Happy Constitution Day!

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, September 17, 2020
Modify your email preferences.

UPFRONT: A switching of words yesterday created an error. The name of the group conspiring with former House Speaker Joe Straus to oppose conservative candidates is “Associated Republicans of Texas.”

• Texas’ Commissioner of Agriculture, Sid Miller, writes that farmers and ranchers have benefited under the policies of the Trump Administration. In a new commentary, Commissioner Miller recounts the fights brought on by the Obama-Biden Administration that threatened the very existence of the agricultural industry.
   
• Joe Biden and Barack Obama weaponized the Bureau of Land Management, the Environmental Protection Agency, and even the U.S. Department of Agriculture against Texas’ farmers and ranchers.
   
• “President Trump has proven to America’s farmers and ranchers—through actions, not just rhetoric—that he has our backs, that he understands and appreciates our value, and that he will never, ever let us down.”
  – Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is holding a press conference later today updating Texans about the state’s response to the Chinese coronavirus. Check out TexasScorecard.com later this afternoon – and the Texas Minute tomorrow morning – for details.
   
• What’s your prediction? Will the governor keep the mask mandates and economic closures in place? Will Mr. Abbott announce future plans for developing steps in easing the burdens he has placed on the economy?

• According to data from the Dallas Central Appraisal District, 27 city councils hiked their average property tax bills for homeowners last year. Robert Montoya reminds readers that many city councils are setting their tax rates and budgets this month, so citizens facing tighter personal budgets still have an opportunity to speak out.
   
• REMINDER: Property tax reform passed last year by the Legislature requires highly populated cities to seek voter approval before hiking property tax revenues higher than 3.5 percent from the previous year, though some local governments have tried using the emergency exception this year due to the Chinese coronavirus.

• While the debt pile-on continues in Amarillo, Thomas Warren reports citizens are making their opposition to the tax increases and debt issuances known.
   
• “[The city council] locked people down, and people couldn’t work. Now they want to raise our taxes? Come on now. It doesn’t take someone with a GED to figure out that doesn’t work.” – Amarillo taxpayer Richard Herman

• Please join me in wishing a very happy birthday to our former attorney – and the current chairman of the Federal Election Commission – Trey Trainor!

Your Federal & State Lawmakers