Major Accomplishments of the 80th Texas Legislature

Dear Friend,

Now that the 80th Texas Legislature is behind us, I thought you would be interested in seeing an overview of all of the major legislation that was passed during the session.
The session included major progress on a wide range of issues including the budget, taxes, private property rights, education reform, criminal justice, statewide water planning, border and homeland security, strengthening traditional marriage, and preserving family values.
Please find the list below. If you should have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (512) 463-0738. It is a pleasure to serve you in the Texas Legislature.
Sincerely,

Phil King

Texas State Legislative District #61

State Budget / Taxes

HB 1 - The 2008-2009 biennium budget totaled just over $152 billion, an increase of less than 3.5% per year from the previous biennium. This represents a victory for those of us who push for smaller governments, as this increase is below the state's population growth and the rate of inflation. Additionally, $2.5 billion will remain unspent, increasing the state's Rainy Day Fund to $7.0 billion by the end of 2009.  Peggy Venable serves as Texas Director of Americans for Prosperity, a group which works for limited government. Commenting on the budget, Venable said, "Taxpayer advocates have reason to celebrate."  Moreover, this budget ensures that homeowners will continue to enjoy the property tax reductions enacted during the 79th Legislature.

HB 2 - Transferred $14 billion to the Texas Education Agency to cover revenue that school districts lost from property tax reduction.
Legislators also extended property tax cuts to seniors and disabled homeowners. These two groups were excluded from the reductions because their property taxes are already frozen at a certain rate. While the freeze was intended to protect these homeowners from rising taxes on a fixed income, they will now receive the tax decrease. In May, voters approved the constitutional amendment that would allow this tax cut to be extended to seniors and disabled homeowners.

HB 735 - Eliminated the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund, which was placed on Texans' phone bills to help pay for the initial building of phone lines and other necessary infrastructure for telecommunications in 1997. The elimination of the TIF will save Texans $600 million. The TIF was the fourth largest tax or fee in the history of Texas.
Public Schools

HB 2237 - High School Completion and Success Initiative - This legislation aims to support schools in implementing curriculum and instruction improvements that align with State standards and expectations for post-secondary success, including technical assistance to help schools maximize the impact of available funding.

HB 2236 - End-of-course Exams - In a move that will likely win favor among Texas school children, legislators voted to end TAKS as the means for determining students' academic eligibility for secondary education. HB 2236 will phase out TAKS and replace it with end-of-course exams in the four core subject areas in grades 9-12. Schools will remain accountable for student performance while allowing students to satisfy graduation requirements in different ways; for example, by allowing satisfactory performance on Advanced Placement (AP) or similar college-level aptitude tests to substitute for end-of-course exams. The bill also requires students to complete college readiness diagnostics and college entrance exams at state expense.

Colleges and Universities

HB 3900 - Texas Tomorrow Fund II (TTF2) - HB 3900 establishes the TTF2, creating new savings options to help families pay for higher education. Under this plan, families will be able to lock in today's rates for tuition and required fees for their children's future higher education needs, giving them more certainty about the cost of a college education.

Private Property Rights

SB 378 - Castle Doctrine - SB 378, the House companion of which I joint-authored, passed, improving the rights of homeowners and citizens to protect them from criminals. The Castle Doctrine legislation allows Texans to defend themselves with deadly force without requiring them to retreat and reduces the probability that law-abiding citizens could be charged with a crime for acting in self-defense.
Criminal Justice

HB 8 - Jessica's Law - Directs the Attorney General's office, upon request, to assist county or district attorneys in the prosecution of sexually violent offenses. The bill imposes a minimum sentence of 25 years for sexually violent offenses against a child younger than 14 and eliminates the eligibility for parole for certain offenders, makes a second conviction for a sexually violent offense against a child younger than 14 a capital offense; provides global positioning system monitoring for offenders committed under sexually violent predator statutes; extends the statute of limitations for sexually violent offenses against children younger than 14 to 20 years past the victim's 18th birthday; and
clarifies that harboring a sex offender in violation of registration is an offense that can be classified up to a third degree felony.

SB 11 - Homeland and Border Security - The Legislature passed SB 11, establishing a statewide mutual aid system to provide integrated statewide aid response capacity between local government entities.SB 11 designates and allows additional emergency vehicles to be used during a disaster.SB 11 also creates the Border Security Council to oversee the distribution of $103 million to border law enforcement agencies. The council's members are to be appointed by the governor. The bill also calls for a legislative committee to monitor and report back to the legislature on the effectiveness of these programs.

Transportation

SB 792 - places a two-year moratorium on all CDAs (comprehensive development agreements) including TTC-35. The bill creates a formal legislative study committee to research and report on implications of private partnership toll projects. This will provide the public a substantive opportunity to participate in the discussion of future public-private partnerships. It also prohibits any future toll roads in Texas to be owned by foreign private equity firms. Finally, the bill provides greater public access to information and more disclosure with regard to the Trans Texas Corridor and other toll related contracts and details.

Energy Issues

HB 3693 - Energy Efficiency - HB 3693, a bill which I joint-authored and helped draft, creates energy efficiency mechanisms intended to provide reductions in consumption and demand to avoid crises during peak energy times.The legislation sets in place enhancements for existing energy efficiency programs, enables more customer demand management, updates building energy codes, and requires state agencies to purchase more efficient equipment and appliances. These measures should result in reductions in electricity consumption to avoid peak demand problems and also avoid new costs for power plants and power lines.

HB 3732 - Clean Air - Creates a more predictable permitting process for the installation of ultra clean energy.The bill establishes an ultra clean energy grant and loan program that will provide the State Energy Conservation Office with significant resources to encourage the development of ultra clean energy technology.HB 3732 also creates financial incentives for ultra clean energy projects by allowing limitations on the appraised value of property used for such purposes, enhancing pollution control property tax exemptions, and providing tax incentives for ultra clean coal technology.

HB 1386 - HB 1386 is a bill that I authored which incentivizes the building of new nuclear plants in Texas for electric generation. It will provide for clean, cheap energy for our future.

Water Issues

SB 3 - Water Conservation - Legislators took several steps to improve water conservation, including educating Texans about the importance of this issue and creating an advisory council to deal with statewide issues around water conservation. SB 3 encompassed many of these new measures. Conservation awareness and education are factored into several of the bill's provisions. The Texas Water Development Board (TWBD) will implement a statewide program to increase Texans' awareness of the need for water conservation. Additionally, the Higher Education Coordinating Board will develop curricula regarding on-site water reclamation technologies and ways to incorporate these systems into the design and construction of new state buildings. The bill also creates a 23-member Water Conservation Advisory Council to monitor the development and implementation of conservation strategies. SB 3 requires utilities that provide drinking water to more than 3,300 customers to submit water conservation plans to the TCEQ and TWBD, and requires these utilities to conduct annual progress updates.  TWBD's water assistance fund is authorized to be used for grants for water conservation initiatives.

Local Bills

I carried and passed the following legislation that was brought to me by several residents and officials from District 61.

SB 1983 - This bill creates the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District in Parker, Wise, Montague, and Hood Counties. The district was created to address the many water issues we dealt with in the district last summer. The district can assess groundwater production fees to all users; this includes the ability to assess fees on gas well operators. The fee is capped in the legislation at $1 per acre-foot for agriculture uses and 30 cents per thousand gallons for other users. This is strictly a fee-based district with no taxing authority and is subject to a confirmation election by the voters within the district's bounds. The bill also includes an exemption for certain livestock wells to have meters or send in reports of its water usage.

HB 2982 - Includes an amendment that I offered to address the increased presence of portable drilling rigs in the district. The amendment states that if a portable drilling rig is in Parker County or Wise County on January 1 the owner of the rig can choose to either pay taxes to our counties or the county of their principle place of business. This is extremely important because almost all rig owners will choose to pay taxes in Parker and Wise counties because most of the companies operate out of Midland and Houston where tax rates are much higher. This will help relieve the tax burden borne by local taxpayers by providing our counties with access to this new revenue. The amendment also includes a provision that would close the loop-hole on out-of-state rig operators which allowed them to not pay taxes in Texas even if their rig was in the state the entire year. Now, operators will have to pay taxes wherever their rigs are located on January 1st.

HB 630 - This bill was coined the "common courtesy bill". The bill simply says that a gas well operator must notify the surface owner of the property where they have been given a permit to drill a gas well. With the boom of the Barnett Shale drilling, this bill is extremely important in both Parker and Wise counties. There have been many complaints by property owners that their first contact with a gas well operator was the day the operator entered their land with an intent to drill a well. This bill will improve the relationships between property owners and gas well operators.

HB 629 - Current law outlines a very lengthy and drawn out process for municipalities to hold a consolidation election. The smallest municipality holds the first election; if that community votes in support of consolidation, then the next largest municipality can vote, but no sooner that 45 days after the previous election. House Bill 629 simplifies this process and allows for the elections to take place on the same day if all governing boards agree. This bill still protects smaller municipalities from being consolidated into large municipalities. The Annettas and Hudson Oaks in East Parker County are looking at consolidating, and this bill helps them accomplish that goal in a timely manner.

HB 632 - HB 632 allows the judge in the 415th District Court to appoint bailiffs.

SB 1562 - This bill, brought to me by local law enforcement, requires that animal control officers be trained before they can begin working.

HB 2935 - This bill, brought to me by the Texas Fire Marshal's Association and local firefighters, mandates that all of the cigarettes sold in the state be made with fire-safe paper. This bill will decrease the number of home fires in Texas substantially and save lives.

HB 3992 - HB 3992 clarifies that the County Clerk in Parker County serves as the clerk for the County and the District, in cases that involve both the County and the District.

HB 3993 - This bill allows Parker County to pay the Juvenile Board members more than they are currently being compensated, at the discretion of the Commissioners Court.

Political ad paid for by Phil King Campaign P.O. Box 1913, Weatherford, Texas 76086-9928