The Kerrville Daily Times reports that the leading parks advocate in the state legislature, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, is speaking out about the state Senate's lack of action on the bill to fully fund our state parks system. The bill passed the state House recently with an overwhelming margin. Now it needs action in the senate, and it isn't getting any from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other GOP senate leaders.
“We’re concerned about its status in the Senate. The leadership in the Senate is not taking an active roll in passing it. In fact, they’re sitting on it,” Hilderbran said.
House Bill 12, which removes the $32 million cap on the sporting goods tax used to fund Texas parks, passed in the House 139-4 last week. Despite that overwhelming majority, the measure has seen no movement in the Senate.
Hilderbran said Senate members are touting their own plan, which would appropriate a one-time $140 million allocation for parks. That’s more than the $105 million allocations allowed in Hilderbran’s funding plan with the cap lifted.
“But, what that takes is for you to have confidence that the Legislature is going to appropriate that level of funding every year, and that isn’t going to happen,” Hilderbran said.
This has been one of my primary concerns all along -- that, despite the sudden and apparent overwhelming support for funding our parks, state GOP leaders would quash the bill in the state Senate. Will they come through on their promises to lift the funding cap?
“I’m going to stick to this,” Hilderbran said. “We’ve got to get the lieutenant governor and the Senate leadership to do what the people have asked and pass this.”
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