Today marks one month since I was sworn in as your State Representative, and it’s been incredibly busy.
For those of you who don’t know, our office — your office — is located in the Texas Capitol at E2.402. We hurriedly moved in the weekend before the start of session and before we even had anything on the walls, we were hosting constituent meetings. It’s a tight space but we’re honored to be here, and we hope you’ll visit soon.
Kicking Things Off With A Bang
As all of you know, we began the session with a contested speaker race — the first time that has happened in 50 years. I was proud to honor my word and vote for the Republican Caucus nominee, but on the 2nd vote, Representative Dustin Burrows emerged with a clear victory. Speaker Burrows has indicated that he plans for this to be the most conservative session in Texas history and I am excited to work alongside him to accomplish that goal over the next 3.5 months.
What We’ve Been Working On
There may be some of y’all who are curious what we’ve been up to since the session gaveled in, and that’s understandable given the limited amount of time that we’ve spent on the House Floor.
The truth is that not only are we constitutionally prevented from hearing bills until after the governor has declared his emergency items, but that it takes time to put together an administration as well as organize the House for the Session.
Governor Abbott delivered his State of the State Address on February 2nd, and declared seven emergency items:
- Property tax relief
- Generational investment in water
- Increasing teachers’ salaries
- Career training expansion
- School choice
- Bail reform
- Texas Cyber Command Creation
I am excited to work on accomplishing these results for Texans.
Behind the scenes and off the House floor we have been drafting legislation, filing bills, and working with colleagues to improve and perfect our language and messaging. The legislative process is a lengthy one fraught with opportunities for a bill to be derailed. My staff and I are working hard to make sure we’re doing the due-diligence necessary for our bills to be successful.
Constituent Visits
In the month since the session began, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with dozens of various groups from the district. From local health professionals to the student leaders at Tyler Junior College, I value hearing your concerns and want to make sure your voice is heard.
Here’s a few highlights from the past month:
If you’re planning on visiting Austin during the legislative session, please be sure to stop by my office in the Capitol Extension, E2.402, to greet my staff. And if you’d like to schedule a meeting with me, email my chief of staff to get something on the calendar.
Committee Assignments
This week, I was appointed by Speaker Burrows to two House committees: Land and Resource Management, and the Delivery of Government Efficiency — i.e. the DOGE Committee.
Serving on Land and Resource Management will be a great opportunity to represent East Texas on important issues like eminent domain and the use of public lands.
And the DOGE Committee, which is entirely new, will be focused on ways to eliminate waste and fraud, and to bring the Texas government up to speed in using modern technology.
Coming Up…
Over the next week, I’ll be filing several new bills that our team has been working on. Some of these might appear more flashy than the others, but all will help make Texas more free, safe, and prosperous.
I’ll highlight more specifics of these bills in the newsletters to come, but these proposals include things to expand educational opportunities for our law enforcement, protect our oil and gas industry, and promote free market principles in healthcare and cottage foods.
You can keep track of all the bills I’ve filed at any time by visiting this page.
I’ll be focused on quality over quantity with respect to the number of bills I personally file, but I look forward to helping my colleagues champion their brilliant conservative ideas. My job is about making sure we get good policies in place for the people of Texas, whether it has my name on it or not.