There are only ten days left of the legislative session. While we’ve been able to make some significant accomplishments, we’ll be working long, hard days at the end to address the big issues we need to tackle before crossing the finish line.
I’m pleased to report that four of the bills I have filed have passed out of the Texas House. I expect these bills to pass the Senate and make their way to the Governor’s desk.
The last two of my bills that passed the House targeted key features of my legislative agenda: improving infrastructure and reducing the high-stakes in testing our public school students.
HB 3933 will provide water and wastewater to approximately 1,300 residents in House District 75 by transferring infrastructure and responsibilities of the Cuadrilla Improvement Corporation to the Lower Valley Water District. This will allow a million dollar water improvement project to provide clean, safe water to several colonias.
HB 2004 and its Senate version, SB 377 will define a school year as at least sixty consecutive days. This will help our recently immigrated and English Language Learning (ELL) students better integrate and qualify for a one year exemption on a standardized test.
Some compromises had to be made with the original version of the bill, but we’ve laid a foundation to improve the education of our ELL and recently immigrated students. I anticipate making further improvements on this issue in the future.
There are big issues that still need to be dealt with before we end, like funding our public schools and our state water project. I’ll continue fighting for you every step of the way in these very important last several days.
As things wind down here in Austin, I will be working more out of my district office in Socorro. You can find contact information for both of my offices here.