 So first of all welcome to all of you welcome to the LBJ library if you have not been here before Or even if you have been here before we hope that you will come back and see everything we have going on here Welcome also to the future forum if you're not a member Well welcome either way This is one of the many events we have going on here as I mentioned I'm Catherine Rob and I'm the founder of the future forum and just so glad to see all of y'all if you Are not a member of the future forum we have information over there We would love to have you all join or consider joining we have programs throughout the year on a variety of topics This is always one of our favorites, which we do every other year during the legislative session, but we do talks on all sorts of things and One of our goals is really to sort of bring people together to talk about issues and to get engaged And to sort of go out and gauge in their community and so we do it through programs like this So we'd love to see you again whether you joined or not but we of course would love to have you join and Be made aware of everything that's going on along those lines for those of you that are future forum members We're going to send out something later this week. We're doing an event March 21st I think that's the date with Chancellor McRaven on national security and so we'll send that out to y'all with the RSVP and everything else and I think that's all of the housekeeping We're so glad to have y'all here and I want to say a special. Thank you to our to our panelists this evening This has been one of our favorite programs throughout the air It's it's always been one of mine and the feedback I've received from members is that it's really one of theirs as well because it's a great opportunity to one obviously to get to sit and listen to our Representatives but also to really sort of learn what's a little bit more about what's going on in the state what matters to To people and specifically to our representatives and sort of how people are addressing issues and to see members Sit down sort of from you know with different viewpoints sort of across the aisle and have a civil discussion about Issues that matter a lot to all of us and so We really always this has been one of the favorite programs and I just appreciate As usual we have a wonderful panel and we're very appreciative and also I just want to say a thank you to y'all I know that public service is a can be a thankless job and Not always a lot of fun, and you don't always Get thanked so I do thank you for being willing to serve and and I hope all of you will Will thank them at the end of the evening Regardless of how you know any of us feel on a specific issue It's it's wonderful that we can sit down and talk about issues and get together and meet in a setting like this And so thank you to all of you for doing this and thank you for all of you too for coming and for caring about this So with that I think we should get started I'm going to just introduce our moderator Ben Philpott who's a senior editor at KQT and let him introduce the Panel and get going so thank you to all of y'all So we've got about 40 minutes where I'll ask questions and then some time for questions from y'all But I don't want to waste too much time on introduction So we can kind of get through a handful of things and have plenty of time for your questions at the end Just real quickly an introduction representative Trent Ashby from Bluffkin representative Jeanina Hossa from Austin representative I'm sorry representative Jean Wu from Houston representative. Excuse me senator Don Buckingham from Lakeway Thank you all for coming out tonight. Thank you for having a Quick apology. I have a little bit of a cold so I will be sniffly tonight, but my voice will sound great Let's go ahead, you know, we we've still got about a month before you can start passing bills that are not emergency items But lots of stuff has already happened and I guess maybe we should go ahead and start with the story that was across the country today with the day without an immigrant protests Lots of some different restaurants some different some school children not coming to school today in Texas that has obviously surrounded the sanctuary cities debate and both the federal government wanting to pull money back from Different municipalities and the state government trying to pass a law as well One of the things that I find really interesting about that debate is How much trouble we're having coming up with a definition of what a sanctuary city is I believe it was senator Perry actually in the press conference first of February Was asked what does this bill lay out a definition of sanctuary city and his answer was no it does not Because it doesn't is this something that we're going to debate in the legislature Certainly, I assume pass out of the Senate But it's going to be something that we've got to wait until a court Rules on this because we're not laying out that definition And anyone can jump in I know you're yeah, you you can take off. You're a co-author of the Senate bill I am I'm a co-author of Senate bill for which was the sanctuary city bill I think for all intents and purposes for our our definition for that bill was basically Any entity that doesn't uphold ice detainers for people that they are they're in their jails So that can be a number of things most often the county jails that the sheriffs have so so Senate bill four set out several Several parameters. I think there's a lot of misinformation about what it did Which I think kind of elevates some of the hysteria, but just you know in brief One for the first time ever we laid out protections for illegal aliens who are victims of a crime or a witness to a crime But they can come forward and actually are protected by the law which currently they are not so it set up some protections for the Illegal aliens, but also it created civil penalties so if Someone let's say who had raped a seven-year-old a couple years ago and have been a fugitive for justice that was about to Be let out like just kind of sort of almost just happened in Travis County if that person went out and raped your daughter You would have the ability to come and sue the entity that let that person out We also put criminal charges in there where as a misdemeanor But but basically what we said is if you go through due process and you have your sheriff For example, and you have a set policy of not honoring the detainers Then you're subject to these criminal penalties if you're convicted of that crime then you're no longer eligible to serve in that office Does the bill get more teeth though if the federal government stops making some of the detainers optional? Well, and that was kind of a loophole right because right now technically the the detainers are a voluntary Process and there's plenty of speculation that the president Trump may not make them optional Yeah, and we'll see what he does so we can't wait for someone else to act You know what we saw is a mounting problem in Texas currently. It's my understanding that the detainers are being Respected or obeyed in every county except for Travis County We've heard up from all of our sheriff's association in strong support of this bill And so, you know, we're just gonna act through my my in my district. I have 17 counties I start down in Bendera and go up to Temple and over to Abilene in Travis County. I kind of have the Southwestern suburbs Which Lakeway is where I live and so my district You know the number one issue in this campaign over and over and over again is we need to seal our border and get rid of the lure such as sanctuary cities that bring people here, so So we've you know taken some pretty big strides in that direction So the bill has been heard in a Senate committee and passed out of the Senate. It's now heading over to the house Um, what y'all think? well, I'm happy since the Sheriff from Travis County is seems to be taking the brunt of the criticism and Seems to be motivation for a lot of this action. I'm happy to speak on it I Think we need to listen to our professional law enforcement officials about what keeps us safe. I am a lawyer Lawyers are frequently accused of thinking they know everything about everybody else's business and I've never said that I Tell you what legislators are ten times worse politicians are ten times worse I think we need to be respectful of Of what the professionals say our sheriff says that it is paramount to the safety and security of our community That we have a trusting relationship between law enforcement and the immigrant community And so we have laws on the books to keep criminals in jail to keep criminals In prison and so we have immigration laws to enforce Movement back and forth through our borders It is the role of our local law enforcement officials to keep us safe And I defer to our sheriff to what has been referred to as the top brass of law enforcement in this state Police chiefs from urban areas in Texas who have said that SB 4 will make us less less safe and I think we need to be careful about what we do here and Respect the people who put their lives on the line every day to tell us that we are making a mistake Representative Ashby I have the Republicans started to take their temperature of the of this bill in the house. I Think it's premature to speculate in the house how I see this shaping up you know, I agree with senator Buckingham that As far as back home, I think border security certainly is the top of mind for a lot of folks that I represent but when you start drilling down and kind of separating some of the The granular issues and start talking about issues like sanctuary cities You know the common question you hit the nail on the head that I get again It's not an issue that's brought up routinely for me personally back home But when it is brought up a lot of times people say no, how do you define a sanctuary city? And so I think in terms of the debate in the house should the bill reach the floor I do think there'll be a lot of discussion like continue discussion about what is a sanctuary city and You know ultimately I don't know if if we'll Not in the direction of the Senate or if we'll try to be a little more specific about that But again, I I expect a very spirited debate on the issue Do you want to throw anything in I know that you're a police chief that you stole from Austin? Yes, not happy about this. Yeah, I mean, let's let's Let's back up a bit and say let's let's call a spade a spade and let's not talk about this This is a public safety measure. This is a Republican primary voter issue, right? In you know immigration is a federal issue It's a federal I mean the fed spend 26 billion dollars on the border a year But somehow we feel like we need to throw an extra 800 million a billion dollars to DPS to go buy speed boats and helicopters to secure the border You know just like the the the fetal burial remains burial thing or this is an issue that Republican primary voters really really care about because they've been drummed up to care about it and So if they don't do it There'll be hell to pay so Let's not pretend that this is a public safety issue when I was in the prosecutor's office We saw immigration detainers all the time You know what we left them alone because you can't tell what they are You've used it, you know the the criminal justice records that we have even in Texas are incredibly confusing and incredibly hard to interpret federal immigration records and what they say who they are directed to are impossible to interpret and Because they say look we think Jose Gonzalez born on this date is An undocumented immigrant Great, are you who can say considering those dollars point and say see yes, I am and you go look at the Texas records a criminal records Oh, there's 96 of them. Which one are you? I don't know So and you're asking police officers and sheriff's departments to interpret this, you know Harris County had always followed followed what the feds had asked for when I was there You set a bond for their you set a bond for them for their criminal charge and immigration set up like a $5,000 bond for their immigration issue people paid that one people paid that one they went home and Now the state is injecting themselves into a system that works as worked well Then you know Republicans that are conservatives complain all the time that when the feds do this Overreach overreach and now the state's doing it to local municipalities And if I just might respectfully interject You know, I would say this is a public safety issue In fact, we have had several senior democratic senators come out and say that our sheriff needs to change her policies That they're unsafe and I think you brought up a valid point It's very difficult for local law enforcement agencies, which the chief police chiefs have almost no saying this to my understanding It's all the county jails where the waivers come to and they do it by fingerprints not just who the person says they are But clearly if the process is so complicated to understand from the state level I think our state officials should just respect the waivers and that's all we're saying Then if I may I want to give this a couple more minutes. Yeah, I know we can start the entire time about it, but sure I Want to give an example of some people may have read in the paper today of Why we should defer aside from what Jean just talked about how it's hard, you know, sometimes these detainers aren't right And and they say you got somebody but that person can prove that's not who they are and hey By the way, they're a US citizen, right? And so that local law enforcement person decides to let them go But there are all sorts of reasons why a local law enforcement official Would use his or her professional judgment to make a decision whether or not to Honor them one may be it's somebody can prove their said a citizen one may be that the sheriff decides Well, you know what? This person is key to a case that I'm trying to develop and this person's gonna lead me to I've got a bigger fish to fry here. And so this is part of the deal. We heard our DA say today I was concerned about this specific sexual assault Person who was accused of sexual assault of a child because I was afraid we weren't gonna be able to prosecute that person here in Travis County for that crime if we Delivered this person to ice. So there are lots of reasons why we should be deferring to the judgment of not Politicians again, but people who do this for a living our local professional law enforcement officials Yeah, and and to that I would just say that I agree You know, there are gonna be unique cases that that everybody, you know wants to make exceptions But to have an overarching policy, I mean by our sheriff's own policies I mean she set out a few things Murder aggravated rape and human trafficking and I believe she's moved a little off of that in the last few days When the news Busted that we're she's gonna potentially let out of a sex offender for a child out because it doesn't follow under her Categories, so pedophiles are fine to release burglars are fine to release drug dealers are fine to release People with gang activity and violence are fine to release. I think it's very much a public safety issue And I want to be clear when we say release We mean release under the normal system of bail bonds and all the other circumstances that we look at if someone is a Danger to the community a judge and the bonding system has the same ability say that person is a no-bond You keep them locked up if that person is not a risk you issue a bond if that person issues no risk You issue a PR bond and they do they go home on their own reconnaissance and they come back to court Again, I think this is you're interjecting a lot of complication and a lot of extra hoops for a system That's already very difficult to operate All right, let's just just jump into something a little less complicated school finance So the house You know, we've seen the initial budgets Excuse me from the Senate in the house house wants to add another 1.5 billion into education If some school finance reforms are put into place the Senate As I believe I've heard some house members say better late than never decided they wanted to also do school finance reform this this session Obviously gigantic issue very complicated millions of moving parts, but are there Each of you have a specific section of that that you feel like is long overdue for a change Or a certain Certain measure a certain way to certain whatever that you feel like this is if we're gonna do school finance This has to be part of that conversation. I'll start with that one You know, I have really been pleased with the speaker of the house and his leadership on this issue You know, he's made it clear to anyone and everyone that he would love to see the legislature this session tackle This very complicated issue of school finance Basically since 1993 we've been operating under the versions of the current system And there's a reason why since 1993 there have been certain weights and measures That have been added slowly over time But there's reason why it hasn't been completely rewritten or overhauled and that is because If you start messing with one of those weights or measures, you're gonna have win winners and losers When you start talking about legislators, we all want to win and we want to win for our constituents and so it's a very complicated issue and so You know, there is a billion and a half set aside or earmarked in the house budget for School of additional public education dollars. She will be able to overhaul school finance I know that the house will take that issue very seriously this session We were going to we started in the interim with a joint hearing between the appropriations committee and the public education committee looking at this First time in my five years that we've had a two-day hearing on any issue But we looked at every one of those specific weights and measures the system. We took lots of public testimony We listened to our Educators our superintendent school board members that were affected by each one of those unique weights and measures And so getting to your question. Yes, I would be remiss Just to highlight one of those because I have a bill filed that I'm very proud of But I have a bill just to give you an idea there is one way it's called the small schools adjustment bill and Back when it was created it said that any school district that was under 1600 students and that was Under 300 square miles 300 square miles being what the operative what you need to remember here You're going to be penalized Compared to the same school districts that may be 301 square miles in their terms of geography or their boundary and have the same number of students and The irony is the staffer that wrote that at the time came up to me after the hearing and said I cannot believe y'all have Not fixed yet that yet. We thought it would be in for two or four years. It was basically a way to save some money Rather than pay all the schools the same amount. And so, you know, I would you know submit Then I will submit that penalizing school district just because of an arbitrary number that was put in statute at the time And my argument and I represent a lot of those school districts as I know Senator Buckingham does is that we're penalizing those school children and They under our state Constitution deserve to have access to a quality education just like every child in Texas does so All that to say I'm looking forward to participating in this debate It's I think it's an issue that almost every one of the 181 members the House and the Senate care passionately about It's an issue that I ran on frankly because as I have often said back home Education is the one issue that if we don't get it, right, I'm not sure what else matters And so I'm looking forward to this session in terms of the discussion about public education and in particular school finance Representative Well, I think that our challenge when it comes to school finance just like Trent said was Is that when you do something to one school? It hurts another school if you benefit what so the challenge is to do something That helps everybody so as much as possible We have to try to keep supporters of our public schools all the same page row in the same direction for the common good and not split up into Rule urban small large no finch to your fellow shirts Okay but One of the ideas that's been proposed is increasing the basic allotment and said this would increase money for all children all students and I think that's a good place to begin 1.5 billion is not a lot of money for all that Our students need Austin gets hit particularly hard We know through the current broken school finance system having to send over 400 million this year alone to this state We spend more in Austin on Recapture so what's also known as Robin Hood sending money to the state Then we do each one of us send to the county to pay for all our county services in Travis County It's it's a broken system. It's burdensome. It hasn't been updated and in very long And so I do welcome some kind of fix to our school finance system I'm gonna use this opportunity to rail against the a through F system, which is tangentially related to what I talked about and because as I when I voted against it I said Look, this does not take into account The idea that there are some school districts have kids that are harder to educate who like my kids in my community Are our recent immigrants who are not English speakers who have family who don't read and write and just the number of circumstances that make it so much difficult and You treat them as if they were the same kids as if they were nice middle-class white kids from the woodlands and That's sort of my issue with the current finance system is that the way we do the weights We treat a poor kid Here the same kid as poor kid there Well, the poor kid here is a kid that lives in an immigrant community Has the deal of gang violence has to do with Police who pull up like a three o'clock in the morning and there's there's always a shooting or something like that Whereas a poor kid here. No offense is in the rural area has a nice community. There's a lot of support But they're both poor but this poor kid is acting is going to Actually require a lot more services than this poor kid because this poor kid has a strong community background and a strong community to support them so In terms of what I want out of school finance is actually gonna be the output what Gina said There are gonna be winners and losers. I'm hoping our kids could win for once and We would like to the weights to be rebalanced so that kids in really tough situations in In inner-city areas where there's high crime high gang activity high drug activity and whatever else can get the support They need and be recognized that They come from a tougher position Well Just to give you a little background. I have 85 school districts in my Senate district Some of those are 98% free and reduced lunch. I have some of the tiniest schools and some of the biggest schools in the state You know, I sat on my school board. I held a held a gubernatorial appointment to the state board of educator certification I've served on a university system board of governor So have experienced in the gamut and believe very deeply at the education of our children's one of the most important things in the state at the couple things we need to fix Representative Ashby. I look forward to hopefully partnering with you on your bill because I agree One square mile shouldn't make a difference for our kids, but to you know water, which is the weighted average daily attendance It's one of the ways that schools are reimbursed for their students that attend And you have to be set up as a school to educate a hundred percent of your enrolled students on any given day I mean pick a number maybe 95 percent of your students show up Maybe 85 percent of your students show up the money you get is based on an average weighted daily attendance of the kids that actually show So already you're at a deficit because you have to be set up and prepared to educate a hundred percent of your children The other thing that I think Representative alluded to is that is it on recapture your recapture is based on a hundred percent of your taxable value So with all the homestead exemptions and things like that you may actually only generate 90% of your taxable value, but yet your recaptures based on a hundred percent So for those districts that give money back to the state It's a tremendous burden and and unfair now Texas Education Agency has recently redefined some of that Which I think is going to help some of those school districts, but but I agree I think I think we ought to find a way to help all of our schools and and I think really What we do and whenever I speak to kids anywhere I say look I ran for office to help you achieve your dreams that is that is why we are here We are here to make you or give you the skills So you can be part of a workforce that sets Texas apart And so I think you know that's something that we work across lines with and and try and improve on a daily basis I made all of them promise to not talk about golden pennies. So thank you You did throw in water So that's good bipartisan issue working on school finance That's a great bipartisan issue and I wanted to highlight that you know What you'll see and what you always see when you talk about school finance and really education issues in general for the most part is You know education is not a partisan issue. It never has been in Texas for the most part and And our state is better off for Well, let me just real quickly. I guess I should bring up the partisan issue in education There is one There is at least one but school vouchers Are once again something that the Texas Senate has Made a priority I've been covering the legislature since the Texas House used to make it a priority But over the last few sessions it has not been for the House is Well, we want to speculate which chamber is going to pass it's probably going to pass the Senate What have you heard from your constituent senator Buckham about the idea of some kind of school voucher system With the business tax credit right, you know, so that there are a couple things I mean vouchers are technically where the money goes to the Straight to the school Educational savings accounts, which is more the lieutenant governor's approach is where the money follows the child And there's a whole gamut and they had interim Hearings to see what was done in the 30 other states that have a more extended Amount of school choice than we have we have school choice, right? You have homeschool you have private school You have our public schools But the thought that the thought in the Senate is we want to give our most Disadvantaged kids to the extent that we can the same opportunity as our wealthiest better-off children, you know I'm lucky I could move to Lake Travis schools so that I felt very comfortable that my kids were going to get a great education And have a good school experience There are some families that just don't have that that mobility to be able to move like that and And it's not that you know Sometimes you hear a lot about failing schools and and I don't think I think the vast majority of our schools do an amazing job But I think that there are some kids that are just in schools that can't give that child the learning opportunities They need and that and that child deserves some choice. I do think One of the most amazing things that we found when we were doing those interim hearings or when I was watching them is the Educational savings accounts and some of the business tax breaks for our special education children I think our public schools do the very best they can possibly do with our special ed kids But I'm not sure they can always do the very best for those kids And there are some programs where you can have centers of excellence where those kids can truly be served To the to the height of the services available to them and you can fund that tuition Both with some of the money that follows that child but also through tax savings grants for businesses that can that can invest in that and so Those kids do amazing in those centers and so I do think that there are some opportunities But but I it is it is a device of issue and people definitely feel strongly about it both ways Anyone else want to jump in I don't understand this argument that Bouchers are good for children with disabilities. I've just never understood how that case can be made when So many private schools don't take students with special needs even charter schools currently Don't take students with special needs from what from what many of us here and Nobody in public schools take everybody everybody you got a disciplinary record. You can still come to a public school I mean, we need to be putting our our resources in our public schools So we can have centers of excellence within our public schools. I think many Many of our public schools already do a great job of that but the other part that I think is essential and as a mom who ran for The school board because I was not happy with decisions being made about my son's school I just think that democratic accountability is key to a public school system and for me It's just it's not an option to be putting public monies into private schools that are not Connected to accountability through the democratic process. I don't think this issue is necessarily Republican versus Democrat in that type of partition shipway. I think the partisanship in two sides is going to be the sort of like the suburban areas Versus the rule plus urban areas Because if you go, I don't know Senator Buckingham in maybe 80 something school districts I'm curious to what they would say if you're gonna tell them. Hey, we're gonna do a program where you guys Either lose money or don't get money that you could have gotten and we're gonna give it to someone else All right, and you have 86 school districts with 86 school boards board board directors PTAs everything else. I wonder what all they're gonna say so and This is a program that even the the I mean vouchers aside even the savings fund From what I've seen of it so far is there's no accountability You don't have to prove anything you don't have to show anything you don't have to take any tests You don't even have to do anything to show that you're actually teaching a child. That's fantastic Because here you have a legislature that is always about let's let's drug test welfare recipients Let's make put this that and the other on anyone who gets government money But here's a big pot of money do it with it whatever you want as long as it's for education So I'm really curious about that. It's a lot what you know What what what's what is this gonna be just a big slush fund so I'll comment a little bit on this because it Basically buttresses what represent we was saying this is not a what I would consider a good example of a partisan issue because In my prior two sessions, I've had the opportunity to vote against Diverting public dollars for what you would term as vouchers now the education savings account is that's different but I represent a rural district six counties at 24 school districts and in four of those counties there is no private school option and so And in the irony here just kind of focusing on the private schools for a minute is the very few I represent and I'm Not that I've heard from all of them But one or two in particular in my hometown have encouraged me not to support it Because they know that ultimately should a voucher type bill pass that Before that thing leaves the floor, I can promise you there will be so many amendments that will be offered and probably tacked on to it That will address a lot of the regulations Issues that represented we talked about that by the time it got to the governor's desk They probably wouldn't want to participate in it if you take state money you take state test exactly and so to me This is a truth and taxation issue Public dollar dollars are supposed to be spent for the public good. There should be accountability And if we make a decision to state to start sending the money with the child to parochial or private schools Then I certainly will be a strong advocate for making sure that we have those accountability measures in place Let's jump over to the rainy day fund real quickly This has been a fund that the governor others in the Republican leadership have said let's not touch it Let's leave it alone. Let's you know help bond ratings other things this week in the house There was some wiggling that maybe on one time use The rainy day fund could be tapped Are there Obviously one time use one of the things they talk about is that non recurring you're not gonna hire someone with it But you're gonna rebuild something or build something Put some kind of infrastructure in are there particular things that each of you If you think we should be spending rainy day money Are there things you believe it was designed for that would really work not all of And this is one of the things where I I Am always puzzled. I mean I understand why people are doing it because they want to look tough They want to look like they're they're they're strong physical conservatives, but you have a a Very large pot of money that is continues to growing that we're not earning interest on and it's just sitting there That is specifically designed. It's not the rainy day fund. It is called the economic stabilization fund and It always brings me every time I hear esf It always reminds me of that my favorite quote from one Buffett is if you want to be successful in life You spend when times are bad you save when times are good That's how you become successful if times are not great right now. There are things that we need to There are holes in the ship that need to get patched. We have Huge issues in medical care. We have huge issues in education We have issues in in CPS with issues it just up and down the the spectrum and You know to the point where the governor is asking for a hiring freeze All that stuff sounds great until you actually put it into effect until you no longer get your services that you expect You know, we're not saying deplete the entire fund But it would not hurt to take a billion or two to patch up some of the things we need and We're talking about our kids our elderly our schools and everything else I'll chime in I'm collecting my thoughts You know, I maybe I haven't read everything that was came out this week as far as some of the the comments that were made in the house I do know that it is vitally important that we maintain a healthy balance in our rainy day fund and The floor Right now that that healthy balance would be anything above seven and a half billion Conkroller Hager has indicated to the legislature that there is a healthy balance But ultimately it's a legislative prerogative should we decide to spend some of those monies I'm a I'm I'm a strong fiscal conservative and I Have some reluctance in just using it as probably most members for just any recurring expenses I do I would I would look at one-time expenditures Question is what what kind of expenditures would you be talking about? Obviously any any type of natural disaster or calamity of something That would occur that would Facilitate the need for that. I don't I think there would be widespread support for that You know, there are good points made and and represent if we've made some About we have a you know, we're approaching 12 billion dollars And in a downturn like this should we be able to should we Should it be good a good public policy position to take to spend some of those month dollars? I Personally would need to think through that a little bit more. I need to see what we're talking about I We just started and on the house side our hearings this week in appropriations committee. We had three days of hearings getting a very General overview of kind of our fiscal picture what was in the house budget for all of our agencies that again at a very high level Starting next week. We start the subcommittee process We'll really get in the weeds and we drill down into the agencies We drill down into a lot of the what we call legislative appropriation requests that the agencies are making Exceptional items that they would like to see funded and I think once we start really looking at what the needs are across the state of Texas I think we'll only speak for myself. I think I'll have a better feel about how I feel on this issue the one One time expenditure that I've been reading about is excuse me refurbishing of state hospitals mental hospitals and Residential hospitals, and I think there's a strong case to be made I Have a lot of constituents that commute just across a county line into a neighboring legislators district There's a building on that. This is in Rusk in Cherokee County. There's a building there was building 1800s that we're still using and took a tour of that with some senators this summer as well as some house members and There was no question that the need is great and again That's just I think representative probably a lot of our not just our state hospitals But also our state supporting living centers, which I represent one and just outside of Lufkin And so when you talk about the the amount that's been deferred on our state buildings I Think there there is a case to be made there that potentially that could be a use I agree that that Is a good idea We are senator Watson has proposed with their own state hospital creating a MD Anderson for the brain and creating a state of the art of a Place for science related to mental health and we know that there are We know that there are needs in this state when it comes to mental health care this is also a bipartisan issue and If we can begin to invest to fill that need then I think we should do it I do think I mean I don't know about you Ben But I feel like I spent a lot of money on my property taxes and I don't know why the state legislature Feels like it's okay to hoard that that's my money. It should be spent on services for us I understand maintaining a healthy balance there for in case there is need but an emergency need but Otherwise, I don't understand why we wouldn't spend what Beyond what is prudent to keep I just don't understand why we wouldn't especially when we do have as Jeans at such huge needs when I come in just look at our CPS system. We're we're losing kids This is not something that we can fix on the cheap. It's going to take a huge investment. And so I just I don't understand the rationale of not spending beyond what is prudent to maintain a stable economy Can I clarify one thing real quickly just so I understand when we talk about the the economic stabilization fund The only monies that go into that are from severance taxes That's the only tax that actually funds are what we call the rainy day funds I just wanted not property right back there not property Well, but but the thing is we are proper taxes go up when the state Decreases its share of education funding and healthcare funding because the hospital the county hospital has been at the razor local property taxes To make up for the shortfall. There is an inverse relationship when in terms of education, that's right I think it's my hope that we can fund the needs of the state without tapping the rainy day fund You feel like the Senate's not interested in in tapping it I think I think you know if you look where the Senate not to have you speak for the entire Yes, I learned that early. That would be a very poor choice. I my interpretation of but Yeah, that way if you look where the Senate budget started and where the house budget started I know y'all are really just getting really going but but the initial just throwing it out there The house kind of already assumes tapping the rainy day fund Several billion dollars, I believe and from what was floated around early in session the the Senate Basically does not do that But still investing significantly more in mental health and the needs of the state But y'all have been kind of without a chair and you know, things are you know Y'all are really just getting run in so your budget. I think will look very different after a few weeks Wait, how about this my partisan sports? two-story gold solid gold statue Donald Trump nude I don't have any comment We've got time for just one more thing I hate to even throw this as a small issue out because it isn't but I wanted to get to one more topic before we start Taking questions and that is child protective services This is you know, if you look at the house and Senate budgets, there are cuts in different agencies There are cuts in different parts of the budget. There are not cuts in CPS. That's not part of the hiring freeze This is an area that Both chambers seem very very Interested in in doing something about this time I guess my question is that you know, I've covered the legislature Several years and have seen addition other sessions where you know CPS or the foster care system has been you know One of the top priorities but it does seem that after a session or two and The interest and the support Wains and then we end up back in this situation again Are there things that y'all are looking forward to do differently this time in Terms of CPS in terms of pushing that agency forward in a way to help our kids that Maybe you feel like the legislature was a little short on in previous sessions And if I might I may just lead with that just because we've already been here in the bill and health and human services You know senator shortener who chairs health and human services Has been working very hard and through the interim on what to do And and I think our our thoughts are and we've been pulling all the stakeholders together And I anticipate we'll be passing that bill out of committee in the next couple weeks Because we've already been having hearings with everybody, but we're looking to more of a community-based model where You know you have more of your private organizations can can grow and and to the extent that religious organizations are appropriate You know, we have kids sleeping on floors and offices and in hotels and So we're hoping that by engaging the community more When you send out a shout there's a need there's a child that needs a temporary place to stay or we're in need of more foster parents That there's more community buy into that the Senate budget. I believe Has a significant increase in funding to the tune of 800 ish new employees I did I was a governor do her so pointy on the Sunset Commission We made hundreds of changes to CPS last session and those changes barely even got to bleep be Implemented before kind of had a little bomb go off and we had some really terrible things happening But I think what you know, we're looking at is you know the the biggest CPS has a turnover the majority of the if I have it right the majority of the employees turnover every six months It's something incredible some number and that costs that much more money And then there are very few people with experience So you end up with these poor kids straight out of school with no experience and no one telling them what to do and they go Into some pretty horrific environments and there's nobody to back them up and there's nobody to ask and they had all this paperwork and so What we're trying to do is fundamentally change the culture and create a mentoring system and create create an Environment where where those were those kids who's you know, they're all heart right? They're out there trying to protect our most vulnerable where they feel Safe and they feel like they have someone to ask and they're not overloaded and they're not getting things dropped on them all over The place and there has been a little bit of a punitive environment That's been cited in CPS is the number one reason for the turnover and so we're just working on how do you change that? Fundamental culture Because I think in some instances, you know you're penalized if you don't get your paperwork in quickly But you may not be able to actually go visit the family and you had some situations where you had court hearings and The CPS worker had left and no one who had ever met the child was in the Hearing and the child was actually the hearings happening in Austin and the child's actually in El Paso for some reason And so you just this crazy system So I'm hoping that and we've heard we had a really actually one of the best hearings I've ever seen the legislature with great ideas a couple weeks ago And I think we're trying to integrate all of that and see how do we how do we create that bond to help our kids? Well, I think I'm one of the two members of the legislature that practices CPS I'm half by time is spent being an ad litem for children. I'm appointed on court cases in Harris County Let me let me just back up a little bit Your point is actually a really good point is that why do we keep working on the stuff and it never seems to get fixed well, it's because we might do a Like a GR bump for CPS or DFPS give them a little extra money to play with and then it's great If the state doesn't grow at all Nobody new comes in. We don't have any more children. That's fantastic but the problem is the state is growing at a continuous two to three percent every single year and That amount of money the next cycle. Well, we say well, we gave you a lot of extra money last time You don't need anymore and let's just keep you where you are and then when times get a little lean We said well, we need you to cut five percent and then when times get a little better Well, you survived in five percent. This is five percent less. Let's just keep it there and Then the next lean time comes as well We need you to take another five percent off and then oh you survive with it with 10% gone go ahead and just keep operating out of that and So that's how we get Texas with a CPS system that is funded basically. I think like like 47th lowest in the nation or something like that. It's something ridiculously low and We have one of the largest and fastest growing populations in the entire nation We're gonna put in a whole lot more money into CPS. It's going to go to hire more case workers because the last time We hired new case worker or more like a large batch case workers was like such a long time ago that state wasn't a different size population We're gonna give those pay case workers more money because they've never had a pay raise in like, I don't know guy knows how long We pay people $30,000 a year guess what simple economics if you pay $30,000 a year You will get $30,000 of value out of that worker Because people who are willing to wait for $30,000 a year will do that job and the people who do a good job Will say you know what the school district starting my salary at $40,000 a year up to the $10,000 bump right now I'm gonna go over there Here are some of the fundamental things we that I think as a legislature We need to do and this is this is one of my big things One is we need to stop guessing CPS because every time we second-guess them They stopped Doing what's right for the children and they start doing what they think we want them to do Which is not always what's good for kids. So you know every CPS lives in a culture of fear they live in a culture of CYA Because their only concern is is am I called into a committee hearing to answer for something Is my boss going to get called into a committee hearing to answer for something if I could legislate some way of The Texas legislature will leave CPS alone and let them make decisions. I would do that if I could Second thing is we have to keep CPS funded according to the size of the population if the population grows It has to grow with it Some of the big things that we're doing I think Wilma changes is one the regionalization plan is CPS calls it redesign It's been going slowly. We've redesigned. I think Seven regions a couple have failed a couple have been successful a couple have been successful, but they need more money and We're going to try to push more money into them to do this redesign faster The other states have done this model. It's worked very well Another big thing that we're going to work on is it's going to be as HB for kinship care We're going to push more money into a system that promotes Relatives to have their to take their children a lot of people in a state would love to take the kids Especially our grandparents who are in fixed income saying we would love to help out and take this kid But we only make like three four hundred dollars a month So we're going to try to find a way to get them more money to take these kids right now We only give them one 1000 payment $1,000 payment a year and that's it and The next year they get 500 bucks to take care of one kid so things like that we're going to try to we're working with Commissioner Whitman to say like let's remove this culture of fear. Let's do better training. Let's do better supervision Let's make sure that case workers get the support they need And they don't spend like their entire day doing paperwork talking about the case worker who's in court I see this all the time. I mean you have case workers In court their task of going finding another kid within the 20 24 hour mark But they're sitting in court and they can't leave and they're just like slowly tearing their hair out because like My my 24 hours is ticking down to find this kid, but I cannot leave or the judge will throw me in jail What do I do? And so we're going to hire more investigators to say like look you're gonna go look for these kids instead of the people Sitting in court room. We're gonna hire ex law enforcement law enforcement officers to come in and work with them And these you know when I was in DA's office Like I would spend like a day looking for somebody and I would I said like screw it I'm gonna hand it over to my investigator. I admit defeat and he comes back like 20 minutes. Oh, yeah I got him and I already talked him on the phone So that's the kind of thing that let's be smarter about it But the real big thing is still gonna be funding and I hope we put give them enough money to hire the Hire the number of workers they need to give them the salary increases that they need to keep people there And the the statistic is They're at the average case worker leaves after two years So we spent seventy five thousand dollars training them and they're gone in two years. I Don't want to cut y'all off if you have something very important that you would like to say But we are getting close to running out of time and I wanted to go to the audience unless you had a point You want sorry to the ball no Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah Anybody have some questions here's one in the front row So my question is that 38 states have electronic voter registration It's time for this state to do so there is yet another bill asking for it to happen And I want to know how you're gonna vote And if you're against it why Well, I know that bill is filed by representative Israel I support or audit and We've made the same arguments in before is the fear is that if you have electronic registration then a whole bunch of Democrats are gonna register No, I mean I'm serious completely serious about that The statistics that bear out in other states. I've done it in the 38 other states. I've done it shows that it's There is an increase in voters But it's proportional of both part of both parties are increased by the same number same percentage of voters Really what it does is all it really does electronic registration is people who need to re-register Just have an easier time of doing it. That's about it. And so I've supported in the past I'll support in the future That's a few study that they bring out Every time you know in Utah the percentage of Republicans that there are in Utah is the percentage of Republicans that are percentage of people that are using the online registration I'm the same. I'm for it Well, I'm not gonna go on record here tonight Yeah, you know, that's one of those issues, you know all members are thoughtful I haven't really looked at this issue. I haven't heard a lot about it, but I can tell you should should the bill Start, you know creating some getting some legs and moving that I certainly will be vesting with my county election administrators As well as our folks back home and see what their their sense is on it. I agree with that Next Thank you, my name is Haseeb Abdullam I'm a resident here in Austin The question I have is wouldn't it be a much more sincere attempt instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the border bringing up the border industrial complex or Polarizing the state even more with the sanctuary city Bills wouldn't more sincere and transparent attempt be just to do a e-verify System a stronger one where you wouldn't have a situation you'd go after employers who you know treat many of our fellow people who aren't Undocumented like modern-day slaves and it would probably get rid of the whole situation with the whole border and sanctuary cities. Thank you Sure. I mean, I'm a big fan of e-verify There's a bill filed in the Senate, you know that the Senate and the House bills are Similar but different, you know, so so we all may know different things about our bills But yes, I mean I you know, I think of a first good step is requiring it for everybody with a state contract in your schools Things like that But that is clearly one of the things we're looking at and I agree with that But I don't think the tour mutual exclusive. I think we've also got to maintain Until the federal government basically does their responsibility in terms of shoring up our borders Unfortunately, the state of Texas has been left to do what we can to try to stymie the flow across our border And so I will also continue to support Investing our money along the border Because I think it I think it is I think it promotes good sound policy and I think it also protects our citizens And I think we should be spending our resources on things that are not the responsibility of the federal government Lord knows we have needs here when it comes to education when it comes to CPS when it comes to all sorts of things that I Would like us to focus our resources there as opposed to doing the job of the federal government to control our borders. I Mean what why don't we do it because it's not a prime Republican primary hot button issue? I mean you want to be honest about it Because because e-verify is not a demonstrable you put money on the border you spend money. Oh, we put 800 million dollars on the border That's a demonstrable. You can go home and campaign on that. I Mean, that's I mean this is it's politics. Come on Yeah, so you're gonna you're gonna sign on to that e-verify bill. You know why you verify doesn't go through Because Republican donors who are like large corporations and businesses don't want it to That might be an over-broad statement Well, it's just to follow up real quickly And not to make it be to be very serious about this Are you expecting that the federal government with a new president will end up doing more on the border? Absolutely. I sure it sure sounds that way. You know, there's been a lot of discussion Within the legislature about the timing of that when are we gonna see some help and You know, I hope I'm wrong But my guess is we're probably gonna have to continue to To stand strong in Texas through this current session in terms of investing in our border security And then hopefully over the next 18 months post session The federal government will relieve us of some of that responsibility. I agree with that I mean, I mean Trump's cabinet is is just in the process of being confirmed, right? So they're not gonna be up and running before may secure it, you know, having our border completely secured So it's it's all about passing the baton smoothly getting Congress to helping fund right right And and but what a beautiful thing to say, you know what there's gonna be a point in our foreseeable future We don't have to spend 800 million dollars on the border because we actually have a president whose policies Have an interest in not being a safe Okay next question Everybody be nice, please Respectful to follow up on the To follow up on the question about voter registration, how much money could the state save if we did electronic voting? I mean electronic voter registration. It wouldn't be the state would be the counties and it probably be a lot It's unknown. I mean, there's no way there's no way to calculate that because a lot of times you you still have to keep those polling locations open while maintaining the the you know, the online voting Not voting registration Yeah, registration. I mean same thing. I mean, there's there's still people who to send in cards They can written cards and the people who do it online and the places that have done it on Have opened up online access the people who do it online will do it online people who send in cards We'll still send in cards. Well, the reason I ask is it I know that there are people who go to DPS and when they registered for the first time is Texans and they are asked if they want to register to vote and Typically those go in the circular file. They don't always make it to the voter registrars in the counties the online registration where it actually really saves money is The reduction in number because you have to have staff there who read the I mean the handwritten cards And those sit there like, you know, two or three people will sit there going is that a or e? You know to try to figure out what somebody wrote and it'll cut down a lot of that The left to start My name is Stacy and I want to know where you stand on the bathroom bill And if it does pass, are you worried about repercussions that North Carolina has experience because of that? I'll start This bill is personal to me. This issue is personal to me My son I have a 11 year old son and his best friend's oldest sibling is transgender and I once sat with his mother In my school playground With this mother Telling me that her transgender child had just come out and asking me if it would still be okay If the whole family came to my son's birthday party that weekend Families are struggling with just trying to keep their children safe And it is absolutely wrong that we would use this as a way to score political points with the Republican base That's all it is I just wish that anyone who is going to grandstand on this issue would first take the time to sit down with the family that is Does not ask for this Is struggling just to just to keep their family healthy and safe to sit down with the family? And here with their experiences. I Don't think the bills can come out of the Senate I mean, I'm not sure who I think it's going to create a lot of political heat Business community hates it I mean business community is a large Republican donor Me here's the thing. I mean, I've talked to some senators Offline, you know, we're just having drinks and stuff and they even the ones who are publicly supporting it You ask them in private. They're like Can't believe it. We're they're making us do this, you know I mean, they can't publicly go against the go against the the then governor, but I don't think he's got votes I really really don't nobody is this is like this is a this is what we call an unforced error if we do it Senate needs 19 people to bring it up for a vote. I think the last time I looked and it could have changed there were 14 or 15 co-sponsors on the bill. So is the math wrong at the moment? I'm not sure about that. You know not being the sponsor of the bill I'm not not entirely but but to your point on the the North Carolina that the bill in the Senate Only affects public schools and public buildings. It does not affect private businesses I I would just say that Kind of what happened that spurred this and kind of the reason that there is a little bit of a call for the bill is that You know when Obama said if you identify If not if you're transgender you can use any restroom you want But if you say you identify if I say today I identify with being a male I can walk in to any man's bathroom anywhere It's different than having a diagnosis of being transgender and it creates some havoc In our schools if you were to have say a 16 year old boy who just Not being transgender, but just said today. I want to shower with the girls. I identify with being a woman and going in It's it is a possibility off of what it's done. So just say Please And you know and I know this is a tough issue and but the great thing is and and I think some things that sometimes folks miss is that I know in the Senate at least the vast majority of the bills come out unanimous. So we agree The vast majority of the time and so I know sometimes we're just gonna have different opinions on things But I think it is good that we can sit up and and you know disagree and have a have a discussion about it And I just want to say that I've had this argument with many many other senators and other other people who support this is like I think there is a perception that there is a belief that somehow because our bill is slightly different from the North Carolina Bill that it's different Well, I just want to make sure it's very clear the public perception of this from around the nation and in the rest of State it's that it's the same thing. It doesn't matter of it Well, it only affects these people but not these people. It's the same thing the the Corporate community the car companies that have said we will not do business in a state that passes these laws Don't care what the bill is drafted as and this is and you know, I had argument with senator Ben Accord about this is it well, the the political fact says there's a seven billion dollar eight billion dollar loss Is wrong well screw it. Let's say let's say it's a billion dollars. Is it a billion dollar loss to the state? worth this To solve a problem that doesn't exist so And I'll say that equality Texas says it is this that it is the North Carolina bill I haven't compared the two, but I know that is the position of equality Texas that is working on this issue You All right, we have we have time for one more question. Sorry. I'm a physician. I think in terms of diagnosis. I apologize First of all, I'm amazed representative who would thank you. I never knew that people drank in the legislature Don't look inside those coffee cups I Wonder if each of you could name some change in maybe state taxation policy or other policy That you think would help us deal with Growth paying more for itself So that we're not always as you pointed out mr.. Rue always lagging behind and trying to catch up with this This huge population growth that we're facing and all the things that come along with that Good question. Well, this is probably end of my political career, but No, if you read economic if you study The economy and how taxation occurs Like property taxes have an inverse inverse relationship with the economic growth because property taxes lag behind The actual economy sales taxes are directly proportional. And so you have you know one is a Kind of like sign or cosine wave. Anyways, sorry, it's been a while since I've taken calculus Every the economist would say like if you want your system government to be balanced and to not be directly buffeted by Economic recession or depression or whatever it is you have a theory like it's stool You have a combination of property taxes sale taxes any income taxes. I know that's very unpopular But if you if we if the state continues to rely on property taxes Then and and sales taxes alone Then you will get hit with large property taxes. That is simply the truth The property taxes go to the county mostly they go to your school districts and they go to your county the county Your county commissioners cannot shirk their responsibility. They cannot say we didn't get enough money We're just gonna close the hospital You know the what they're gonna say they're gonna say we're gonna raise our property taxes Or they're gonna cut some other service like police or like the sheriffs or something else They don't have a choice the legislature is nicely insulated from that and that's what I've always said that we are Easily able to kick the ball to someone else because we don't get held responsible when the county gets screwed And I'm one of those people that I've always said like let's not give any more unfunded mandates to the counties But at the same time every time the state does not properly fund public education Your local schools districts have to step up and increase their property taxes to make up the shortfall Because they don't have the luxury saying well, we're not gonna educate the kids this week So I I don't have a good answer that but I have a story and it's a story that I share with It's a story. I share with a lot of freshmen Because it was very valuable lesson. I learned when I first came in I filed a bill that would have added laptop computers and some other electronics that kids use in K through 12 getting an education to the back-to-school tax-free weekend and Well, there were a lot of people love that bill by the way but I'll never forget when I Was walking around the bill to get authors. I took it to one of the one of The most respected members at the time who was on appropriations committee a very powerful member And I asked him to be a joint author on the bill, and I'll never forget This is a good lesson for legislators is he said Trent. He said, are you on the appropriations committee? I said yes He said I'm not teach you anything We just started a month ago. I said what he said, what's the fiscal note on this bill? Well, it's about a hundred million dollars And to his point he said so you're telling me that you're willing to do this But where do you where are you gonna make up for that revenue? You're giving away a hundred million dollars that we're using right now probably to fund our public schools and it was a very powerful lesson to me that anytime that we talk about You know reducing tax rates or reducing taxes or whatever the case may be there is a cost to what we call cost to the bill or cost to the budget and Sometimes so like last session I was very proud to support those tax cuts because at the time our fiscal revenue was off the charts primarily due to the energy sector and Now this session, of course, it's a completely different scenario. So The timing of a question is very salient in my mind because I don't have the answer to it But it's one that I hope all of our You know all of my colleagues will think through because this is gonna be a tough session in terms of Passing a budget that ultimately a budget reflects the values of Texas our state budget and it's one I hope that we can all be proud of but the the revenue picture that you're alluding to is Is is one that's very complicated and I wish I had an answer, but it's To be determined Well, and I think Representative Lou brings up a very valid point, you know We pass along unfunded mandates to our communities in our schools And so we have a bill that you may want to pick up in the house that comes over but and you know That basically says if the legislature Passes a bill and then doesn't fund what it takes to comply with that Then that law is null and void because I think we ought to put our money where our mouth is and fund But we need what we pass and not pass down those unfunded mandates to our schools and communities And I'll just say what Well, if I may answer The question and it's along the lines of what Jean just said and that's that We need to be investing in our schools from our general revenue because as we as the state Decreases its contribution to education from general revenue We rely more and more on the property on people's property taxes and we all feel the pain And it's it I don't know how we're going to keep sustaining that here in Austin frankly at where we're at So I do think I always being on the school board I don't know if Don if you've had the same experience I was always so envious of our colleagues on the city council who they had automatic Cost-deliving adjustments and we don't get those in education. We just got to keep making do with not enough that Amount never goes up doesn't seem to ever go up. It's always dependent on the number of students and so and a broken formula So I think that if we start with Investing more from general revenue back to where we used to be just a few years ago into education That would give us property tax relief and help with the problem. You just identified And again, we could stay up here forever, but we're not Please thank our guests tonight