State Representative Andy Hopper
Susan Doty
Robson Ranch Conservatives met on July 16 with State Rep Andy Hopper and State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) member Lisa Hendrickson. Lisa served as Chair of the Denton County Republican Party and Chief of Staff of the Republican Party of Texas under Lt. Col. Allen West.
Lisa currently represents District 12 of the SREC where she continues to influence and shape the future of conservative policies. The biggest issue facing the Republican Party of Texas is the decision to have a closed primary. This means that only legal voters who register with the Republican Party will be allowed to vote in our primaries.
In past elections, voters from other parties participated in our primary with the intent to get the weakest candidate elected. That would mean actual Republicans would not have the best candidate to face the opposition in the general election.
Under current rules, an elected official can vote against the Party Platform, even if they campaigned to do otherwise. The only recourse has been a slap on the wrist. As a result, many of our Republican reps and senators will vote with more moderate politicians in hopes of gaining more prestigious positions in the Chamber.
Lisa chairs a committee to work out the new process. Essentially, if a representative does not adhere to the Party Platform after they campaigned to do so, the Texas Republican Party can remove them from the ballot at the next election. If they say they will support the Republican Priority Platform, they must vote like it or risk being censured.
Representative Hopper gave a very detailed accounting of his first regular session. With the number of bills submitted (11,503), the process they go through to end up with approximately 1,300 submitted to the governor seemed daunting.
The good news for District 64 is that Andy Hopper was named the House Taxpayer Champion by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, with an A+ rating and a score of 99 out of 100. This is especially important, since the 89th Legislature had the biggest increase in spending in the history of the state.
He also spoke to the issue of not getting bills out of committee so they could get a vote of the reps. The most significant was meaningful property tax reform. It was no surprise that Governor Abbott called for a special session that began on July 21. There are 18 issues that need to be addressed. This includes everything from banning taxpayer-funded lobbying to disaster relief for the Hill Country Floods.
Robson Ranch Conservatives meet on the third Wednesday of every month at the Robson Ranch clubhouse.