Parker County Hospital District to serve as Regional Rural Vaccine Hub
We are so excited to announce that Parker County was selected by the Texas Department of State Health Services to serve as a Regional Rural Vaccine Hub for all House District 61 constituents as well as residents in the surrounding counties.
By the end of next week, Texas will have been allocated around 2 million doses of vaccine. It is estimated that around 13 million Texans qualify under 1A and 1B out of 29.5 million total Texans.
The demand still far exceeds the supply coming to Texas. It is expected when the Johnson and Johnson one dose vaccine comes online, that is when we will really see a significant increase in the supply to Texas.
If you are eligible as part of group 1A or 1B and have not currently signed up or been put on a wait list, you can visit https://www.pchdtx.org to schedule your appointment to receive the vaccine.
This opportunity to serve as a regional hub is a true triumph for Parker County, and I am so excited to be able to contribute in making sure our community stays healthy. Special appreciation goes to my chief of staff, Ashley Westenhover, who did such a great job putting this together!
I want to assure you that these vaccines are purely voluntary. I strongly believe in individual liberties and completely respect the wishes of an individual to either get a vaccination or choose not to. As your representative, I will always fight for you to have the resources, tools, and ability to make your own choices and direct your life as you see fit.
Rally for Life
On January 22, 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, kicking off a battle to protect the life of the unborn that still continues today, 48 years later. Did you know that abortion was the leading cause of death in the world in 2019 with estimated 73.3 million unborn babies.
Yesterday the 2021 Rally for Life was held on the State Capitol steps with hundreds gathering to oppose the legalization of abortion and continue efforts to protect all lives.
Featured Bill of the Week: Critical Reform to Texas’ Self-Defense Laws
Recently I filed HB 796 to clean up Texas’ self-defense laws to make sure what happened to the the McCloskey family in St. Louis will never happen in Texas. The bill addresses a conflict between terms used in Texas’ justified defense and aggravated assault statues and also adds the offense of arson to those violent crimes where Castle Doctrine-style protections would apply when force or deadly force is used.
This bill clarifies that Texans merely “exhibiting” a weapon in self-defense could not have felony charges applied. We have also seen an increase in fire against buildings or vehicles as a hallmark of violence so this bill would also include such crimes in penal code where Castle Doctrine style protections apply to further protect individuals and business owners who must thwart such dangerous conduct by the use of force or deadly force.
State Representative Phil King represents Parker and Wise counties in the Texas House of Representatives.
Friends –
This week we’re witnessing the beginnings of real hardship on friends, families, neighbors and local businesses. We’re also getting way overloaded with information. Myself, I’m on conference call after call with other state officials and receiving new reports with information all the time. It’s a lot for all of us to filter through.
I could pass on to you a lot of resources but I know you can already find most online or hear it from a news source. So what I’ll try to do over the near term is help you cut through the noise.
The first step is to know that my office is available. Please call (512-463-0738), email ([email protected]), whatever is easiest for you. We will do our best to help address problems.
Next, as plans and processes get worked out on financial support, unemployment comp., health care services, emergency loans for businesses, etc., I’ll try to get the relevant information to you in a timely and succinct form.
Finally, would you please pray for me and all the other federal, state and local officials. This is fast paced, uncharted territory. I am very encouraged at a lot of things I see falling into place in emergency services. And I see people working together in Texas like never before.
I’ll be getting briefed by the Texas Workforce Commission tomorrow. I will let you know if I learn anything to pass on. I just finished a call with the leadership of our Texas State Guard. I can tell you that your Texas National Guard and State Guard are ready to assist helping Texans at the Governor’s call.
For now always remember His provision.
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
On March 21st, the Texas House observed World Down Syndrome Day to raise public awareness. Individuals with Down syndrome have a third copy of chromosome 21, hence the celebration on 3/21. As many of you know, my daughter Sarah and husband Jacob adopted two children from China that have Down’s syndrome. Both Joy and Sunshine joined me on the House floor and enjoyed meeting all of my colleagues. To watch the floor recognition, click on the image below.
East Parker County chamber delegation spent the day in Austin with a legislative agenda focused on water, education and transportation. They met with stakeholders to receive a legislative update on these important issues affecting the business and local community.
On Wednesday, we recognized Aledo ISD football team for clinching their 8th state championship title in 2018. The team has won the state title 7 out of the last 10 years. We also recognized two other gentleman who received a state championship in cross country and swim. Congratulations Aledo ISD!
General Appropriations Bills, otherwise known as the state budget, are introduced by the House and Senate at the start of the legislative session following an assessment of the Legislative Appropriation Requests (LARs) submitted by state agencies over the interim and the Comptroller’s Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE).
The Legislature may change the state budget through a supplemental appropriations bill after the budget has been approved. Because the regular session begins in January, with eight months remaining in the two-year budget period, the Legislature sometimes appropriates funds to supplement an agency for the last fiscal year of a biennium.
The Comptroller anticipates state lawmakers will have $119.1 billion for spending over the FY 2020-2021 budget cycle, which is roughly 8.1 percent more funding available compared to the last biennium.
The House Appropriations Committee has been hard at work preparing House Bill 1, the state budget for the upcoming biennium, while the Senate recently passed and sent over Senate Bill 500, the supplemental budget which will address the obligations and critical needs of the state in the final months of FY 2019.
On Wednesday, the House will be considering both HB 1 and SB 500. HB 1 spends $116.5 billion of general revenue and includes approximately $2.3 billion of funding from the Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF). SB 500 is to fund FY 2019 obligations and includes critical funding for Hurricane Harvey damage. The supplemental appropriations bill spends $2.7 billion of general revenue and approximately $4.3 billion of Economic Stabilization Fund. Comptroller Hegar previously estimated that the ESF would have nearly $12 billion for budget emergencies.
Once passed by both the House and Senate, both bills will head to a conference committee between the two chambers, where legislative members of both bodies will then finalize the budget for each chamber’s approval.
This Monday marks the 70th day of the 140 day legislative session. The deadline for bills to be filed has passed and a total of 7,281 bills were filed. This week we will have our first floor calendar where bills will be debated and, if passed, sent over to the Senate for consideration. At this juncture of session, the majority of the day is spent hearing bills in committee. Over the coming weeks, that will shift to spending the majority of time on the House floor debating bills.
House Bill 3 invests $9 billion toward advancing student achievement, supporting Texas teachers, providing property tax reform, and allocates more dollars to Texas classrooms than ever before.
School finance reform is a top priority and paramount theme for this session. HB 3 known as “The Texas Plan” was heard in committee this week. In the days since the bill was filed, we have witnessed an outpouring of support from parents, teachers, school administrators, and various education and business advocacy organizations. This much needed reform invests in Texas classrooms and transforms our state’s public school finance system. What is so exciting to see is this bill has bi-partisan support with 104 legislators who have currently signed on as co-authors to show our commitment for reform to the antiquated school finance system.
HB 347
Last week we had a great hearing on HB 347 to end forced annexation statewide. Forced annexation is a legal process by which property located in an unincorporated area of a county may become part of a neighboring city against the property owner’s will. This means without their consent, they find themselves within the jurisdiction and taxing authority of a municipality when they have intentionally chosen to live outside the limits. Taxpayers then become responsible for paying for bonds and services for which they neither voted for nor approved. Simply put, this is taxation without representation.
Parker and Wise counties became Tier 2 in November when a ballot measure was approved and are now protected from forced annexation but currently this protection is only in 16 counties in Texas.
Protecting the property rights of all citizens is of utmost importance. This legislation would streamline the process and would allow cities to make the case to all residents and landowners to be annexed into their city limits.
HB 794
We also had a great hearing in front of the Ways & Means committee on HB 794. Buying property is one of the largest financial decisions most Texans make. But did you know we have certain provisions in Texas law that prevent landowners from using their land for its highest and best use?
This legislation is a win-win for Texans and would significantly reduce the clawback tax imposed for agricultural properties when a change of use occurs. Current law imposes a substantial penalty on landowners when they decide to change the use of his or her land from agricultural uses to something else. A “rollback rate” or what I would refer to as a clawback tax is imposed where a landowner must pay local taxing entities 5 year clawback on the market value of the property as if it never held an agricultural exemption plus 7 percent compounded interest.
This clawback tax substantially hinders your property rights and there is simply no justification for this excessive penalty that prevents properties from advancing to their highest and best use. I look forward to substantially reducing the clawback tax for this unnecessary burden to landowners.
