Texas Representative of District 88, Ken King spoke at Levelland’s City Hall Wednesday morning to address priorities and answer audience questions about the upcoming legislative session.
The visit was part of King’s Town Hall tour, a prelude to the legislative session that will begin in January.
King spoke about several topics that are to be addressed in the legislature, including public education.
“There will be a voucher program,” King said. “We lost this fight.”
The current public school funding deficits and teacher shortage, with 10 shortage areas in Texas approved by the U.S. Department of Education, is a catastrophic mess, King said.
But, he said he thinks the chances of a state share going up with a surplus of sales tax, getting rid of deficits, are great, if they do what they’re told on the voucher topic.
For the upcoming session, the representative said he suspects a lot of money will be pumped into public education and teachers will see a pay raise.
The representative said he plans on refiling House Bill 100 in November and considers Texas’s Teacher Incentive Allotment – in which designated teachers are rewarded – to be sustainable.
He is also committed to more mental health services in schools, including solutions like service center partnerships and telemedicine employment, King said.
“No matter your zip code, you should have a quality education,” King said, “and that’s what our constitution calls for, and I’m dedicated to that.”
The representative said emergency management and wildfire mitigation is a priority for him. He also added that the resource call to enact federal contracts for aircraft was a communication nightmare during the recent wildfires.
The representative said that Texas needs to own and control some emergency management aircraft and a firefighting air force as a buffer. He also suggested that the state should contract directly with private aircraft owners.
“I always wanna take the fed. out,” King said.
He also said volunteer firefighters that helped with the efforts did a fantastic job, but money from donations, budget line items and the 2604 grant is not enough: they need to update equipment and increase funding. “While we have this surplus, we need to plant some trees,” King said.
The representative also mentioned the state of property insurance for Texans due to the number of disasters.
“If we can mitigate just one disaster, we have a real good shot of getting the insurance industry to come back as a whole,” King said.
The Railroad Commission enforcing responsibility for fires started by oil fields is a way that can prevent unnecessary disasters, he said.
The representative said borders are also a big priority and will be a big dollar item. King also mentioned he wants more done at the border in New Mexico.
King also anticipates more water laws.
Some budget points for the upcoming session were highlighted, including a possible surplus and potentially $25 billion in rainy day funds.
Concerning the budget, he said he suggests an appraisal system that assesses property taxes at a regional level. If not, then at least a community with the same economic base.
They should start investing in infrastructure and he will be committed to that in the upcoming session, the representative said.