Conservatives of all stripes agree on the need to limit the unchecked growth of government, and a year that has lawmakers tightening the state’s belt anyway seems like a good time to champion such commonsense, pro-taxpayer legislation. Yet, House leaders are not.
State constitutional amendments accomplishing this goal were referred to the House Appropriations Committee months ago. To date, none of these have even been scheduled for a hearing.
Keeping state government growth under control is a priority item for Texas’ taxpayers. This is a critical protection to ensure state government doesn’t become bloated in times of prosperity; bloat that is often hard to cut back as we’ve seen in this legislative session.
It’s a possibility that Mr. Pitts doesn’t want to schedule a hearing on Rep. Ken Paxton’s HJR 70, given the challenge Paxton made to Speaker Joe Straus at the start of the legislative session. However, it doesn’t explain why Mr. Pitts is shunning legislation filed by pro-Straus Republican lawmakers like Bill Callegari (HJR42) and Kelly Hancock (HJR58). Mr. Callegari’s bill even includes 11 authors and co-authors.
With time running out in the Session, Mr. Pitts should act quickly to hold hearings on at least one of these commonsense measures to keep future spending under control.
With Republicans having a once-in-a-lifetime supermajority in the Texas House, this is the perfect time for Mr. Pitts to push for what the Lone Star State’s taxpayers and voters clearly expect.
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Dustin Matocha is the Social Media Coordinator for Empower Texans / Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.
Connect with Dustin on Twitter.
