State Rep. Mike Schofield (photo courtesy Mike Schofield)
The 88th Texas legislative session is in full swing as of January 10th! In this issue of our newsletter, you’ll find information on a number of topics:
- 88th Texas Legislature Kick-Off
- Committee Assignments
- Capitol Visits from the District During Opening Week
- Representative Schofield Staff
- Bills Filed
- Inquiry on West Harris County Regional Water Authority
88th Texas Legislature Kick-Off
The Texas House of Representatives officially convened on January 10th to serve on behalf of their districts for the 88th Texas Legislative Session. I am looking forward to representing you for another session and passing legislation that will benefit our neighbors.
I encourage everyone to stay connected this session on legislation, committee hearings, and floor debates through the following website: https://capitol.texas.gov/
I was named to three committees by Speaker Dade Phelan. Bills are assigned to committees that specialize in the area of law the bill deals with. The bill can’t be voted on by the full House unless it gets a majority of the votes in the committee. It then goes to the Calendars Committee (or the Local and Consent Calendars Committee if the bill affects only one area of the state or is noncontroversial), which can either send it to the full House or block it from getting a vote.
This session I will be serving on:
House Land and Resource Management Committee, which hears bills pertaining to the management of public lands, the power of eminent domain, and much more including the creation, modification, and regulation of municipal utility districts. For our district, this committee hears bills regarding cities’ extraterritorial jurisdiction — which allows cities to control our land even though we aren’t in the city. I have several bills to limit – or eliminate – Houston’s ability to control our property.
House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, which hears bills related to the state’s judicial system, including bills to limit frivolous lawsuits, bills that determine what issues can be the subject matter of lawsuits, the structure of the court system (such as when we need to add more courts or create a special court for a certain type of case), and procedures to be used in our state’s courts. The committee does not deal with criminal laws (which are heard in the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee) nor does it deal with most family law issues (which go to the Juvenile Justice & Family Law Committee), although it does hear bills about guardianship and probate matters.
House Redistricting Committee, which is responsible for redistricting Texas’s congressional districts, state house and senate districts, the State Board of Education, and the state’s appellate court districts. Both the U.S. and Texas Constitutions require the legislature to redraw these lines every ten years, after the U.S. Census is published. The redistricting process this year is mostly procedural and is not expected to produce very different results. During this legislative session, we do not anticipate different results from the most recent process completed in 2021.
Capitol Visits Opening Week
It was a pleasure to have both the Katy Area Chamber Leadership Group and a delegation of Katy ISD Trusties visit the Capitol on the week of the 88th Texas Legislation Session opening week. Legislation priorities for this session were discussed and both groups were able to witness the excited atmosphere surrounding the Capitol as we all gear up for an important legislative session this year.
It is always an honor having our district visit our Capitol office, and I look forward to many more visits as session continues!
Representative Schofield’s Staff
During the Legislation Session, I will be working with our current Capitol staff:
Pam Johnson, Chief of Staff, is joining my staff for another session in my office. She is a veteran of the Texas Capitol, she served as Chief of Staff to former Representative Rodney Anderson and has been a valued staff member to several House members. She will be responsible for all operations of the Capitol office including management legislation for our office.
Annie Callegari, Deputy Chief of Staff/District Director, a graduate of the University of Texas. She served last session as my Legislative Aide and District Director and has returned to serve another session in my office. Previously, she was the Executive Assistant to Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian. In addition to serving as Deputy Chief of Staff, she will be in charge of Representative Schofield’s operations in the district. Her grandfather, former Representative Bill Callegari, was Rep. Schofield’s predecessor as representative for HD 132.
John Greene, Legislative Director, a recent law school graduate is a recent addition to our staff. John will work on legislation and will be our staff member assigned to the Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence.
Ava Loyd, Legislative Intern, a junior at the University of Texas at Austin working towards a degree in Health and Society with a minor in Business. She plans to pursue an academic career after college in law.
Isabella Ballerini, Legislative Intern, a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin working towards a degree in International Relations and Global Studies with a minor in Business and Public Policy. Isabella is a native Houstonian and is looking forward to learning the legislative process particularly involving the Houston area.
If you’d like to get in contact with our office, please feel free to go onto my webpage and click the “Email” button to fill out the form. The page can be found here: https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=132
You can also call our Capitol office at 512-463-0528 or our Katy district office at 281-492-0684. Our district office is located in the Houston Community College building at 22910 Colonial Parkway, Suite 1001.
Bills Filed
I will be filing bills this session on several key issues, including limiting government spending, protecting the fairness and integrity of our elections process, raising homeowner’s property tax “homestead exemption,” and protecting your property from the city of Houston’s “extra territorial jurisdiction.” Below you will find a couple of the bills I have filed thus far:
HB 402 would freeze property taxes for senior citizens and disabled Texans. Currently, only the school portion of their taxes is frozen, leaving the other half of their tax bill to rise exponentially and threaten seniors’ ability to keep their homes.
HB 417 would end changing the clocks twice a year by establishing daylight saving year round.
HB 429 would create an automatic cost of living adjustment for retired teacher’s pensions that would be applied every year.
HB 442 and HB 443 would prevent the city of Houston from controlling property in our district outside the city limits by limiting, or eliminating, Houston’s “extraterritorial jurisdiction” (ETJ). You shouldn’t have to go to a city you don’t live in to ask permission to use your land.
HB 448 would require any government that forces a business to close (as happened during the pandemic) to pay for losses caused by the closure. This would re-establish the historical rule that if government takes or damages property for the public good, it has to pay for it.
HB 1150 would require that referendums on the ballot be stated in plain language. Voters have complained that many of our referendums were stated in legalese that didn’t give the voter any idea of what they were voting on — or worse, were misleading.
HB 294 would technically separate Texas elections from federal elections (although they would continued to be held on the same voting machines at the same time). Under the US Constitution, this would allow Texas to retain control of our elections and not be subject to any laws Congress might pass to get rid of Voter ID, or otherwise try to determine how Texas elections should be run.
I am aware and have grown concerned with the recent increase of cost to our resident’s monthly water bills in relation to the ongoing West Harris County Regional Water Authority pipeline project. While this project is vital to our area to ensure all water demands are met, now and in the future, I am working to find a solution to bring some relief to our monthly water bill charges.
If you would like to assist my office in finding a solution, we are requesting whomever is comfortable, to please send their most recent(s) water bill that you have received (we will black out personal information). This will aid our efforts in researching this issue further to develop a solution moving forward.
To provide this information, I kindly ask you to either email it to our House Inbox (district132.schofield@house.texas.gov) with the subject line “Inquiry on WHCRWA (Your Initials) ” or mail it to our Capitol address at P.O. Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768. I appreciate all efforts and thank you in advance.
Thank you and God Bless Texas,
