Issues - Here is what the Texas Legislature must do

• Defend States' Rights. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits the power of the federal government. As State Representative, I have joined other conservative legislators to oppose federal power grabs, and I will continue to fight any federal government takeover of our States' Rights. Not on my watch!
• Water Development. While water districts play an important role in keeping the conservation and management of our groundwater resources at the local level and out of the state's control, we must work to maximize the water rights of our landowners, namely our West Texas producers. Now is not the time to export our food source. We must develop a plan that will ensure future generations of West Texans will have an available and adequate supply of water.
• Cap government spending. During this past session, we balanced the state budget without raising taxes. The taxpayers want government to live within its means just like hard working Texas families. And, as your State Representative, I could not agree more. I filed the Taxpayer Protection Act to protect families from future tax increases and I am honored to have received the Taxpayer Champion Award for my work during this session.
• Secure our Borders and Discourage Illegal Immigration: President Reagan said, "A country that can't control its border is not a country." It is the federal government's job to keep us safe from enemies abroad but because they would rather give billions of taxpayers dollars to foreign countries to secure their borders instead of securing our own, we in Texas must step up to the plate.
I will support the most efficient common sense approach to securing our border with Mexico. We can no longer sit idly by while bullets stream across our border into public buildings. It's also time for Texas to require companies to verify the work status of each employee. We must stop funding college tuition, welfare and non-life threatening healthcare for illegal immigrants. That sends the wrong message. I also agree with Governor Perry that we must put an end to all sanctuary cities here in Texas. We worked hard in the House to accomplish that last session and I think it will succeed next time around.
• No tax increases on hard-working West Texas families. Here are a couple of ways we can get this done: Property tax appraisals keep going up every year. It's time we passed strong taxpayer protection. I will file legislation to make appraisal boards elected by the people – not appointed by politicians. And, no more "guilty until proven innocent" mentality when you challenge your appraisal increases. You and I must require the government to prove our property values have gone up rather than us proving that they haven't.
• Improve Teacher Pay and Encourage Excellence in the Classroom As State Representative, I co-authored legislation that would prohibit unfunded mandates on schools as well as postpone the STAAR testing requirement. I voted against both SB1, which unfairly cut funding for our poorer rural schools, and SB8, which harmed our classroom teachers. I will continue to fight against regulations that stifle teacher creativity and increase costs. Teachers are the key to a successful education and we must prioritize spending in the classroom as well as allow schools to invest in vocational education. No Child Left Behind is a nice idea but a failed policy. It does our teachers and students no favors to insist that each child attend college in order to be successful. There are many honorable and highly paid trades that lack a well-trained workforce because of cuts to vocational education funding. We also have a state where some school districts get $6500 p/student while we in rural areas get $4000 p/student. As we address our current funding system, I will work hard to protect rural schools and bring more equity into the funding system. We must bring Christian prayer and appropriate discipline back to schools. Since removing discipline and prayer from public schools, we have experienced tragic results. Times have changed and until we are ready to address these issues with real solutions, we are failing the next generation.
• Advocate for Agriculture and Energy – Agriculture and Energy are the cornerstones of rural West Texas. As your State Representative I will work to expand the use of Wind Energy in West Texas - assuming it is sustainable long term without government subsidies - as this will provide additional jobs and revenue for our communities.
  As a member of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee, I will continue to fight against increased costs and regulations to our agricultural products and services, including regulation on our landowner's continued access to water. My energy policy can be summed up in three words. Drill baby drill. As a member of the Energy Council I will work with leaders across America to reduce regulations and develop responsible and effective energy policy. Our dependence on foreign oil and the hostile countries that supply it must be stopped.
• Fight for Local Control House District 88 covers a diverse area in rural Texas. When the urban dominated house passes statewide mandates, rural communities are put at a disadvantage. The locally elected officials are in the best position to know the strengths and needs of their communities, and they must be given the opportunity and responsibility to address these issues. As your Representative, I will continue to seek legislation that returns the power of government to the local level and shuts down unfunded mandates.
• Protect Private Property Rights including the Right to Bear Arms As an A-rated, card-carrying member of the NRA and concealed carry permit holder, I will fall on the sword to protect our Second Amendment right to own and carry firearms. I will also oppose any measures to expand the government's ability to take property away from private citizens. I support campus carry and agree with our founding fathers… "live free or die."
• Fight for the unborn and protect traditional marriageI believe that each life is created by God and therefore has intrinsic value. As your State Representative, I authored legislation stating that life begins at conception and I believe that it should not be discarded for medical or scientific use at any time. I also offered several amendments to keep taxpayer money from going to abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood. I have been endorsed by Texas Right to Life as well as Texas Alliance for Life because of my pro-life work during session.
I believe that marriage is a holy covenant made between a man and a woman, and I will continue to support legislation that protects both of these ideals.
• Improve upon our current Healthcare system while opposing government-run options I believe that here in the US, we have the finest healthcare system in the world. Perfect, no… but there is a reason that foreigners who can afford it come here for surgery and treatment. We can improve upon that by dealing with the portability and pre-existing conditions issues, but we should not socialize our medicine. Healthcare should be available to every legal citizen at an affordable price. To that end and for the simple fact that Obamacare is unconstitutional, it must be repealed and I will help ensure Attorney General Greg Abbott has the resources he needs to continue leading the charge to protect us from that Washington power grab.
  Texas lead the way last session by seeking compacts with other states to help deter Obamacare from being implemented in it's current form upon our citizens. While we must do everything in our power to see that the entire policy is repealed, we must also take necessary steps to protect Texans in the event it is not.
• Be an Independent Common Sense Conservative voice… I believe that the people of House District 88 are more important than any political party. I am first a conservative before I am a Republican. And the day that Republicans lose their way fiscally or socially, I will vote against them. As the current State Representative, I have worked with members from both sides of the isle, including leadership, on issues that are important and beneficial to this district. I have also opposed members from both sides, including leadership, on issues that would have harmed this district.
As State Representative I have a record of putting the needs of the district above politics, and I pledge to continue putting the people of the district first, all the time – every time!