During the past legislative session, certain special interest groups launched an effort to silence local government officials. Determined to dominate the discussion concerning equitable taxation and appraisals, these groups proposed legislation to 1) prevent local governments from retaining professional lobbyists to present information on their behalf; 2) prohibit local governments from supporting associations that present information to legislators; and 3) prohibit local government officials from using county resources to communicate with legislators. These provisions were incorporated into Senate Bill 29, sponsored by Sen. Bob Hall and Rep. Mayes Middleton. S.B. 29 passed the Senate by one vote. Fortunately, it died on the floor of the House by a vote of 58 to 85. However, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Bonnen immediately promised to support it in the next session. Of course, the efforts by Speaker Bonnen to exact retribution on House members who did not support S.B. 29 led to his political demise. Nevertheless, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Bonnen have assigned the issue to the Senate and House State Affairs committees for future study and recommendations.
The special interest groups have declared that passage of this legislation will be their highest priority. They have initiated a PR campaign to label these local government communications as “taxpayer-supported lobbying” and are attacking legislators who opposed S.B. 29. They succeeded in placing a very slanted referendum item on the Republican Party ballot. Their goal is simply to eliminate all local participation in the legislative process, leaving their lobbyists as the only source of information.
With more than 7,000 bills to be considered and thousands that affect local governments, it is essential that local officials and their associations be involved in the process. Local issues, especially from rural Texas, will be obliterated by the highly financed special interest groups unless local officials have an effective voice. Now is the time to communicate with your community leaders to protect the input of local government officials and oppose this legislation to silence the representatives of our citizens. Expand the dialogue on the issue beyond the influence of the special interest groups and encourage your citizens and legislators to preserve these vital tools of communication and information.
If you have any questions, please call me at 1-800-733-0699.
