October 2009 Cover Story
State Senator Dan Patrick Speaks on the Legislative Session and the Gas Tax.
The Houston Contractors Association was pleased to welcome Texas State Senator, Dan Patrick as our guest speakers at this month’s luncheon. Senator Patrick thanked the contractors for allowing him to come out and address the group today and said that he would discuss this past legislative session, the upcoming session and the governor’s race.
Looking at the past legislative session, Senator Patrick stated that Texas came into this last session with about $6 billion in the reserve account. Going into this next session the Senator stated that they estimate the state will have about $9 billion in the rainy day fund. The increase was due to some Federal Stimulus package money. By the time that the Senate gets back up and running in 2011, Senator Patrick said that they are anticipating having to spend all of that money right away to cover an anticipated $9 billion shortfall. The reason for the deficit is due to the economic conditions that have caused declining sales tax revenues, $4 billion that must be set aside for the 2006 property tax cut and increased Medicaid spending. Senator Patrick said that Texas is in sound financial shape right now, but in 2011 it will be a tough session dealing with the finances.
According to the Senator, Texas has an opportunity to lead the nation in everything from medicine, education to infrastructure. This is possible because of the 1500 people a day that are moving to Texas. Senator Patrick stated that today there are 23 million people in Texas, estimates say that by 2040 there will be 50 million people calling Texas home. When the economy turns in the next few years there will be tremendous growth in this state, and that is good for business. The Senator said that what we need to do over the next several years is make sure that we have good elected officials who are serious about business and growing our economy. Senator Patrick noted that with a state that is going to double in population over the next 30 years that brings with it great opportunity and great challenges. Roads are going to be one of those challenges.
To get a sense of the size of the Texas economy, according to the Senator, despite the economic downturn, Texas still has an economy that is larger than Russia, India or Mexico. He also reminded the audience that if you think thirty years is a long way away, then you need to remember that thirty years ago he was working as a sportscaster for channel 11 and Earl Campbell was a running back for the Oilers. That wasn’t that long ago. Senator Patrick also pointed out that since the legislature meets every other year, that is only 15 sessions, and because they only vote on bills for two months in every session that is only 30 months. This creates a real challenge for elected officials where the legislature is not a full-time body. The State passed a budget during the last legislative session totaling $180 billion. This budget was passed by 150 house members and 31 senators all of which are part time officials who make $600 a month. According to Senator Patrick there are not enough people who understand the budget, there are not enough business people in the legislature, and there are too many attorneys. Texas needs to find elected officials that have a vision, have a plan and put the next generation ahead of the next election. The Senator said that if Texas can do this, then we will be a juggernaut that will lead this country while other states are going broke and losing population.
Senator Patrick stated that during the last session he went in with an agenda of about 20 major bills and 20 secondary bills. Of that number fifteen were passed. One of his key bills that passed required that there be a backup power generator at every water district. During hurricane Ike approximately 28% of the water districts were out of water. Even the City of Houston was within 24 hours of being without water. As the Senator put it, “We can do without air conditioning and lights but we cannot do without water.” There was no backup generator at the Trinity River station and only by an emergency executive order from the Bush administration were we able to re-route power to the station and keep it operating. Because of his bill all MUD districts are now required to have backup generators at their facilities.
Changing topics, Senator Patrick stated that one of the issues that we need to address is education. The Senator is the Vice Chair of the Education and Higher Education Committee in Austin and according to him we need to work harder to prepare our workforce for the future. According to Senator Patrick, approximately 30% of Texas students do not graduate from the ninth grade and when you look at the State’s largest school districts, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, that number increases to 70%. Texas cannot survive as a state without addressing this issue. The State has also made a move to go back to more career, or vocational training classes. According to the Senator, not everyone needs a four year degree, and we need to prepare young people who are leaving high school for either education or a career. Senator Patrick said that the State needs to find a way to reach out to young minority residents and teach them a skill if they don’t want to go to college.
Senator Patrick next moved on to the issue of transportation in Texas. The Senator admitted that at another meeting recently, he was correctly overheard as saying that he was in favor of raising the gas tax. “Being a Republican and being a conservative doesn’t mean that we should be against everything, we should be for the right things” said Patrick. Looking at the State budget it becomes clear why there is so little money for roads, 83 cents of every dollar brought in by the State goes to education and healthcare. According the Senator Patrick, 50 cents of every dollar goes to education and 33 cents goes to healthcare and that number is rising rapidly. In 2003 Texas spent $35 billion for healthcare and this year the budget is $60 billion. The Senator stated that voted against the special gas tax in this last session that increased taxes only in Harris County. That bill died in session. That bill would have put gas stations in Harris County at a disadvantage, especially those that are on the border next to gas stations in other counties. The Senator stated that we have one of the busiest ports in the country, but we have trouble getting the goods out, to fix that we have to have roads for commerce and for commuting. The best way to address that problem is to increase the gas tax state-wide by one to two cents and then index that to inflation. The indexing would equate out to about a one cent increase per year. The Senator stated that the gas tax has not gone up or been adjusted for inflation since 1991. Also remember that out of the 20 cents that gets allocated to road construction, the state takes five cents and give it to education and another three cents goes to the Department of Public Safety. This gas tax increase will not solve all of the problems stated Patrick, but it begins to solve them.
Senator Patrick addressed a question from the audience about who will be the next Governor of Texas stating that he is supporting Rick Perry but that he is not anti Kay and that if Kay wins in the primary he will support her in November. Kay has to make a decision before the deadline stated Patrick, there are 50 to 70 officeholders in the pipeline who don’t know what to do and can’t do anything until she steps down. As an example he said that if she steps down before the end of the year, then David Dewhurst will likely get the appointment to fill her position. Greg Abbott becomes the next Lt. Governor that opens up his spot and for every spot that comes open, there are at least three to four people looking to fill that spot. It creates a domino effect, but that can’t start until she steps down. The Senator stated that she needs to make a decision so that people can plan their futures and begin setting up for a campaign or not.
