Immigration, education, health care on agenda for 89th session

Texas Rep. David Spiller will prioritize border security, public education funding, banning certain foreign countries from owning Texas land and improving rural Texans’ access to health and mental health care during the 89th Legislative Session.

Rep. Spiller told the Enterprise that he already consulted with Gov. Greg Abbott on the border bills, and sees a possible showdown over the school funding bills, with which he aims to bump up per-student allotments and teacher pay - especially for small and medium school districts.

Rep. Spiller takes the oath of office for his second full term on Jan. 16 and said he expects to continue his tenure on the influential House Appropriations Committee.

His border security goals include getting incoming President Donald Trump to reinstate more than 94 policies repealed by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris that he said created an “unprecedented influx of illegal aliens … fentanyl and other illegal drugs” into Texas.

He also supports asking Congress to reimburse Texas “for the billions of dollars we have spent out of our own pockets to secure the border and do the federal government’s job.”

He will support legislation to create a Border Force, a “new law enforcement unit dedicated to fighting the threats coming from the border, with a command structure that can plan, coordinate and execute border security and counterterrorism operations in Texas.”

He also plans to support reforms that will enable the Texas Military Department to “face the threats coming from our southwest border and respond to natural disasters” and to “better fulfill its mission of protecting Texas security and sovereignty.”

Last session, Rep. Spiller authored a controversial measure that created a criminal offense for illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation, and authorizes all licensed peace officers, including school resource officers, to remove illegal immigrants.

This session, he wants to expand on that measure by requiring Texas law enforcement to “inquire about the legal status of someone they stop, detain or arrest” and by requiring all government entities in the state - counties, cities, public schools, and hospitals, to use the E-Verify system to ensure that all employees are eligible to work in the United States.

His proposed legislation “will require every law enforcement agency, cities and counties in the state to assist [federal authorities] with getting [illegal migrants] to be returned and deported.”

“If they don’t, then they won’t be able to receive any state grant money for the next two years,” he said. “They would need to at least offer to and be willing to cooperate with the federal government in that because otherwise, the federal government doesn’t have the manpower to do that.”

He will reintroduce a bill filed last session that prohibits the four countries identified in the Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community - China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea - from purchasing or acquiring title to real property in Texas.

Rep. Spiller placed school funding at the top of his legislative agenda this session, saying that he plans to file or support bills to increase the basic allotment, the creation of a School Safety Fund, bonuses for full-time and part-time teachers, nurses, counselors, and librarians, and teacher raises.

“One [issue] that I’m most concerned with is increasing the funding for small and mid-sized schools,” he said. “Our teachers, for starting pay, are on average $15, 000 less than the starting salary for teachers in urban and suburban districts.”

He also supports hiking Special Education funding, teacher retirement, and cutting state bureaucratic requirements, especially for small and medium-sized districts.

”I don’t want to criticize, but look how much the administrative costs are on these schools,” he said. “They’re spending way too much on administrators because we levied all these different requirements on them and they have to comply, and there are penalties that they don’t. Maybe if we [cut] some of those that are outdated, unnecessary, and needless, not only would we operate more efficiently, we save the taxpayers’ dollars by doing so.”

Other initiatives targeted for this session include lowering property taxes, securing and strengthening the power grid, election security, and making healthcare more affordable.

He supports or will file legislation “implementing greater price transparency measures and expansion of healthcare availability and quality for rural Texans … (including) better addressing mental health treatment and issues.”

Also this session, Rep. Spiller also wants to develop long-term solutions to anticipated surface water and groundwater shortages, including “investments in conservation, reuse of existing resources, desalination, and water transportation and delivery infrastructure.”