Dear Friends,

What a year!  I sincerely hope that you and your family are having a fun and safe summer, in spite of the heat, electricity rates and high fuel prices.  (We are all feeling the pain of the pinch.) I regret that the electricity reform bill was killed during the final days of the last legislative session.  Although the next legislative session does not begin until January, 2009, my office is already working on legislation to introduce which could improve the situation for consumers. 

We've had a busy year thus far.  In March, I hosted a Transportation Briefing at Alliance Airport.  Chairman of the Texas House Committee on Appropriations, Representative Warren Chisum, and the Chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission, Representative Carl Isett, traveled here at my request to meet with local leaders and receive an overview of Tarrant County's transportation issues and challenges.  These influential legislative members now understand how crucial transportation funding is for our growing region.  And currently I am working with local leaders in the process of the Sunset review for the Texas Department of Transportation.  The department is under scrutiny and we anticipate a re-vamping of their operations.  It is essential for us to be fully engaged in this matter to ensure that the interests of North Texans are understood and accommodated by policy makers.

On April 8, we held the first meeting of my Property Appraisal Working Group, in Southlake.  The two-hour meeting was quite informative, and included my invited guests, Rep. John Otto, from the Houston area and a leader on property tax reform in the Texas House, as well as Mr. John Marshall, Tarrant County's Chief Appraiser, and Mr. Tim Wooten, Area Manager, Property Tax Division, Office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.  We had quite a few interested citizens attend the meeting in addition to the members of the Working Group, itself.  The Working Group is comprised of one representative from each of my district's taxing entity categories, e.g., schools, municipalities, county, etc., as well as an equal number of public members who have issues or concerns with the current appraisal process.  The purpose of this ad hoc committee is to clearly define the problems that need to be addressed, and to identify legislative remedies.  This information will help prepare me to address these matters during the next legislative session.  I offer a great message of thanks to all those who are volunteering their time to serve on this important committee.

Please remember that I welcome and need your input, so please never hesitate to share your thoughts with me.  Until next time, we continue to work for you - serving our constituents by making state government agencies responsive to the needs of the people of the 98th Texas House District, and looking for ways to improve state law to make a better Texas for you and our children and grandchildren.  As always, thank you very much for the privilege of allowing me to serve you.  

Sincerely yours,

 State Representative

District 98