State Representative Jeff Leach
Legislative Update
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas This week the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence commenced our first committee hearing where we heard testimony from Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht along with representatives from a variety of state agencies. It was a distinct honor to welcome Justice Hecht to the committee where he covered a variety of key issues related to judicial qualifications judicial compensation bail reform and other important topics.
As members continue to file bills this legislative session I wanted to point out that we are approaching a very important deadline in the coming weeks. March 8th is the deadline for members in both chambers to file legislation during the 86th Legislature. To that end I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight a few bills that my office is working on - all of which were brought to my attention by constituents and community leaders. If you are interested in reviewing the bills that I have filed thus far please click here for a complete list. Also please be sure to contact my office if you have any questions or concerns about any bills moving through the legislative process.
House Bill 1343 - Provides victims of sexual abuse and assault sexual exploitation and kidnapping with further protections to prevent improper contact by their assailant. The bill closes a loophole to ensure that perpetrators of heinous crimes do not send harassing and unwanted letters to their victims.
House Bill 821 - Known as Taxparency House Bill 821 shines a light on the flawed system of Robin Hood by revealing the percentage of taxpayer dollars that are diverted outside of each school district - and unfairly redistributed to other districts across the state.
House Bill 2002 - As we work to rein-in our states overreliance on standardized testing it is important for taxpayers to know how much the state is actually spending on the STAAR exam. House Bill 2002 is a transparency mechanism to reveal taxpayer expenses incurred by ISDs as a result of state required assessments.
District Spotlight!
This Monday is PTA Rally Day and I am looking forward to welcoming countless parents students and educators to THEIR Texas Capitol to discuss their priorities as they relate to public education. Later in the week we will kickoff Plano Legislative Days - where well welcome various community and business leaders to discuss their legislative agenda as it impacts the City of Plano and our business community.
