I hope that you enjoyed time with your families this past weekend as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

We are now over half-way through the 83rd Legislature, and the activity is increasing substantially.

This past week we took two important votes on education and water policy and I want to let you know how I voted and why.

On Tuesday, the education reform bill (HB 5) relating to to public school accountability was laid out before the House. It passed with a vote of 145 to 2 after 9 hours of debate where we considered 165 amendments. I voted in favor. This bill is a step in the right direction, giving more freedom and flexibility for students, parents, teachers, and administrators. It reduces state-mandated, one-size-fits-all testing requirements and grants more flexibility in curriculum paths to students. From my numerous communications with constituents, it is obvious that this reform bill is a significant improvement over the status quo.

And, on the topic of education, it was good to see my friends from Big Sandy and White Oak ISDs this week at the Capitol! I appreciate your thoughtful input on how education policy affects our children in East Texas. (L to R: Scott Beene, Machelle Robbins, and Michael Gilbert)

Then on Wednesday we debated House Bill 4, which creates a state water infrastructure bank. In my view, this bill unnecessarily increases the size and scope of state government. Capital for long-term water projects is already available at attractive rates from private sources. As evidence, in 2012 bonded indebtedness for water in Texas increased $4.7 billion.

This new government bank will also facilitate substantial and ongoing increases in local and regional indebtedness without having to obtain authority from the voters each time to issue the debt, which is dangerous when our state is already the third most-indebted state in the nation. Texas water districts are currently almost $50 billion in debt, according to the Texas Bond Review Board. For these reasons I voted against the bill.

Recently we also took up the "sunset bill" for the Public Utilities Commission, HB 1660. I voted “nay” on final passage of the bill because new authority was given to the PUC to issue cease and desist orders. It is a violation of due process to delegate such authority to a bureaucracy rather than keeping it in the judicial process, maintaining checks and balances against abuse of unilateral power.

And, among other things, in the County Affairs Committee we've dealt with local hospital districts, zoning and building regulations, and water rate policy.

Beside working in the Legislature, I am grateful for recent opportunities to meet with constituents in the district, including attending the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet in Gladewater, honoring MSgt. Travis Watkins at the Medal of Honor Ceremony at the Gladewater Memorial Cemetery, hosting a townhall in Gilmer, and speaking at the We The People Second Amendment Rally in Longview and the quarterly meeting of the Upshur County Republican Party.

Thank you to the ladies from Upshur Manor who came to visit, too! (On left is Shari Richey and right is Beverly Anderson. Both are part of Texas Health Care Association.)

My staff and I very much appreciate your continued prayers and input. As always, I will seek to represent you and to fight for your liberty here in Austin as the second half of the session progresses.

For Texas and Liberty,
David Simpson

www.DavidSimpson.com
David.Simpson@house.state.tx.us

You're invited! Gilmer Town Hall next Saturday from 3:30 to 4:30 at the Upshur REA Building (map)

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"How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!"
--Samuel Adams, 1776

Despite the duplicity that inevitably accompanies politics, I have been much encouraged this session with many of the legislators. In Texas, we still have men and women willing to fight for their convictions!

Hope you had a happy Texas Independence Day!

Self-reliance and courage have marked our heritage of liberty in Texas, not dependence on government. Let us celebrate that heritage by holding fast to the principles of liberty — including the right and responsibility of self-defense.

There is a lot going on in your state legislature! Here's what's included in this update:

• My op-ed in the News-Journal - In Texas, gun control is a call to arms
• Proper funding for volunteer firefighters
• Fulfilling our obligations: Supplemental appropriations bill, HB 10; and the Teacher Retirement System
• Honoring the Great Texas Balloon Race, held in Longview
• East Texas Coalition Days and visitors at the Capitol
• Pastor Richard Jones, from Longview, opened the session in prayer this week

LNJ Op-Ed: In Texas, gun control is a call to arms

If we tolerate tyranny in the matter of self-defense, we will cease to be a free state and a free people. Nothing will stand between us and despotism.

Let us be vigilant and refuse submission to any law or power that would disarm a peaceful law-abiding citizenry. Let us trust no official who would “keep us safe,” but won’t trust or allow us to protect ourselves.

Read the full op-ed at the News-Journal here.


Proper funding for our volunteer firefighters

I filed a budget rider yesterday to restore funding of $30 million annually for training and equipment for our Volunteer Fire Departments across the state.

The present budget plans for $13.5 million annually. Brave men and women from our communities (like these pictured from District 7) spend their time and effort protecting us from wildfires and fires in our homes.

This is a vital, core function of government and we need to ensure that firemen are well trained and equipped properly. There are more than enough funds already collected and dedicated to this purpose ($59+ million as of today and $80+ million estimated by the end of the fiscal year in August), if we would just appropriate them.

Regrettably though there has been a long-standing practice of disallowing the use of such dedicated funds for their intended purpose in order to certify the budget and allow for other spending. Taxes have already been collected specifically for this purpose. It's time to use our taxes for their intended purpose and make the core functions our priority.


Fulfilling our obligations

The House passed HB 10, a $5.1 billion supplemental appropriations bill, that will provide for Medicaid long-term care and public education. HB 10 begins the process of actually fulfilling the claim that the Legislature passed a balanced budget in 2011. In fact, the budget passed at that time funded only 18 months of Medicaid services and deferred payments to schools. Additional supplemental appropriation bills are expected to address the $1.75 billion of education funding deferrals and other accounting tricks that were used to give the appearance of a balanced budget two years ago.

I also signed on as a coauthor to HB 1383 by Rep. Jim Keffer, which would increase the state contribution to the Teacher Retirement System for fiscal years 2013 and 2014. While this will not be sufficient to fully fund the TRS pension, it is a step in the right direction to compensate for the reduction in contributions from the state two years ago. This is an obligation that the state has made by contract to teachers and we should fulfill it.




The Great Texas Balloon Race

I presented a resolution this week in committee to honor the 36th anniversary of the The Great Texas Balloon Race and to designate Gregg County as the "Balloon Race Capitol of Texas"!

We had a little fun with it, creating a mini balloon and model goal (that pilots try to drop a ring onto)! You can read more about the balloon race and the resolution by clicking here. You can also watch a video of the committee hearing here!


East Texas Coalition Days and visitors at the Capitol

We had the opportunity to host many community leaders from our area during East Texas Coalition Days at the Capitol this week! Thank you all for taking the time to speak with myself and our other East Texas legislators about issues important to our community.

Another week at the Capitol has passed! Both of my committees have now commenced meetings and my staff continues to work collaboratively with other members' offices to read and analyze legislation as well as to request hearings on bills.


Honoring our Vietnam Veterans

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Address given at the event honoring our Vietnam Veterans:

I am very glad to be here today. We gather today out of respect for the men and women, who served our country in the Vietnam War — a number who are present here today. Thank you for your sacrifice and service. We also pay our respects and express our deep gratitude for those who cannot be here today and who gave all — even their lives — in that war.

How can we show our honor to you and for other veterans for your service? I suggest in these ways:

1. By expressing our gratitude to God for our veterans and thanking veterans personally every time we have occasion.

2. By caring for our veterans and supplying what is needed to make them whole — especially those who have been in combat and separated from their families for years.

The real and terrible costs of war are not just on the battlefield. More active duty soldiers took their own lives last year than were lost in combat. Every 65 minutes another veteran takes his or her own life. It is heartbreaking — twenty-two veterans commit suicide every day!

We should realize that the government, healthcare, and money cannot provide all the salve that is needed. The wounds are not just bodily; they are psychological and spiritual and economic.

We must act individually, befriending veterans. We should act as neighbors, churches, and organizations to support their families.

3. By remembering that freedom is our greatest legacy, not force, not our military prowess, but our individual freedom.

We are learning that we cannot force that freedom on others. It has to be sought and valued, not imposed, because with real freedom comes responsibility; it comes with responsibility and the opportunity not only to succeed and prosper, but to fail.

Liberty is that which distinguishes us as human-beings and gives meaning to human life. What is the greatest threat to our liberty as Americans? I suggest that it is ourselves — living irresponsibly and in fear.

Let us declare to ourselves and those within our government that, We will not be afraid! Let us trust God, his word, and his providence. Let us fear God, not man. Let us determine that, We will not sacrifice liberty for anything. This is our tradition. This is the American way.

Did not the women and children who helped settle these very lands risk all security for the sake of building a life of liberty in their pursuit of happiness? Did not some of you as boys lead point in the jungles of Vietnam and risk all security for the sake of not only of your liberty but that of your neighbors?

We are the beneficiaries of your sacrifice and the sacrifice of those like you — before and since. We can honor veterans lives best through recognizing our duty to prize and preserve our heritage of freedom and to promote the legacy of American liberty.

We must work in every instance to preserve our freedoms whether from threats abroad or even from well meaning government officials here at home. That is our challenge. Through meeting this challenge, we honor our veterans.

As we prize, preserve, and promote liberty even above all security, we uphold the values that their lives represent.