Doing the work of the people

Third-term Rep. Cook reflects on 80th Legislative Session

June 2, 2007

By Bob Belcher, Corsicana Daily Sun

The recently completed 80th Legislative Session in Austin may find a place in history as one of the most controversial in modern times. Corsicana’s Byron Cook, State Representative for the 8th House district in Texas, had a front-row seat to all the work and debate.

He also took part in the drama of the final days of the session with an impassioned appeal to House Speaker Tom Craddick to step down, amid the turmoil on the House floor over Craddick’s leadership style and the growing numbers of members wanting the Speaker to resign as well.

Drama aside, it was a busy five months for the House and Senate in Austin. The closing hours found approval of a $153 billion budget for the next two years, and the passage of several key pieces of legislation for the state.

“It’s a budget I can support,” Cook said. “We’re going to continue to be challenged in that area because we have such a tremendous amount of growth and demand on services. ... how we fund for future growth in this state is going to be a very challenging and complex issue.”

“We got a two-year moratorium on the Trans-Texas Corridor,” Cook said. “I think that’s very important so we can continue to study and do the right thing. There is no question we’ve got to come up with a solution. ... we need to think this through. I’m pleased about that.”

The controversial corridor project, called TTC, could potentially cut a path through western portions of Navarro County if approved by state and federal regulators. The hotly-contested project has been the subject of debate among farmers, ranchers, land owners, and was a major topic in the last governor’s race.

Improvements in the “CHIPS” (Children’s health insurance program) was another item Cook pointed to as a major accomplishment of the session.

“The reality of the fact is this actually saves money, doing it this way as opposed to waiting until someone becomes really sick and ends up in the emergency room,” Cook said. “Trying to work from a ‘wellness aspect’ is important.”

Cook said that property tax relief for senior citizens will continue to be a major obstacle for state leaders to deal with in years to come.

“We have so many ‘baby boomers’ that are nearing the age where they can participate in (tax breaks) that is going to be a couple hundred million dollars a year. There is going to be a shift in who is paying the taxes,” Cook said.

“Somewhere down the road we’re going to have to face the reality that paying for education from property tax is a system that is broken. There is no way around it,” he said.

One of the early issues facing lawmakers was Governor Perry’s executive order calling for mandatory vaccination of young girls in the state against HPV, a move that lawmakers overturned.

“What should have happened is it should have went through the legislative process,” Cook remarked. “I believe had we gone through that process, it might have been viewed differently.”

Cook also spoke of House Bill 2455, a bill that benefits school districts as they continue to fight the problem of truancy in schools, and its effect on school funding.

“I call this the ‘Connie Mayfield’ bill,” Cook said, referring to the Navarro County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace. “This bill allows a student that is required to go to a court appearance to receive an excused absence. This is a huge issue.”

Cook explained conversations with Mayfield, who brought the issue to him last year, helped bring about the bill, which will benefit school districts, who will not see daily attendance drop due to the court appearances with the excused absence the bill provides for.

Cook was pleased with the way that state officials and legislators tackled the problems that surfaced in the Texas Youth Commission, including Corsicana’s Residential Treatment Center, better known as the State Home.

“There is no question there were huge problems, totally unacceptable,” Cook remarked. “Hopefully (we’ve) developed the right programs to insure that what happened there doesn’t happen again.”

While complaints about treatment were made by residents of the Corsicana center, none of them reached the levels reported at many other state youth facilities, Cook said.

Left undone at the end of the session was the question of electric rate relief for Texas consumers, a disappointment to Cook.

“That came up, I don’t know how many times on the House floor, and we never got anything done,” Cook said. “The challenging part of this job is, you’ll never get everything done. You’ll always leave there with things undone.”

Cook said he is already looking ahead at issues he feels will be a part of the next legislative session in 2009, among them more work on maximizing revenues for the state, the future of school finance and property taxes, and social issues such as stem-cell research.

“That’s an important issue for me,” Cook said of stem-cell research. “There are people who have a very diminished quality of life, and I think there is promising science that may help them live in a way that most of us take for granted. That’s important to me.”

Pondering the future campaign season, even with the controversy of the next House Speaker election, Cook is optimistic about continuing to do the people’s work.

“If the folks send me back, I’ll be prepared to do a good job.”