The Texas Legislative session has been underway for a couple weeks, and there is already much disagreement about one of the House Bills proposed.
City Manager Brad Stafford, speaking on Grilling Stafford last week, talked about HB 749, and what impact it might have on Navasota’s government.
“They are basically trying to stop the voices of local government. As a local government, the cities, we are members of the Texas Municipal League (TML). The TML keeps up with what is going on in the legislature, and then reports back to us. The state considers them a lobbyist. They do not spend money on legislators or anything else. They keep us informed, and yes, we do testify, and they do testify for, and against, bills,” said Stafford. “There is a push out there to basically silence that…and it is not just the city. It is school district, counties, water districts, emergency services districts, would be unable to hire lobbyists, what they consider lobbyists.”
Stafford said that arguments for the bill center on cities just paying attention to the legislative sessions themselves. But, he noted, the city could not afford to hire someone who could realistically keep up with that workload.
And he added too, if you disagree with the bill, or anything going on at the state level, make your voice heard.
“People need to pay attention to what is happening at the legislature, and talk to our legislators. This bill, what it could do…it could really hinder us from having a voice at The Capitol. I thought that is what government was all about, was the people, and having conversations. So, please pay attention, call your legislators, have conversations with them,” Stafford said.
Representatives for Grimes County include Ben Leman in the Texas House, and Charles Schwertner in the Texas Senate.