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State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford) today lauded the great strides made by the Texas Legislative Tea Party Caucus, which was only organized a few weeks ago. The caucus, third largest in the legislature with 57 members, held an orientation for Tea Party groups from all across Texas. Over 300 Tea Party organizers, representing hundreds of thousands of voters, came to Austin for the orientation two weekends ago.

“The idea was to have the first ever citizens’ orientation similar to what newly elected legislators receive before session,” King, who serves as Vice-Chair of the caucus, explained, “Our goal is to keep Texans informed of the process in order for them to help us understand how best to serve the state.”

In addition to the orientation, over the past month the caucus has met with many Tea Party organizers from around the state. The purpose was to listen to what they believe are the major issues they want the legislature to address this session. Topping the list was balancing the budget without raising taxes. As a result of these meetings, the caucus set an agenda for the session that reflects their support for these major issues.

Texas Legislative Tea Party Caucus Statement of Principle

It is the purpose and intent of the members of the Texas Legislative Tea Party Caucus to promote and secure:

• a balanced budget without increased taxation;

• a secure Texas border and an end to illegal immigration;

• the reassertion of the 10th Amendment and repeal of all federal laws in contradiction thereof;

• election integrity, including passage of voter identification legislation;

• advancement of Texans’ 2nd Amendment rights.

“The statement of principle is made up of the top five issues that Tea Party organizers across Texas brought to us,” King stated, “They represent the kind of limited government, conservative values that the Tea Party has come to stand for.”

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Dear Parents –

As you know, due to the projected reduction in tax revenues from the recent economic crisis, Texas must reduce the size of its $87 billion biennial budget by approximately $15 billion. Currently, 40% of Texas’ budget is dedicated to funding public and higher education, making it THE highest priority of the state and the largest budget item (the average of all other states’ spending on education is 30.9% of their entire budget) Examining Decades of Growth in K-12 Education, Texas Public Policy Foundation, pg. 12. It is impossible to balance the budget, given the size of the shortfall, without reducing education funding.

I firmly believe that government must take the same approach as families and businesses across Texas and reduce spending. As parents of school children, these cuts will affect you and your children more than anyone. I’m seeking your advice for where you believe these reductions should be made. Please help me understand how to cut the cost of doing business for schools without reducing the quality of the educational product. While thinking about this issue, please bear in mind a few facts:

• If the Texas public education system were a private company, it would be the fifth largest employer in the world. Blueprint for a Balanced Budget, Texas Conservative Coalition, pg. 15
• The current ratio of teaching to non-teaching positions in the Texas public education system is almost 1:1. See Blueprint for a Balanced Budget, pg. 34 (many districts in our area have a much better ratio. Paradise ISD, for example, has a 13:1 ratio)
• Even after adjusting for inflation, Texas increased its funding of education by 142% between 1987 and 2007

Other facts to consider:

• Many schools in our area are experiencing an extremely fast rate of growth in student enrollment
• Schools have to meet expensive state and federal mandates such as “No Child Left Behind”
• Schools have exceptional costs associated with educating children whose primary language is not English
• The current funding system for schools (much of which is established by court rulings), “Robin Hood”, takes away resources from some local schools and redistributes them to other areas of the state

No state governmental agency or function will go uncut in this painful budget process. The Texas House of Representatives voted two weeks ago to reduce our own office budgets by 10% immediately and by 14% effective in June – directly impacting my staff and their salaries. My daughter and son-in-law are both public school teachers and will also be directly impacted by any cuts to education. I realize the seriousness of these decisions and do not make them lightly. That’s why I’m asking for your help.

It is important that we use this difficult situation as an opportunity to prioritize education dollars down to the absolutely essential functions of our public education system. It is my hope that reductions made to education will focus on administrative functions instead of money for classrooms and school libraries that are precious resources for our children’s education.

As we make tough decisions, I welcome your ideas, observations, and specific cost-cutting suggestions to make sure our education dollars are used efficiently. Thank you for your assistance and serious consideration of this important matter. I look forward to hearing from you and working closely together to find a solution that will cause the least impact on the state’s most valuable resource – our children. I can be reached at [email protected].

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Please come join State Representative Phil King, Senator Dan Patrick and other conservative Texas Legislative Tea Party Caucus members as they give a briefing on the legislative process to Tea Party members from across the state. This is a great opportunity for Tea Party members to come meet elected representatives from across Texas and learn about how to get engaged in the legislative process in order to be more effective advocates for the conservative movement.

The briefing will be held in the Texas Capitol Auditorium, Room E1.004 in the Capitol Extension this Saturday, February 12th from 1pm – 4pm. We hope to see you there!

Click HERE for a map of the Capitol Extension and click HERE for a map and information on visitor parking at the Capitol.

EmpowerTexans.com

Empower Texans

Legislators working to reduce spending have strong re-election support from voters in both parties, while tax-hikers are strongly opposed. The results underscore November’s election, in which voters demanded fiscal responsibility.

“While some pundits are trying feverishly to ignore the message sent by voters, the fact of the matter is citizens are demanding that legislators act prudently,” said Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. “More important, voters will be watching lawmakers closely with an eye toward 2012.”

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The following statement may be attributed to Representative Phil King regarding power outages:

“Several years ago the state designed a system for rolling blackouts when electricity demand reached critical levels. The idea was to prevent any one area of the state from having an extended period without electricity by simply rolling the blackout neighborhood to neighborhood. This appears to have worked very well. The question is, why was it necessary? And will it occur again tonight?

The answer to the first question is, we’re not sure yet. Over the next couple of weeks the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT will conduct a post-mortem to determine if the blackouts were due to a systems failure or if this was simply the equivalent of our “five hundred year flood”. My guess is we’ll find it was a little bit of both. We’ll find some problems in the system, which we will correct. We’ll also find that it was the result of an historic cold front, which was difficult to ever fully prepare for.

What’s next? Conservation is the key. You’d be amazed at how much it will help if every home simply lowers their thermostat, turns off unnecessary appliances, outside lights, etc. Even just lowering residential demand 3 or 4% is a tremendous benefit when we’re bumping peak electric capacity. I expect that there will be some additional problems tonight or early tomorrow, but hopefully not as widespread.

I will keep you posted as I get new information.”

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Last week State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford) joint authored House Joint Resolution (HJR) 51 to protect Texans from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. A federal district court has recognized serious issues with the health care law, and further stated that all states have the right to challenge the health care law.

“When Congress and the Obama Administration passed Obamacare, they essentially threw our Constitution out of the window,” King stated, “Enacting this legislation was a clear and brazen violation of the Constitution and I’m proud to sign on to legislation that will work to counter it and protect Texans from this most intrusive act of the federal government.”

HJR 51 will help buttress Attorney General Greg Abbott’s lawsuit against the federal government and be one more tool for Texans in their fight against Obamacare. If passed, HJR 51 will then go to the voters of Texas for approval in the November 2011 general election to amend the Texas Constitution and help prevent Texans from having to purchase government-approved health insurance under the threat of penalty.

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The following letter was sent from Rep. King to all school districts located within House District 61 to explain legislation he filed last week:

Last week I filed HB 780 and HJR 73 – nearly identical to legislation I filed last legislative session. This legislation, if passed by 2/3 of both chambers of the legislature and ratified by Texas voters would constitutionally abolish the maintenance and operation portion of the school property tax effective January 1, 2016. I’ve already received several questions from school administrators about this legislation and I wanted to share with you why I feel this issue is important.

Relieving the property tax burden on Texas families has been a priority of mine and many other legislators over the past several years. Our current property tax system cannot properly fund public schools, and it is overly burdensome on property owners – 17 percent of an average home mortgage goes to property taxes. M&O taxes are the largest portion of Texan’s property tax bills – usually around half of their total bill. As you know, school district maintenance and operation ad valorem taxes have created a complicated and unfair system that depends on the mechanisms of “robin hood” or recapture to fund schools across our state. This tax system has led to three decades of school finance litigation in which the Supreme Court has repeatedly declared the system unconstitutional and has urged the legislature to “choose a new path” of revenue for public schools.

This legislation does not suggest any particular alternative revenue source. We are dedicated to replacing our broken system with a funding mechanism that is appropriately designed to fund the Texas public school systems adequately AND fairly. We chose a date 5 years down the road so that the legislature will have several years to work with school administrators and all Texans to find the proper alternative. Hopefully, when all is said and done – Texans will have lower property taxes, and the mechanism for funding schools will be much more fair.

Please do not hesitate to call or email with me any other questions you may have. Thank you.

Phil King

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Austin – Last week State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford) cast a vote to cut all State Representatives’ office operating budgets immediately by 10% and 14% effective in June of 2011. King’s vote helped HR 3, the Housekeeping Resolution for the House of Representatives pass. The vote came in light of the Texas Comptroller’s announcement last week that the state would face an estimated $27 Billion budget shortfall for the 2012-2013 biennium.

“The Governor and the legislature have asked all state agencies to find areas where they can cut the fat out of their budgets to help meet the shortfall,” King stated, “It would be utter hypocrisy for us to ask other agencies to cut their budgets and not do the same for ourselves. We must all work together and do our part to help slash the budget in order to meet the shortfall and not raise taxes.”

Springtown Epigraph

Edwin Newton

From using a cell phone while driving to border security and public education financing – there is plenty to talk about as Texas legislators begin their 140-day biennial journey this week.

But first they must slay the monster – a $26.8 billion revenue shortfall the Texas comptroller has forecast over the next two years.

Phil King, state representative for District 61, which includes Parker and Wise counties, says that’s where the discussion will begin and end.

“Everything is going to be completely defined by the budget,” he said.

King is quick to point out that the state of Texas isn’t operating in the red. In fact, the constitution mandates that legislators come up with a balanced budget over a two year cycle.

“We’re not California,” he said. “In 2009 we were one of only six states to be operating in the black.”

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State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford) this week filed HB 476, a bill that will protect small businesses in Texas by permanently extending the small business franchise tax exemption.

“Protecting small business in Texas is essential to ensuring Texas remains the number one place in the United States to do business,” King explained, “Failing to permanently extend this tax exemption for small businesses would stifle the pro-business climate of the state and discourage investment.”

HB 476 will make permanent the franchise tax exemption for businesses that have $1 million in total revenue or less. This exemption is set to expire on December 31, 2011. King was a co-author of the original legislation, HB 4765 in 2009. The Texas Legislature will convene for its 82nd Legislative Session on January 11, 2011.