Yesterday marked an important first! I passed my first bill on the House floor. I hope that this is the beginning of more good things to come.
House Bill 1347 expands the Mission Valley specialty license plates funding from just one to all three of the historic missions in El Paso. The license plates were created in 2004 to assist funding the Socorro Mission Restoration Efforts.
While the Socorro efforts are not over, all three missions require constant improvements. These are some of the oldest missions in Texas. I’m hoping now that all three of these missions are included we can better promote the sales of these license plates and maintain the upkeep of these historic buildings.
I’m looking forward to continue seeing this bill move through the Senate and sent to Governor Perry’s desk.
The Mission Trail Association and the El Paso Diocese have done some amazing work in their fundraising efforts to preserve our community’s history. You can find the specialty mission license plates here.
We’ve had hearings on three other bills this week as well:
HB 904 would require school districts to report class sizes from kindergarten through 12th grade to the Texas Education Agency in order to evaluate how this could potentially be affecting our students and the quality of their learning experiences.
HB 2004 expands on the amendment I added to House Bill 5. HB 2004 also requires English Language Learning students or recent immigrants to be enrolled in a U.S. school for a minimum of 60 consecutive days to count towards a school year of enrollment. In addition, a school may not have their performance rating on an assessment instrument to these students for a period of two years after the student’s initial enrollment in a school if they qualify for these standards. This bill makes adequate adjustments for these unique student populations and school districts.
HB 2403 helps clean up current statute in order for the Romeo and Juliet defense to apply to all adolescents.
All three bills are steps to equalize the playing field for the least represented Texans, and I’m proud to continue standing up for them.