BURLESON – Bills intended to ease public school financing, give a roadway coming to Johnson County an identity and provide assistance for non-profits and contractors were among some of the key pieces of legislation state Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, passed in the recently closed 82nd state legislative regular session.
Gov. Rick Perry has called lawmakers back for a 30-day special session that opened May 31.
“The governor said he thought we would look back and this would be one of the most successful sessions we have had for the state of Texas,” Orr said. “It was for me.”
With a supermajority in the House, a decisive majority in the Senate and a Republican governor, the state’s GOP passed legislation addressing some of it’s party’s top priorities. Twelve of the 14 bills pursued by Orr have either been signed into law, sent to the governor’s desk for signature or will result in an election proposition.
“It just goes to show when you have a Republican supermajority what you can get done,” Orr said.
The Texas Conservative Coalition, of which Orr is a member, passed its priority items of balancing the state budget without a tax increase, improving election integrity and further securing the border. It also pledged to cut taxes and pass legislation that would limit federal intrusion into the lives of Texans.
“We said the two biggest items were going to be redistricting and the budget,” Orr said. “We passed redistricting maps for the House and Senate, working diligently to keep Johnson County whole. The budget is balanced, it did not raise taxes and we reserved much of the Rainy Day Fund.”
Lawmakers approved a $4 billion expenditure of the Rainy Day Fund, also known as the economic stabilization fund, Orr said. Cuts to education were dropped from $9.8 billion to $4 billion, he added.
“I visited with our local superintendents and they felt if we could get to $4 billion they could budget and work through the cuts,” Orr said. “We did the best we could with what we had to work with.”
Although, some Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Wendy Davis, representing a Fort Worth district that extends south to the Tarrant County line in Burleson, suggest by making deep cuts to education the tax increase will come from individual school districts.
HJR 109, by Orr, would provide as much as $500 million in funding for public schools if approved as a constitutional amendment by voters this fall.
“It is the biggest thing I’ve done since I’ve been in the legislature,” Orr said.
HB 367, by Orr, with support from lawmakers in Johnson and Tarrant counties, designated State Highway 121 as the Chisholm Trail Parkway from downtown Fort Worth to Cleburne.
“That is a road we’ve been trying to build for the past 40 years,” Orr said. “I think it is going to open the whole western area of Johnson County.”
The roadway will provide an alternative, more direct route from Cleburne to Fort Worth, and it could provide a “huge economic engine” for land within the Joshua ISD, Orr said.
HB 479, by Orr, was a bill filed on behalf of Bosque County. It will allow economic development corporations in neighboring towns to have joint meetings in counties of less than 50,000 population. The bill has not yet been signed into law.
HB 645, by Orr, would allow chief executives of charitable organizations to file ad valorem taxation based upon the entity, instead of the current practice of the chief executive having to file under their personal identification numbers. The bill has not yet been signed into law. The idea for the bill was brought to Orr by Robert Stewart, the president of Grandview Bank.
“He brought a good idea that made the state better,” Orr said.
HB 1456, by Orr, would facilitate quicker release of lien and payment to subcontractors. The bill has not yet been signed into law.
HB 2872, by Orr, eases some restrictions on the sale of certain motor vehicles at shows or exhibitions. The bill has not yet been signed into law.
He had six other bills that were amended and rolled into other legislation that went to the governor’s desk.
“It was the most success I’ve had in getting bills passed into law,” Orr said.
Among those bills was one that could provide some tools to the city of Joshua in its battle with the Johnson County Emergency Services District. It restricts the ESD board from issuing a budget until an audit has been filed, he said. If an audit is not performed by the state deadline, the bill would remove the president and treasurer of the board.
“I’m personally excited that we were able to get as much done on the issue as we did,” Orr said.
He does not anticipate filing further legislation in the special session, and it would only be accepted if it were to be identified by the governor as a special session item.
- Burleson Star