House Democratic Leadership Responds To State Of The State Address

[Press Release from the Texas House Democratic Caucus]

AUSTIN– State Reps. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco), Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), and Pete Gallego (D-Alpine) responded to Gov. Rick Perry’s State of the State address today.  The House Democrats maintained that despite a few forward-looking recommendations, Governor Perry failed to recognize many of the most essential priorities the legislature must address to move Texas forward.

“The people of Texas deserve a state government that works as hard for them as they work for their families,” Rep. Coleman, Chair of the Legislative Study Group said.  “Unfortunately, the Governor failed to address too many of the fundamental priorities that impact the pocketbook and quality of life for every Texas family that works for a living.”

When Texans voted last fall, they made their priorities clear: improve our children’s schools, make college affordable again, provide access to health coverage for all Texas children, and lower the cost of our electric bills. In terms of dollars and cents, however, the Governor’s budget priorities focus almost entirely on property tax cuts that disproportionately benefit wealthy property owners at the expense of needs that are even more important to the future of our state’s economy.

“We all support lower property taxes, but Texans are also demanding greater investments in our children’s schools, affordable college for our families, and a healthier Texas,” Rep. Gallego, Chair of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, observed. “The Governor talks about these things, but he doesn’t offer a plan to put our money to work for us on these critical matters.”

Rep. Coleman said the state must increase teacher pay across the board to attract and retain quality teachers for our classrooms, and that those teachers should no longer be forced to teach only to a standardized test.

“After twelve years of learning and study in the classroom, graduation should not be based solely on a test that tries to boil it all down to ‘A, B, C, or none of the above’,” Rep. Coleman said.

Rep. Dunnam, Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, agreed that the state should increase student assistance for college, but added that eliminating tuition deregulation is a more important step if we are to make college affordable again for all Texas families.

“Unfortunately, tuition deregulation has led to tuition increases that are pricing many students from middle class families out of the opportunity that can only be provided by a college education,” Rep. Dunnam said.

He cited figures that show a 47% increase in the cost of tuition to the University of Texas at Austin has led to a tuition increase of $2,500 per year. And the problem isn’t just at UT — there has been a 54% increase in tuition at UT-Brownsville, a 34% increase in tuition at Texas Tech, and a 49% increase in tuition at the University of Houston.

Rep. Coleman said the Governor should be commended for acknowledging that Texas has the highest rate of people without health insurance in the country - 24.5% of all Texans. However, he said the Governor’s speech failed to adequately address this critical need.

“We cannot gamble on a return from privatizing the Texas Lottery to fund a limited health insurance program for adults,” Rep. Coleman said, adding that “we must closely watch proposed cuts to Medicaid benefits to make sure they do not result in a similar loss of heath coverage that resulted from the 2003 cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program.”

“The fastest way to insure the children of Texas is to repeal the policies enacted in 2003 that caused 200,000 Texas children to lose their CHIP coverage, policies that cost us $893 million in federal matching funds,” Rep. Coleman noted.

Rep. Gallego , speaking about taxes said, “All Texans should expect truth in taxation, so that our tax dollars go where we expect them to go. The taxes on sporting goods should go to improve state parks, as promised.  We also need to prevent the Governor from eliminating the System Benefit Fund, which helps the very poor pay their utility bills.  Texans shouldn’t have to choose between groceries and keeping the lights on.”

The Democratic leaders said the state should work to increase the use of renewable energy technologies like solar energy. Such new technologies will help answer the state’s growing need for additional energy sources and mitigate the need for unhealthy options such as the new coal plants Governor Perry is currently attempting to fast-track to completion.

“Texans know how the sun beats down on us, so it’s time we put it to work for us instead of fast-tracking coal plants that increase health risks, including the risk of cancer,” Rep. Gallego said.

“Texans are calling for action on these important priorities, but the Governor keeps trying to give that responsibility to private interests who want to use our tax dollars to make a profit,” Rep. Dunnam said.

“From private school vouchers to private call centers for CHIP to toll roads, privatization has failed us, and it’s time for the state of Texas to work for the people again and not for profit,” Rep. Dunnam concluded.