Author Archive

Contact Information:
(817)596-8100

In the now-concluded 81st Session of the Legislature, State Representative Phil King stood out as a “hero” for the state’s taxpayers. According to the biennial ranking of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, King received a very strong pro-taxpayer rating of 90.91%.

“Representative Phil King was one of the good guys this legislative session,” said Michael Quinn Sullivan, President of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. “King worked diligently this session on behalf of Texas’ taxpayers and sound fiscal policy. We need more champions like him.”

Not every Texan is fortunate enough to be represented by such a lawmaker, Sullivan noted. The 181 members of the House and Senate averaged only a 52.09% rating. The House average was a 56.49% and the Senate a 47.69%. On a party basis, House Republicans averaged an 81.72%, while House Democrats had a 30.92%. In the Senate, Republicans averaged a 59.09% and Democrats a 29.65%.

Only 4 members of the 31-member Senate and 49 members of the 150-member House scored a “B” (80%) or better on the Fiscal Responsibility Index rating.

“There is no doubt this would have been a better Session if more legislators voted like Phil King,” Sullivan stated.

Sullivan said King deserves credit for consistently standing up for taxpayers despite pressure from outside influences, and other lawmakers, to do otherwise.

“Unfortunately this was a Session about missed opportunities,” said Sullivan. “Not only did the Legislature fail to provide much-needed additional property tax relief, they didn’t provide substantial reforms to the property tax appraisal system and failed to permanently address the shortcomings of the business tax. This highlights the need to get more individuals like Phil King elected to the Texas Legislature.”

The Fiscal Responsibility Index considers votes cast during the Session, with additional weighting provided for those sponsoring targeted legislation. The ratings of all members, the methodology and votes used can be found online at www.EmpowerTexans.com/index.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

State Representative Phil King

No state representative worked harder this legislative session to solve North Texas’ traffic congestion than my good friend Vicki Truitt. I share Truitt’s concerns and sense of urgency on this issue; however, we disagree on the funding solution that she and others proposed to the Legislature and on the practicality of commuter rail service.

The new transportation taxes proposed this session failed to acknowledge current economic times, the recession, growing unemployment and the credit crisis. Texas families already pay an average 32.7 percent of their limited income to the government in local, state and federal taxes.

Texas families and businesses simply have no more money to give to government, and particularly not now. Senate Bill 855 and House Bill 9 sought to authorize new tax options that included additional fees for car registration and vehicle emissions. The final version called for local elections to impose a motor fuel tax up to 10 cents per gallon, up to a doubling of the driver license fee from $24 to $48, and up to a $60 vehicle registration fee.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Jack Z. Smith

Retail electric rates available to North Texans in the deregulated market are now predominantly below 12 cents per kilowatt hour, a review of 102 rate plans on a Texas Public Utility Commission Web site shows.

But rates still vary dramatically, from 9 cents to 16.9 cents per kwh, according to data on the http://www.powertochoose.com/ Web site Friday.

A Star-Telegram check showed that 72 percent of the plans — 73 out of 102 — are below 12 cents. Forty-seven plans, or nearly half, have rates below 11 cents. Eight plans, all with month-to-month variable rates, are below 10 cents.

The lowest rate, at 9 cents, is the Tex Flex Plan offered by Gateway Power Services.

Rates generally have fallen in recent months as a result of the decline in prices for natural gas, which is burned to generate much of the electricity produced in Texas.

Natural gas futures for June delivery fell 4.9 percent this past week, settling Friday at $4.098 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gas futures had risen 22 percent in the prior week.

State Representative Phil King

In these difficult economic times, there must be more scrutiny than ever regarding how Texas spends your tax dollars. Every odd year, the Texas Legislature meets to set the state budget for the following two fiscal years. After 19 hours of debate on the House Floor, we successfully passed your state budget. My Republican colleagues and I focused on the priorities that you and your family expressed were most important.

These budget priorities included increasing the quality of our public schools, improving job-training programs, reducing the cost of government, lowering your tax burden and protecting those in our society who struggle to protect themselves – the very young and the elderly. As we debated the budget until 4:30 am, we remained committed to protecting essential programs while ensuring that government spending tightens its belt, just as your family has had to do.

When the state collects your taxes and fees most of the money goes into the General Revenue Fund. In developing the budget, we reduced spending from the General Revenue by approximately $2 billion. This is your tax money we are saving, and we are proud that by working together we were able to reduce the future size of government.

Some highlights of the budget include establishing and protecting job training programs for people displaced by these difficult economic t i mes; fully funding our veterans’ needs, as Texas must honor our commitment to those long-distinguished veterans and those just returning from duty; increasing our public education expenditures by 1.8 billion dollars as all our children deserve every opportunity to succeed in school; reviewing government spending; and ensuring that those who are truly ill and unable to pay receive necessary medical care. All of this was successfully achieved while reducing expenses from the General Revenue Fund by approximately $2 billion.

Unique to this year’s budget cycle is the federal stimulus money that has recently gained notable attention. The stimulus money is an influx of your federal tax money coming back to you. Since this is a one-time receipt of funds, it is our duty to assure that this money will be used only for one-time expenses such as school construction, rebuilding of the gulf coast and other single item expenses, rather than growing gov e rnment programs that expect taxpayers to continue new spending every two years.

Creating any budget is always a difficult task and doing so for a state as diverse as Texas is especially challenging. However, our priorities are clear and our commitment is strong to make certain that Texas addresses the most important needs while also remembering that this money is yours, not ours, and it is scarce and hard-earned.

It is an honor to serve you in the Texas Legislature.

Weatherford Democrat

Austin Ries

On a weekday afternoon, the first floor of the Texas Capitol is anything but peaceful. Tour guides wave their hands in a thousand directions like traffic cops at rush hour, groups of third-grade students gaze up at the never-ending staircase spiraling the center dome, and tourists armed with brochures crowd the majority of the walking areas.

Inside Phil King’s office, the chaos does not subside.

“We actually can’t find Phil right now, so just have a seat for a second,” his receptionist says, returning to her computer screen where she is sorting King’s emails from the morning — all 1,500 of them. Before long, Rep. King turns up.

“Honestly, there is nothing special about Phil King,” he says between bites of a Life Saver mint. “I am just a family man who wants to make a difference in his community. This is my way of doing it.”

Special or not, King has represented the 61st District and the people of Parker and Wise counties for the past 10 years, where he has authored and voted on many key legislative bills. He is a self-described “Reagan guy,” who is like any other family man or small business owner concerned about his community.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Aman Batheja

Parents of home-school children showed their support in Austin this week for a bill aimed at protecting their parental rights from litigious grandparents.

State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, has filed a bill that would make it more difficult for grandparents to sue parents for access to their grandchildren — protection the parents say they need.

Speaking before the House Human Services Committee on Thursday, King said the law has been abused by people who, in many cases, disagree with how their grandchildren are being educated. Often, King said, grandparents have more income to spend on dragging out the litigation.

State Representative Phil King

The Barnet Shale is both a blessing and a curse to Parker and Wise counties. The economics benefits have been wonderful and our state and nation certainly need the domestic natural gas (which is now being imported more and more from overseas). On the other hand, this is the first time Texas has had a major gas play in such a populated, growing community like our counties. The result has been serious, costly road damage caused by truck traffic, disruption caused by well-head sites, water conservation issues, and eminent domain cases from new gas pipelines.

I have worked with numerous constituents and the gas industry to mediate many of the concerns, but it has become more evident to me that legislative action is necessary. Therefore, I have filed several bills in an effort to address some of the negative consequences that result from local natural gas production.

The first of these is HB 3402, which would prohibit oil and gas companies from drilling wells within 600 feet of buildings and homes in the Barnett Shale. Wells in unincorporated areas are often drilled in close proximity to homes, causing both aesthetic and noise disruption, as well as safety issues. Just this week, this bill went before the House Committee on Energy Resources for consideration. Several local citizens and County Judge Mark Riley traveled to Austin to testify on their personal experiences.

Another bill, HB 3403, would prohibit the operation of large truck traffic through platted subdivisions. For three years, the residents of the Chisholm Heights subdivision in East Parker County have been inundated with heavy truck traffic from drilling operations on a neighboring property. Parker County Judge Mark Riley, other county officials, and I have been negotiating with the residents, industry, and other parties in order to resolve the situation. Just this month we were finally able to reach agreement. However, it is important to prevent this same situation from occurring in the future when other ingress options are available to drilling companies.

I am also part of a new ad hoc group of Barnett Shale legislators and we are working in partnership to create additional protections for landowners and area residents. We hope to have a comprehensive package of legislation soon to further address issues such as pipeline safety and property rights. Of course, any of the bills filed must be passed by both the House of Representatives and Senate and then signed by the Governor to become law. Opposition is intense but our coalition is working hard to secure passage.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Elizabeth Campbell

Bobby Pickard and Lisa Kelly can once again enjoy the birds and watch their children play while sitting on their porches.

Two years ago, that wasn’t possible. Pickard, Kelly and others in the eastern Parker County subdivision of Chisholm Heights were battling an energy company over gas trucks roaring through their neighborhood to drilling sites.

The view from their front porches was speeding trucks and clouds of dust.

But that ended last month when EnCana Oil and Gas found an alternative truck route away from Chisholm Heights.

And the furor over the high number of trucks also led to proposed legislation that would prohibit gas trucks from driving through unincorporated subdivisions and would place other restrictions on drilling companies.

Pickard and Kelly testified Wednesday in Austin in hearings on the proposed legislation.

“We had all this privacy with nothing but cows, and then we had hundreds of guys driving by and looking into our living rooms,” Lisa Kelly said.

State Representative Phil King

Last Thursday, Governor Rick Perry announced his opposition to $555 million in federal economic stimulus money to expand the state’s unemployment insurance program. As many of you know, I have been adamantly opposed to the Federal Stimulus Package from the beginning, because it represents terrible economic policy. My stance on the $555 million for unemployment compensation was a more difficult decision, one that I have struggled with over the past several weeks. But, after exhaustive study, I have concluded that Gov. Perry’s position is the best for Texas, and I will defend that action in the House.

I wholeheartedly agree with Gov. Perry’s decision for many important reasons. First and foremost, the federal strings will ultimately cost Texans more money than they would receive by forcing Texas to:
1) Expand unemployment benefits to those seeking only part-time employment,
2) Compensate workers who resign to care for a ill family member, or;
3) Reverse welfare reform by paying additional money, per child, that a worker has at home.

We fully recognize that Texans are facing difficult times. Hard-working individuals that have been adversely impacted by the economic recession deserve assistance in the form of unemployment compensation, and the Legislature will continue to fully fund the unemployment trust fund.

It is difficult to think about turning down such a large amount of money, but it is incredibly important to understand that these accepting the $555 million would require a change in the state’s definition of unemployment, expanding coverage to more people and placing more of the state’s tax burden on employers. Texas has already accepted money with no strings attached, which will increase unemployment benefits by $25 a week for most of 2009.

It is no accident that Texas led the nation in job creation in 2008, has more Fortune 500 companies calling Texas home than any other state, and has continued to draw businesses to Texas even with the slowing economy. This is no time to abandon the principles that have led to our success: keep the burden of government low and the regulatory and tax climate predictable, making Texas the place that people want to invest their capital and create jobs for hardworking Texans.

Opponents of Gov. Perry argue that the Texas Unemployment Trust Fund continues to decline and we need the stimulus dollars to rebuild its equity. It is a fact, that regardless of whether or not we take the federal stimulus money for unemployment, we will need to find alternative means to protect our trust fund for unemployed workers. The Texas Workforce Commission currently has the capability to prevent the bankruptcy of this fund, and it would be a very poor policy decision to expand its obligations if it is already going to need to take out loans or raise taxes on business to remain solvent.

President Ronald Reagan once said, “Government doesn’t solve problems; it subsidizes them.” This is not the time for expanded government programs, that within five years will become unfunded mandates from the Federal Government. These are difficult times for people all across the entire country, but Texas, above all other states has a proven ability to create jobs and remain an economically viable environment for businesses Texas workers.

Contact Information:
(817)596-8100

Weatherford – Today, State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford) announced that the residents of the Chisholm Heights subdivision in East Parker County, just off of White Settlement Road, will no longer be burdened by the large truck traffic that has been plaguing them for three years.

In 2006, EnCana Oil and Gas built a road directly behind the Chisholm Heights subdivision to access natural gas wells they drilled on the Beggs Ranch. To access this road their trucks drove through the middle of the subdivision. This truck traffic soon became a nuisance for the residents and they contacted their state and county officials for assistance.

For the past year and a half, Rep. King, Parker County Judge Mark Riley, and other county officials, have been negotiating with the residents, EnCana, and other parties in order to resolve the situation. Because of these negotiations, earlier this month EnCana built a road at a different access point and posted signs at the entrance to the subdivision reading: “No EnCana Traffic”.

“It’s good to see a resolution to this issue after the many negotiations we have been through”, King explained, “This issue epitomizes the problems that have resulted from the drilling in the Barnett Shale region. We are blessed to have this great natural resource, but there are several negative consequences that must be addressed.”

As a result of the Chisholm Heights struggle with truck traffic, Rep. King filed HB 3403 last week. HB 3403 would prohibit the trucks used for gas production in the Barnett Shale from traveling through platted subdivisions. The bill will have to be passed by both the House of Representatives and Senate and signed by the Governor before going into effect.