 Under The Dome: Legislative Update The 84th Legislative Session was an incredible experience for me that I will never forget. As a freshman legislator, you never truly know what to expect in Austin. I am honored to represent House District 129 and look forward to traveling the district this summer to share my experience with constituents and learn more about what we can do to make Texas better. Below is a list of legislation passed by my office to benefit Texas and the constituents of House District 129. Concern over the ability of public retirement systems to meet their long-term obligations has grown in recent years. House Bill 3310 aims at putting best practices first and assist public retirement systems with meeting their pension obligations by increasing transparency and providing a way for the system and its sponsoring entity to work together to ensure continued actuarial soundness.
House Bill 3456 amends current law relating to the composition of a district executive committee of a political party. It requires the state chair to call a meeting of the district executive committee of a political party to convene either as a whole in one location or separately in each county in the district at any time after the precinct chairs take office to fill a vacancy in a nomination or to transact any other business by the committee. Additionally, for the purposes of filling a vacancy in a nomination, requires the state chair to canvass the votes of the district executive committee when meeting separately in each county and to make the required certification of a replacement nominee for placement on the ballot.
Currently, judges and clerks who work at the polls do not have their information protected. Several different organizations seek personal information of these poll workers through a Texas Public Information Act request and there is no protection for them. House Bill 2160 amends current law to protect the information of those election poll workers.
The University of Houston - Clear Lake recently transitioned to a four-year university with the enrollment of over 500 freshmen and sophomores. As such, more students will be living on the university campus, creating additional demand for student services. House Bill 2921 amends the Education Code to authorize the board of regents of the University of Houston System to charge each student enrolled at the University of Houston - Clear Lake a recreation and wellness facility fee to be used only for the purpose of financing, constructing, operating, maintaining, improving, and equipping a recreation and wellness facility and for operating recreation and wellness programs at the university. The legislation prohibits the fee from being charged unless the charging of the fee is approved by a majority vote of the students enrolled at the university participating in a general student election held for that purpose. The bill caps the fee amount at $150 per student for each regular semester, $75 per student for each summer session of eight weeks or longer, and $50 per student for each term of the summer session of less than eight weeks. House Bill 1585; the Nassau Bay Hotel Occupancy Tax legislation will amend Chapter 351 of the Tax Code, regarding municipal hotel occupancy taxes. The bill adds in the tax code the allocation of revenue in certain municipalities, that would apply only to a municipality with a population of not more than 5,000 and located less than one-eighth of one mile from a space center operated by an agency of the federal government. An applicable municipality would be authorized to use 3 percent of the 7 percent municipal hotel tax to 1) establish, acquire, purchase, construct, improve, maintain, or operate an authorized facility; and 2) pay bonds issued to establish, acquire, purchase, construct, improve, maintain, or operate an authorized facility. The total amount of municipal hotel tax used on an authorized facility could not exceed the amount of revenue from hotel tax attributable to events at the facility over the 15-year period after the completion of construction, and the legislation provides procedures to determine if that requirement was met. The Ellington Field Joint Resolution (Senate Concurrent Resolution 37) stated that the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to direct the Department of Defense to relocate the United States Africa Command to Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston; and That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the secretary of the Department of Defense, to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
House Bill 1305 by Representative Greg Bonnen and I amends the education code to allow schools to participate in a locally administered program outside the federal structure without losing reimbursement for those campuses who remain with the School Breakfast Program or National School Lunch Program. The bill also provides state compensatory education funds to all economically disadvantaged students, regardless of their campus's participation in a federal meal reimbursement program. The Conference Committee Report to H.B. 1305 includes language requiring Computer Education recipients in the Virtual School Network to report their use of those funds to the Texas Education Agency for approval, and requires that private meal operations charge at or below the federal rate for free and reduced meals. To read more about the legislation I filed and passed during the 84th Texas Legislative Session please visit the Texas Legislature Online. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment