Rural issues pushed before Texas Legislature

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

August 4, 2005 - Since the Texas Legislature couldn’t agree on school and tax plans for Texas citizens, causing Gov. Rick Perry to call a second special session, agricultural producers still have time to follow-up on issues important to them.

During the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association conference in Kerrville earlier this month, Bob Turner, a “rural issues” lobbyist addressed the attendees, explaining how important it is to make their needs and wants known.

“It’s not what’s happening in the legislature … it’s what’s not happening!” explained Turner.

He expressed the importance of “insuring that everyone plays fair when paying their fair share” of taxes, and noted that some of the larger, private businesses have found loop-holes that allow them to escape some taxation in Texas. Turner said there are large Texas-based companies who have moved important parts of their businesses to states such as Delaware, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona so they will not have to cooperate with Texas taxation rules and regulations.

Turner did note there was “supposed to be” a change in rural areas for public school bus transportation costs. Rather than being paid by the number of students on a bus, the number of miles the bus traveled would indicate how much a school system would collect for transportation costs.

Since both HB2 and HB3 “perished” in the first hours of the second, $2 million special session, many are doubtful that school reform or tax reform will find common ground with the legislators, although many Republicans voted with Democrats on the final vote that is causing “irreconcilable differences” among the lawmakers. After all, according to Turner, there hasn’t been an “agreement” on public school finance in over 30 years!

“There’s a lot of guessing going on at the Capitol,” explained Turner. “It’s a very politically hot debate!”

A tax on feed, seed and fertilizer always causes a fight among lawmakers, said Turner. Those not involved, personally, in agriculture don’t seem to understand that these things are not an option, when it comes to production — that, in turn, provides food and clothing for the public.

Another “hot spot” with ag producers, as well as urban citizens, is the fact that although taxing entities call it an “ag exemption,” Turner explained that it is actually “a formula used to evaluate farm production … just like the oil industry.”

With several more weeks before the second special session comes to a close, Turner encouraged everyone with questions and/or comments to get in touch with their local representatives. Don’t think that the direct contacts/e-mails go unnoticed, he stressed. In a recent news article, one lawmaker said he’d received more than 1,000 contacts on the school and tax issues, causing him to “re-evaluate” his decision.