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Austin – Citing the need to secure a more reliable, long-term solution to fund schools, State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford) today called for a constitutional amendment to abolish school property taxes in Texas and instead fully fund public education with the sales tax system.

King said, “Over the past several months, I’ve talked about this proposal at almost every service club and chamber in my district, and the response is always the same: Texans overwhelmingly prefer the sales tax to out of control property taxes. They know there is a better way to finance public education without punishing businesses, taxpayers and jeopardizing the American Dream of home ownership.”

“Property owners are at their wits end, because the school property tax is like a variable rate mortgage on a loan that is never paid off. You never really get to own your property. I believe it is time to admit that the school property tax system just cannot be fixed. The courts have tried, the legislature has tried, school districts and appraisal districts have tried. The problem is that we are trying to correct a fundamentally flawed means of financing public schools. Texans are tired of dealing with this broken model, and it’s frankly time to start over.”

“A plan to fully fund public education can be structured in a way that protects our low income citizens, benefits our schools and strengthens our economy. Consumption taxes are fair, predictable and will spread the cost of education over the economy at large. Abolishing school property taxes would dramatically reduce mortgage payments, put real money in all property owners’ pockets, and provide a needed boost to the building and real estate industries. Lease rates would go down. Some foreclosures could be averted. Even the underground economy, as well as those here illegally, would be forced to help finance our schools.”

Weatherford Democrat

Phil Riddle

A group of Texas legislators, including Weatherford’s Phil King, have asked the Secretary of State to re-evaluate current voter identification criteria.

In a letter sent late last week, the group of lawmakers, representing the Texas Conservative Coalition, requested Secretary of State Phil Wilson take steps to implement more stringent proof of citizenship requirements before casting a ballot in Texas.

“It has been state policy to simply accept an applicant’s mere assertion of United States citizenship,” the letter states. “That policy has always been unacceptable, but it is time that it is scrapped.”

The letter writers contend thousands of illegal votes have been cast statewide by voters not legally allowed to vote.

“Each non-citizen who votes cancels out the vote of a citizen, leading to voter disenfranchisement,” Texas Conservative Coalition members wrote.

The 13 lawmakers who signed the letter also ask the Secretary of State, as the state’s top election official, to aggressively deal with anyone voting illegally.

“Every effort should be made to prosecute those individuals who have knowingly made false statements on voter registration applications,” the letter reads. “Texas should not continue to rely solely on the jury duty mechanism to catch and purge foreign nationals from our voting rolls.”

Specifically, the coalition asks Wilson to implement a plan for voter identification before the November 2008 general election to identify new registrants as United States citizens. The group suggests the Secretary of State’s office use and cross-check data available from the Bureau of Vital Statistics, and federal data bases including the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements list and the Employment Eligibility Verification Program.

District 61 Rep. Phil King, (R) Weatherford, said he hopes the letter spurs Wilson to action.

“What we’re hoping is he’ll come up with his own initiative,” King said. “One that, hopefully, won’t require legislation.”

Wilson spokesman Scott Haywood said the Secretary of State has not received the letter from the Texas Conservative Coalition, so he could not comment specifically on its contents.

He added Wilson will follow the guidance of the Legislature.

“If they decide we need more or better means of identification, we’ll do that,” Haywood said. “We’ll do whatever is necessary to maintain the integrity of the elections system in Texas.”

King filed House Bill 626 last spring in the 80th Legislature hoping to put teeth into current identification and citizenship statutes pertaining to elections.

“I thought it was a no-brainer,” King said. “I was called a bigot and called out for trying to limit minority voting rights. There was a bitter fight on the floor of the House.”

He added the voting went almost exclusively along party lines, but the measure did pass the House. However, the bill did not get enough support in the Senate to get a hearing.

The letter writers assert voter fraud tied to growing numbers of illegal aliens is becoming a problem across Texas.

“There is a ballot crisis brewing,” their epistle states, “citing testimony of Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector Paul Bettencourt, who told the United State House of Representatives Committee on House Administration that he identified 35 foreign nationals who either applied for or received voter registration documents in 2005. According to the letter, Bettencourt’s office has canceled registration cards for non-citizenship for 3,742 voters since 1992.

The Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute reports in Bexar, Dallas, Tarrant and El Paso counties, almost 3,000 voters were removed from registration rolls for non-citizenship.

“I have 6,500 names of people who are on the voter registration rolls and should not be,” King said. “We know there are tens of thousands in the state.”

King said he began looking at Texas voter registration criteria after the Carter Baker Commission came back with suggested federal guidelines two years ago.

“I was astounded at the depth of the problem,” he said.

Weatherford Democrat

Galen Scott

Telecom giant AT&T announced plans to offer high-speed DSL Internet to thousands of mostly East Parker County homes at a press conference Thursday.

Jim Epperson, president of AT&T Texas, unveiled plans to build new infrastructure by next year that would increase the number of Parker County homes with high-speed Internet access by 30 percent.

“If you are in a place that is served by a competitor — a cable company or anybody else — it will be good because now, suddenly, you’ll have at least two companies competing for your business,” Epperson told a small audience assembled in the Weatherford College Alkek Fine Arts complex. “And good things usually happen when companies compete for your business.”

In addition to some Parker County locations that currently lack any high-speed Internet service, Epperson said the company plans to concentrate the expansion in and around Aledo, Silver Creek, Lake Weatherford, Willow Park and parts of Weatherford.

State Rep. Phil King, chairman of the House Regulated Industries Committee, spoke briefly at the press conference, emphasizing the benefits of high-speed Internet. He noted school curriculums are increasingly reliant on the Internet, and pointed out the importance of sending kids off to college Internet-proficient.

“From an economic development standpoint, everywhere the Internet goes, frankly, the money follows,” King added. “It’s just a wonderful opportunity for people to build business, and particularly for small businesses in communities like ours.”

Ann Saunders, chair of the Doss Culture and Heritage Center, AT&T’s biggest Parker County beneficiary, noted distance learning and telemedicine services also depend on the Internet.

“We really pride ourselves on our small-town charm, but we still need access to the newest technology at the most affordable prices in order to keep our community thriving and our economy strong and growing,” she said.

King said the planned expansion is a tremendous financial investment for AT&T.

“They’ve had a large history here,” King said of the company. “And we’re going to hit them up for a bunch more stuff as time goes on.”

Aledo Mayor Kit Marshall told King that his famous telecom deregulation legislation has, “clearly delivered on its promises.”

“Senate Bill 5 and the leadership of Phil King made this possible in Aledo, and we thank you,” Marshall told her old friend.

Because of certain competitive agreements, Epperson said he couldn’t provide a map or offer specifics pertaining to exactly where the new service will be provided, but he did say thousands of homes could be affected.

In addition to DSL lines, the company plans to offer U-verse in Parker County, an AT&T service Epperson claims is capable of producing very high speeds. Previously, he said U-verse was only available in Texas’ largest metropolitan areas: San Antonio, Houston, Austin, DFW, and surrounding bedroom communities.

“This is the first time we’ve been in an area outside a major area,” he added.

Epperson estimated DSL roll-out in Parker County will probably take place during the first quarter of 2008, with U-verse expected to be up-and-running by the third quarter.

When asked what made Parker County stand out as an attractive new market, Epperson referenced population growth, particularly within new housing developments.

“The Barnett Shale has brought a whole lot of investment and a whole lot of new business to this county,” he added. “It’s close to a major metropolitan area, but it’s far enough way. People come here because they love the lifestyle and people who have come here are used to and want modern technology. Put all that together and it’s a perfect market.”

CBS 11 News

Chris Salcedo

Every American’s vote counts. It’s a basic pillar of our electoral system.

But a CBS 11 investigation discovered that election officials can’t guarantee that only American citizens vote in elections.

After the review of data from Tarrant and Dallas Counties, it appeared, at least on the surface, that some non-citizens were participating in U.S. elections.

Since 1976, 1,900 people have been removed from the voter rolls because of their citizenship status in Dallas County. Of those, 221 had voter histories.

Tarrant County election data from 2004 and 2005 shows 43 people have been removed from the voter rolls, but none had voter histories.

It appeared there was a problem. Officials admit some illegal immigrants could be seeking to participate in U.S. elections.

But, they explained, there are other explanations.

Tarrant County elections official Steve Rayborn said some legal citizens claim they are not citizens to get out of jury duty.

There are other scenarios that explain the data. Non-citizens on student or work visas might fill out registration forms by mistake.

Rayburn said that if there are non-citizens voting, he feels there are very few.

Dallas County elections official Bruce Sherbet said his elections are as clean as they can be. They follow the law when checking voter’s qualifications.

He said he has tools at his disposal to check for felony convictions and someone’s age. He even has tools to determine if a voter has been deemed mentally incompetent by a court of law.

However, there is no way to know if everyone who casts a ballot is a legal citizen. Under the law, there is no government check for citizenship eligibility.

The only way to determine someone’s citizenship is to see which box they checked on their voter registration card.

In the last legislative session, Texas lawmakers tackled the issue.

Representative Phil King of Weatherford authored a bill that would have allowed the Secretary of State to verify citizenship using information in a data base like birth records and social security numbers.

Representative Lon Burnam of Fort Worth helped fight that bill, saying it was a tool for the “radical right” to suppress the votes of minorities and the elderly.

Representative Burnam said he believes any gains achieved by citizen verification would be outweighed by the thousands of U.S. voters who would be disenfranchised. To him, the integrity of new electronic voting machines is a bigger issue.

It is almost certain the issue will be back next session.

You can weigh in on this issue. Click here to find out how you can get in touch with your representative and let them know where you stand.

Dallas Morning News

Elizabeth Souder

Texas Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, is considering offering financial incentives for companies to build low-polluting coal-fired power plants in Texas.

The legislator, who leads the House Regulated Industries Committee, said Friday he’s exploring ways to offer tax breaks or to set up a trust fund for “clean coal” technologies.

He said such incentives might help investors get over their reluctance to sink money into untested technology so that the low-polluting power plants that Texas badly needs can be built.

“I’m aggressively looking into it now,” Mr. King said.

“Here’s what I’m finding out: Wall Street’s afraid to invest in clean-coal technology plants. We’ve got to find some way to give them comfort with that risk level. And that will take some type of incentive from the state until we get a few of these built,” he said.

The aid might also help power generators meet new federal carbon dioxide limits that the companies would have to meet anyway.

Clean coal typically means coal plants that don’t emit as much pollution as traditional plants and have some mechanism to cut carbon dioxide emissions. That would include coal gasification plants as well as devices that collect carbon dioxide from traditional plants.

The coal industry may be in jeopardy if it cannot come up with a clean, politically palatable way of using the fuel.

Texas’ two largest power companies, NRG Energy and Energy Future Holdings Corp.’s Luminant, have been tinkering with equipment that cuts carbon dioxide emissions from coal. Both are bracing for federal carbon dioxide regulations.

“We believe federal regulations are coming,” said Thad Hill, head of NRG’s Texas operations. “Government help is required early, but it shouldn’t be required for long.”

NRG executives have said they’re ready to invest in a coal gasification facility. They need help with the cost, especially in Texas’ deregulated market where power companies must build plants on their own dime and recoup the cost by selling electricity into the market.

Most experts say a coal gasification plant costs about 20 percent more than a traditional plant, and the carbon dioxide capture and sequestration equipment costs another 20 percent on top of that.

NRG executives want the government to help narrow that gap. Over time, as more coal gasification plants get built, the cost would likely drop, eliminating the need for subsidies, NRG has said.

Meanwhile, NRG is planning to expand its traditional coal plants in Central Texas.

The new owners of TXU Corp., now called Energy Future Holdings, has pledged to consider building coal gasification plants. But it hasn’t yet called for bids from equipment vendors, as promised.

Before the buyout by private equity companies, TXU came under fire for proposing to build 11 traditional coal plants. The buyers cooled public ire by cutting the proposal to three plants and promising to consider clean-coal technology.

The company is also doing research on methods to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal plants.

Mr. King said he’s met with NRG officials about the idea of state aid, as well as some electricity cooperatives. He hopes to also meet with Energy Future. He plans hearings on the topic and to propose legislation in the 2009 session.

Contact Information:
Kirsten Fedewa
Tel: 202-365-6936

Alice Stewart
Tel: 501-324-2008
Mob: 501-658-1654

Little Rock, AR – Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee named State Representative Phil King as Co-Chairman of his Texas Leadership Committee, it was announced October 19, 2007.

The leadership announcement coincides with other good news from Texas: a new poll of Texas GOP primary voters released last Friday shows Huckabee coming in third place (tying with Mitt Romney) behind Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. Thompson’s support has eroded in Texas, while Huckabee’s has maintained momentum in Texas and in other key parts of the country.

“I am delighted to welcome principled legislators like Rep. King to our team in Texas,” Huckabee said. “His wealth of experience in the Texas Legislature and distinguished background is an incredible asset to my campaign for President – especially in Texas, where my support is clearly growing.”

King has earned a reputation in Texas providing key leadership in passing some of Texas’ sweeping policy legislation, specifically in his role as Chairman of the House Regulated Industries Committee, which includes the telecommunication, electric power and pipeline industries and science and technology issues.

“I have been looking for the true conservative in the race who reflects the core values of the Republican Party,” King said. “I have concluded that Governor Huckabee was the right candidate for President.”

Since the beginning of his political career in 1998, King has made an impact on issues affecting all Texans and has amassed numerous legislative awards. In 2005, King was named a “Legislator of the Year” by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

King has also been recognized as “Crime Fighter of the Year” by the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, a “Fighter for Free Enterprise” by the Texas Association of Business, and in 2003, was awarded “Legislator of the Year” by the Texas Association of Builders for his efforts to reduce litigation costs for homebuilders and buyers.

King has been a leading advocate for pro-life legislation such as parental notification and parental consent. King served as a Captain in the Fort Worth Police Department, an instructor at Dallas Baptist University and a Parker County Justice of the Peace.

King and his wife Terry are the proud parents of six children and two grandchildren.

“Mike Huckabee reflects the ideals of the Republican Party such as limited government, fiscal responsibility and individual liberty,” King said. “I am honored to serve as Co-Chairman of the Texas Leadership Committee.”

# # # #

Paid for by Huckabee for President, Inc.

www.mikehuckabee.com

Weatherford Democrat

Staff

Roadside fires wreak havok along Interstates and county roads, ruining farm land and residential dwelllings and causing injuries, while wasting tax dollars to extinguish them.

Children are among the highest statistics of those who die from home fires caused by cigarrettes.

Statistics show a high percentage of fatalities are caused by smokers who leave cigarettes unattended and burning or fall asleep while smoking.

The state recently took a step in making Texans less likely to cause a fire by an improperly discarded cigarette.

Governor Rick Perry signed House Bill 2935 into effect recently to help curb the danger.

The Bill, written by Representative Phil King and his staff, will make “safe cigarettes” mandatory within a little more than two years.

As of Jan. 1, 2010, any cigarette brought into Texas to sell or be sold within its borders must be a “fire-safe” type.

The “non-fire-safe” cigarette will be available to all retailers by Jan. 1, 2009.

After that date, and when current cigarrette inventory has been depleted, the inventory must be replaced by the “fire-safe” type, giving Texas merchants just over a year to prepare for the new stock.

Perry relayed his support for the new law during the signing of the bill, and said it is expected to save lives and property.

King (R-Weatherford) along with Senator Royce West (D-Dallas) co-sponsored the bill, and demonstrated strong bipartisan support which the bill drew.

The bill also drew support across the state, and was sponsored by the Texas Fire Marshal’s Association, the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Texas State Fireman’s and Fire Marshal’s Association.

The National Fire Protection Association deemed the bill an essential tool to the nation’s fire prevention and safety network.

“The State of Texas is vitally important to the national agenda of getting ‘fire-safe’ cigarette laws in every state in the Union,” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA Vice President of Communications.

According to the tobacco industry, Carli also said Texas is the state to determine the success of the Fire Safe Cigarette Coalition’s effort to make the bill a national priority.

Weatherford Fire Marshal Kurt Harris, also the president of the Texas Fire Marshal’s Association said cigarettes and smoking materials continue to be the leading cause of fires in residences in the United States.

Harris said between 700 and 900 die annually because of fires caused by cigarrettes. A large percentage of those fatalities are children.

Harris stressed the new cigarrette is not completely safe, but is “safer” than the ones currently sold on the market.

“We, in the fire protection arena, are ecstatic about this bill and the life and property it will save,” Harris said.

Harris thanked King and his Legislative Aid, Tim Kuhl, for their “diligent” work in writing the bill and West for helping get the bill passed with almost no opposition.

Fire safe cigarettes are designed to self-extinguish if the smoker ceases to continue to inhale the cigarette. The new version is expected to be less likely to start a fire on clothing, bedding or other combustibles when ashes are dropped or left unattended.

For more information, log onto see www.firesafecigarettes.org.

Fort Worth Star Telegram

Dave Lieber

If you haven’t checked electricity rates recently, now is the time. The cost of power has finally turned downward in favor of consumers, and rates are the lowest they’ve been in a long time.

Reader Dale Cathey of Benbrook says he was locked into a two-year contract with TXU Electric paying 14.17 cents per kilowatt-hour. He recently called TXU and asked whether he could switch to a month-to-month variable plan advertised at 11.3 cents per kwh. At first, he says, TXU told him he couldn’t switch without paying a termination fee.

But Cathey, in the best tradition of a watchdog, called again, got someone else and was allowed to switch to the lower rate.

TXU spokeswoman Sophia Stoller says that TXU tries to do whatever it can to make its customers happy.

“Customers always have the ability to change service plans,” she told The Watchdog. “That remains our policy. Depending on each customer’s individual service agreement, relevant cancellation or change fees may apply. Because we serve specific customer needs based on their individual cases, we encourage customers to contact our customer service centers to review all service and product options available to them.”

In other words, call and ask. And if you don’t like the answer, keep negotiating. Ask to speak to a supervisor. Threaten to switch companies if you can’t get a better deal.

Dare to compare

If you are considering switching companies, rather than switching plans within the same company, here’s another way to go.

A few weeks ago, I visited www.powertochoose.org to do a rate comparison. Previously, I had signed a one-year contract with Company A for 12.3 cents per kwh. But the Web site showed me that Company B is offering a one-year contract for 10.7 cents. I figured that the $150 termination fee was worth paying because, in the end, I’ll still save money. I switched.

By the way, this is the fifth electric company I’ve used in the past several years. Obviously, I’m not shy about switching. Juice is juice, but money is money.

P.S. When you switch, don’t tell your current provider because you run the risk of losing power. Simply sign up with the new company and let it arrange the hookup so you don’t lose a moment of service.

Dallas Morning News

Elizabeth Souder

North Texans will pay more for natural gas heat this winter than last, thanks to higher fuel prices.

But people who heat their homes with electricity will get a break this year, as some retail electricity companies have dropped their rates to compete for customers. Plus, the mild summer helped to rein in demand for electricity in Texas, keeping wholesale power prices in check.

“If we’d had a really hot summer or hurricanes, pricing might have been different,” said Catherine Carlton, a spokeswoman for First Choice Power.

The opposite trends reflect two industries that rely on the same fuel – natural gas – but set their prices much differently.

Natural gas utility Atmos Energy must charge customers the wholesale price for natural gas, approved by state regulators. The regulated monopoly may charge a profit – also approved by the Texas Railroad Commission – for delivering the fuel to customers.

In October, Atmos will charge customers $9.50 per million cubic feet of gas, reflecting the wholesale cost of the fuel, at $7.47, and pipeline costs.

Look closely at an Atmos bill, and find the line called “Rider GCR,” which stands for gas cost recovery. Rider GCR includes gas cost, pipeline costs and the cost of gas that’s lost or unaccounted for in the system. This line shows how much Atmos charges each month for those costs, multiplied by the amount of natural gas the customer uses.

Last October, the gas cost recovery charge was $8.38, including $5.98 for wholesale natural gas.

Even though natural gas prices are higher this year than last, retail electricity prices dropped. That’s noteworthy because Texas relies heavily on natural gas to generate electricity, and power prices tend to follow natural gas markets.

Unlike Atmos, retail electricity providers don’t answer to regulators on pricing.

TXU Energy, which has the largest share of customers in North Texas, trimmed some of its prices this year. The company had been losing customers and wanted public support for a plan to sell parent TXU Corp. to private investors.

The former monopoly had announced higher prices two years ago, after hurricanes caused natural gas prices to hit all-time highs. Natural gas prices soon dropped, but retail electricity providers didn’t immediately cut their rates.

Now almost every retail electricity provider in North Texas (there are nearly a dozen) has lowered prices.

In the summer of 2006, the lowest offer for North Texas was around 13.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the Public Utility Commission. Now some companies are offering juice for less than 11 cents.

That’s not to say electricity is cheap in Texas. Most retail customers here still pay more than the national average residential power rate of around 10.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

Electricity retailers’ willingness to charge less has much to do with wholesale power costs.

Most electricity retailers buy power with long-term contracts. As retailers signed cheaper contracts during the past year, they could cut prices.

Wholesale power prices are sensitive to supply and demand. During a hot summer, when demand for power rises, generators must fire up older, more expensive natural gas plants to meet demand, boosting market prices.

“Average prices this year have been fairly close to last year,” said Dan Jones, the independent market monitor for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state’s power grid. “It’s been a relatively mild year.”

Meanwhile, some environmental groups urged Texans to slow down the pricing roller coaster by simply using less energy.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy published a report last month that calculates that Texans would have to build fewer new power plants in the next 15 years if folks would become stingier with electricity.

The group suggested state-sponsored energy-efficiency programs, such as more stringent building codes and appliance standards, and incentives for people to use less power during peak times.

Cutting demand at the peak time, in the afternoon, is key because generation companies build new plants based on the level of peak demand.

Bill Bojorquez, vice president for system planning for ERCOT, doubts efficiency will do it, as the population and economy continue to grow. And just because someone gets a new efficient appliance, like a refrigerator, it doesn’t mean he gets rid of the old one.

“Because people can afford their electricity bill, demand reductions alone are probably not going to create the reductions that some people propose,” he said.

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Austin – State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford), is urging everyone to vote “yes” on the proposed constitutional amendment, Proposition 7, which will be on the ballot November 6, 2007. Proposition 7 is an amendment dealing with government condemned property not being used after its condemnation, and what can be done with that property.

King stated, “Currently, if a governmental entity condemns a piece of property through eminent domain, but does not end up using this property, it just sits there. This is hurtful not only to the landowner who’s property was taken from them, but it also hurts the tax rolls as that property is no longer generating tax revenue. Proposition 7 would allow this governmental entity to sell that piece of land back to the original landowner at the same price that they had ‘purchased’ it for.”

King went on to explain that under Article 3, Section 52 of the Texas Constitution, a governmental entity may not grant public money or a “thing of value” to a private entity or individual. Using that logic, the condemned land would only be able to be sold back to the original landowner at the current market value, which would typically be much higher than what the entity paid for it at the time of condemnation. Proposition 7 will allow the landowner the opportunity to get the land back that was taken from them unwillingly, at the same price that it was taken from them.

“Proposition 7 is the right thing to do for Texas landowners,” King closed.