By State Rep. Ken Paxton
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas In last weeks article I mentioned that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 4899) that targets Texas by making particular demands on our State while simultaneously circumventing our States process for funding public education. Interestingly H.R. 4899 also includes a provision that could devastate volunteer firefighting efforts across Texas & hurt local government budgets.
This bill also includes billions of dollars in earmarks for projects including energy loans Pell Grants and bailouts and also includes language favoring Big Labor at the expense of states rights.
According to the
National Right to Work Committee union organizers who won a representation election by a simple majority of those voting would be empowered to negotiate contracts on behalf of all public safety officers in each bargaining unit." In other words through this bill Congress could strip the freedoms of tens of thousands of police ambulance technicians and firemen to negotiate directly with their employers on their own behalf.
Violators including volunteer firefighters could face fines or actually be terminated from their jobs as participation in the union could become compulsory.
The decision to collectively bargain with firefighters ambulance technicians and policemen should be left up to the decision of the elected officials of the local government. Each municipality county and emergency service district in Texas is in the best position to understand and react to the needs of their communities.
These local budget and personnel decisions are best made at the local level not by federal requirements.
The proposed change in federal law to require collective bargaining would only exempt cities under 5000 in population. Cities that currently have collective bargaining could have their local ordinance overridden by the new federal laws.
Texas Municipal League Executive Director Frank Sturzl was quoted in the Lone Star Report saying Its a very costly deal and it would be very widespread.
At a time when our state municipalities and counties are struggling to balance our budgets without raising taxes requiring collective bargaining for our most essential government services would force additional property tax increases at the local level. Washington is again trying to disregard our rights and now force unionism in Texas. This issue should handled by state and local levels of government not Congress.
Further this effort could devastate Texas financially at a time when we are already facing a
multi-billion dollar budget deficit.
This measure passed in the House and now we have an opportunity to encourage our two U.S. Senators to examine the facts and vote in the best interest of Texas.
I encourage all of you to contact the two U.S. Senators from Texas (Senator John Cornyn and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison) and let your voice be heard.
Representative Ken Paxton was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002 and is currently in his 4th term 
representing District 70. Paxton received his BA & MBA from Baylor University and also earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. He and his wife Angela live in McKinney TX and have 4 children.
