Achieving conservative victories for House District 68

Throughout the 88th Legislature’s regular session, legislators have worked tirelessly for 140 days to achieve conservative legislative victories for our constituents. As state representative for House District 68, I was proud to champion legislation that delivers on my promise to improve our great state of Texas. These victories address the issues that matter most to House District 68, from securing our border to protecting Texas children.

Starting with the biennial budget, or House Bill 1, we appropriated $144.13 billion to fund the state over the next two years. This fiscally conservative budget stays well below the state’s spending limits and includes several provisions to address essential issues to our state, including: Securing our southern border by directing $5.1 billion to border security efforts by the 13 state agencies tasked with defending our border; Boosting the state’s share of public education to $50.4 billion, including $3.2 billion to fund projected enrollment growth; Protecting Texas students in the classroom through $1.4 billion for school safety grants that will equip campuses with tools needed for potential emergencies; Dedicating $17.6 billion for much-needed property tax relief for ALL property owners; Improving Texas infrastructure with $9.3 billion for infrastructure-related projects, including roads, water, and broadband.

Texas House Republicans also supported important conservative priorities. Just a few of these bills included: The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act ensures that all Texans have the rights and abilities they deserve to control their personal data online, while the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act makes sure Texas children are safe from addictive algorithms and harmful content.

The READER Act protects Texas children by eliminating sexually explicit materials from public school libraries and empowers parents to know what their student is reading.

Senate Bill 14 places common-sense prohibitions on therapies and medical procedures to transition a child’s gender before they are an adult. Specifically, the bill bans surgeries that sterilize children, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for the purpose of transitioning a child’s biological sex before they are 18 years of age.

House Bill 1243 amends the Election Code to increase the penalty for the offense of illegal voting from a Class A misdemeanor to a second-degree felony, but establishes that an attempt is a state jail felony. The bill applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill’s effective date and provides for the continuation of the law in effect before the bill’s effective date for purpos- es of an offense, or any element thereof, that occurred before that date.

Senate Bill 1403, my Border Interstate Compact Bill. This bill creates an interstate compact that allows states to collaborate and share resources for the purpose of border enforcement. It is important to note, this bill does not require consent of Congress. Simply put, this legislation allows participating states and their law enforcement agencies to share resources, intelligence, and funding for border enforcement efforts. This would strengthen our capabilities to address, manage, and overcome the continuing security crisis at our border.

The Texas Legislature also took on numerous other conservative priorities this session. I was proud to support these bills with my Republican colleagues. First, we passed sweeping measures to stop the radical sexualization of children in Texas. This includes restricting children’s access to sexually explicit performances. We stopped radical policies at Texas schools by protecting biological women’s sports and stopping divisive DEI programs. We also reined in rouge district attorneys who continue to refuse to prosecute criminal offenses by classifying refusal to follow the law as official misconduct.

House Republicans did not stop there. Outof- control cities and municipalities continue to disregard state law, creating a patchwork of ordinances that plague our state, making it difficult for businesses to expand in Texas. The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act provides the regulatory stability and certainty businesses need to expand to other cities within Texas by preempting local ordinances inconsistent with state law.

These are just a handful of the measures I proudly supported this session. While there is still more to be done after session, we had great conservative wins for Texas. The work continues in the interim as we await our interim committee charges from the Speaker to study policy in the months leading up to the 89th Texas Legislature, which will convene in January 2025.

I look forward to being back home in the district and providing more details on the work I accomplished at the Texas Capitol. For questions about this session, please contact my Capitol office at 512-463-0526.

I thank each one of you for the opportunity to serve you in Austin and work hard on these many issues for Texas.