Rep. Christian Calls for House Committee of the Whole for Voter ID
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Governor Rick Perry declared Voter ID an emergency item facing the state of Texas on Thursday Jan. 20th 2011. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and Representative Wayne Christian President of the Texas Conservative Coalition were quick to respond to the Governors proclamation.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst convened the Texas Senate into a special Committee of the Whole on Monday Jan. 24th 2011 to deal with this emergency item.
Following Lt. Gov. Dewhursts lead Rep. Christian filed an amendment today in the Texas House that would require the Texas House to take up Voter ID in a Committee of the Whole with the same speed and resolve shown by the Texas Senate.
Rep. Christian stated Voter ID strikes at the very heart of our free and democratic society the integrity of Texas elections is too important to again be held hostage by last minute political maneuvering like what happened last legislative session. I commend the Texas Senate for taking immediate action on Voter ID and I hope my colleagues in the House will do the same.
Voter ID is the requirement for Texans to display a valid photo identification before voting.
Rep. Christian Joins the Rural Caucus
Rep. Christian once again is honored to join the Rural Caucus of the Texas Legislature. The Rural Caucus is a bi-partisan group that works together to protect our shared rural interests. Issues the Rural Caucus will work together on include the budget redistricting agricultural concerns groundwater and surface safety unfunded mandates on rural counties and more.
If you have an issue you would like to bring before the Rural Caucus please let myself or my staff know.
Rep. Christian Votes to Slash House Members Budget
Rep. Christian cast a vote to cut all State Representatives office operating budgets immediately by 10 and 14 effective in June of 2011. Christians vote helped HR 3 the Housekeeping Resolution for the House of Representatives pass. The vote came in light of the Texas Comptrollers announcement last week that the state would face an estimated $27 Billion budget shortfall for the 2012-2013 biennium.
The Governor and the legislature have asked all state agencies to find areas where they can cut the fat out of their budgets to help meet the shortfall Christian stated It would be utter hypocrisy for us to ask other agencies to cut their budgets and not do the same for ourselves. We must all work together and do our part to help slash the budget in order to meet the shortfall and not raise taxes.
Rep. Christian Calls to Do Away with Pledge Card System in Speakers Race
Representative Wayne Christian filed an amendment today that will ban the use of the pledge card system by the incumbent Speaker of the Texas House and candidates for the Speaker of the Texas House. The pledge card system allows insider deals to be made and this takes away from the will of the people.
After hearing from constituents and activists groups across the state Rep. Christian stated It is my belief that the pledge card system is used to block the will of the people from being heard and hinders Representatives from properly representing their districts.
