Texas Democratic Party Continues Progressive Turn

The Texas Democratic Party continued its turn to toward a more progressive stance at Saturday October 12 State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) meeting. The full committee unanimously approved a series of potential referenda items for the March Primary ballot. The proposed referenda are expected to appear on the party site in the near future and in order to be placed on the Primary ballot will have to receive support from 50,000 people by signing online on each referenda item.

These are the 19 potential referenda:

1. On a Living Wage for all Texans – The Texas Legislature should raise the minimum wage to a livable wage and Congress should pass legislation raising the federal minimum wage to 110% of the federal poverty level for a family of four without exception.
2. On Medicaid Expansion – The Governor and the Texas Legislature should accept federal funds, as provided in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, for expansion of Medicaid to provide coverage to millions of uninsured and under-insured Texans.
3. On the Texas Dream Act – The Legislature should allow any Texas high school student, who has lived in the state for at least three years and lived here continuously for the last year, to be eligible for in-state tuition for higher education and be able to eligible to earn legal status through a higher education or military service.
4. On Fair Pay – The United State Senate and House of Representatives should pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to ensure that women lawfully receive equal pay for equal work and grant legal redress over gender based pay discrimination.
5. On Reproductive Rights – The Texas Legislature should repeal all legislation prohibiting women, in consultation with their doctors, from making their own health care decisions and affirm that the access to reproductive and contraceptive care cannot be abridged by an employer for any reason and must be free of harassment and discrimination.
6. On Comprehensive Sex Education – The Texas Legislature should fund targeted efforts to reduce Texas’ high teen pregnancy rates, through the provision of evidence based, accurate and effective, comprehensive age-appropriate sex education programs with abstinence and contraception components.
7. On Non-Discrimination Legislation – The Texas Legislature should adopt legislation that expands protections against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
8. On Marriage Equality – The Texas Legislature should allow for the repeal of the Texas Marriage Constitutional Amendment and discriminatory marriage laws and grant the right of marriage equality to all Texans.
9. On Immigration Reform – The United States Congress must pass immigration reform, including an earned path to citizenship for individuals contributing to the economy and the dependents of those individuals.
10. On Reversal of Citizens United – The Congress of the United States shall pass a constitutional amendment that establishes that money is not speech, and can thus be regulated, and that only human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutionally protected rights.
11. On Global Climate Change – The Texas Legislature must encourage the use of alternative forms of energy and encourage environmentally-friendly energy resources and speed development of energy-efficient technology, vehicles appliances and green buildings.
12. On Education – The Texas Legislature and Office of the Governor must realize that public education is a right to be enjoyed by all students, not the privileged few, and ensure that funding levels are sufficient so that every student has access to the highest quality teachers, facilities, and supplies.
13. On Redistricting – The Texas Legislature should adopt fair political boundaries – respecting the notion of one person, one vote – while providing opportunities to minority candidates and voters to have their opinions valued and heard.
14. On Veterans – The Texas Legislature should advocate for veterans; including programs to assist veterans find meaningful employment and ensure benefits, including education, housing and medical care, worthy of their sacrifices.
15. On Buy American – The Office of the Governor should reconsider its stance and veto of the “Buy American Act”, recognizing the importance of Texan made goods to the economy, and not bend to the whims of international business conglomerates producing inferior products overseas with poorly paid labor.
16. On Broadband Access – The Legislature should enable usable, affordable high speed internet for every family across Texas, allowing all to participate in the twenty-first century’s technology-based economy and providing every child the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to compete in the competitive global environment.
17. On Texas Enterprise Fund – The Texas Legislature should implement oversight of the Enterprise Fund, halting the flow of taxpayer money to some of the largest, most profitable companies in the world as favors to political donors of elected officials.
18. On Statewide Transportation – The Texas Legislature should ensure that safe, efficient transportation throughout the state is a priority – especially in rural areas – appropriating sufficient funds to maintain paved roads that allow the state’s people and products to flow across them efficiently and quickly.
19. On Unions – The Texas Legislature should allow for workers, including public sector employees, to have the rights to collective bargaining and unionization, providing them with an important voice over workplace issues affecting their quality of life.

The Texas Democratic Party hopes to promote participation in the March Primary especially in those areas with uncontested primaries.

Don't miss the opportunity to vote in November because you don't have the proper documents

Recent changes in Texas voting laws may surprise many voters in November when we vote on city council, school boards, bonds and constitutional amendments. Beginning with this election all in person voters must show an approved photo ID which are limited to:

Texas drivers license

Texas concealed handgun license

Texas Election Identification Certificate

Texas personal identification card, United States military identification card containing the person’s photograph

U.S. citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph

U.S. passport

With the exception of the U.S. citizenship certificate, the identification must be current or have expired no more than 60 days before being presented at the polling place.

Other changes include a requirement that the name on the photo ID and voter registration match so if you’re a woman who has recently married or divorced and changed your name be sure documents match.

Since the legislature failed to fund voter education measures to insure that all voters know the new rules non-partisan organizations have pooled resources and created a web site www.gotidtexas.org to help voters confirm that they have the requisite documents to vote. Common Cause Texas urges everyone to check their documents and tell friends and family about the site so that no voter is disenfranchised in November because they didn’t know what they needed.

JC Dufresne

Common Cause Texas, Vice Chair

Lamar Smith advocates for Soviet style political interference in science

Lamar Smith hasn’t learned a thing from the Soviet Union’s dalliance with political interference in science. In the 1940’s Trofim Lysenko was an agronomist who became director of Soviet biology under Joseph Stalin. Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of a theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics. He used political pressure to direct agricultural scientists and farm policies that ruined farm productivity for decades before he was finally discredited. Smith wants to revisit Communist style control of science here in the U.S.

While Smith’s immediate target seems to be political science research that he doesn’t agree with he is a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist which believes that sickness is an illusion caused by mistaken beliefs, and that the sick should be treated by a special form of prayer intended to correct those beliefs, rather than by medicine. Will that non-sense lead him to advocate for eliminating funds for medical research?

Smith’s bill would replace peer review at the National Science Foundation with a set of funding criteria chosen by Congress. His bill would also start a process to determine whether the same criteria should be used by every other federal science agency. Do we really want a bunch of lawyers deciding what is worthy of scientific research?

Kuempel throws local school districts under the bus - Again!

State Representative John Kuempel continued to attack public education by actively participating in the witch hunt that killed CSCOPE thereby costing many school districts in the state money as they will now need to develop their own individual curricula instead of sharing resources with all other districts. Superintendent Burnie Roper of Lackland ISD called the claims of anti-Americanism in CSCOPE “ridiculous.” Given that Lackland ISD serves many children from the sprawling airbase I doubt Roper’s anything less than a patriot.

Shortly after the vote Thomas Ratliff, Republican member of the State Board of Education, issued a press release that said in part “With the elimination of CSCOPE, the amount of resources and human capital required to develop curriculum for those 875 districts just multiplied because they are all on their own again.  This is the very duplication of effort and waste of taxpayer dollars that CSCOPE had solved, at least before today.”

Last session Kuempel disregarded pleas from constituents and local school board members who urged him to protect funding for public education and instead voted to cut public education funding by $5 billion.

Once again Kuempel has thrown the school districts in HD 44 under the bus telling them to find the resources to replace the service CSCOPE had provided them without fully restoring funding to prior levels. Local control means that each independent school district had the choice to use CSCOPE or not, with this vote Kuempel and those who supported this witch hunt have removed that option.

Kuempel more interested in favor of homebuilders than constituents

While my state representative John Kuempel has been ignoring the pleas of his constituents in Guadalupe County for stronger consumer protection for homebuyers he’s been busy currying favor with homebuilders by getting HB 1503 passed. That’s a bill which adds seats for those builders on the advisory boards that oversee licensing of electrical and air conditioning contractors.

Rather than tell the likes of DR Horton and Pulte Homes that it’s unacceptable to sell homes so poorly built that their slabs break into pieces in as little as two years John Kuempel has arranged for these builders to add more power to their already outsized influence with the specialty subcontractors they need to build homes. Remember homebuilders aren’t licensed like electricians and plumbers, they don’t have to pass any tests to show competence all they have to do is hang out a sign that says they’re a homebuilder.
We can all look forward to more shortcuts and substandard materials as the DR Horton, Pulte and their ilk exert pressure on electricians and air conditioning contractors through their new seats on the licensing boards. If like me you’re appalled by Kuempel’s disregard for his constituents in favor of big money campaign donors I urge you to call his office at 512-463-0602 and let him know you want him to support the home buyers lemon law HB 1887.

Expanding Medicaid good for Texas, great for Guadalupe County

Over 27,000 or more than 1 in 5 citizens of Guadalupe County has no medical insurance according to the nonpartisan Center for Public Policy Priorities and therefore will have restricted or no access to medical care and prescription medication. More than 5,500 of those who are uninsured are children. Gov. Perry has so far refused to accept federal funds available under the Affordable Care Act that expand Medicaid to cover more than 15,000 additional people here in Guadalupe County.


Regardless of how you feel about the man in the White House or whether you think the Affordable Care Act should be repealed don’t you think that Guadalupe County and the rest of Texas should have the opportunity to draw down those funds for our citizens. It isn’t just health care for low income or out of work people we’re missing out on. It’s nearly $20 million a year which is enough to pay almost 400 additional medical professionals like Registered Nurses and family doctors. Just think of the economic impact of adding 400 more highly paid professionals to the local market, that’s new customers for everything from restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores and auto dealers to clothing stores, bakeries and convenience stores.

If Texas doesn’t participate in expanding Medicaid those dollars just go to other states to make their plans more generous. If Rick Perry let’s that happen isn’t that like cutting off your nose to spite your face?

Rep. Kuempel fails to serve his constituents

State Representative John Kuempel is more interested in dogs and cats than he is in his own constituents. Homeowners all over Cibolo have been suffering from new homes with foundation failures caused by the shoddy construction practices of major home builders and we sought help from Rep. Kuempel. We asked him to file a bill in the Texas legislature to provide home buyers with the opportunity to have their lemon homes bought back by the builder when they have repeatedly failed to remedy significant problems.

Currently you have a more consumer protection when you buy a toaster than when you buy a home even though it is likely the largest single investment you’ll ever make.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that while you have to have a license to cut hair, operate a nail salon or drive a car, home builders aren’t required to have a license. Soon if Kuempel gets his will dog and cat dealers will be licensed and regulated but not home builders.

Cibolo Mayor Jennifer Hartman, Councilman Steve Liparoto, Guadalupe County Judge Larry Jones and Commissioner Jim Wolverton all supported us and urged Kuempel to file the bill. In the last days before the bill filing deadline he wouldn’t even meet with his constituents; instead he filed HB 1449, a bill to license and regulate dog and cat dealers.