from the House or Senate floor and even tweet what is happening in closed caucus meeting. In case you were wondering Rep. Aaron Pena is the king of tweeting, when it comes to Texas legislators, sending out over 6,500 tweets to over 2,500 followers.

We have even seen social media put life into filed bills. For example, Rep. Wayne Christian (I believe is the first Texas legislator to do this) created a social media campaign by creating Facebook and Twitter pages for HJR 51. This House Joint Resolution is a proposed constitutional amendment to limit the effects of Obamacare and allow Texans to choose or deny what type of health care they want. We of course can’t forget “Walker Colt’s” campaign to become the official state gun of Texas. “Walker Colt” is usually seen tweeting or facebooking complaining about how Texas has a state tree but not a state gun.

Even YouTube is making its imprint. Rep. Christian has also begun a weekly legislative update in which he interviews different legislators and politicos or just gives viewers an inside look into the Texas legislature. You can watch his latest update below. This idea was soon followed up by Paul Burka, Texas Monthly Editor, on his blog.

Although twitter and facebook played a part last session it does not hold a candle to what we are witnessing today. I hope to see this trend continue because I believe it connects the average person to usually unreachable elected official. You can send direct messages or @replys to legislators on twitter or post questions on their Facebook wall. And believe it or not they usually reply! The younger generation of legislators, I’ve learned, use their social media accounts separate from staffers or consultants while for the older generation rely heavily on staffers.

You might be seeing some new terms that you have never seen before like #txlege or @replys but I didn’t go into detail on what they mean to keep the post short. If you have any questions, on what those weird social media terms mean, I will be more than happy to answer your questions in comments section.