END TAX-FUNDED LOBBYING!

Local entities in Texas like cities, counties, school districts, and regional mobility boards spent tens of millions of our tax dollars each legislative session lobbying to make our taxes go up.  What's wrong with this picture?

If a local entity wants to talk to their legislator, the leader of the entity (council members, commissioners, board members, etc.) should talk to them on behalf of the entity.  They already have enough stroke. As a legislator, I pledge to take their calls and hear the challenges they face.  But, they don't need to use money extracted from us to lobby to extract more money from us.

It is local entity lobbying, of course, that is most responsible for stopping any property tax replacement or reduction of any kind.  Regional mobility organizations are using tax funds to lobby for more toll roads.  All of this has to stop.

Note that the Texas GOP made this issue one of the top five legislative priorities for the past two legislative sessions.  The Texas Public Policy Foundation is in favor of ending tax-funded lobbying, too.

In the end, I believe this is a moral issue that is best expressed by this quote by Thomas Jefferson: