 Good evening everyone. I'd like to welcome everyone here to the LBJ Library and to what's going to be a very exciting Discussion tonight. I'm David Smith With the LBJ future forum board of directors. I want to introduce a few people before you get going I want to introduce first Catherine Robb Who was the founder and board member emeritus of the future forum? I also want to Recognize Aaron Weiss who's one of our board members Ryan Collier one of our board members who's at the front desk and Erica Greeter Should be a text monthly should be with us shortly. She's another board member, and I'll especially want to say thanks to Carsey Mitzner who Not only did a lot of yeoman's work in putting this very exciting panel together But she also throws one of the greatest by Monthly happy hours That anyone has ever been to that's our membership happy hours that we have every other month I'd also like to welcome Our partners in this event the Texas Tribune a great publication which Me and my firm have been sponsoring for a while and love The fact that y'all exist or intent and in town I also want to welcome the folks from Austin Young Lawyers Association, which a long time ago when I was much younger I was once a member of the Austin Young Lawyer. So it's great to have you guys here as well as capital staff Since a lot of there's a lot of new faces a lot of new people here. I want to talk a little bit about the future forum In my mind, this is one of the the greatest things in Austin from a public policy discussion group that is open to young people From all walks from all professions in a great resource Here that I always think of as one of Austin's Crown jewels the LBJ library This is such an incredible resource. I have a presidential library here in our city and especially with the recent remodel and New exhibition space for those of y'all who have not been through the library at all or not been through Since the remodel I would encourage you to do it it's an amazing amazing place amazing resource and Y'all be missing out particularly as we celebrated the Civil Rights Act passage last year and we celebrating the voting rights anniversary this year for those of you guys who missed the 60s exhibit that just came through It's my understanding that they're going to have a upcoming exhibit on the Beatles, which should be Very very cool For those of you who aren't members of the future forum. I want to encourage you to stay after Visit with any of the board members any other members get a feel for what this is all about To me, this is one of the best deals in town. It's a great organization We do a lot of social things, but we also have some very meaningful public policy discussions in the I think spirit of LBJ who said come let us reason together And really discuss ideas some of which we can agree on some of which we may have some different opinions on but one thing is we all Really put a lot of thought into it and approach it in a thoughtful and meaningful way together So after my shameless plug for the future forum, I want to introduce tonight's panel. We have a Five very esteemed people with us to talk about the future of Texas We have Two male Representatives to female representatives to Republicans to Democrats from all different parts of the state Some great viewpoints. I'm this is one of the things that we do every other year as a prelude to the The legislative session is one of my favorite things that we do because I in my mind we get a preview of what's coming and Always always good for some live of discussion. We're very very lucky to have tonight's panel Moderated by Emily Ramshaa Emily's editor of the Texas Tribune under her leadership the tribune has won three national Edward R. Murrow awards Ires Garnett award for innovation watchdog journalism and a general accident excellence award from the online news association Before coming aboard is one of the tribunes original reporters ramshaw spent six years of the Dallas Morning News One of my two hometown newspapers as a youth which will date me a little bit Where she broke national stories about sexual abuse inside Texas youth lockups reported from inside of West Texas polygamous compound uncovered fight clubs inside state institutions for the disabled and Investigated a series of deadly transplants where patients received rabies tainted organs She is a great journalist and also a terrific moderator Emily I'm going to hand it over to you to introduce our panelists. Thank you again for doing this Happy to be here. Well, I don't throw parties as well as Carsey, but I'm gonna do my best up here So I have a two-pronged welcome here first. I just want to say welcome back to these four members of the Texas house We have here with us They're back for the five-month three-ring circus that is the Texas Legislative session and those of us in the media are incredibly happy to have them home And I also just wanted to say welcome to all of you who are engaged enough and interested enough to spend Your evening with us these folks make for great entertainment and I hope we can provide a little of that for you this evening So I'm gonna do some quick introductions before we launch into the discussion on my immediate right is a state representative Ponto Navarra's He's a Democrat representing Eagle Pass his hometown in the house He's an attorney like many of you apparently in the audience and he was previously a trustee on the local school board He was the first in his family to graduate from college UT Austin and earned his law degree at st. Mary's University in San Antonio Donna Howard your local hometown girl here is an Austin native and a Democrat She is not an attorney unlike the rest of these panelists up here She is I got her nursing and health education degrees from UT Austin and worked as a critical care nurse at Breckenridge and Seton hospitals She's also been president of the Texas Nurses Association and she is the longest serving legislator of this esteemed group up here State representative Matt Krause is a Republican representing Fort Worth He's a fourth generation Texan who attended law school at Liberty University. I believe he was a college basketball player as well He is an attorney for the Liberty Council a conservative firm and is the executive director of the torch of freedom foundation Which approaches public policy from a Christian worldview and then finally and last but not least on the end there a state representative Sarah Davis She's a Republican representing the Houston neighborhood of West University place She too is an attorney as she defends clients against personal injury suits And she's a Baylor graduate who got her law degree from the University of Houston So that is our wonderful group here So I want to just kick off our discussion our dialogue this evening by doing a quick lightning round of each of you Sharing what the single most important priority is for you this legislative session not broad thematic Let's be specific the piece of legislation the bill the issue that you is a must pass piece of legislation for you This session so we'll start with you since you're in the hot seat on my immediate right here. I think Transportation and more money. It's that simple easy quick answer. Good lightning Ladies and gentlemen, he is a politician I it's kind of a broad issue, but it's the budget in terms of Transparency and talking about real numbers and what's really going on in the budget so that we can actually have an honest debate About how we want to prioritize our spending or not but the fact is that we do have numbers that are all over the place and my intention is to work to make sure that we have at least some common frame of understanding here so that we can actually have the debate about what our priorities are and I do have a couple of pieces of legislation that will attach to that in terms of more frequent Revenue estimates as well as some long-range budgeting that we don't currently have in place Well, there's a lot of issues that are important But one that I'll be very disappointed if we don't get across the finish line this session is house bill 815 It's the online solicitation of minors bill and about a couple of months ago would judge throughout the The statutory language because it was unconstitutionally overbroad and so right now We don't really have a mechanism for those who are preying on innocent children online to be put away and given the full full punishment that they deserve so we've tailored the language we've worked with a lot of law enforcement and Judicial agencies and so hopefully we'll get that so the online solicitation of minors bill will be more intact and firm So we can start putting these people away That sounds like a really great bill and Emily I'd like to say that I officially endorse your new haircut. I think it's it's lovely What are the pieces of legislation that we're working on is to create a designation of a center center of excellence for fetal care in the Texas Medical Center? There's a there's so many things that can be done now Before birth that would create so much better outcomes in terms of the life of mom and baby and also with the potential to save tax dollars Specifically things like spina bifida that can be corrected Before birth so that's something that we've been working on since I represent the Medical Center But we always try and focus At least one piece of legislation every session on something that helps improve the lives of women and children Well, let's talk for a moment about then the leadership And what it's going to take to get those types of measures passed Obviously, we just watched a speaker's race or lack thereof in the Texas house Significant because it was the first time you know in incredibly long time that we'd had an actual vote on the house floor you know what type of mandate does Joe Strauss have coming in and What does the actual reality of the speaker's race mean for the dynamics of the house? Yeah, I think it's obvious that the vote reflected a lot of confidence in the speaker And I think that comes from it stems from the speaker's ability to bring different people together on different issues And when I said, you know, I said transportation more money and I was being somewhat facetious But I think when you look at some of the issues that we really really read me and believe me Donna's bill And I think she you did something like that last session, right where we're trying to get that it It goes to the heart of that because a lot of what happens, you know, we just had an estimate that was Issued by our new comptroller Glenn Hager was a couple of weeks back And then shortly thereafter we set a ceiling and I believe it was 11% Am I right and that that number a lot of people didn't follow what happened with the legislative budget board and setting that But that's very important because it's gonna dictate, you know, how much money we can spend and so all these campaign promises about, you know I'm conservative and you know, I'm ultra conservative and I'm more conservative than you, you know now that that number and And I I don't mean to make light of that but what it does is it puts us in a bind and it puts us in the bind where you know needs now become wants and You know when I when we talk when I say transportation, I say well, you know, that's that's a real need I live in a part of the the state You know, I represent the largest house district in the United States 45,000 square miles and I live in a part of the state where we're producing a maximum amount of the revenue That's coming in the coffers, but we don't see that coming back in terms of infrastructure. So These are the issues. I mean and these are the grown-up issues if you will Representative Krauss if you were one of the 19 house members who voted against Joe Strauss What was your rationale and what does this mean for your opportunities to get things accomplished? Are you worried about your committee assignments? Yeah. Well, first of all First of all, I just want to say I endorse poncho's new haircut. I think it was stunning I'm gonna say that this was done out of necessity But you know I did I voted for Scott Turner if we had another vote again tomorrow I'd vote for Scott Turner again. He's one of the most impressive guys I've ever met and he's got unique abilities and Characteristics, he's got leadership qualities that more than anybody else. I've seen he's not just a leader He's a leader of leaders So when I looked at who would best lead us into this session who could get us through the trials and tribulations in the next 140 days, I genuinely thought that Scott Turner would be the best person in the whole 150 member house to lead us there So I was honored to vote for him. I'd do it again in a heartbeat But Joe Strauss is a speaker. We had a conversation today about committee assignments He was very gracious as we sat there and talked and you know I'm gonna take him at his word and a lot of those who got up for and advocated for speaker Strauss the other day said You know, he's not retaliatory. He doesn't deal in retribution. He wants you to work and be able to get maximum effect for your Constituents in your house district. So I told him what I thought that would be for this session We'll see how that ends up, but I don't think it needs to impact it It could but regardless of where we are we're gonna work hard and make sure the citizens of district 93 are well-represented. I Was gonna say that, you know, I've heard This kind of statement from others like Matt about the leadership skills and regardless of What leadership skills that Scott Turner may or may not have or our opinions about that what I didn't hear was How that contrasted to Joe Strauss in terms of Strauss's leadership skills I don't I didn't hear anybody say that he did not have those himself So, I mean, I think part of the issue here too is is looking for a reason to have somebody else without in my opinion I never saw a clear-cut distinction about why there was a reason to Vote Joe Strauss out and someone else in Joe Strauss has demonstrated leadership skills Joe Strauss has been a leader a speaker who has allowed us all whether we're Democrats or Republicans to work on our legislation and Encouraged us to work it on the floor and get our bills through so I just I find that an interesting statement Just because I didn't see really what the the differentiation was was that was being made. Yeah Representative Davis are the Republicans in the house divided how divided are they? You know, there's always going to be divisions. There's divisions within the Democrat caucus I mean, they had a very I so I've heard a very heated Election recently for the chair and vice-chair of the caucus So I don't I'm not comfortable with just the this perception that only the Republican Caucus is divided we've always had all different types of Republicans and of course there are you know a handful and I would I would sort of just classify them as those that Voted against the speaker isn't is in a group, you know To themselves in some ways, but there's nothing that prevents us from working with each other We all know that we are not washing We don't want to get to that level where we don't have dinner with each other or we don't when we see each other You know shake hands or have a hug or even get a picture taken, you know We just interact with each other very differently So I there's gonna be fighting and been within both caucuses, but I really don't see it as I think I Think maybe the media may make more out of it than we actually feel and I think that that speakers vote When you know, I keep reading and I keep hearing it was the first speakers vote in however many years Which the way that sounds it was almost like it was a negative towards speaker Strauss But I got to tell you as a Republican supporter of Joe Strauss, I mean we were fighting each other Trying to be able to get our name on that list requesting a record vote for Joe Strauss Because we wanted to show that Joe Strauss is elected by Republicans You there's a lot of criticism that he was elected by Democrats So we wanted Republicans we wanted that vote we wanted a record vote So we could show the strength and within the conservative within the Republican caucus that he had We didn't Joe Spears Strauss would not have needed a single Democrat vote to remain in that leadership Which I have to interject and say I find a very interesting thing that people are talking about Certainly Joe Strauss was elected with Democratic support when he first came in and how in the world is it against the leadership of a Bipartisan House to not think it's okay to have support from both Democrats and Republicans in that house But somehow it did get the narrative was such that it was important to recognize that Joe Strauss could be elected With just Republicans, which it turns out to be the case But I would like to think that that there's still a place to say that it's important and good that he also had the support of The minority party of the House, I think and I would never presume to speak for him But I completely agree with you. Yeah, and if I could interject. I know Representative Turner, I don't know if he called y'all or reached out to you But Scott Turner also, you know Wanting to reach out with the Democrats underscoring your point that it's not just a partisan thing It's a house thing and I appreciate what representative Davis said last thing we want to do is mirror DC and the gridlock and the partisanship I think the representative Navarra's and I are on the opposite ends of a lot of issues But we get along really well and we can talk about issues We used to get along really well No, but it's good and I think that's one of the healthy things of Texas and what's gonna make our future brighter as we go Forward on all these issues. I'm sorry. I was gonna say is you know you after a while You know Matt and I have the relationship that we have because one is He's just an easy person to talk to you about things whether he agrees with you or not And I think that's a good thing when you have when you're less and they're more that you're able to approach different people and say You know what? This is the way I see this and believe me. I think for instance the bill that That Matt's talking about right now, you know, maybe some of the more Libertarian portions of the Tea Party might not like that. They may not like more, you know a more is not good We want less and but it's a very important bill because it protects children And so that's an issue where somebody like Matt could come to somebody like me and say hey You know, what do you think and it crosses these party lines? We get along different ways And we're like that cartoon, you know the Bernard and the Coyote they fight all day And then at the end of the day they go home, you know, then you punch in again you do that This is a nice little kumbaya moment I would you know in the media we generally fight over who has to cover the Senate because everybody wants to cover the house Because it's where all the drama is this session. We're fighting over who gets to cover the Senate So I'd like to move across the hall for a moment and just talk a little bit about you know with Dan Patrick Obviously a Tea Party favorite who ran to the right of the incumbent David Dewhurst Taking the helm. What do you expect the interaction between the House and the Senate to look like what kind of relationship? Do you expect Patrick will have with leadership in the House? What are you expecting it's gonna be like trying to pass legislation through the Senate this session? I was dismayed listening to the Lieutenant-Governor speech on almost a Tuesday and Dismayed by this is that look the campaign's over and to keep serving up read me when you're getting inaugurated I mean, what's the point? And so if that's a sample of how things are gonna be and I'm an optimist I'd like to think that somehow we're gonna find common ground and as a hot as the house is gonna be a little more grown Up and and no disrespect to the Senate because I think they do a fantastic job But I I was dismayed at seeing that approach when Look, we there's a lot of there's a lot of ways where we're gonna fracture apart And you know, we're not gonna get along and it's gonna get brutal But to start off like I said serving that up on the first day It just it seems odd and I I didn't I didn't appreciate it. I Think we all think there's gonna be some challenges with the house being the grown-ups for a change and and having to Block legislation so to speak But I also think it's interesting that it's a lot of the new members in the Senate are former house members and We all have relationships with them and I'm not sure how that's going to affect the process But I think it will affect the process to a certain extent. The other thing is I'm not sure if Now lieutenant governor Patrick is planning to run for something else. I know I read about possibilities And so he may have a certain agenda or platform that he's going to want to establish for that But it's you know, that's what we've been working with for the past couple of sessions with the Senate already is And the governor is having people in those positions who were running for other office and Laying a foundation and a platform for that run that was impacting what we were able to do I believe in the legislature and so I think there's a lot of things besides just the Ideology that are at play here that are going to be interesting to watch how it turns out Yeah, and and I was a supporter of lieutenant governor Patrick from the beginning I think he's gonna do a great job. I have a little different take than Representative Navarra's there were a lot of things the red meat as he called it, but I don't think that was campaigning I think that's just to the lieutenant governor is I think you saw that all the way through the campaign because that's really what he believed I think you heard it on the inauguration day because he really felt like it wasn't just some some Sop that he was given to the conservative activists to get elected. That's what he really believes is gonna move Texas forward being the best interest of Texas so when we're that's something poncho and I are probably gonna disagree on for the next 135 days, but We'll work through that but at the end of the day I think everybody wants to make sure that Texas is as strong and as robust as possible to continue to lead the nation in so many ways And if you listen to lieutenant governor Patrick and speaker Strauss, they said they have a good relationship So I take them at their word and I think they'll work together where we need to move and back and Those things I think we're gonna do it and I think it'll be successful Representative Davis is there gonna be a lot of gamesmanship with the house trying to you know block certain types of legislation What's your early strategy? Well, yeah, I just think it's important for everyone to start out being nice and start out. How long did that last? Day six. Yeah day exactly exactly. Well, let's actually you know, we're gonna I guess it's really gonna With a budget I think is really gonna probably Determine early some feelings that we have between the two chambers, but I'm really optimistic I mean the truth is the Senate needs the house to pass what they want and vice versa And we've always worked with each other and we always will and I know some people may not have liked senator I'm sorry lieutenant governor Patrick's inaugural address, but he was very consistent He's he has said those things over and over in campaign and won statewide for the lieutenant governor of the state of Texas So that's a message that he believes that he's been and explained and that voters support And that's what we are each here to do whether you're in a statewide office or a house district is to represent That you are constituents and so the issues that are important to lieutenant governor Patrick are clearly issues that he believes are important to Texans. There's otherwise he would not enjoy That office. Well, that's a good segue. Let's talk about some of those issues I'm curious to get an over under from you all on where we're gonna end up on some of those key issues Let's start with bills calling for the open or unconcealed carrying of handguns in Texas Obviously even in the early days the first day of the legislature We had 3d printers that were using gun cartridges on the grounds of the Capitol This was a big issue. I know for you representative Navarra's. I've got a great relationship with us. Yeah, right Exactly What is the experience been like so far and where do you expect this legislation is gonna end up, you know I'll tell you this is that I'm a gun owner I have a lot of guns and so I you know, obviously they don't do their homework when they walk into different offices And so it wasn't so much what happened that day and I will tell you this It's what happened after and where I think it impacts the legislation going forward and that's the amount of vile and hate that This group and their supporters and the people that you know, check them on social media that was aimed at me the threats You know a lot of the racial stuff that my parents my guests And it hurt, you know and to have to be quiet about that to a certain extent, you know All I can do now aren't all anybody can do with a bill like this is look at and I can tell you that if Anybody had a doubt about Anybody without any restriction without any compunction carrying a firearm after what they saw that day and what they can see after that You better think twice about that and you know, unfortunately, they come from and I know it's not constituents directly that are representative crosses, but they come from his county and I I Just I can't imagine living in a county or in a place where these people run around and think that they can tell the cow How to eat the cabbage and that's you know, there's a way I tell my kids and I said this on TV I said there's a way to ask for stuff and to talk about it there's a way to ask for somebody to support your bill or to talk about their bill just like there's a way to ask for the Last piece of pizza and that's not it, you know, that's not the way to do it and I'm It's unfortunate that they chose to do that because I was more than content to sit down and listen But if somebody wants to carry a firearm that badly, then there's something wrong with that Like that Yeah, absolutely Well, first of all and representative ours and I talked about afterwards that I think he handled himself very well that day In the video I think he tried to play it off at first and then he got a little more escalated and then he took a more substantive tone So that I don't think that that's ever called for and we and we've said in our county We've said hey the message sometimes gets lost in the way the message is given and so you could have a great message But if it's so blurred by the way that you're delivering the message, it does you know good So I think when governor Abbott called for open carry in one of his first press conferences as governor elect I think that showed that there's a lot of momentum for that legislation. I think we'll definitely see it on the house floor I think it would be I Doubt it would not pass if it gets to the house floor and I think it will probably pass in the Senate I think we'll have some version of open carry by the time we sign he died But I also had a couple members come to me on the floor and said hey I was a lot more amenable to voting for open carry until all of that happened on Swearing in day, so there's gonna be a little bit of that tug-and-pull there But at the end of the day, I think there will be open carry of some sort. I think just real quickly. I think Matt's correct represent across is correct The there's several bills that are filed by the way this and the bill that this group was advocating for is one by another Representative that in my opinion is no holes barred Open carry. That's what that's the way. I would couch it and I don't think we're gonna see that bill on the floor and Believe me, I'll make it my mission And do everything I can so that that bill does not come to the floor I'm just one guy in the legislature, but I have a I have a Abiding faith that that bill will not come to the floor a bill will come to the floor, but not that one Representative Davis, what's gonna pass? Oh? well everything that I file Open carry, I think yeah, I think it passes There's Texas is one of like a very small number of states that don't have don't allow for open carry and We can talk about state laws Registries or you know, whatever things that that I guess folks that want to restrict Second Amendment rights want We have there are federal laws when you have to pass background checks I mean so there is federal regulation in place now if you're gonna purchase a gun I think I think if it makes it to the floor it absolutely passes the House and Senate And I agree though that the way if you want to be an advocate on an issue You should probably be well informed and polite I mean not always up when I wins with me. I tend to listen to people who are calm and not yelling at me I mean, I think that's probably true for most people. I'm not I don't think I'm out by myself yelling at you with a gun So I really think that that I think that how that was handled Undermined the credibility of the open carry a lot of the open carry movements because I mean I just don't think of people most people who support Second Amendment and open carry has Being that aggressive and that is scary But I think I think it definitely passes Let's switch to talking about another hot-button issue efforts to repeal in-state tuition for undocumented students Obviously, this is one that pits some of the state's leadership against each other This is something that governor Perry made a calling card It kind of came back to bite him on the presidential campaign trail, but he said he still supports it Dan Patrick I know would like efforts to repeal it. Where do you all think in-state tuition for undocumented students is going to end up? Well, I don't know where it's gonna end up, but Certainly it is gonna be one of the bigger issues. I think of the session You know the fact is that these are students who have been admitted They're not taking somebody else's place. They've been admitted But they and they have been attending public high school in our state They came here as minors with their parents regardless of how their parents came into our state They are by all intents and purposes parts of our community and and Part of the fabric of whom we are To say that they don't qualify for in-state tuition makes no sense Especially when we're talking about the demographics of the state and where the state is going and the fact that we know that the growing population of Latinas in our state is our future workforce and We need to make sure that folks have access to the kind of higher education that will Prepare them for not only the jobs of the present but the jobs of the future if we want our Economy to continue to be strong and move forward. So from a fiscal sense from just a common sense since I Don't understand the argument against it at all These are children who have been in our country as minors. They have been a part of our system They need to be educated to be productive citizens. They are You know going to be working for citizenship part of the problem there is this is all of the snafus We have right now in citizenship But be that as it may To me, it's a no-brainer that this should be something that we would be supporting I know that it will be though one of our big issues Crouse you want to jump in on this one when you come down on this, you know, I I thought Senator Bettencourt actually had a really insightful Point a couple of weeks ago on it on a trip live event He talked about the correlation between the Dream Act and tuition Deregulation and that we've made college so unaffordable in so many ways and and even where tuition regulation I mean tuition is so high that you're trying to look for ways anyway You can to get in so I think you know in some ways tuition deregulation may have hurt the ability for people to get into college and also think it's a Consequence of the national mood as well I think a lot of people are disenfranchised with the federal government not securing the border not doing the things It needs to do so it feeds it so when Governor Perry and everybody Passed that bill. I think it was pretty much overwhelming bipartisan almost unanimous The mood was different and so I think until you secure the border or that Texans feel like the border secure And we can do that. I think you're gonna see a lot of pushback on issues like this But you know it I like talking with representative Howard representative of ours because you know If you have put a lot of money and energy and resource into educating somebody for 12 years and then you get them there and say well, okay Tough luck. I think that's where we got to make sure and have the goal to be affordable college education So no matter if you have in-state whatever it is You still have access to get the education to make sure that you're on that path for prosperity for years to come You know Emily one of the things that representative Krauss was talking about in when he's talking about the mood What it does is and if you listen, it's an argument that says okay if I don't like the way things are going I'm gonna find a group to scapegoat and When you look at the way this bill is written for instance, my wife is not a US citizen But she's lived in this country legally for you know 13 plus years So the way this bill is written my wife who's been a legal resident of the state for 13 years cannot get in state tuition because she's not a US citizen, so It's people who write these bills. They don't understand anything one about immigration law They just say they think there's two classes of people in this country American citizens and everybody else and it doesn't work that way You know some of us are transitory as we come through the country And I you know, I got a big problem with somebody trying to scapegoat a group because they don't think things are going their way or you know another area of Policy is not To their liking it just it seems wrong Representative Davis, do you think this legislation will get to the house floor? Probably yes, I do and I think the lieutenant governor This is made he has made his support of repealing it very vocal and and I know a lot of ways a campaign promise that needs to be fulfilled Yeah, I yeah, I don't think that we should be creating Incentives for people to come to this country illegally any additional incentives that already exist But at the same time I of course we don't want to hold children responsible for the circumstances in which they're born or they are brought here So we could argue You know on both sides of what I want to know is if these children graduate from college Which what are the numbers of the dream kids? How many are actually graduating? So I think it's an important issue to flush out and I think it there should be hearings on it How many of these kids are graduating because we know in Texas our students are not graduating in four years Whether they're here legally or illegally so I would like to know What path are these students on are they graduating and the reason why we want to give them a college degree to begin with? Right is so that they can get an employment and make it income. Well, you are not going to be Hired in this country if you don't have citizen a legal status is some sort So I don't understand what the point is if we are going to if we are going to offer In-state tuition or someone who is not here legally if even once they graduate They're unemployable because they don't have citizenship. So I think we need to look at if we are going to Reform or repeal. I think we should reform some in on some level of how we're monitoring and are these kids Graduating and then becoming citizens, which is exactly what we would want, right? So that they it can be productive members of society But if we're not doing that or we're not it's when those those kids are not being successful Then it's a waste of it's a waste of money. It's a waste of taxpayer I was the incentive that brought my wife over here You're a lucky man and I'm not suggesting that I necessarily agree with you Sarah But the but if we're gonna have some kind of monitoring, I wonder if it might not be more appropriate to monitor What jobs these these young people get as opposed to whether or not they get a degree because it's true A lot of our citizens do not complete their higher education. A lot of them do get jobs A lot of people get high paying jobs with certifications now as opposed to four-year degrees So rather than looking at what they what if they actually completed or not if that was the path that we were going to be taking I would suggest that that it might be more appropriate to look at at the workforce outcome But at the same time I'm still not even sure in my opinion that that's a logical and necessary part of this Because I think these are are young people that have been here brought here as minors and Are part of our our communities and and I'm you know I am sympathetic to to your position and to your argument certainly, but just just from a fiscal perspective if they are not able to Obtain some type of citizenship status. They are not legally in the workforce They can't pull down a 50 or $60,000 job or get a certificate that you're talking about so then I mean Well, and I know there's been a lot of big push for e-verify to be implemented on the state level And I think governor Perry even took some executive action So if you dovetail that with it, then you're right. It's gonna compound the problem make it even harder Let's there's at least one more new guy worth talking about we haven't mentioned yet And that is our new governor for the first time in 14 years Greg Abbott Do we have any clues looking at at his tenure as a G? Do we have any clues yet from what he said out on the trailer in his early days? What kind of governor he's gonna be how heavy-handed he'll be with the veto pen what his agenda? How you know strong will to be about getting an agenda through the legislature? Well, we know he got up sued the government went home the federal government. Yeah, so I don't know He doesn't have that job. I guess in the same way anymore. That's gonna be different He doesn't really have a legislative record. I don't think any of us really know exactly how that's gonna work He's not as far as I know been intimately connected with The state budget, which is our primary responsibility and it's gonna be interesting to see how he inserts himself in that You know one of the things that I thought interesting going back to the tenant governor speech is that you can already see You know representative Davis was talking about how Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick enjoyed widespread support and got himself elected. Well, I think the lieutenant governor sees that very well And he sees and if you look at the numbers he basically won that election with 9% of the electorate electing him in that primary Because once he won that primary with 9% of the voters in the state electing him It was you know after you know hindsight looking back. He was clear sailing So a guy like that will look at this next four years as an audition for the governor's spot and say You know what if I can appeal to that type of electorate and let's say it swells to 12% You know You know, you you're looking at a guy that based on you know, how he came out firing You're looking at now talking about governor Abbott You're looking at a guy that may have to pump the brakes on some of the more Logical things excuse me logical things that might need to happen and without having the practical experience that Representative Howard was talking about regarding the budget how we work how the Senate works, you know, Lieutenant Governor Patrick's got an edge on him. He's got a leg up So I think you might see the governor's office trying to kind of play a little catch-up and say, you know what? We may have to go at this a little bit differently than we thought Based on what the guy, you know across the halls ambitions are I mean, that's just you know, it looks like that Republicans weigh in here. Yeah, absolutely You know, I don't think it's just fair to say you only got 9% because again That makes it sound like he was pandering to get his votes or get into office and then he had that sold up I think you talked to Dan Patrick He's very genuine in what he believes and he would tell you that no matter what and I think he showed that by even after He got out of the primary most people say, okay, now you need to triangulate to the center Well, he never did he just kept on with the same message And I think it's gonna be a different styles because we don't know governor Abbott's How he would do from a legislative edge because he's been in the judicial function for so long and he's got that lawyers Analyzing characteristic to him. So I think he'll be a lot more Reserved in some ways just as he's processing things. It's just his nature to he is Just my guess I don't think he'll be as prone to veto bills and I don't think also he'll be as prone to call us into special session I just don't see him. Maybe like that is as much as governor Perry was but I think he'll do a great job I think he's got a great staff around him. I think he'll be measured I think you saw with the election results that he was able to build broad coalitions I think what did he did he win a plurality or majority of the Hispanic? Men in the election and then and then 45% overall Which a lot of people thought was wasn't even gonna be possible, but he was able to do that So I think he's a consensus builder I think he'll spend a lot of time doing that making sure everybody's on the same page And I think he'll be very successful. I'm incredibly optimistic about governor Abbott I think it's gonna be I think he's gonna be great every interaction. I've had with him during his campaign I've been been very proud to stand next to him He had a press conference dealing with some human trafficking issues that he wants to address in the legislature I mean who would be against that and he has made women's health a priority He had a he had a press conference in Houston and he has spoken at length about making women's health funding a priority So I'm very optimistic when I hear and by the way Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has also gone record as saying that he prioritizes Funding for women's health. So I am very excited that both of these both of our our leaders Are our are saying things that I'm happy with and I think that that I think that governor Abbott will be great And I just really hope that we don't have to have any special sessions And I will echo what representative Davis says is I think in the job that he wants to do and how you can do it He probably will be great at it But I think that's a problem for him in four years and when I say a problem is Great for everybody across the board in Texas is not great in a Republican primary How often did we see people get crushed in these Republican primaries who were doing great jobs across the board? But warrant and so the question becomes is how do you govern going forward knowing that politically this could be a lot Your greatness if you will could be a political liability for you in four years And I didn't mean to suggest that the lieutenant governor is pandering for votes I mean the numbers are what the numbers are and I'm percent of the electorate voted in the election I mean, it's just it is what it is Well, and I'll say it from what I've heard from lieutenant governor Patrick He's not planning on running for governor now that can always change but I take him at his word The other thing that I think will help governor Abbott not be scared is the 33 million dollars in his war chest So I think that helps you a little bit to not not have to look in the rear view mirror as closely Well start getting your questions ready because we're gonna open this up for Q&A in just a second But while you're thinking of those I wanted to ask while you all are hard at work in Austin a couple of guys You know pretty well are gonna be hard at work in Iowa and South Carolina and New Hampshire I'm curious how far you think Rick Perry and Ted Cruz will go in the potential race for president And and which one of them would be the last man standing if there were a Texan standing That's not acceptable for in this forum yet everyone gets a comment Well, I've said it over and over again, I'll keep saying I've been a huge Ted Cruz fan for a long time So I think he does an amazing job of articulating a message And I think that really resonates with a lot of people and so I think he would be a formidable foe In those primary states. I think he's gonna work hard. I think he can articulate again that message well and inspire people So I think Ted Cruz has a great shot At going far and it doing well and I'll support him as long as he's in there If he's no longer in there and governor Perry is I would have no problem supporting him I think he's done a good job for 14 years making Texas the leader in the country that it is But I think Ted Cruz you shouldn't underestimate him. I think he could do very very well There's no up next and I'll just I would just support whoever the Republican You know, I think the the problem is we want to look at it from a Texas perspective And the truth is we don't really have a dog in the fight because those those things get Decided before these guys even come down here for a primary and so it's really good, you know panel fodder, but You know, it's good. I mean, it's a good debate to talk about but I mean We're not we're not really gonna have to decide Because we're not gonna be important in the primary because of where we are in time But if you look at these if you had told me five years ago That David Dewhurst would not be the US senator or you know, four and a half years ago I would have said come on. There's no way But you got to give the devil is due. I mean look what the guy has been able to do in the last, you know Four and a half and I don't mean it that way Those of you those of you who spent a time around me know that this is the way I say things but the the guy has done a miraculous and a marvelous job of promoting himself and You know right now. He's but for a few, you know Problems that he's had in the Senate with his colleagues. He's all right, you know in that Arena and I don't know if our former governor is in the same position I think he's gonna have a hard time convincing people that he was this and now he's that and I just I think Right now, you know Cruz is probably a more bankable If you're looking at it from the way a lot of donors are looking at it And you got all these guys laid out on a table of cards and that either time you look at these two as miss ramshaw Is asking us to look at you know, I'd write a check and I'd put it on cruises. That's what I would do Good gambler representative Howard. You've known Perry for a really long time. He rehab Do you think he's he's appropriately rehabbed his image The fact is he definitely is on that on that road and there's no question about that I mean everybody talked of course about the glasses, but it's beyond the glasses When he did his farewell Speech on the house floor let this last week whenever it was things are running together all of a sudden You know, he definitely talked more about the C word of compromise and it was a good thing if it moved Texas forward I mean, wow, when's the last time we heard governor Perry say that it's been quite a while so I don't doubt a man who was able to Be reelected several times served as the governor for 14 years doesn't have The political savvy and a few tricks up his sleeve to do what he needs to do I think he's he's learned a lesson and he's and he's showing us that he has rebranding himself so, you know, I appreciate the All of the intensity around senator Cruz But at the same time, I think he sometime can he may be in a position to implode and so if I'm gonna vote right now Which I you know, this is who knows what do I know? It would be mine would be on Perry Well, if anyone has questions feel free to just raise your hand and use your outside voice Well, whoever that that's going to be a huge issue this session On top of the sunset review and the recommendation of the consolidation. We also have all of the issues with with the personnel there and the commissioner and So it's going to be a real challenge I think to sort things out and look at this in a logical rational way with all of that on top of it From a women's health care perspective There are concerns that those who are providers of women's health care have about the consolidation in Terms of making sure that it we're not doing something that actually has unintended consequences of Decreasing the number of providers and and access that's available. So I think we're going to have to look at it very carefully Clearly the procurement part of it. There has been some Rational for why that should perhaps be consolidated But that's going to be I think one of the biggest issues. We're going to have to address this session. Yeah And I do I do think at the end of the day you are going to see the consolidation of Of those five agencies there's been so much work and thought put into the consolidation I know with all of the scandals with the contracts from HHSC has sort of shaken up some people But I do ultimately think that those agencies will be consolidated and they I mean they really need to in a lot of ways They're not there's so many Ways that they're not communicating. I mean just the IT differences alone are overwhelmingly expensive for the state So I think the the procurement scandal or the contract scandal and waiting me is going to become the nail in the Whatever drives that now the the but you're right Sarah. You're exactly right Okay So senator Dominic Campbell has sort of proposed a religious freedom bill sort of as a response to local non-discrimination ordinances for LGBT People how do you how do you all call along that along senator Campbell's bill? I haven't seen it, but is it I assume it's the anti-antithesis of the bill that was filed in San Antonio, right? Is it the mirror opposite if you all? You know with without having I mean, I don't know I just I've got a problem with and I'm I'm a practicing Catholic I mean I go to Mass every Sunday, you know, I pray the rosary every day, but that has nothing to do with You know, I don't feel my religious practices are impeded by anybody You know, and I don't know if I need a piece of legislation to tell me that I can get on my knees every day and pray Or do that I haven't I've never felt persecuted for being a Christian Maybe if I lived, you know, a hundred years ago for being a Catholic in South, Texas, maybe you get pistol-whipped I don't know, but it's you know, I don't I don't know. I just Doesn't seem like it's something we need Yeah, I'm working with a representative Yalba filed a somewhat similar house resolution in the house And so I've been working with him on that so I do think it's an important issue And it's not just on those anti-discrimination Ordinances, but it's other things where I think we've seen there's been a contraction of the ability to express your religious Liberty in the public square and I just don't want to ever get to that place because the ability to do that is one of the foundational bedrocks of our society and civilization ever since our founding followers for America and even Texas So I think that has to be something that we continue to preserve and so I'm working with representative Yalba on a similar one So that that kind of lets you know where I come down on that If you're talking about funding of public education You know there is of course the I think the common sense around the legislature that a Big fix is not going to happen during the session at the same time There is definitely movement on the house side anyway to make sure that we do try to find some ways to infuse some more Some additional dollars into public education in a way that will Be equitable, but will also impact all the school districts in the state So there's a lot there's several ways that we're looking at that there some are looking at transportation allotments and how that could be changed some are looking at tweaking the cost of education index and giving a higher weight say to career technology programs to English language learners that sort of thing to Up the the money that way We're also looking at things like the IT infrastructure that needs to be in place to help us implement house bill 5 but what I'm working on and some others are as well is full-day pre-k and and Tapping into what governor Abbott says. He's willing to support Trying to work around that but doing it in such a way that that we look at making it full day Which we know is more effective than half-day Making sure that we have appropriate class size ratios so that it's effective Focusing on the quality aspect But doing it in a full day Rolling it out probably on a smaller scale than it could be done because of the expense But rolling it through the formula so that it really is something that's Intentionally going to be eventually be a part of the entire state I know we're having we're gonna have a new chair of the higher ed board or higher ed Committee on our side are we getting is there we didn't is Kelce I like you're still the chair on the Senate sign, right? That's up near to I think that's kind of a wait-and-see kind of deal right now I don't know why I sense a lot of nobody really wants to talk about that right now It's just kind of my sense well the the preliminary budget's been laid out on the House side and it has some more money for some more funding for Higher education one of the the biggest areas is in the Texas grants program which we have never fully funded and the proposal This time Does put sufficient dollars into the Texas grants program so that a hundred percent of those students who are eligible would get it at A higher level than they got it in the last session That's the good news, but in terms of the tuition the amount that the state's going to put in and the tuition I mean, I think you mentioned that somebody mentioned Regulation and yeah, that's gonna be I think one of the big Topics of this session to Re-regulation we already have bills that have been filed addressing that so You know it's it's one of those things where we we talk about how we want an educated workforce Pipeline and we talked about how we've wanted to get more students into higher ed and in fact We have we have done a very good job of getting more people into higher ed But more people into higher ed means more cost per person that's in higher ed and we haven't followed up with that So that on top of the of the deregulation has meant obviously that the tuition has increased significantly And we are all hearing from our constituents about the issue of dealing with the high cost of higher ed So we'll be open to having your input on that and a lot of discussion about what we need to be doing Yeah, and I think Until we figure out if we're gonna do, you know, keep deregulation or re-regulate That's gonna determine the rest of the conversation on how we fund it after that right now my meetings with the various State universities really are focusing on tuition revenue bonds Our universities are desperate to build and we haven't had any TRBs in about 10 years 2006, right? So I know that that's what I hear from the institutions are is a huge need for TRBs I saw I'll go first. I support by support governor Abbott's position. Yeah We well, we can't afford to expand Medicaid in this state No, I mean it isn't it is an entirely broken system This is the first time in this history of the state of Texas in which Health and human services is the single largest budget driver. We are now exceeding public education for the first time The budget can't keep up What about pursuing it? What about pursuing a Texas? Texas-specific solution like an Arkansas plan or what some of these other states have managed to do? Yeah, my my hesitation with that is that's all predicated on certain Assurances that the federal government has made at this point when the federal government could change its mind at any point Along that process just say well We know we said you could have a waiver if you did this But we're not gonna do that anymore and a secretary who didn't want to allow those did that So I think we're just getting ourselves into we don't even know what it is if we start taking any part of that program And I think it'd be very hard for us to get out and a lot of times in the legislature We're not very forward-thinking but here I think governor Abbott and others have been because it seems really good up front We get a lot of money we expand Medicaid But after a while those federal dollars go away And so we're just adding a burden to the Texas taxpayers for that extra increased health care costs after a little bit That you don't see it right up front But it's there in the long haul and I don't think that's a right road for Texas to go down the thing about that particular argument though You know the same thing applies at the state level in terms of our funding of public education Where we've made certain promises and then we back off of them, you know, that's that's the way this works It's not I have a hard time with with saying let's not do something because somebody might do something in the future The fact is that those are federal dollars that we have paid in out of our pockets that we're not bringing back here to use And and and there are examples of ways that we could do it. We also talk about a broken Medicaid system I don't even know what that means exactly because when I hear broken Medicaid system What I always hear talked about there are the is the lack of access and the lack of access has to do with Reimbursement rates and the reimbursement rates are set by the state legislature so, you know The fact is that we could use the dollars that we could draw down and we could come up With like some of the other states did a system that allows those dollars to be used not on Medicaid But on some kind of a hybrid systems on some kind of a System like they've done in other states where you use it as a stipend to purchase insurance on the private market There are options to do nothing is Not helping us address the lack of care in our state. We still have the highest uninsured rate in the nation to do nothing is leaving those dollars on the table and You know If I'm gonna take them at their word like you know You keep saying you're gonna take them at their word when when our state leaders are saying something if I'm gonna take them at their word The amount that the federal government is going to be providing to support this program is a hundred percent right now It decreases over several years to where it's in a 90% match That's nine federal dollars for every one dollar that the state puts in We're paying for this already as we all know we're paying for this already with our local property taxes We're paying for it with our insurance premiums which take which Have to go up to cover of the folks that are not insured to me It's fiscally irresponsible to not take those dollars and find a way to make them work in Texas It's palatable to everybody that's not expanding Medicaid But at the same time isn't making a system and putting a system in place that allows folks to get the health care that they need you know What a remarkable number here is zero and zero is the amount of solutions that we've heard coming from people that say no Over the last four years and I I would be willing to accept You know what representative across and representative Davis say regarding the system and you know this fear about well What's gonna happen in the future? But I would accept that if I could get something on the table or some sort of response to okay if not then if not this then what and It just it becomes this political howl You know after a year or two years or three years where it's just No, and then our now governor's rhetoric about the no and nothing beyond that and I it's frustrating it because I you know To somebody in the medical field say okay, well enlighten me enlighten me as to know and then beyond the no And we don't we don't have that and so here we are you know embarking on a new session with another no And it's just it seems unacceptable. I think the citizens of the state deserve a little bit better than that is my opinion I just I just I'm gonna say one thing about that these these federal dollars this magic federal money that I hear everyone Talking about that we need to draw down that Texas needs to get this money back This money doesn't exist the federal government is 18 trillion dollars in debt the money literally does not exist I just Yeah, and it's overwhelming to think that we are just gonna continue to slide this country further and further into a federal deficit That's owned well Well, you know if the money doesn't exist the other states are actually using that money That doesn't exist to provide health care to their citizens and we're not well And I'll push back a little bit on the fact that there's not been any alternatives offered on the other side One thing Texas has tried to do for years is get a block grant from the federal government to say hey Here's the money. Here's the money you've given us. We're getting our money back use it any way you see fit And we've done models. We've done run numbers We could much better take care of the people in Texas if we could use a block grant use it at our Discretion and figured out then having to rely on the federal government in the strings that they use So that's one area that we've asked for for years They haven't done another common-sense way that a lot of us have proposed is just open up Insurance across state lines like we do with auto insurance like we do with everything else Let the market compete drive down the premiums give more access to people because at the end of the day Are we more concerned with somebody having a certificate that says I have health insurance Are we concerned with health care if all we care about is them having health Certificates then that's one thing we can expand that but I don't think that does anything to solve the problem of inadequate health care And that's what we need to work on in a bipartisan fashion now. How are we going to do that? I don't think expanding Medicaid is a panacea that'll do all that If you like what you see you can walk down the street to this pink building And join us or you can watch the Texas Tribune's live stream We have them every time they're in session. We are live streaming them So if you're a real nerd like we are you can come watch we're gonna hand the conversation back off And I want to give a real quick round of applause for Emily and Thank you for being here and The panel is is over but the conversation does not end because one of my favorite traditions about the future form is We will now move Into the next room where drinks will be served and some food and everyone is encouraged to stay I want to encourage all of our Panelists and our moderator if you guys are able to stay for a while to join Where the discussion can continue and should continue Because I know there's a whole lot more to talk about and I want to thank all of y'all for joining us and Hope you will stick around. So thanks again for coming