 Thank you, Jason. And thank you all for joining us tonight. We are certainly happy to have you and have this conversation I first want to tell you a little bit about the lawmakers who are joining me on stage Representative Victoria Neave Criado has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2017 she represents district 107 which includes parts of East Dallas Garland and Mesquite this session the Attorney was elected to serve as chair of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus the Democratic chair of the County Affairs committee and sits on the business and industry committee We also have representative Shelby Slosson who represents district 59 Which stretches from Grandbury to Copper's Cove the Republican attorney and small business owner has served in the Texas House since 2001 this session representative Slosson sits on the state affairs Judiciary and civil jurisprudence and calendars committees and Rounding us out is representative Ed Thompson who has served in the Texas House since 2013 an insurance agent representative Thompson represents Texans living in district 29 south of Houston from Pearland all the way down to Freeport The Republican is the vice chair of the Committee on Natural Resources and also serves on Appropriations and the calendars committees, so I like to get things started Get us loose a little bit. Okay. We're all kind of formal and this doesn't seem like a formal event, right? We're drinking wine. We're having a good time. We want all the deets on the ledge, so In one word What is the issue? this session and we're gonna start with our most senior member Well, oh one Representative Thompson one word. Oh Budget That's a sound answer isn't that a sound is a representative slosson taxes money Okay, so all the same version right of the answer that you gave us tell us what tell us a little bit why why do you guys say that? You can speak freely. I meant whoever wants to talk first can talk first Well when we have Over a $30 billion surplus that we didn't expect before there's a lot of clamoring for how best to spend that for Texans a Lot of debate about how much of it ought to be returned to property taxpayers How much should be invested in infrastructures or in our schools? So that's taking up a lot of bandwidth and necessarily so and it's a very bipartisan issue as as you can see from our first answers And thank you. So I Agree, I think one of the main focuses for many of us is how are those dollars gonna be invested as we hear often that our budget is our Is a moral statement of what we believe in are we investing in our schools? Are we looking at long-term growth? Are we investing in health care so that all Texas? You know every single Texas is able to thrive in our in our economy and contribute to our economy So just ensuring that those dollars are also equitably distributed is something that's important as well You know, I also I think one of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that we do have some spending caps We have limits on what we can spend out of the budget Which is somewhat of a challenge when you're trying to when you've got this budget that we've got the excess surplus that we have You know, we've got an economic stabilization fund that Is beyond what I've heard it said that our rainy day fund, which is the ESF If you take our ESF and all the other 49 state well, let me say 48 states Minus, Alaska. We've got more money in our rainy day fund than all the other 48 added together So we've got the we've got a lot of resources You know the issue is trying to to spend it in a in the right ways and I think that's the challenge that we have because one of the things I always say about Texas the great thing about Texas is that it's so big and so diverse and the bad thing about Texas is that it's so big And so diverse everyone's got issues in different regions of the state that Impact them that might not impact those and others. So that's that's some of the challenges that we have You know the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house each released their priority bills this session And I know you all have seen the list While they do contain some of the same items, I would say that these lists are pretty different House priorities versus center priorities. What does that say to you? representative neopet credo I Think the house is at least since I've come in when I came in 2017 I used to hear that it was the Senate that was more I'll use a quote that I've heard not something that I've said but that that the Senate were the adults in the room and that a lot of the you know Division or other things like that where it was in the house, but I think there's been a Big transition from the discussion and the focal points of from what you've seen from the Senate and the house where the house Lately has been focused on Things like mental health care Making sure that we focus on our schools. There's debate about how to do certain things How do we divide the funds vouchers is a big debate this session, of course but I think what we're seeing At least from the house perspective is that It's a more policy-focused approach rather than Culture wars, but we still have culture war debates in the house as well Yeah, you do and you haven't even passed any bills yet. You've already had some okay So let's talk about this from our Republicans, you know on the panel tell us, you know The lieutenant governor or the previous session was hands down the most conservative Session that the Texas House has had in recent history Do you know do you think that the Senate priorities versus the House priorities this session are in line with that to pass more? You know really conservative legislation or do you think the house has you know, it's minding in I Shouldn't say the right place. I should say that the house has a More diverse viewpoint of what the priorities should be this session The house is a scrappier chamber for sure And when I look at the different priority lists, I see a lot of overlap actually thematically But the implementation methods are where we differ on some of these issues So while there will be some things on one list that aren't on another and vice versa There's a lot of consistency there in in some of the bigger topics educational issues border security Prosecutors across the state But a different methodology of getting to whatever might be the right resolution And when it comes down to the debate within each chamber, the debate happens differently, too I'm and I don't want to say that they're the adults in the room But they do proceed with their debates in a different manner than we do But I think it's necessary on both sides to reach the best possible conclusions for Texans They're not here to defend themselves. So let you all speak freely Well, I think that at the end of the day we we we get there and that's the you know So much of this, you know, I'll use the word positioning and you know, there's there's sort of like a And I'm not a card player, but it's sort of like a card game, you know There's there's certain things that you know, you're not going to show your hand at certain times And there there's a little bluffing that goes on I think sometimes and But at the end of the day, you know, we we always seem to get there we always seem to Get together as a as a Two bodies and you know, we get the we get the legislation passed sometimes Certainly, I don't please you know, please everyone But and I tell people all the time, you know, my wife and I don't agree on everything. So I Don't expect everyone to agree with me up here on everything either You know, what role if any do you think the minority party plays in shaping the agenda? so what I love about our house, which is In the Texas legislature operates very differently than DC. There's so much gridlock in DC here We're actually able to break bread to discuss and have those thoughtful policy discussions Even if we don't agree or see eye to eye to try to craft language or try to Get folks to see our perspective or at least try to look at it through a different lens And I think because we're able to talk to each other We're able to do that and help shape policy in that way and and through our votes as well and through the committee process I think our relationships Are very valuable and because of our relationships. We're able to convey the impact of legislation good or bad from different views on our colleagues and many of them throughout the years have been Able to help us with with different types of legislation and the impact that impact us the vast majority of the bills that we pass in the house have bipartisan support and earlier today I pulled up the list of the top 20 priority bills and 15 of those already have bipartisan authorship on them. So there is definitely a Voice of the minority party in shaping the policy that comes out Did any of the bills on the list surprise any of you? I know I will say this. I appreciated this. This was different I feel like this session is rather than just say what their priorities were The Speaker of the House stage feeling gave specific bill numbers and said this specifically is a priority Was there anything on the list that made you say? Oh, okay? Not not for me. There wasn't anything there that I Though I guess was a real big surprise You know, but in regards to the The R&D, you know What I've found to be more prevalent, I believe is is the division with in between like rural legislators versus urban legislators versus suburban legislators, you know, we all represent Naturally, we represent smaller parts of the state because there's 150 of us and there's only 31 senators. So I Think that also plays into some of the the way that we are able to operate together because there might be an issue in my area, for example that you know that the Democrats are right there with me, you know, and we agree a hundred percent because it's a it's a local issue It's time to talk about the money. Are you guys ready the budget surplus a whopping 32 point seven? billion dollars our surplus is more than some states have in their entire budgets This is a large amount of money and there are a lot of ideas about how that money should be spent but Leaders across the spectrum from the comptroller to the head of the Texas oil and gas association have said that this historic Once in a lifetime budget surplus is not likely to be replicated at this level So you have a lot of money But you're not necessarily going to have that same amount of money to spend Come the next session. So what role does that really play in some of the ideas because some of the ideas that we're talking about are long-term ideas I Think this once in a lifetime opportunity we have to invest in long term Things that we will get a long-term return on our investments such as higher education We know that once you educate kids that you cannot take that away that our economic Prosperity as a state is directly correlated to the education of our community We need to in my view invest in our neighborhood schools as well as Provide opportunities access to higher education. I was a first-generation in my family You might I'm the daughter of an immigrant my dad came to our country with a sixth grade education And the thing that he emphasized to me was you focus on your school You can be anything that you want to be and don't forget where you came from and so to me that says and Treat people right and with compassion and respect and to me treating our fellow humans our fellow Texans right is giving them those skills that will We as a state will see return on educating our community and our kids And so I really think that higher ed. There's a community college You know reform bill by Representative van Dever that would really transform funding for a community colleges Address the high-need shortage career paths such as nursing mental health And so if we get more students into those professions will help address and alleviate a lot of the burdens that are Our hospitals are you know short staffed right now? We don't have enough mental health counselors for our schools are to serve the needs of our communities So investing and things like that will pay dividends in the long run I'll go and then appropriations can inform us at the end The thing that I hear about by far and away the most in the part of Texas that I serve is property taxes And while the majority of the surplus doesn't originate from that it comes from we've all paid higher sales taxes as a result of inflationary Costs in the last few years. They're still a a significant demand for reducing the burden on Property tax payers that would also help tenants and businesses because it's not just homeowners who are feeling the squeeze of those Higher property tax bills year over year. It's tenants to is with escalating rents. So The house priority bills are trying to address across the board how to give some of that relief by Buying down M&O taxes on one side and then also reducing the rate that appraisals can grow You're the money man on you want to tell us where we're right and where we're wrong? Well, I Don't know that there is a right or a wrong in this. There's I've said, you know, we've got 32 billion we could have 90 billion and we still wouldn't meet all the needs You know, there's just When you we have What's called a rider and people will put in riders and it's I mean it I forget what many there was 280 something riders to the budget people wanting money appropriated to different items And you could probably have gone through every one of those and made an argument for each and every one of them And and that's the difficult thing about Appropriations, you know is Trying to figure out a way to spend the money in the best way that you can is You know as chairman said when you're looking at Education you're looking at transportation. You're looking at some of the infrastructure things that we need to be talking about and working towards with the population Growth that we're having here in the state of Texas Being on the natural resources committee, you know the one thing that we I mean water you Stop and think about that I'm old enough to remember when you know like Livingston and Lake Conroe and some of those reservoirs were built because of the drought of the 1950s and You know, those were the things that were put in place We you're not going to have those sorts of reservoirs built now And so we've got to figure out ways To to have that resource and to be able to you to come up with those because we're these these communities are continuing to grow We're continuing to have people move in here You've got to have water for your businesses. It's It that in itself is is a is a long-term issue that I think we need to spend more time talking about we get off in the weeds on some of these things that You know at the end of the day You know, they they end up on the news and they end up in the newspaper But really some of this basic stuff is what we need to be we need to be about I'll encourage you all to watch Katie you're gonna have a special on water coming up later this month No, you know, it is important. We could sit here and talk about water All day long because it's one of the it's just one of those things that we have to have I guess my question is when we talk about education when we talk about Compressing the tax rate. Is there concern that? Eventually we're not gonna have the money because obviously if you can press those things the way the bills are written right now The state just picks up the tap, right? So we're gonna take it off the property owners The state will make sure that school districts don't lose any money, but is there a concern that? 10 years down the road the state isn't gonna have enough money to pay for those things Well in 2011 there was 11 billion dollars deficit So I was not Here then but but that was right because session prior to me getting here. So You know, yes, it can swing and and that's what I think Gives me the most pause about some of the things that we're doing is I Think the worst thing in the world is to to give somebody something and then have to you have to pull it off the table Have to take it back and and that's why I hope that As we as we work through this process on both sides of the building That we can we can keep that in mind Again, I'm not saying we don't want to we don't want to return the money. We don't want to you know, the taxpayers I'm not opposed to that but again Would that money be better if we put it into some revolving funds that could be used by communities to to do infrastructure water sewer wastewater Roads those sorts of things that are long term Things that we could be talking about You know, those are those are things in my mind. I mean, I I hate to leave here without Setting up some of those legacy type programs that would really benefit people You know long term I think every austenite who's had to deal with these boil water notices would agree with you that we should we should be doing something That's happening more and more and more and this infrastructure continues to age And you know the rate payer They're they're going to end up paying that From now now on when you go in and spend 200 million dollars for a wastewater treatment plant You know, that's going to come out of the rate payers pocket. So those are sorts of things I think we really should be discussing and talking about long term Well, the big three have made it clear that they want to see some of this budget start plus go towards property tax relief And regardless of which plan you go with um You know, there are some different things to consider. So let's talk about what the senate has planned We unfortunately, we don't have a member of the senate here So I'll sum it up for you like this the senate passed this plan They want to give homeowners a 70 thousand dollar homeson exemption. They 100 thousand dollars for Texans who are 65 and older and those who were disabled Along with a 25 thousand dollar business personal property exemption That's up from 2,500 dollars and then compress the mno tax rate for the schools The house has a different plan. Who wants to tell us about the house plan? Don't all rush to do it once I'm not on ways and means but uh, uh, it's uh, it's a little different I think with the appraisal Issues that they're working on over there on house bill two Chairman meyer has that bill and You know, it's it's it's different than what the senate has for sure Oh, yes, representative slusson. You talked about it a little bit. You want to give us some more details? So basically right now, um properties are capped at a 10 percent Growth year over year and the house proposal would drop that to a 5 cap across the board not just applicable to homestead properties Um, but to commercial properties as well So tend to go into Dan Patrick. I said the house plan will not work. He says i'm not criticizing it I'm just telling you it's not going to work and long term It's not going to work because you're going to undo some of the things that we did in the past session In terms of the property tax really if you know that the two the three percent cap the two and a half percent cap um And that their plan is better With complete respect to the other chamber on a different methodology here I can tell you that when i'm in my district talking to constituents I do not hear anyone asking for increased Homeowner exemption amounts. I routinely hear Constituents talking about those appraisal notices that they get in the astronomical growth year over year So I I know what's on the forefront of constituents minds and it's about to happen again because come Last week of april first week of may we're all going to start getting those appraisal notices And we will have that uptick again in that conversation with with constituents. So The right solution at the end of the day may not be anything that we're talking about right now Or it might be a hybrid methodology between the two chambers You're itching come on It could be a hybrid democrats have been advocating for to increase the homestead exemption for years My deskmate Ramon Romero proposed. I don't remember which session to raise it to 70 000. What lieutenant governor dem Patrick is now proposing so I think it's something that would impact lower income Individuals in a certain way, but at the same time what representative salson was speaking to is also something that we're also hearing from Constituents and having to see that the the increase is is very sharp and in big counties like mine and Dallas It's impacted folks to where they're being priced out. They can't afford the amount of property taxes So we want something that is equitable Especially for lower income homeowners. That makes sense also for for renters as well yeah As you said, I was an insurance agent and I have people that will come into my office and they'll say you know What i'm paying for insurance and taxes If I divide that by you know 12 I didn't pay that when I paid my original house payment So, you know, we've got a lot of seniors that are in situations where You know, they're being literally Priced out of their homes And and that concerns me that that really that really does and I don't know what the I don't know what the the answer to that Is I mean there's well, there's a lot of answers to it, you know, how we get there Whether it's through an exemption or whether it's through appraisal caps or But but I really hate to see these people that that if you know Basically poured their life savings into a home and now they're having a difficult time Living in and I know here in Austin. It's it's even worse than what it is in you know in my district. So You know, it gives it gives me a lot of a lot of concern We're going to shift a little bit in poll after poll including the latest texas politics project at ut austin bowl Border security continues to be the top concern among texas voters. It's the number one issue among republican voters What's the house's plan to address the border crisis this session? Okay, I'll jump into that one Into the middle of it there are there are several bills filed Within the priority ranking and I couldn't even tell you how many outside of the the top 20 bills there um, one of them Hb6 I I think it's One of the more bipartisan bills because it's going to try to tackle that problem with fentanyl coming across the border And how we're punishing that Because we know that You know, we have all these ads out now about one pill kills You don't even know what you may be ingesting and so we've got to figure out a way to Deal with that crisis coming through then we have a couple of other priority bills I think seven and twenty maybe you might have the numbers actually thereby representative dean and representative schaefer Those have been referred to committees, but haven't even been heard yet So until until we have the hearings on those. I'm not sure how they're gonna shape up one of them proposes to Uh have an additional task force unit down there to try and relieve the burden on some of our national guardsmen And dps officers and get them back to the other parts of texas that that they're technically stationed out of but serve Um tours down on the border for us And I look forward to hearing more about those in committee, but we haven't had them yet My my big disappointment and this isn't It either at either party I mean, but my my biggest disappointment is the way the federal government has Has basically turned their back on the state of texas Uh, this has been going on. I mean, um, we've spent 800 million dollars a year Over I mean go back since I've been in the legislature This year we've appropriated four point six billion dollars for the border And and you know, we're not gaining we're not gaining any ground here you know With the lack of enforcement with We we're we're we're fighting this thing with the one hand tied behind our back But we're spending a tremendous amount of money down there I don't know what it's going to take for the federal government to to wake up And decide, you know, this is their this is their issue You know and and it needs to be addressed because it it's it's impacting The entire country it's not just it's just not texas that that it's impacting um, and you know, I We need to fix this issue from a standpoint of giving people a pathway to come into this country And we need to be able to do it in a way that makes sense for this country In other words, we need to be about bringing the right kind of people here that can do The jobs that need to be done and that want to be a tax-paying citizen We we have not we're not vetting any of these people that are coming across the border I mean the number of That that are coming across today all over the world. I mean, it's not just the Countries what we used to see the immigration all over the world. They're coming through Um, and it gives me a lot of concern. It really does So We definitely need comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level But because that hasn't happened for years under both administrations of both parties um What I will say is that as chairman of Mexican-american legislative caucus is the largest and oldest latino caucus in the country We are a bipartisan caucus. We have the highest number of republican latino members that we've ever had And the unique Thing about that. I think it puts us in a special position to be able to have discussions About the impact of some of these bills In particular, I'll shine a spotlight on one in particular. That's house bill 20 Which would be really devastating for For us as americans as texans in our state and I'll explain why but is One of our priority concerns Because of what it does what the legislation would do essentially is Allow this creation of a civilian There's law enforcement too, but specifically civilians Individuals so in our mind Comes we're concerned about potential proud boys applying for these roles Who will have the right to Detain there's quote language in the bill in the bill that says deter and repel Individuals it doesn't just impact the texas mexico border. There's language that says it's every county in texas I from dallas you think about the texas oklahoma border They now have the authority to set up border checkpoints So imagine us as texans as american citizens and there's a border checkpoint of these non law enforcement civilians Now questioning your american citizenship your status And have all of these rights and have complete immunity under the law There is they there is civil and criminal immunity for these individuals Our understanding is this bill is testing The arizona versus united states case how far can a state go with respect to Enforcing immigration law enforcing To it, you know to address various issues and Essentially what this legislation is Violates the preemption doctor and there are due process concerns left and right There are so many questions that we have we have not seen a committee substitute yet, but In as a caucus we are working to Have discussions about the numerous provisions in the bill that are extremely broad vague concerning and and really if pass would be devastating For our state because we know that the people who would be questioned or people with my skin color people with it are constituents who are going to be asked about your american citizenship and By somebody who's not even a law enforcement officer or has a trainee and undergone all of those background checks mental health all of those provisions that they go through so When so you asked earlier what bill is surprising that was on the speaker's priority list and Although we learned about it before it got filed was Really concerning that it was a priority because we've already had senate bill four in 2017 that we was my first session that we dealt with And that really divided the house and for us if we want to pass policy proposals that are helpful for our community There are numerous bipartisan bills by our border members both democratic and republican that address a lot of those issues We don't have to go to the extreme of creating this You know vigilante force that is going to be questioning us as Texans You know as we are sitting here having this conversation the governor is having a conversation himself He's out in dentin on his parent empowerment tour Where he's talking about school vouchers and there's been talk of offering private school vouchers for a while now For the most part rural republicans along with some urban republicans have opposed the idea This session senator drew springer who represents parts of rural north texas has said this is going to be a tough sell for his constituents He said that point blank during the committee hearing represent sauce and you represent some smaller communities What are your thoughts on the voucher proposal the education savings account? Yes, so we love our public schools. Um, I Get to serve some of the same public schools where I grew up that my kids are we're in school at today uh and I think part of the reason for the rural urban divide is that The interaction that we have with school personnel is often very different. We see each other on the church pew We're sitting next to each other at our games. There just aren't as many of us So we know each other better and it it creates a different level of trust and conversation within The community across parents and educator spectrums At the same time we have an increasing concern about what's going on in some of the urban schools for children that you know Are growing up in a different environment where ours are at and wanting to make sure that all have access to a quality education And opportunities To be the very best at whatever they choose to do In their next season of life So, uh, I have not been a supporter of vouchers But I did watch with great interest this last week the hearing that the senate had on their proposal interestingly, uh, it does have a carve out in there for School districts that are under 20,000 Which would be every single school district that I serve To provide that if a student leaves a public school environment and goes to a private school that the school The the isd would receive Funding I think of eight thousand dollars for a two-year period to try and help the school get across the hump In in losing some of the funding there. We also don't have the availability of private schools that perhaps dallas county may So I don't know if those opportunities then open up as a result of this program or if they don't But We we love our public schools. It doesn't mean that we're not concerned about what's going on in some other districts too well Both of the school districts that I represent have more than 20 000 students in it and uh, they're both suburban school districts both very very good school districts. In fact, I was the a school board member in perl and isd and my wife Was a teacher and a assistant principal. My daughter is currently a teacher in dripping springs and The thing I'll say about the vouchers education savings account whatever you want to call it We need to address Another issue here and that's our teachers Um, you know our teachers have been asked to do more for less In fact, my wife was an assistant principal and she finally She told me I can't do this anymore I I mean she would get up in the morning and go to bed with a laptop at night and work like that Constantly and and it got to the point to where I mean she loved she loved what she did but she physically Mentally couldn't do it anymore and you know, we can have all the education savings accounts and Whatever else you want to call it But if we don't have good teachers and if we don't if we don't support those those folks and we don't Um, we're not there for them. Um You call it whatever you want to call it uh There's not going to be anywhere to teach the kids whether it's a private school a charter school a public school So I think we need to really have a conversation around priorities when it comes to our teachers and supporting them And our retired teachers We've got retired teachers today that are living on pennies And it it literally breaks my heart to think of some of these people that have dedicated their their lives You know, I always tell people I'll say Tell me who won the super bowl and the world series in 2017 And people will go I don't maybe maybe I have one person that has but I'll say now tell me the name of your first grade teacher Everybody knows that so You you call it whatever you want to call it, but We're I think we're missing the boat when it comes to Supporting these people that are in our classrooms and and being there for them Miss Ferguson, that's her name. Mr. Thompson represent Thompson. Well, Miss Ferguson. It is probably going to be interested in hb 600 for a cola free time. She probably will She probably will that that a supplemental budget too. Okay, so look so we can't ignore the fact Right that we are sitting on the beautiful university of texas campus right now What happens though in these classrooms Is somewhat being challenged at the capitol lieutenant governor has talked about ending tenure Lawmakers want to tell university professors what they can and can't teach as it relates to race That's a nice way of talking about critical race theory since the bill doesn't actually call it critical race theory Um, and then there's a rider to cut funding for diversity and equity and inclusion programs I want you to talk to us about that about why these are bills. You think are coming up this session universities I think for ages have been places where you can have thoughtful discourse and dialogue and expand your way of thinking and and when Diversity used to be was not a bad word I think diversity has become a bad word in the texas legislature when we look at these movements to get rid of diversity equity and inclusion It's shocking to me that we're even having debates about this and the benefits I think the business community has shown that it it increases their bottom line when you have thoughtful people who have diverse viewpoints It's a good thing for our state to be diverse and The fact that we've gotten to this point and these are the types of culture wars that I think are taking us Down the wrong path when we look at where we are what president lbj did and fought for With the civil rights act the voting rights act. It's about equity and opportunity for folks regardless of your race and these bills the perception is that They are taking us backwards These bills are seeking to take us backwards and that may not be the intent from some but the perception is that that It is trying to eliminate diversity And that's a big concern Texas a majority of folks are now latino in our state. We are not equitably represented in business education higher education professors We are working to ensure that every latino every person has a good education equal opportunity And legislation like this bills like that really really Take us backwards I don't think that diversity is all a bad word in any In any conversations that we have I think that the fight is between the concepts of equality of opportunity and equity of outcome and that's the struggle in there I don't think that the Texas house should be made up of a certain percentage of women just to reflect the percentage of women that make up the population of texas I think we run the risk of focusing too much on a metric and too little on the merit of the individual And the way they apply themselves now We do have a responsibility to ensure that equality of opportunity to everyone But I don't think that Diversity is is a bad word and I think we ought to have these conversations So I just want to ask you about that though because we you use the word metric and where are metrics being used in dei programs? Well, we just saw in I don't know last month the chancellor of the a&m system saying we're no longer going to Use diversity equity inclusion Well, they said it after the statement from the governor. Well, okay fair But even so the response there was we're going to focus on the merit of the applicants Who are seeking to work within the university system I think he's He even I think kind of chided his own leadership at at at a&m about the number of of minority students that Were in the top 10 of their class that weren't coming to a&m because They weren't out there recruiting those folks and and and trying to bring them You know to the university and I think that's that's part of the that's part of the problem If you go and look at the composites, you know the composite photos in the You know you go down in the basement and then you come up today and look at it There's been a lot of progress made I I know it might not be what some people want what some people might expect But there's been a lot of progress made and and I think it's you know something that we will just have to continue to As we continue to grow as a state We'll continue to see more and more people that represent the the people that That they uh That elect them you know So you talk about metrics. What is that metric if you're trying to get rid of diversity equity and inclusion practices is a metric to have What's the goal is it to have less people of color? And I think that's something we need to think about is it to have more white Individuals and these are hard conversations to be had but what is the goal of getting rid of diversity? When you look at the numbers in the long term What do you want to see? And and that's why it's concerning for us Second when we talk about the progress that's been made in the house As latinos I mentioned are now 40 percent of the population the majority people of color are the majority When you look at the the drawing of the districts in redistricting They are not Representative and have been drawn. So it's by design There we're in litigation mouth right now with respect to the redistricting and the voting rights bills because of the impact On latinos and african-americans on people of color in our state. So By design, we are not Equitably represented in the house or in many different levels of government but in particular The legislature because the districts are drawn where it's very very tough for They're drawn in ways where it's tough for a person to prevail like You look at Well, there's lots of different examples But in tarrant county for example senate district pockets of latinos And in dallas county in a congressional district were specifically taken out and put into a rural district with like seven or eight Republican counties. So the voting strength of those communities was diluted by pulling them out Things like that are very Clear from a lot of our perspectives that why are you specifically taking out these populations and putting them in Rural communities that have no connection to an urban area Have so many more questions But we are running out of time and so I I do want to give you each a moment before we take questions from the audience To give us you know what we'll do closing statements after we take some questions for the audience So does anyone have oh, oh, I see two three hands so many hands. We don't have a microphone Do you think you can speak loudly? Okay, but I did see your hand first. So right here in the blue polo Top issue among texas voter, but I understood you to say the topic Which is it so it's both so when you pull texans if you look at the latest poll from ut texas politics project So overall everyone combined they look at everyone and it is the the border and then they divide They take it and they divided between republicans and democrats so they can see the top issue amongst the parties And so when you divide it that way the border is number one among republicans The democrats are a little more split. They don't have a strong number one issue The border is one of their issues and so when you add that in with the republicans for the total number That's why that's the number one based in their polling Yes, sir We have your back We've been working closely the black caucus Mexican-American legislative caucus along with Representative Wu who is leading us in this battle really to ensure that Every person has opportunity to purchase purchase property. So we have your back There's a lot of discussions and work on some of those bills And I think there have been changes since then But yeah, I just want you to know that there's a lot of folks on your side. I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. That's fine I'll be very honest. I have not looked at the bills yet I don't think that the intent of any of them is to deprive a citizen Of this state of the right to own property But I haven't I haven't looked at him yet and we haven't heard him in the house So and I'll be I'll be clear the Senate bills because they were up in committee already and it is it's not related to people who are citizens So it is Go ahead. What do you want to say? Well, there I think 7 000 bills filed Like nine nine thousand a lot of them won't see the light of day so I'm not making light of the bills that are filed. I'm just saying that um, you know Sometimes what's been filed doesn't necessarily mean that's what will be taken up Okay, I'm trying to keep track. So I think I saw your your hand next, sir Well, yeah, there's uh, you know funding from a from the state that'll be going into, um You know school safety programs. There's a number of them that are That are out there and you know, um at the end of the day, there's going to be a lot more resources for the schools to You know harden those facilities and that sort of thing. Um, you know when you start talking about guns and People's rights and that sort of thing it's a it's a Difficult discussion. I guess if you will it's we've been having it Since I've been in the legislature Uh, and I I would imagine we'll continue to have that So the oval there Shooter waited till he was 18 years old He tried to purchase the assault rifle before he turned 18 The laws worked. He was unable to purchase it on his 18th birthday. He was able I don't remember his birthday after he got Was able to purchase and tons of ammunition. There are proposals the In the house and the senate to raise the age to 21, uh, they're The oval the families are traveling going from office to office To try to convince as many legislators To be supportive of raising the age and they're making progress and we support their efforts to do that There are lots of other bill proposals that would address or make changes to our laws Closing loopholes things like that extremist protective orders some we don't anticipate will have Be able to move because of the climate that we're in but It's really essential for folks to continue raising their voices about The importance of change and keeping our kids safe just in north texas. There were shootings Again in the last few days in high schools And it's it's too easy for kids to get their hands on guns So we need to look at safe storage as well and There's just there's lots of potential solutions that we need to push forward that we're I'm so sorry, but I've been given the wrap sign So I want to give you all a moment to give us some closing thoughts on what you hope to accomplish this legislative session We'll start with representative victoria nieve criado. Thank you There's we want to continue to work With our colleagues to advance issues that help our community. There's long-term investment address the oval they help our businesses prosper Ensure that our kids are educated that have access to higher education And at the same time while we have our trying to move forward good bills There were also an indefensive posture because of certain bills like hb 20 Representative shelby slasa In a nutshell leave it better than we found it and that's defined differently across a lot of different stripes The hardest part of this job is leaving My kids at home and coming down here during session The best part of this job is getting to help shape the kind of texas that all of our kids are growing up in And help define what the future looks like and what kind of texas they inherit from us Mine is You know, I've got four grandkids and I've said, you know, I want them Doing here at the same State that I was able to grow up in, you know, I got a very good public education I got an opportunity to go to a public university here in Texas I ended up With a good job and being able to buy a home Raise a family, you know, and I want the same thing for my grandkids I want them to be able to do the same thing. So I want to leave this place to where, you know, they have those the same opportunities that that I had Well, we certainly thank you all for taking some time out of your busy schedule. So let's give our panel a round of applause And we certainly thank all of you for coming out tonight