Conference

Information

Texas
United Methodist
Women s
Legislative
Event

Capitol Information

Texas United
Methodist
Womens
Legislative Event
2015

Advocacy Information

Issues

Homework

27th Annual Texas United Methodist Womens Legislative Event

January 25-27, 2015
Holiday Inn Midtown Austin, Texas

AGENDA
Sunday, January 25 .
1:00-1:30pm ORIENTATION
Opening Prayer: Betsy Singleton, Rio Texas Conference
Texas Impact Staff
1:30-2:45pm REGIONAL BREAKOUTS
3:00-4:00pm WORKSHOPS I Texas Impact Staff
A. Water: Sam Brannon
B. Immigration: Linda Wasserman and Rachel Dodd
C. Climate: Yaira Robinson
D. Hunger: Kathy Green, Capitol Area Food Bank
4:15-5:15pm WORKSHOPS II Texas Impact Staff
A. Water: Sam Brannon
B. Immigration: Linda Wasserman and Rachel Dodd
C. Climate: Yaira Robinson
D. Hunger: Kathy Green, Capitol Area Food Bank
6:30-8:30pm DINNER
Blessing: Krystal Scott-West, Social Action Coordinator, Texas Conference
Address: Rev. Dr. Cynthia Rigby, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
9:00-10:00pm YOUNG WOMENS RECEPTION

Monday, January 26.

8:30-9:00am PRAISE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Blessing: Rose Watson, Social Action Coordinator, North Texas Conference
9:00-10:00am Education
Louis Malfaro, American Federation of Teachers
10:00-10:30am BREAK
10:30-11:30am Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
Senator John Whitmire, Texas Senate District 15
Lisa Falkenberg, Houston Chronicle
Yannis Banks, Texas NAACP

11:30-11:45 BREAK
11:45-1:00 LUNCH: Voting and Civic Engagement
Blessing: Darlene Alfred, Social Action Coordinator, Central Texas Conference
Speaker: Joshua Houston, Texas Impact
1:00-2:00pm State Budget and Revenue
Dick Lavine and Eva Deluna Castro, Center for Public Policy Priorities
2:00-2:30pm BREAK
2:30-3:30pm Health and Mental Health
Dr. Andrew Keller, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Sandra Martinez, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
Cover Texas Now! Coalition Partners
3:30-4:30 CONFERENCE CAUCUSES
4:30-6:00pm BREAK
6:00 SILENT AUCTION CLOSES
6:00-7:30pm DINNER
Blessing: Mary Helen Garza, Past Social Action Coordinator, Rio Texas Conference
Speaker: Bee Moorhead and Beaman Floyd, Texas Impact
7:30pm LOBBY TRAINING

Tuesday, January 27.

7:00-8:15am TRAVEL TO CAPITOL FOR LOBBY VISITS
8:15-8:45am WELCOME
Rep. Donna Howard
8:45-11:00am LEGISLATIVE VISITS
11:00am CLOSING SESSION
VISTA Appreciation Ceremony
Sending Forth: Cynthia Rives, Chair, Texas UMW Legislative Event Committee
12:00pm OPTIONAL: CAPITOL BEHIND THE SCENES TOUR
The tour will last about an hourlunch is on your own when the tour concludes.
2015 Legislative Event Committee
Cynthia Rives
Darlene Alfred
Guadalupe Crook
Mary Alice Garza

Patricia Hutchinson
Mary Helen Gracia
Sue Sidney
Leticia Castaneda
Beth Pirtle

Adrienne Jaramillo
Terry Schoenert
Lois Shaw
Betsy Singleton
Rose Watson

Denise Dubois
Elizabeth Jimenez
Lillie Williams
Susan Harris

Thanks to Our Sponsors!

Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. Rose and Bill Watson

SPEAKERS


Rev. Dr. Cynthia Rigby, W.C. Brown Professor of Theology, Austin
Presbyterian Theological Seminary

Professor Cynthia Rigby joined the faculty of Austin Presbyterian Theological

Seminary in 1995. An energetic scholar, Dr. Rigby is the author of more than
thirty articles and book chapters. She is the author of The Promotion of Social
Righteousness (Witherspoon Press, 2010) and is currently completing a book
titled Shaping our Faith: A Christian Feminist Theology (Baker Academic,
forthcoming). She is co-editor (with Beverly Gaventa) of Blessed One:
Protestant Perspectives on Mary (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002) and editor of Power,
Powerlessness, and the Divine: New Inquiries in Bible and Theology (Scholars Press, 1997). Dr. Rigby is
working on two additional projects, one focused on the doctrines of sin and salvation and the other
on developing a systematic theology especially for pastors.

In 1998 Professor Rigby received her PhD in systematic theology from Princeton Theological
Seminary, where she was awarded a doctoral fellowship and the Wildrich Award for Excellence in
Homiletics. She earned her MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1989, and her AB, magna
cum laude, from Brown University in 1986, where she was received into Phi Beta Kappa. Prior to her
appointment to the Austin Seminary faculty in 1995, she was co-instructor and visiting lecturer at
Princeton Seminary, Princeton University, and New Brunswick Seminary. She served on the
ministerial staff of the Community Presbyterian Church of Edison, New Jersey, and the Lawrence Road
Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She also spent a year as Pastor of Special Ministries
with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Cagayan dOro City, Mindanao.

Kathy Green, Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Policy, Capital Area
Food Bank of Texas

Kathy Green is Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the Capital
Area Food Bank of Texas (CAFB). In her role at CAFB, Kathy leads the advocacy
agenda, and is the primary liaison with elected officials at all levels of
government. Prior to her position at the food bank, Kathy was Senior Policy
Advisor to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. Kathy has worked in
governmental affairs for over twenty years as a legislative director, policy analyst, and lobbyist.
Additionally, Kathy serves as a member of the Austin/Travis County Sustainable Food Policy Board,
the Austin ISD School Health Advisory Council, the Texas PTA Advisory Council, and the Fresh Chefs
Society board. She is also a graduate of Leadership Austin. Kathy holds a B.A. from the University of
Texas at Austin, and is currently attending Austin Presbyterian Seminary for training as a United
Methodist deacon. She and her three children are members of Oak Hill United Methodist Church.

Louis Malfaro, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Vice President

Louis Malfaro is the secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFT. He served as president

of Education Austin from 1999-2010, and also served
as president of the AFT, from 1992-1999. Malfaro began working as a bilingual
elementary school teacher in 1987. He has served as president of the Austin
Central Labor Council (2003-2007) and is currently a member of the AFT
Teachers program and policy council as well as a member of the AFT organizing
committee.



Senator John Whitmire, Texas Senate

Senator John Whitmire represents the 15th Senatorial District comprising north
Houston and parts of Harris County. He was elected to the Texas Senate in 1982
after serving 10 years in the Texas House of Representatives. With over 30 years
of service in the Texas Senate, Senator Whitmire ranks first in seniority and is the
"Dean of the Texas Senate." Senator Whitmire serves as Chair of the Senate
Criminal Justice Committee and works to bring about needed changes to the adult
and juvenile criminal justice systems. He is also a member of the Senate
Administration Committee and the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. In
addition, he serves as a member of the Senate Finance Committee where he is committed to finding
appropriate solutions for funding the state's many agencies and programs.

Originally from Hillsboro, Texas, Senator Whitmire moved to Houston where he graduated from
Waltrip High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Houston and attended
the Bates College of Law. He was admitted to the Texas State Bar in 1981 and is attorney of counsel to
the law firm Locke Lord LLP. Senator Whitmire has two daughters and one grandson.

Lisa Falkenberg, Columnist, Houston Chronicle

Lisa Falkenberg is the Houston Chronicles metro columnist. She writes
Wednesdays and Fridays on topics ranging from politics to education to the
death penalty. A sixth-generation Texan, Lisa is the daughter of a truck driver
and a homemaker, born and raised in Seguin, where her interest in reporting
was born at the high school newspaper. While studying journalism at the
University of Texas, she covered the Texas Legislature for two news bureaus.
She joined The Associated Press Dallas bureau in 2001, eventually becoming a
regional writer covering Dallas and East Texas. She was named Texas AP Writer of the Year in 2004.
Falkenberg joined the Houston Chronicle in 2005, first in the Austin bureau, then moving to Houston
in 2007 to write the column. She has earned several local and state awards for her column-writing, and
has been named the Chronicles Commentator of the Year. In 2014, Falkenberg was named a finalist
for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. She lives with her husband and two daughters in the Heights.


Yannis Banks, Legislative Liaison, NAACP

Yannis Banks has worked for the Texas NAACP as their Legislative Liaison since
2007. As the Legislative Liaison, Mr. Banks attends meetings & hearings during the
Legislative session and advocates for the views of in the African American
community on issues like public education, higher education, payday lending,
criminal justice, juvenile justice and many more. He is also responsible for the day-
to-day operations of the Texas NAACP which includes managing the website,
attending meetings and occasionally speaking for President Bledsoe.

Mr. Banks co-hosts two popular radio talk shows: The Forum and The Wakeup Call on KAZI 88.7. He
also co-hosts two popular music shows: Thank Goodness Its Funky (TGIF) and The Untapped Show on
KAZI 88.7 in Austin, TX. In 2010 he was selected to be chair of the African-American Subcommittee for
the Travis county Complete Count Committee. It was his job to help ensure that as many African-
Americans participated in the census as possible.



Dick Lavine, Senior Fiscal Analyst, Center for Public Policy Priorities

Dick Lavine focuses on state and local revenue issues at the Center for Public
Policies in Austin. Before coming to the Center in 1994, he was a Senior
Researcher at the House Research Organization of the Texas House of
Representatives for ten years. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, Chairman of
the Board of Directors of the Travis Central Appraisal District, and a member
of the Executive Board of AFSCME Texas Retirees, the statewide union local of
retired public employees. The Equity Center named him the 2011 Champion
for Equity for his work to reform our tax system to ensure it can adequately
support public education and other public services. He earned a B.A. in Economics, magna cum laude,
from Harvard College in 1969, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, from the University of
Pennsylvania in 1975.


Eva DeLuna Castro, Senior Fiscal Analyst, Center for Public Policy
Priorities

Eva DeLuna Castro joined the Center in 1998. She focuses on state budget
issues. Before coming to the Center, she was an Analyst for the Texas
Comptroller of Public Accounts, researching various policy issues related to
state revenue and spending. She earned a B.A. in History and Literature, cum
laude, from Harvard University in 1988, and a M.A. of Public Affairs from the
Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

Andrew Keller, PhD, Executive Vice President for Policy and Programs,
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute

Andrew Keller, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with more than 20 years of

experience in behavioral health policy. He has particular expertise in health
and human services integration, behavioral health financing, managed care
systems and purchasing, and implementation of empirically supported
practices for adults and children. Andy is a founding partner and senior
consultant with TriWest Group, a health systems consulting firm. His work has
centered on helping local systems implement evidence-based and innovative
care, as well as helping local and state governments develop the regulatory and financial framework to
support them. Prior to forming TriWest Group, Andy worked in Colorado at the health plan level with
a leading Medicaid HMO, and at the provider level with the Mental Health Center of Denver, helping
develop care management systems for Denvers transition to a Medicaid managed care mental health
system. Previously, he directed a range of community-based programs, including assertive community
treatment, adult and child outpatient clinics, school-based and early childhood programs, and specialty
programs for older adults and Latino communities. Andy is responsible for all behavioral health policy
work and all policy deliverables of the Meadows Institute.

Sandra Martinez, Community Affairs & Policy Advisor, Methodist

Healthcare Ministries of South Texas (MHM)

Sandra joined the Research, Policy, & Planning team at Methodist Healthcare
Ministries of South Texas in 2010. Her role is to develop and leverage strategic
partnerships and collaborative relationships with stakeholders, community
partners, elected officials, and leaders to advance MHMs healthcare and policy
agenda. She works on issues affecting the least served and assists in developing
strategies to create healthcare delivery system changes and community and
policy initiatives for MHM. Sandra serves as MHMs policy advisor and primary
liaison in developing key public policy and advocacy strategies in the areas of
behavioral health, womens health, and civic engagement. Sandra received her B.A. in psychology from
the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters degree in Political Science from the University of
Texas at San Antonio in Political Science She has worked for over fourteen years in the nonprofit and
health and human services sector.



Amy Chamberlain, Davis Kaufman LPPC

Amy Chamberlain brings more than 10 years of experience with complex
policy issues at the state and local levels. Her research, reports and
memoranda have been used by policymakers at the local level and in all
three branches of state government to inform policy recommendations and
plan for how public funds should be allocated. Ms. Chamberlain is also
experienced in writing news releases, newsletters, brochures, opinion
editorials, talking points and speeches, legislative committee reports,
policy position papers, online blogs and other social media content. Her positions in Texas
government include Legislative Aide to Senator Rodney Ellis, Senior Researcher for the Texas Judicial
Council, Chief of Staff to Representative Jim Pitts, Deputy Assistant to the House Parliamentarian, and
most recently, Interim Executive Assistant to Speaker Joe R. Straus. Ms. Chamberlain also spent
several years as a Research Analyst with an Austin-based consulting firm, where she performed
government-funded policy research and evaluations relating to public health and transportation.
Prior to moving back to her home state of Texas in 1995, Ms. Chamberlain spent two years at a
Washington, D.C. think tank developing research and policy recommendations for state elected leaders
on the issues of affordable housing, small business, and health care. Ms. Chamberlain received her
Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University, and her Master of Arts in Public
Policy from George Washington University.

 Texas Impact & Texas Interfaith Center Staff

Bee Moorhead, Executive Director, Texas Impact and Texas Interfaith Center
for Public Policy

Bee has been director of Texas Impact since 2000, managing every aspect of the
organizations work and answering to a 45-member board of directors. The Texas
Impact Board is made up of representatives from the states many faith
communities. Under Bees leadership, Texas Impact has moved from fewer than
1,000 members to more than 20,000 members and earned recognition as a national
leader in interfaith education and community leadership development. Bee spent
eight years as a senior fiscal policy analyst for former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, John Sharp. Bee
was responsible for the Comptrollers attention to public policy issues related to health and human services,
and she was the chief architect of Family Pathfinders, a unique program linking Texas congregations and
civic organizations with families on public assistance. Bee holds a B.A. in Drama from the University of Texas
in Austin, and a M.A. of Public Affairs from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas.

Joshua Houston, General Counsel/Director of Government Affairs, Texas
Impact

Josh began working with Texas Impact in 2010 where he serves as attorney,
performing legislative and regulatory affairs, and is also the in-house counsel for
Texas Impacts sister organization, the Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
After graduating from Texas A&M University with a B.A. in History, Josh received his
M.A. of Theological Studies from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University
and Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas School of Law. Before he
joined the Texas Impact team, Josh worked in both the 79h and 81st Texas Legislative Sessions. He attends
First United Methodist Church in Austin.

Sadia Tirmizi, Membership Director, Texas Impact

Sadia Tirmizi joined Texas Impact as the Membership Director in 2014. She brings
with her over twelve years of experience in marketing, fundraising, and nonprofit
management, as well as a passion for interfaith work. Sadia received her B.A. in Social
Work from the University of Texas, Arlington and a M.A. in Business Administration
from the University of Houston at Clear Lake. She is heavily involved with her
community and has served on the board of several organizations including Greater
Austin Chapter and Central Texas Musilmaat, a Muslim womens organization dedicated to community
engagement and social justice.

Cara Chiodo, Office and Contracts Manager, Texas Impact

Cara Chiodo joined Texas Impact in 2007, and she currently oversees office
operations, finances, and grant administration. Cara received her B.A. in World
Religious Studies from Loyola University in New Orleans, graduating summa cum
laude. Prior to her work with Texas Impact, Cara has worked for many nonprofits
including, the Texas Conference of Churches, the Texas Baptist Christian Life
Commission, and the Samaritan Center for Counseling and Pastoral Care.
1

Andrea Earl, Project Director, Community Partner Recruitment Initiative, Texas

Impact

Andrea joined Texas Impact as an AmericCorps VISTA to assist with the Texas
Disaster Recovery Project in April 2010, and currently serves as the Texas Impact
Director of the Community Partner Recruitment Initiative. Andrea received her B.A.
in Communication Public Relations from Appalachian State University and earned her
M.P.A. in Public Administration from Appalachian State University. She has served as
the Research Assistant for the MPA department at Appalachian State, and as a Policy and Advocacy
Coordinator for Texas Impact.

Scott Atnip, Congregational Outreach Director, Texas Impact

Scott Atnip began his work with Texas Impact way back in 2002 as an intern. Since
2013, Scott has served in his current capacity as Congregational Outreach Director to
connect the education and advocacy efforts of Texas Impact, the Texas Interfaith
Center for Public Policy, and the Community Partners Program with people of faith
throughout Texas. Scott received his B.A. in Political Science from Sam Houston State
University and a M.A. of Public Affairs from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas. In addition to his work with Texas Impact, Scott is heavily involved in his community
and in the United Methodist Church. He was elected as an alternate delegate to General Conference 2012 and
has served as a board member for various organization including CASA of Walker County and Walker County
Community Development Corporation.

George Oliver, Congregational Outreach Specialist, Texas Impact

George Oliver began his work with Texas Impact in 2014 as a Congregational
Outreach Specialist. George holds a B.A. in Theater from Sam Houston State University
and is a M.A. of Divinity candidate at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton
Centre, Massachusetts. He is pursuing ordination in the American Baptist Churches-
USA, and was the 2012 winner of the Donald A. Wells Preaching Prize. George
currently serves in several church capacities including being the Minister of Worship
and Arts at Union Baptist Church in Cambridge; and being Founding Director of
Brown Universitys Harmonizing Grace Gospel Choir. He also continues to pursue his love of theater as a
playwright and director for stage.

Linda Wasserman, Congregational Outreach Specialist, Texas Impact

Linda Wasserman joined Texas Impact in November 2014 as the Congregational
Outreach Specialist for the Rio Grande Valley. In this capacity, Linda recruits faith-based
organizations to participate in the Community Partners Program, which helps eligible
residents apply for Texas benefits. Linda has only recently returned to Texas after
spending five years in Monterrey, Mexico as a Catholic pastoral volunteer with Sisters of
Charity of the Incarnate Word. Her work in Mexico centered on a health
clinic/community center in an impoverished area of northwest Monterrey. Linda has a M.A. in International
Relations from St. Marys University in San Antonio and a B.A. in Mass Communications from New Mexico
State University. Prior to her work in Mexico, Linda spent thirty years working for the City of San Antonio as
well as in television broadcasting. She now resides in McAllen.

2


Yaria A. Robinson, Associate Director, Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy

Yaira Robinson began her work with the Interfaith Center in 2008, and between
2009-2012, coordinated Texas Interfaith Power & Light (TXIPL), the environmental
program of the Interfaith Center. TXIPL is one of 40 state Interfaith Power and Light
programs. Yaira holds a M.A. in Theological Studies from Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary. She is a 2012 GreenFaith Fellow, part of a national network of
leaders from different faith traditions that are committed to caring for the
environment. Yaira has earned four DeRose-Hinkhouse awards from the Religion
Communicators Council for materials she's written for the Interfaith Center. She is a Contributing Scholar for
State of Formation, an online forum for emerging religious and ethical leaders. In that space, she writes about
both her work and her religious journey.


Sam Brannon, Outreach and Engagement Specialist, Texas Interfaith Center for
Public Policy

Sam Brannon joined Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy in July of 2014 as an
Outreach and Engagement Specialist. His current project is the Water Captains
Program. Sam traveled the world with the U.S. Navy for five years before coming back
to his home state of Texas where he attended Texas State University, earning a B.A. in
History. After college, Sam felt called to ministry and he graduated from the Lutheran
Seminary Program in the Southwest in Austin, Texas in 2005. Sam was ordained a Pastor in the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in American in June 2005 and served as a Pastor in several churches both in Oklahoma and
Texas before bringing his experiences to the Texas Interfaith Centers team.


Corinna Whiteaker-Lewis, Volunteer Coordinator, Texas Impact

Corinna Whiteaker-Lewis joined Texas Impact in March of 2014. In addition to

overseeing volunteer activities, Corinna provides administrative support to Texas
Impact, the Texas Interfaith Center, and the Community Partner Program Initiative.
Before joining Texas Impact, Corinna held the volunteer position of Social Justice
Committee Chair with First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin for six years. It
was in this role that she first came into contact with the work of Texas Impact and
participated in legislative visits in support of Texas Impacts agenda.


Sean Hennigan, Communications Coordinator, Texas Impact

Sean Hennigan works as the Communications Coordinator for Texas Impact. In this
capacity, Sean manages Lege TV, an initiative for encouraging government
transparency and accessibility through online video reporting and social media
engagement. Sean also provides video and audio recording services for numerous
Texas Impact events, including advocacy days at the Capitol, educational events, and
seven consecutive years of the Methodist Womens Legislative Event. In addition to
audio and video work, Sean also manages Texas Impacts web presence and provides technical support to
staff. Sean received his undergraduate degree in Communications and Religious Studies from Centenary
College in 2006 and graduated from the University of Texas in 2011 with a Master of Arts degree in Media
Studies.
3


Andy Spaulding, Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer (YAV), Texas Interfaith
Center for Public Policy

Andy Spaulding is the Interfaith Centers newest Young Adult Volunteer (YAV). The
YAV program, part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) mission organization, is a one-
year service opportunity for young adults. Andy is originally from Michigan and
graduated from the University of Arkansas with a B.A. in Political Science and
Religious Studies. Andy has worked for several nonprofits before coming to the
Interfaith Center, including Re-Member, a community outreach initiative on the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation in southwestern Dakota.

Rachel Dodd, Associate Policy Analyst, Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy

Rachel Dodd began her involvement with the Texas Interfaith Center in March of
2014. Her areas of focus with the Interfaith Center since that time primarily deal with
family financial security and immigration. Rachel graduated from Austin College with
a B.A. in International Relations and a minor in Religious Studies. Since graduating in
2011, Rachel has worked in the nonprofit sector here in Texas and abroad.


Owen Moorhead, Water Captains Intern, Texas Interfaith Center for Public
Policy

Owen Moorhead is the son of Texas Impacts fearless leader. He holds a B.S. in
Resource & Environmental Studies from Texas State University, and in addition to his
work at Texas Impact works for Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources
at Mansfield Dam Park. His writing for Texas Impact has been published in the Austin-
American Statesman, and is responsible for the monthly prcis of water-related news
from around the state.

Beaman Floyd, Contract Lobbyist for Texas Impact

Beaman Floyd is a consultant and lobbyist with more than twenty years of experience
in public affairs. He owns his own lobby firm, and has worked on behalf of a variety of
clients, among them, property and casualty insurance companies and trade
associations, public education associations, parents rights groups, local government
subdivisions, higher education groups, and religious groups. His activities include
legislative strategy and direct lobbying, media relations, grass roots strategy, and
academic research. He has been highly involved in several major policy issues in
Texas, including property and casualty insurance reform, catastrophe policy,
workers compensation reform, healthcare, public school finance, and higher education policy. He frequently
represents clients in both the print and electronic media, both in Texas and nationally, and is currently
working with international officials in emerging democracies to establish ethical lobbying practices. Prior to
working in Texas, Mr. Floyd served on the legislative staff of Louisiana House of Representatives with the
Legal Division. Floyd is a veteran of the United States Army where he served as an infantryman. Mr. Floyd
earned his B.A. with a double major in History and Russian Studies from Louisiana State University. He
completed the Honors Core Interdisciplinary Studies Program and was selected to participate in the History
Doctoral Proseminar Program sponsored by the American Association of Colleges. He earned an M.A. in
Theological Studies with an emphasis in Ethics and Church History at the Austin Presbyterian Theological
Seminary.
4

27th Annual Legislative Event

Texas United Methodist Women
Evaluation

Was this your first time to attend Legislative Event?

Are you a UMW officer? Is so:
Conference
District

How satisfied were you with:

Very

Okay
Satisfied




Registration

5

4

3

Food


5

4

3

Accommodations
5

4

3

Visit to the Capitol
5

4

3

Issue Speakers

5

4

3

Overall


5

4

3

Local

2
2
2
2
2
2

Not
Satisfied

1

1

1

1

1

1

I had a moment of epiphany/ah-ha moment when:

What will you be able to share in your UMW work?




What was most helpful to you? What was most satisfying?



For those who have come in previous years, how does the Holiday Inn compare to the Double Tree
(where the event was held last year) as a meeting space? Any additional comments about the change?



What else would you like to hear/do/see at next years event?



Any other comments (please use back)


PROGRAM

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE/EVENT GUIDELINES

Sponsoring Conferences are those who contribute to events

1. Texas Impact will be responsible for current action speakers involved in

governmental affairs. (Committee will suggest areas which they wish to
pursue).

2. Planning Team will be responsible for all speakers pertaining to matters of
United Methodist Womens issues.

3. Morning Praise and meal blessings will be the responsibility of a team
member, requesting different conferences to participate.
PLANNING TEAM
1. Legislative Event Chairperson will be elected at the January Planning Team
meeting to serve no more than two years, consecutively.
2. Members will consist of Legislative Event Chairperson, Social Action
Coordinator from each conference, President of the Southwest Texas
Conference, Treasurer of Southwest Texas Conference, Registrar, and Local
Arrangements Chairperson.
3. Southwest Texas Conference Secretary of Program Resources has the
responsibility of ordering and selling literature at the Legislative Event and
attending the August meeting.
4. Committee meeting dates: April, early August, and early January
5. Arrangements for the hotel, food, etc. will be the responsibility of the event
chairperson with the assistance of the entire committee.
6. Legislative Event Chairperson is responsible for person(s) to prepare and
serve breakfast on Tuesday morning of odd numbered years, when the
legislature is in session (if committee decides to have a Legislative
Breakfast).
REGISTRAR
1. Registrar is responsible for registration of United Methodist Women and will
send out confirmation letters. She shall send money to treasurer as received.
2. Registrar will contact the Austin District President for airport shuttle on
opening day of meeting.
3. Registrar will ask two or three persons to assist in registration at the meeting
if needed.

FINANCIAL
1. Expenses shall be paid for guest speakers, as required, including
accommodations, food, and travel (reimbursed at the Rio Texas United
Methodist Women rate).
2. Treasurer will keep complete records and supply written reports to all team
members.
3. Registration fee to the Event will be paid for the Legislative Event
chairperson, Rio Texas Conference president, SWT Conference treasurer,
local arrangements chairperson, and Rio Texas Conference secretary of
program resources. These persons listed shall pay the administration fee to
the Event.
4. Conferences are responsible for expenses of their Social Action Coordinators
or representatives to committee meetings and the Event.
5. The Legislative Event registration fee will be determined annually.
6. Sponsoring Conferences will contribute $30.00 per district annually.
7. The membership fee of the Event Chairperson to the Texas Impact Board of
Directors will be paid from the Legislative Event Planning Team funds.
8. An annual contribution shall be made to Texas Impact to help defray
expenses incurred in coordinating the Event. This amount will be
determined annually by the Planning Team.

Revised August 9, 2000
Revised August 16, 2005

United Methodist Womens Legislative Agenda 2014

There are more than 100,000 members of United Methodist Women in Texas. At their annual
legislative conference, UMW members from all seven of Texas United Methodist Annual
Conferences adopt a consensus legislative agenda reflecting their priority legislative concerns.
United Methodist Women was established in 1865. United Methodist Women place particular
emphasis on issues impacting the well-being of women, children and youth.
Texas United Methodist Women affirm the dedication of every member of the Texas Legislature. We thank you
for your work in the 83rd legislative session, in particular your work in limiting statewide assessments and
exploring alternatives to testing, funding a comprehensive state water plan and your progress on many fronts to
improve treatment and outcomes in our states criminal justice and mental health systems. We particularly look
forward to thanking you for your action in the 84th legislative session on the following issues, which we believe
are crucial to our states wellbeing:

Medicaid
The Legislature should extend Medicaid to adults under 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. We encourage
legislators to recognize the financial benefits that would accrue to local governments, medical providers, the Texas
economy and Texas taxpayers.

Education
The Legislature should affirm its constitutional obligation to provide high quality public education for the benefit of
all of its residents. Critical legislative actions include restoring cuts, funding enrollment growth, and increasing
teacher compensation to competitive levels. We strongly reaffirm our historic opposition to any movement toward
allowing the flow of public money to private schools.

Criminal Justice and Mental Health

We call on legislators to guarantee humane treatment for all Texans subject to the states criminal justice system,
especially the most vulnerable, including women, children and youth. We strongly urge the Legislature to increase
access to mental health services, substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, educational opportunities and re-entry
programs. We believe sentences should be fair for all regardless of race, gender or ability to pay. We believe
legislators have a special duty to prevent wrongful convictions and to protect those in the criminal justice system
with mental health concerns and individuals facing execution.

Water
We support lawmakers as they continue to address Texas long-term water needs. We urge lawmakers to create
structures that ensure all stakeholders are included in discussions around the primary principle of fair access to clean
water for all Texans. We acknowledge the interaction between water and energy resources and encourage lawmakers
to plan comprehensively for our water and energy future.

Predatory Lending
The Legislature should build on the foundation of sensible regulation of payday and auto-title lending established in
2011, and eliminate the cycle of debt through strategies such as limiting rollovers, regulating fees and allowing
partial payments.
For more information about United Methodist Women in Texas or this legislative agenda, contact any of the
following UMW Social Action Coordinators:
Darlene Alfred
Lois Shaw
Denise DuBois
Mary Alice Garza
Rose Watson
Beth Weems Pirtle
Betty Smith
Patricia Hutchinson
Mary Helen Gracia

254-624-4685
830-257-3980
979-575-4098
972-596-3534
940-482-6744
972-243-7353
505-881-7891
806-857-3463
210-764-0522

dralfred@earthlink.net
woodie123@windstream.net
duboisdc@aol.com
garzama@verizon.net
rewatson@embarqmail.com
bethsigns@att.net
bettyphotos@msn.com
patrhtc@aol.com

United Methodist Womens Legislative Agenda 2013

There are more than 100,000 members of United Methodist Women in Texas. At their annual
legislative conference, UMW members from all seven of Texas United Methodist Annual
Conferences adopt a consensus legislative agenda reflecting their priority legislative concerns.
United Methodist Women was established in 1865. United Methodist Women place particular
emphasis on issues impacting the well-being of women, children and youth.
Texas United Methodist Women affirm the dedication of every member of the Texas Legislature. We thank you
for your service to our state and we look forward to thanking you for your good work in the 83rd legislative
session. We particularly look forward to thanking you for your action on the following issues, which we believe
are crucial to our states wellbeing:

Water
We support lawmakers as they begin to address Texas long-term water needs. We urge lawmakers to prioritize
our states water infrastructure investments around the primary principle of fair access to water for all Texans. We
support current proposals to begin funding the water plan. We acknowledge the interaction between water and
energy resources and encourage lawmakers to plan comprehensively for our water and energy future.

Education
The Legislature should affirm its constitutional obligation to provide high quality public education for the benefit
all of its citizens. Critical legislative actions include restoring cuts, funding enrollment growth, not allowing the
flow of public money to private schools, limiting statewide assessments and exploring alternatives to testing.

Predatory Lending
The Legislature should build on the foundation of sensible regulation of payday and auto-title lending established
in 2011, and eliminate the cycle of debt through strategies such as limiting rollovers, regulating fees and allowing
partial payments.

Medicaid
The Legislature should extend Medicaid to adults under 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

Criminal Justice and Mental Health

We call on legislators to guarantee humane treatment for all Texans caught up in the states criminal justice
system, especially the most vulnerable, including women, children and youth. We strongly urge the Legislature to
increase access to mental health, substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, and re-entry programs for offenders.
We are concerned about disproportionately punitive treatment including prolonged administrative segregation,
and we urge legislators to reward prudence and wisdom in ticketing, sentencing and incarceration of juveniles.

For more information about United Methodist Women in Texas or this legislative agenda, contact any of the
following UMW Social Action Coordinators:
Lori Stafford
Judy Wiggins
Frances Curry
Lois Shaw
Denise DuBois
Mary Helen Gracia
Darlene Alfred
Rose Watson
Beth Weems Pirtle
Mary Alice Garza

214-649-2233
806-895-4648
432-940-4587
830-257-3980
979-575-4098
210-764-0522
254-624-4685
940-482-6744
972-243-7353
972-596-3534

lstaf@sbcglobal.net
wigginsjudy54@yahoo.com
jfcurry4586@gmail.com
woodie123@windstream.net
duboisdc@aol.com
dralfred@earthlink.net
rewatson@embarqmail.com
bethsigns@att.net
garzama@verizon.net

!
!
!

THE BIG PINK BUILDING

Getting Around at the State Capitol
!
!
!
!

Texas Impact
People of faith working for justice

John Reagan
Building

T.W.C.
Building

15
16

14th Street

11
10
9

Sam Houston
Building

18

17

13th Street

CAPITOL

7
H

H
H

San Jacinto Street

12

State Library
& Archives

Supreme
Cour t Bldg.

Tom C. Clark
Building

13 14

Brazos Street

14th Street

Colorado Street

T.W.C.
Annex

Brazos Street

Colorado Street

15th Street

12th Street
H

4
H

Capitol
Visitors
Center

State Board of
Insurance Building

11th Street

1. Hood's Brigade
2. Heroes of the Alamo
3. Confederate Soldiers
4. Volunteer Firemen
5. Terry's Texas Rangers

6. Texas Cowboy
7. The Hiker
8. 36th Infantry
9. Ten Commandments
10. Tribute to Texas Children

11. Texas Pioneer Woman 16. Soldiers of World War I

12. World War II Veterans
17. Disabled Veterans
13. Statue of Liberty Replica 18. Texas Peace Officers
14. Pearl Harbor Veterans
H = Historical Marker
15. Korean War Veterans

CAPITOL MONUMENT GUIDE

NORTH

NOTE: The diagram above has been simplified for clarity and
does not accurately reflect all details of the actual grounds.
SPB:dry:GuideMonuments.cdr:09/12/07

Brazos Street

Martin Luther King Blvd.

BOB BULLOCK

Texas
State
History
Museum

ERS

18th Street

CAPITOL
COMPLEX

CSB

WBT

SFA

17th Street

LBJ

Centennial
Park

15th Street

JHR

TWC

To Hwy. IH-35

CREE K

TLC

Brazos Street

15th Street

TWCX

14th Street

EXT

PDB

Colorado Street

13th Street

12th Street

Bus
Parking
ONLY
13th Street

Capitol
Loading
Dock

CAPITOL

Bus
Loading
ONLY

Brazos Street

THC

Bus
Loading
&
Parking

SHB

SCB

TCC

L
AL

14th Street

REJ

ER

CDO

Trinity Street

THC

San Jacinto Street

THC

Congress Avenue

CCC

Colorado Street

WPC

Lavaca Street

16th Street

THC

THC

VISITOR
PARKING
GARAGE

LIB

12th Street

No Visitor
Access on
Capitol Drives

Waterloo Park

To Hwy. IH-35

TWCX
SIB

CVC

CAPITOL
VISITORS
CENTER

Bus
Loading
ONLY
11th Street To Texas State Cemetery

11th Street

JER SIBX

DCG
GM

TJR
10th Street
Trinity Street

San Jacinto Street

Congress Avenue

EOT

Colorado Street

Lavaca Street

10th Street

TRS

Brazos Street

GOVERNORS
MANSION

NORTH

CAPITOL COMPLEX
CCC
CVC
CDO
CSB
DCG
EOT
ERS
EXT
GM
JER

Capitol Complex Child Care Center

Capitol Visitors Center
Capitol District Office
Central Services Building
Dewitt C. Greer
Ernest O. Thompson
Employee Retirement System
Capitol Extension (Underground)
Governor's Mansion
James Earl Rudder

JHR
LBJ
LIB
PDB
REJ
SCB
SFA
SHB
SIB
SIBX

John H. Reagan
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library
Price Daniel Sr. Building
Robert E. Johnson
Supreme Court Building
Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston Building
State Insurance Building
State Insurance Building Annex

2002, STATE PRESERVATION BOARD

TCC
TJR
TRS
THC
TSHM
TWC
TWCX
TLC
WBT
WPC

Tom C. Clark
Thomas Jefferson Rusk
Teacher Retirement System
Texas Historical Commission
Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Texas Workforce Commission
Texas Workforce Commission Annex
Texas Law Center
WIlliam B. Travis
William P. Clements, Jr.

Revised 09-19-02

TEXAS
LAW
CENTER

14th Street

TOM C.
CLARK
BLDG.

SUPREME
COURT
BUILDING

14th

PRICE
DANIELS
BUILDING

15th Street

T.W.C.
ANNEX

T.W.C.
BUILDING

JOHN REAGAN
BUILDING

San Jacinto St.

Brazos Street

Congress Ave.

Colorado St.

CAPITOL
POLICE
SECURITY

SAM HOUSTON
BUILDING

Loading Dock
Entrance

13th

13th Street

LIBRARY &
ARCHIVES

Colorado Street

CAPITOL
Information

San Jacinto

Accessible
Entrance
North
Lobby

Visitor
Parking
Garage

12th Street

CAPITOL
VISITORS
CENTER
Capitol Station
Bus Stop

Accessible
Entrance

STATE INSURANCE
BUILDING

12th

NORTH

11th Street

capitol accessibility guide

PRIMARY
ACCESSIBLE ROUTES
CURB RAMPS

All Capitol, Capitol Extension and Capitol Visitors Center facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities.
For special assistance, contact the Capitol Information and Guide Service at 463-0063, or visit their office in
the Capitol, First Floor, South Wing. Watch for oval-shaped signs on the Capitol Grounds which indicate
accessible routes. Vehicles properly displaying an official disabled parking placard or disabled parking
license plate may park at any State of Texas controlled parking meter in the Capitol Complex for free at
any time. Accessible parking is also available in the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage.

2002, STATE PRESERVATION BOARD

Revised 04-10-03

ACCESSIBLE ENTRANCE

1N.12

E
1W.6

1W.4

1W.14

1E.3

1W.2

1W

WEST
LOBBY

1W.9

1W.5
1S.2

1W.15

Tours
Begin
Here

1E.13

1E.9
EAST
LOBBY

1E
1E.2

1W.11

1E.5

ROTUNDA
1W.3

North Wing Elevators

access all office floors
of the Capitol and
Capitol Extension.

1E.4

1E.15

1N.8

1S.1

E
1E.14

1N.5

AGRICULTURAL
MUSEUM

1W.10

1N.10

1E.8

1N.9
1N.7

1E.6

First Floor

NORTH
LOBBY

1E.12

SOUTH
LOBBY
1S.3

INFORMATION & TOURS

GN

GN.11

(Basement)

GN.12
GN.10

GN.9

GW.16
GW.2

GW.4

GW.6

GE.7
GE.11

GROUND
FLOOR
ROTUNDA

GE

GW.5
GS.2
GS.6

GE.4

GS
GS.5

GW.7

GE.17

GE.6

GE.10

GS.3

GS.8

GW.17

GW.11

North Wing Elevators

access all office floors
of the Capitol and
Capitol Extension.
GE.5

GW

GW.15

GN.8

E
GW.8

GW.18

GN.7

All facilities are accessible

to persons with disabilities.
For assistance call 463-0063.

Extension Access

Ground Floor

GW.12

ACCESSIBILITY

SOUTH STEPS

Monday - Friday, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Saturday 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Sunday, Noon - 3:30 pm
Call 463-0063 for more information

CAPITOL BUILDING GUIDE

floors 1 & ground

E
GE.12

2N

2S.2
2S.
2

2E.22

2E.16

2E.6

2E.10

2E.4

2E.2

2W.7
2W

2S

E
2E.14

2S.1
2S.
1

GOVERNOR'S PUBLIC
RECEPTION ROOM

2S.6
2S.
6

Fourth Floor

Capitol Extension Access: Take the North Wing elevators to Floor E1 or E2 of the
underground Capitol Extension. Please visit the Capitol Giftshop on Floor E1 for Texas
and Capitol mementos and books, as well as mints, medicines, and other sundries.
Also located on level E1 are a public cafeteria, an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) and
vending machines.

4N.9

4N.10

4N.7

4N.8

4N

4N.5

4N.4

4W.1
4S.4

3E
3S.2

3W.3

3S

E
3S.3

4S.6

4S

E
4S.3
4S.5

3E.10

E
3E.8

3W
3W.1

3W.7

3E.6

3W.9

SENATE
GALLERY
3E.5

3E.4

HOUSE
GALLERY
3W.2

3E.2

3W.11

3E.12

3E.3

4S.2

3E.16

3W.17

3W.15

North Wing Elevators

access all floors
of the Capitol and
Capitol Extension

3N.4

3E.18

3N

3N.3

3W.5

3N.6

3N.5

Third Floor

4N.6

4N.3

4E.2

2S.4
2S.
4

SENATE
CHAMBER
2E.8

2E

2E.13

2W

2W.9
2W
.9

2W.13
2W
.13

E
2W.15
2W
.15

2E.7

2W.6
2W
HOUSE
CHAMBER
2W.5

2W.19

2E.20

Monday - Friday, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Saturday, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
Sunday, Noon - 3:30 pm
Call 463-0063 for more information

2E.9

North Wing Elevators

access all floors
of the Capitol and
Capitol Extension

2E.23

INFORMATION & TOURS

LEGISLATIVE
REFERENCE
LIBRARY
2N.3

2W.29
2W.2

2W.2
2W
.27

2W.2
2W
.25

Second Floor

3S.6 3S.5

CAPITOL BUILDING GUIDE

floors 2, 3, & 4

ACCESSIBILITY
All facilities are accessible
to persons with disabilities.
For assistance call 463-0063.

Extension
First Floor (E1)
TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION and
ROBERT E. JOHNSON BUILDING TUNNEL

JOHN H. REAGAN
BUILDING TUNNEL

State Representatives:
E1.200s through E1.500s

E1.500's

512

508

510

032

E
E1.034
E1.030
LBB
House
Appropriations

504

506

Senators:
E1.600s through E1.800s

038

606

E1.036
Senate
Finance

LIGHT COURT
424

422

418

410

414

E1.600's

610

608

LIGHT COURT

406

402
E1.026

702

E1.028

Senate
Mail

710

706

714

716

E1.400's

E1.700's
408

404

312

316

308

Op

320

RAL COU
NT

314

306

E1.014

302
011

LIGHT COURT

E1.200's
SUPREME COURT
BUILDINGTUNNEL

220

218

214
215
217
219

216

208

212

E1.010

E1.016

802

Press
Corps

904

CAFETERIA

E1.008
Office of the
First Lady
&
Governor's
Appointments

Public Welcome!

E1.002

SEAL
COURT

LOADING DOCK
TO 13TH ST. & COLORADO ST.

003

814

Engrossing & Enrolling

SAM HOUSTON
BUILDING TUNNEL

E1.908

Baby
Changing
Stations

E1.210

810

LIGHT COURT

E1.012

006

House
Mail

806

015

204

206

213

812

808

E1.800's

CENTRAL GALLERY

310

804
E1.020

GIFTSHOP

322

318

LIGHT COURT

E1.018

712

708

en
- a ir R ot un

304

E1.300's
324

704

RT

E
LIGHT COURT

E1.024

da

412

416

CE

420

E1.022

AUDITORIUM
E1.004

Enter

102A 102

ELEVATORS TO CAPITOL NORTH WING

Capitol Extension Guide

Floor E1

E1.900's

Extension
Second Floor (E2)
510

E2.500's

508

506

State Representatives Offices

E2.200 through E2.900's

502

504

E2.030

602

E2.036

LIGHT COURT
422

418

414

604

606

610

608

LIGHT COURT
406

410

402

E2.026

702

E2.028

706

710

714

722

718

E2.400's

E2.700's
416

412

E2.022

404

408

E2.024

312

C EN

en

304

308

E
E

720

716

708

RT

316

Op

320

712

704

A L CO

E
LIGHT COURT

TR

nd
a

420

LIGHT COURT

-air R ot u

804

E2.018

808

812

816

820

E2.020

E2.300's

E2.800's
318

314

310

306

E2.014

302

LIGHT COURT
214

E2.200's

212

147
140
138 142

136

134

House
Committee
Staff Suites
E2.100's
E2.202 & E2.206

146

210
208

148

204

206

150

132

152

158

170
166

160

130
156

124

122

E2.012

902

164

Legislative
Conference
Center

E2.180

E2.002

178
176

116

112

108

904

906

908

E2.1016

822

910

E2.900's

Accessibility

All facilities are accessible

to persons with disabilities.
For assistance call 463-0063.

E2.1012

SEAL
COURT
104

E2.1018

E2.1014
174

118 114 110 106

120

814

818

LIGHT COURT

172

162

128
126

806

810

168
202

154
144

E2.010

802

E2.016

CENTRAL GALLERY

322

E2.100's

E2.600's

102

1001

1008

E2.1010

E2.1002 E2.1006

ELEVATORS TO CAPITOL NORTH WING

Capitol Extension Guide

Floor E2

E2.1000's

CAPITOL COMPLEX OFFICE & PHONE NUMBERS - 84th LEGISLATURE

TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
Member

Room No.

Phone No.

Member

Room No.

Phone No.

Allen, Alma
Alonzo, Roberto
Alvarado, Carol
Anchia, Rafael
Anderson, Charles "Doc"
Anderson, Rodney
Ashby, Trent
Aycock, Jimmie Don
Bell, Jr., Cecil
Blanco, Csar Jos
Bohac, Dwayne
Bonnen, Dennis
Bonnen, Greg
Burkett, Cindy
Burns, DeWayne
Burrows, Dustin
Button, Angie Chen
Canales, Terry
Capriglione, Giovanni
Clardy, Travis
Coleman, Garnet
Collier, Nicole
Cook, Byron
Craddick, Tom
Crownover, Myra
Dale, Tony
Darby, Drew
Davis, Sarah
Davis, Yvonne
Deshotel, Joe
District 123,
District 13,
Dukes, Dawnna
Dutton, Jr., Harold
Elkins, Gary
Faircloth, Wayne
Fallon, Pat
Farias, Joe
Farney, Marsha
Farrar, Jessica
Fletcher, Allen
Flynn, Dan
Frank, James
Frullo, John
Galindo, Rick
Geren, Charlie
Giddings, Helen
Goldman, Craig
Gonzales, Larry
Gonzlez, Mary
Guerra, R.D. "Bobby"
Guillen, Ryan
Gutierrez, Roland
Harless, Patricia
Hernandez, Ana
Herrero, Abel
Howard, Donna
Huberty, Dan
Hughes, Bryan
Hunter, Todd
Isaac, Jason
Israel, Celia
Johnson, Eric
Kacal, Kyle
Keffer, Jim
Keough, Mark
King, Ken
King, Phil
King, Susan
King, Tracy
Kleinschmidt, Tim
Klick, Stephanie
Koop, Linda
Krause, Matt
Kuempel, John

E1.506
1N.12
E2.808
4N.6
GW.8
E1.424
E2.414
E2.708
E2.710
E1.218
GS.6
1W.6
E2.504
E2.322
E2.804
E2.820
E2.910
E2.816
E2.714
E2.314
4N.10
E2.508
GN.11
1W.9
1N.10
E2.904
E1.308
E2.310
4N.9
GW.12
P.O. Box 2
P.O. Box 2
1W.2
3N.5
4N.3
E2.812
E2.604
4S.4
E2.606
1N.8
GW.4
GN.7
E2.304
E2.608
E1.410
GW.17
GW.11
E2.720
E2.418
E1.302
E2.818
4S.3
GN.9
E2.408
4S.2
GW.6
E1.420
E2.722
4S.5
GW.18
E1.414
E1.406
E1.204
E2.420
1W.11
E2.402
E2.416
1N.5
GN.12
GW.7
E2.806
E2.716
E1.512
E2.212
E2.422

463-0744
0408
0732
0746
0135
0641
0508
0684
0650
0622
0727
0564
0729
0464
0538
0542
0486
0426
0690
0592
0524
0716
0730
0500
0582
0696
0331
0389
0598
0662
0532
0600
0506
0510
0722
0502
0694
0714
0309
0620
0661
0880
0534
0676
0269
0610
0953
0608
0670
0613
0578
0416
0452
0496
0614
0462
0631
0520
0271
0672
0647
0821
0586
0412
0656
0797
0736
0738
0718
0194
0682
0599
0454
0562
0602

Landgraf, Brooks
Larson, Lyle
Laubenberg, Jodie
Leach, Jeff
Longoria, Oscar
Lozano, J. M.
Lucio III, Eddie
Mrquez, Marisa
Martinez, Armando
Martinez Fischer, Trey
McClendon, Ruth Jones
Menndez, Jos
Metcalf, Will
Meyer, Morgan
Miles, Borris L.
Miller, Doug
Miller, Rick
Moody, Joseph
Morrison, Geanie
Muoz, Jr., Sergio
Murphy, Jim
Murr, Andrew
Naishtat, Elliott
Nevrez, Poncho
Oliveira, Ren
Otto, John
Paddie, Chris
Parker, Tan
Paul, Dennis
Pea, Gilbert
Phelan, Dade
Phillips, Larry
Pickett, Joe
Price, Four
Raney, John
Raymond, Richard Pea
Reynolds, Ron
Riddle, Debbie
Rinaldi, Matt
Rodriguez, Eddie
Rodriguez, Justin
Romero, Jr., Ramon
Rose, Toni
Sanford, Scott
Schaefer, Matt
Schofield, Mike
Shaheen, Matt
Sheets, Kenneth
Sheffield, J.D.
Simmons, Ron
Simpson, David
Smith, Wayne
Smithee, John
Spitzer, Stuart
Springer, Jr., Drew
Stephenson, Phil
Stickland, Jonathan
Straus, Joe
Thompson, Ed
Thompson, Senfronia
Tinderholt, Tony
Turner, Chris
Turner, Scott
Turner, Sylvester
VanDeaver, Gary
Villalba, Jason
Vo, Hubert
Walle, Armando
White, James
White, Molly
Workman, Paul
Wray, John
Wu, Gene
Zedler, William "Bill"
Zerwas, John

E1.312
E2.406
1N.7
E1.314
E1.510
E2.908
E1.320
E2.822
4N.4
1W.3
3S.2
GW.5
E2.704
E1.418
E2.718
GN.10
E2.312
E2.214
1N.9
E1.508
E1.408
E1.412
GW.16
E1.306
3N.6
E1.504
E2.412
E2.602
E2.814
E1.416
E1.324
4N.5
1W.5
E2.610
E2.706
1W.4
E2.306
4N.7
E1.422
4S.6
E1.212
E1.208
E2.302
E2.210
E2.510
E2.316
E1.322
E1.404
E2.320
E2.712
E2.502
GN.8
1W.10
E1.316
E2.410
E2.906
E1.402
2W.13
E2.506
3S.6
E1.216
E2.318
E1.318
GW.15
E1.310
E2.404
4N.8
E1.304
E2.204
E2.702
E2.902
E1.220
E2.810
GS.2
E2.308

463-0546
0646
0186
0544
0645
0463
0606
0638
0530
0616
0708
0634
0726
0367
0518
0325
0710
0728
0456
0704
0514
0536
0668
0566
0640
0570
0556
0688
0734
0460
0706
0297
0596
0470
0698
0558
0494
0572
0468
0674
0669
0740
0664
0356
0584
0528
0594
0244
0628
0478
0750
0733
0702
0458
0526
0604
0522
1000
0707
0720
0624
0574
0484
0554
0692
0576
0568
0924
0490
0630
0652
0516
0492
0374
0657

SENATORS

THE SENATE OF TEXAS

84th Legislature
Austin Mailing Address For Texas Senate:
P.O. Box 12068 Austin, TX 78711-2068
Website address: www.senate.state.tx.us
PHONE NO.

OFFICE NO.

ASSISTANT

Bettencourt, Paul.......................................................3-0107........................................E1.712................................ VA Stephens

Birdwell, Brian..........................................................3-0122........................................E1.706................................ Ben Stratmann
Burton, Konni........................................................... 3-0110........................................GE.7................................... Art Martinez
Campbell, Donna......................................................3-0125........................................3E.8.................................... Stephanie Matthews
Creighton, Brandon...................................................3-0104........................................E1.606................................ Tara Garcia
Ellis, Rodney............................................................. 3-0113........................................3E.6.................................... Brandon Dudley
Eltife, Kevin..............................................................3-0101........................................3E.16.................................. Cheryl Vanek
Estes, Craig...............................................................3-0130........................................3E.18.................................. Noe Barrios
Fraser, Troy...............................................................3-0124........................................1E.12.................................. Terri Mathis
Garcia, Sylvia R........................................................3-0106........................................3E.12.................................. Sara Gonzalez
Hall, Bob...................................................................3-0102........................................E1.808................................ Amy Lane
Hancock, Kelly.........................................................3-0109........................................1E.9.................................... Tricia Stinson
Hinojosa, Juan Chuy..............................................3-0120........................................3E.10.................................. Luis Moreno
Huffines, Don............................................................ 3-0116........................................E1.608................................ Matt Langston
Huffman, Joan........................................................... 3-0117........................................1E.15.................................. Amanda Jenson
Kolkhorst, Lois W..................................................... 3-0118........................................3E.2.................................... Chris Steinbach
Lucio, Eddie..............................................................3-0127........................................3S.5.................................... Louie Sanchez
Nelson, Jane.............................................................. 3-0112........................................1E.5.................................... Dave Nelson
Nichols, Robert.........................................................3-0103........................................E1.704................................ Steven Albright
Perry, Charles............................................................3-0128........................................E1.810................................ Scott Hutchinson
Rodrguez, Jos.........................................................3-0129........................................E1.610................................ Sushma Smith
Schwertner, Charles..................................................3-0105........................................E1.806................................ Tom Holloway
Seliger, Kel................................................................3-0131........................................GE.4................................... Ginger Averitt
Taylor, Larry............................................................. 3-0111........................................GE.5................................... Cari Christman
Taylor, Van................................................................3-0108........................................E1.708................................ Lonnie Dietz
Uresti, Carlos............................................................ 3-0119........................................4E.2.................................... Jason Hassay
Watson, Kirk............................................................. 3-0114........................................E1.804................................ Sarah Howard
West, Royce..............................................................3-0123........................................1E.3.................................... LaJuana Barton
Whitmire, John.......................................................... 3-0115........................................1E.13.................................. Lara Wendler
Zaffirini, Judith.........................................................3-0121........................................1E.14..................................Sean Griffin
District 26 (Van de Putte)..........................................3-0126........................................3S.3.................................... Gilbert Loredo
LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS OFFICE
Lt. Governor, David Dewhurst 2E.13 ..............................3-0001
Acting Chief of Staff, John Opperman ...............................3-0001
Legislative Director, Constance Allison..............................3-0001
Communications, Andrew Barlow.......................................3-0715
Parliamentarian, Karina Davis 2E.6..................................3-0248
SENATE OFFICES & PHONE NUMBERS
Auditor 615 SHB..............................................................3-0404
Bill Distribution 190 SHB................................................3-0252
Calendar 2E.23..................................................................3-0060
Committee Coordinator 2E.23..........................................3-0070
Copy Center E1.710..........................................................3-0076
Enrolling E1.908...............................................................3-0321
Human Resources 625 SHB..............................................3-0400
Journal E1.812..................................................................3-0050
Media Services 675 SHB..................................................3-0300
Payroll 550 SHB...............................................................3-0444
Porters E1.102A................................................................3-0343
Post Office E1.702............................................................3-0303
Publications/Printing B407 REJ.......................................3-0080
Purchasing 525 SHB.........................................................3-0222
Research 575 SHB............................................................3-0087
Secretary of the Senate 2E.22...........................................3-0100
Sergeant-at-Arms 2E.10....................................................3-0200
Messengers E1.802........................................................3-0205
Messengers 485 SHB....................................................3-0210
Staff Services 175 SHB ...................................................3-0430
Support Services 270 SHB...............................................3-0333
Travel Coordinator 2E.23.................................................3-0773
TDD...................................................................... 1-800-735-2989
Lt. Governors Reception Room 2E.16............................3-0009

First Aid Station E1.214.................................................3-0313

Security Desk E1.217......................................................6-2103
Security Desk SHB..........................................................6-2115

January 7, 2015

OTHER STATE NUMBERS

Governor..............................................................................3-2000
Attorney General..................................................................3-2100
Comptroller..........................................................................3-4000
Texas Facilities Commission...............................................3-3446
Legislative Budget Board 5th floor, REJ..........................3-1200
Legislative Council REJ 3.131.........................................3-1155
Legislative Reference Library 2N.3..................................3-1252
Secretary of State 1E.8......................................................3-5701
Capitol Cafeteria E1.001...............................................472-5451
Capitol Extension Bookstore E1.006............................475-2167
State Preservation Board 950 SHB...................................3-5495
Housekeeping Maintenance Requests..................................4-7777
Information & Guide Service 1S.2...................................3-0063
HOUSE PHONE NUMBERS
Bill Distribution B324 REJ...............................................3-1144
Chief Clerk 2W.29............................................................3-0845
Committee Services E2.174..............................................3-0850
Sergeant-at-Arms 2W.7.....................................................3-0910
Speakers Office 2W.13....................................................3-3000
SENATE STANDING COMMITTEES
Administration E1.714......................................................3-0350
Agriculture, Rural Affairs &
Homeland Security 455 SHB.......................................3-0340
Business & Commerce 370 SHB......................................3-0365
Criminal Justice 470 SHB.................................................3-0345
Economic Development 340 SHB..................................3-1171
Education 440 SHB...........................................................3-0355
Finance E1.038.................................................................3-0370
Government Organization 630 SHB.................................3-1818
Health and Human Services 420 SHB..............................3-0360
Higher Education 320 SHB..............................................3-4788
Intergovernmental Relations 475 SHB.............................3-2527
Jurisprudence 350 SHB.....................................................3-0395
Natural Resources 325 SHB.............................................3-0390
Nominations E1.716.........................................................3-2084
Open Government - 335 SHB..............................................3-7733
State Affairs 380 SHB.......................................................3-0380
Transportation 450 SHB...................................................3-0067
Veteran Affairs & Military Installations 345 SHB............3-2211

TIMELINE for Lobby Day

7-7:15 a.m. Load onto Bus with your schedules & binders in hand
Do you have a bus reservation? IF NOT, please go to the UMW registration desk.
If you are driving, do you know how to get where you are going? Your binder
contains a page of directions to the Capitol Visitors Parking ($2/hr)

* The Lobby Visit Resource Person is responsible for bringing the Leave-Behind
folder for their assigned legislator.

7:30 a.m.
Buses DEPART

8:15 a.m.
Convene in John H. Reagan Building, Room JHR120 (Northwest of the Capitol in
the Capitol Complex)

8:15-8:45am Welcoming Session (in Reagan Building)

Representative Donna Howard

9:00-11:15 Lobby Visits: Remember to allow a minimum of 15 minutes to clear security prior to
your appointment
Visit between 2-4 offices (10-15 minutes each) and decide if the Resource
Person will be responsible for all of the following, or if others want to take a
piece of it.



Resource Persons Responsibilities:
1. Fill out a UMW Business & Contact card to leave with the legislator
along with their resource folder
2. Fill out the Legislative Visit Evaluation Forms and drop with Texas
Impact staff (1 per office visit is fine)
3. Write a Thank You card after the visit. You can drop off written Thank
You notes with Texas Impact staff with legislators name clearly written
on the envelope
Everyone:


Fill out Event Evaluation Form (pink)

Choose if you also want to write a Legislative Visit Evaluation form or Thank
You card separately

Texas Impact staff will be available in Hearing room E2.030

11:00am

CLOSING SESSION, E2 Central Court Rotunda (Atrium)* (weather permitting)

VISTA Appreciation Ceremony
*Weather permitting. If it is raining, we will have the closing session in Hearing Room E2.030

11:30a.m. to noon



12:00 pm 1pm

Load onto Bus back to hotel

If you are having trouble getting back to the bus by noon,
call Terry Schoenert at 512-601-2800

Optional: Capitol Behind the Scenes Tour
*please RSVP

Directions from the Holiday Inn to the Texas State Capitol

Holiday Inn Austin Midtown
6000 Middle Fiskville Rd
Austin, TX 78752
1.
2.
3.
4.

Head northeast on Middle Fiskville Rd. (directly in front of the hotel) (.5 mi)
Sharp right onto E Huntland Dr (141 feet)
Turn right onto N I-35 frontage road (.1 mi)
Merge onto I-35 via the ramp on the left to US-290 W (3.4 mi)

5. Take exit 235A for 15th St (.5 mi)
6. Turn right onto E 15th St (.5 mi)
7. To the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage:
Turn left on San Jacinto and drive to blocks
Take a left on E 13th Street (drive less than half a block)
Enter Visitors Parking Garage on the right

The Welcoming Ceremony will be held in the John H. Reagan Building,
in Room JHR120

Guide to
Legislative
Engagement

Your voice makes a dierence.

Heres why
As a Texas Impact member, you are in a unique posi6on to lobby and tes6fy on issues and
posi6ons that represent consensus social concerns of Texas faith communi6es. Texas Impact
retains a sta of registered lobbyists, but its very important that our members par6cipate in
Texas Impacts advocacy ac6vi6es because:
1. Credibility: As members of local communi6es, our members can relate to legislators as

cons6tuents and neighbors, not just as hired guns.

2. Cons-tuency: As leaders in their communi6es and congrega6ons, our members bring

their own cons6tuencies and connec6ons into the discussion.

3. Capacity: With an extensive agenda and limited sta, Texas Impact relies on our members

to lead our public witness and build rela6onships between the organiza6on and legisla6ve
oces.

4. Character: Every individual is dierent, and that includes elected ocials and faith

leaders. You may be just the person who can have the produc6ve conversa6on with a
par6cular elected ocial!

This guide is intended to provide Texas Impact members with all the informa6on you need to
represent Texas Impact eec6vely in two key ac6vi6es: lobbying/legisla6ve visits and legisla6ve
tes6mony.

Table of Contents
page
1

Represen6ng Texas Impact

as a Board Member

Legisla6ve Mee6ngs

Legisla6ve Tes6mony

Common Tips for Successful

Ci6zen Lobbying

Legisla6ve Visit
Evalua6on Form

Grassroots lobbying n. large numbers of

communications with legislators, usually
through the public.
Grasstops lobbying n. communications
from prominent individuals, community
leaders and key decision makers. The
emphasis of grassroots lobbying tends to be
of quantity, grass tops of quality.
Astroturfing n. a grassroots program that
involves the instant manufacturing of public
support for a point of view in which either
uninformed activists are recruited or means
of deception are used to recruit them.

Represen@ng Texas Impact as a Board Member

1. Current board members, in lobbying or tes6fying, may iden6fy themselves as a board

member and say they are speaking on behalf of the board if and only if the issue and
posi6on being ar6culated is listed as part of Texas Impacts printed legisla6ve agenda
for the current legisla6ve session.

2. Board members may or may not be able to say they are speaking on behalf of their

sending organiza6on, depending on that organiza6ons policies.

3. Board members may say they represent their sending organiza6on on Texas Impacts

board.

4. Its appropriate for board members to characterize themselves as religious leaders

even if they are not clergy.

5. Board members should use the following boilerplate language in characterizing Texas

Impact:

Texas Impact is a statewide interfaith organiza6on established

in 1973 by Texas bishops and other religious leaders to be a
voice of religious social concern to the Texas Legislature. Texas
Impact is a membership organiza6on; our members include
individuals and communi6es of faith , ranging from local
congrega6ons and interfaith groups , up to denomina6onal
bodies of Chris6an denomina6ons and regional Jewish and
Muslim networks.
Texas Impact is the only statewide interfaith advocacy
organiza6on in Texas whose members include Chris6an
denomina6onal bodies. We have a network of about 20,000
members, and we reach millions of Texans through our work
with our denomina6onal members.
Texas Impacts board of directors is composed of about 45
members who act as representa6ves of their respec6ve faith
communi6es. Our legisla6ve posi6ons are established by
unanimous vote of the board.

Texas Impact Guide to Legislative Engagement

Legisla@ve Mee@ngs

Your legisla6ve mee6ng is lobbying if you are advoca6ng a posi6on on a bill or an idea that might
become a bill. Its not lobbying if you are just visi6ng in broad terms about a policy issue. Its oZen
easier to have a focused conversa6on about a specic bill if you already have had an introductory
mee6ng so you know the person you are talking to.
Its important for Texas Impact board members to have introductory mee6ngs with legisla6ve oces,
especially before the legisla6ve session begins, so legislators and their stas understand who we are
and whats on our legisla6ve agenda. Its also important for board members to meet with oces
during the session about specic legisla6on.
The most important step you can take before your mee6ng is to make sure you know why you are
having it. Your goals for your mee6ng will be dierent depending on a number of factors: whether this
is an introductory/informa6onal mee6ng or a lobby visit; whether you already know the person you
are mee6ng with or not; and what role the person you are mee6ng with plays in the Legislature.

What makes a successful legisla@ve visit?

1. You feel empowered and believe that you

achieved your goal for the mee6ng.

2. You feel like you controlled the mee6ng,

not that the mee6ng controlled you.

3. You feel like your par6cipa6on added new

input into the mix somehowfor

example, by showing breadth of support
for an issue, by building a rela6onship, by
nding new common ground, by
expressing Texas Impacts posi6on in an
ocial way.

4. You feel like you got new informa6on

from the mee6ngfor example, about a

person, about an issue, about legisla6ve
ow, about ac6ons Texas Impact or
others need to take.

5. You could have another mee6ng with that

same oce and make progress from

where you nished this mee6ng.

6. Op6onal: You got a photo of yourself and

the person you met with!

2!

Texas Impact Guide to Legislative Engagement

What are the follow up steps for a

lobby visit?
Let Texas Impact sta know how the
visit went, submit your evalua6on
form and iden6fy tasks for sta, if any,
as well as any follow up the person
you met with promised you.
Provide any informa6on you said you
would provide to the legisla6ve oce.
Send a thank you note.
Send an informa6onal note to local or
religious publica6ons saying you made
your visit, with a photo if possible.

Legisla@ve Tes@mony

Legisla6ve tes6mony is another opportunity for Texas Impact members to exchange informa6on
with legislators and represent the organiza6on, but you will have dierent goals for your tes6mony
than for legisla6ve visits. People oZen leave their legisla6ve tes6mony wondering if it did any good.
The answer is that public tes6mony is a key part of the legisla6ve process that cant exist if individuals
do not tes6fy, so it almost always is a net posi6ve to present tes6mony. Its also important to bear in
mind that many people hear your legisla6ve tes6mony, not just legislatorstes6mony can func6on as
a media opportunity and as a way of informing other organiza6ons about Texas Impacts posi6ons and
priori6es.
Ideally, your legisla6ve tes6mony should not be the rst 6me you see legislators. If you visit them
before the hearing, or beber yet before the session starts, then you will be familiar to them when you
present your tes6mony and they wont have to expend energy guring out who you are and what you
stand for while they are trying to listen to your tes6mony.

What makes successful tes@mony?

1. You delivered your main points in

the 6me allobed.

2. You didnt say anything untrue or

that you werent sure was true.

3. Y o u r t e s 6 m o n y a c c u r a t e l y

represented the posi6on of Texas

Impact and any other organiza6on
you said you were tes6fying for.

What are the follow up steps for

tes@mony?

4. Y o u r t e s 6 m o n y a d d e d n e w

Let Texas Impact sta know how your

tes6mony went, submit your evalua6on
form, and iden6fy tasks for sta if any.

informa6on to the public record,

even if it is just the informa6on
that Texas Impact has a posi6on
on the issue in ques6on.

Provide any informa6on you said you

would provide to the commibee you
tes6ed before.
Provide an informa6onal note to local or
religious publica6ons saying you
delivered legisla6ve tes6mony, with a
photo or link to your tes6mony in the
legisla6ve video archives. (Texas Impact
sta can help.)

Texas Impact Guide to Legislative Engagement

All the Experts Agree: Common Tips for Successful Ci@zen Lobbying

Dress appropriately to be taken seriously.

Dont inate your poli6cal clout or threaten not

to vote for a member.

Prac6ce your lobby visit beforehand. The shorter

6me you have for your mee6ng and the more
precise your ask, the more important this step is.

Be respeciul of the legislators or staers 6me.

Humanize and localize the issue - how will it

aect the legislators cons6tuents?

Listen to the concerns and arguments presented

by the person with whom you are mee6ng.

Abempt to address these concerns, but stay on

message.

Make sure you tell the legislator or aide what

you want her or him to do for you.

Acknowledge the possible poli6cal risks. Help

the ocial develop bridge-building messages
that can speak to the majority of their
cons6tuents.

If you hit a wall during the visit and cannot

make any headway with the legislator, accept it
and politely excuse yourself. AZer the mee6ng,
brainstorm crea6ve solu6ons.

End on a posi6ve note by thanking the legislator

or staer once again for taking the 6me to
meet.

When you get home, send a leber thanking the

person for the mee6ng, recapping the
discussion and what you were promised.

Develop no more than three talking points - any

more can overwhelm the legislator or staer with
whom you are mee6ng.

Dene your arguments.

Be ve minutes early
and be prepared to wait.

Start posi6velythank the legislator or staer for

mee6ng with you.

Introduce yourself and iden6fy your hometown.

Know your agenda and s6ck to it. Dont get caught

in the small talk.
Listen to the elected ocialwhat you learn
about their thinking is extremely important. Ask
ques6ons that require specic answers. Elected
ocials may try to shiZ the conversa6on to a more
comfortable topic.

Tell the t ruth! If you dont have an answer, say so!

Respeciully tell the legislator that you do not
know the answer to their ques6on but that you
will nd out the answer and contact them.

Bringing Your Networks Into the Process

As a Texas Impact member, you are in a posi6on not only to represent Texas Impact to lawmakers and their
stas, but also to bring other members of the public into the legisla6ve advocacy process. Once you are
comfortable visi6ng with legisla6ve oces and giving public tes6mony, consider crea6ng opportuni6es for
your colleagues and other members of your community to par6cipate. For example:

4!

Schedule a legisla6ve visit for members of your judicatorys social jus6ce commibee
Invite local clergy from your community to come with you to the Capitol
Bring ac6ve church members on a lobby eld trip
Texas Impact staff can offer several kinds of
Recruit colleagues to tes6fy on legisla6on

Texas Impact Guide to Legislative Engagement

specific support for your legislative engagement ,

such as providing you with issue materials,
helping you schedule meetings, and
accompanying you to the Capitol if you wish.

Legislative Visit Evaluation Form

Name: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Date of Visits: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Legislative Of5ice Visited:_______________________________________________________________________
Names of People In the Meeting:_______________________________________________________________
Issues Discussed:________________________________________________________________________________
Speci5ic Requests of the Of5ice if
Any:________________________________________________________________________________________________
Any Follow-up Promised by You? _____________________________________________________________
Any Follow-up Required from Texas Impact staff? ________________________________________
Any Follow-up Promised by Legislative staff?______________________________________________

1. What was your goal? (e.g.: introduce Texas Impact to the member; ?ind out the
members position on an issue; lobby a vote; ask the member to sponsor an
amendment)

2. Did you get what you came for? (Usually the answer will be not exactly, but)
Yes No Not sure, and heres why:

3. What did you learn about the person you talked to? For example:
a. Are they receptive to Texas Impact (or the faith

community
in general)?
Did they
know who Texas Impact was before you told them?
b. What level of authority do they have?
c. What issues are of most interest to them?
d. How much do they know about the topic you met on?

4. What did you talk about in the meeting?

Texas Impact Guide to Legislative Engagement

5. Did the person you talked to make any commitments to you that you wish you had in
writing?

6. Did they ask for any speci?ic follow up, like statistics? If so, are you able to provide those
yourself, or do you need to ask Texas Impact staff to provide them? What timeframe did
you give for getting the following up to the of?ice?

7. Did they give you any new information about the topicfor example, did they tell you
that amendment is dead, or the Chairman said he would bring that bill up as soon as
the ?iscal note gets resolved?

8. Did the new information create any new deadlines or tasks for Texas Impact?

9. Did you have the information you needed to have a successful visit:
a. On the member

Yes

No

b. On the issue

Yes

No

c. On the status of the issue legislatively

Yes

No

d. On Texas Impact or our position on the issue

Yes

No

e. Other __________________________________________

10. If no to any of the above, what additional information did you wish you had?

11. Based on your visit, should Texas Impact try to engage the person you met with in any
way, and if so what would that engagement be?

Texas Impact 200 East 30th Street, Austin, Texas 78705 512.472.3903
www.texasimpact.org


Texas Impacts Social Media Cheat Sheet

What is Social Media?

Social media refers to a series of Web-based communications tools that let people and groups
communicate with one another online through text, pictures, links to other Web sites and more.

Types of Social Media:

Benefits of using social media:

Blogs
Web sites where you can compose and post
entries, and let others comment on your
posts.
Examples: WordPress, Blogger.

Microblogging
Similar to blogs; updated more frequently,
with shorter posts. Ideal for regular updates
and cross-referencing other microbloggers
posts.
Examples: Twitter, Tumblr.

Social networking
Sites that virtually link individuals to their
friends, colleagues and organizations.
Examples: Facebook, LinkedIn.

Social bookmarking
Specific kind of blogs or news Web sites that
let users list links to sites and share them
with others.
Examples: Pinterest, Digg, Reddit.

Video sharing
Sites where users can upload and share large
video files.
Examples: YouTube, Vimeo.

Photo sharing
Sites where users can upload and share
photos.
Examples: Flickr, Instagram

Its free.
It allows you to distribute information
quickly to a large network.
It lets you connect directly with people
and organizations and lets
people/organization see whos
connected with you!

Social media allows you to:

Build awareness
Call for volunteers
Promote Events
Collaborate
And more!

Tips to effectively use social media:

Commit the time to keep your social

media outlets updated.
Dont be afraid to ask for help in
getting started.
Explore how other organizations use
social media.
Twitter is great for exchanging
messages with followers or public
officials.
Go where your audience is. Engage in
dialogue with your networks.

How Texas Impact uses social media:

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/texasimpact
Twitter: www.twitter.com/TXImpact
Blog:
http://www.texasinterfaithcenter.org/

Need help getting started in the social media world? Here are some additional resources:
Mashable: Guide for Social Media - www.mashable.com/social-media
Twitter Guide Book: www.mashable.com/guidebook/twitter
Facebook Guide Book: www.mashable.com/guidebook/facebook
Texas Interfaith Center Blog Series, Social Media and You:
Part 1: http://goo.gl/BZbDux Part 2: http://goo.gl/Ggho9r

Legislative Visit Evaluation Form

Your Name: _________________________________________________

Legislative Office Visited: _______________________________________________

Names of People In the Meeting: _____________________________________________________________________________

Issues Discussed: ______________________________________________________________________________________________
_
Specific Requests of the Office if Any: _______________________________________________________________________

Any Follow-up Promised by You?
No
Yes (if Yes, see question 6)

Any Follow-up Required from Texas Impact staff? No
Yes (if yes, see question 6)

Any Follow-up Promised by Legislative staff? _____________________________________________________________

1. What was your goal? (e.g.: introduce UMW to the member; find out the members
position on an issue; lobby a vote; ask the member to sponsor an amendment)

______________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Did you get what you came for? (Usually the answer will be not exactly, but)
Yes No Not sure, and heres why:

______________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What did you learn about the person you talked to? For example:
a. Are they receptive to UMW (or faith community in general)? Did they know
who UMW was before you told them?
b. What level of authority do they have?
c. What issues are of most interest to them?
d. How much do they know about the topic you met on?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What did you talk about in the meeting?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________


5. Did the person you talked to make any commitments to you that you wish you had
in writing?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Did they ask for any specific follow up, like statistics? If so, are you able to
provide those yourself, or do you need to ask Texas Impact staff to provide them?
What timeframe did you give for getting the following up to the office?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Did they give you any new information about the topicfor example, did they tell
you I will support any bills on that issue, or the Chairman said he would bring
that bill up as soon as the fiscal note gets resolved?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Did the new information create any new deadlines or tasks for Texas Impact staff?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Did you have the information you needed to have a successful visit:
a. On the member





Yes
No
b. On the issue





Yes
No
c. On the status of the issue legislatively

Yes
No
d. On UMW or our position on the issue

Yes
No
e. Other __________________________________________________________________________________


10.
If no to any of the above, what additional information did you wish you had?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

11.
Based on your visit, should Texas Impact try to engage the person you met
with in any way, and if so what would that engagement be?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

UMW Legislative Event:

The Caucus Process and the Consensus Agenda

What is the caucus process?
The caucus process is the process for establishing a coordinated Texas UMW legislative
agenda for the year. After learning about a number of public policy issues at Legislative
Event, all the Legislative Event attendees from each annual conference gather and
deliberatively establish a list of three priority state-level public policy issues that they think
UMW units and activities should focus on for the year. The caucus may also choose to
identify issues its members strongly feel should not be included in the consensus agenda.

After each annual conference caucus establishes its top three priority issues, the Social
Action Chairs of all the conferences meet together and create a consensus agenda. The
consensus agenda issues are those issues that were most frequently included on the
conference priority lists, taking into account any issues where there was significant
difference of opinion among conference caucuses and any instances where one conference
caucus strongly opposed the inclusion of a particular issue.

Why do we do the caucuses?
Although each annual conference UMW functions independently within the state, it is
helpful for legislators and the public to think in terms of a Texas UMW issue agenda. The
caucus process provides the opportunity to consolidate the shared concerns of all the
individual annual conferences into an agenda that UMWs from all over Texas can share.

What is the product?
The product of the caucuses is a list of the top priority state-level public policy issues
shared by UMWs from all of the states annual conferences. The issues are laid out in a
one-pager format that includes foundational information about UMW and the
organizations historic concerns.

The agenda is issued in a press release that goes to secular and United Methodist media in
Texas and nationally. In this way, Legislative Event is highlighted as a unique and
important UMW activity within the United Methodist Church.

What is the significance of the consensus agenda?
The consensus agenda is significant because it represents the shared concerns of UMWs
from all over Texas. However, it is also important to understand the limits of the agendas
significance. It represents the agenda only of Legislative Event participants, who speak to
but not for other UMWs.

The agenda is not binding on any UMW, whether or not they attended Legislative Event.
The agenda is not intended to implicate any individual in a policy position they oppose, but
to reflect the most broadly shared concerns of Legislative Event participants.


What do we do with the consensus agenda?
UMWs use the consensus agenda in many ways throughout the year. The agenda serves as
the basis for lobby visits at Legislative Event and any other lobby visits UMWs make during
the legislative session. The agenda also is a tool for educating local units about public
policy issues. Local units could use the agenda as a basis for developing projects. A unit
could do a service project to help members learn more about one of the issues on the
agenda.

How can units and districts use the consensus agenda throughout year?
UMWs who attend Legislative Event are encouraged to take the agenda back to their local
units and present information about the issues. Units may choose to adopt the agenda and
lobby on it during the legislative session or use it as a tool to build conversation with
elected officials or others in the community.

Social Action Chairs could use the agenda as the basis for a social action program. Issues on
the agenda would also be good topics for Sunday school classes, Church Women United
meetings, or local ecumenical or interfaith gatherings.

STEP-BY-STEP

1. The Conference Social Action Chair serves as the chair of the caucus. The Social
Action Chair appoints a secretary for the caucus to record the proceedings.
2. The chair should ensure that all caucus participants have the opportunity to speak
and be heard, and that no individual dominates the process.
3. The chair should ensure that copies of the Social Principles are available for the
caucuss reference throughout the meeting.
4. The caucus should try to stay within a one-hour timeframe.
5. The goal of the caucus is to select its top three priority issues for education and
advocacy during the legislative session and the remainder of the year.
6. The issues should be at the state legislative levelnot local or federal issues.
7. The issues do not have to be issues that were discussed earlier at Legislative Event.
8. The issues must be phrased in terms of legislative activity, not goals for direct
action, national change or broad aspirations.

EXAMPLES OF INAPPROPRIATELY FRAMED ISSUES:

Aspirational: Do a better job educating Texas children.
Direct Action: Volunteer in our local elementary school.
National: Ask Congress to reform No Child Left Behind.

EXAMPLES OF APPROPRIATELY FRAMED ISSUES:

Encourage lawmakers to maintain funding for pre-kindergarten.
Maintain physical education as a requirement for all public school students.

HAVE FUN!

!
Be!a!Water!Captain!!Water!Captains!are!
local!members!of!the!faith!community!who!
partner!with!state!and!local!leaders!to!
make!sure!the!Texas!water!planning!
process!works!for!everyone.!
In!1997,!the!Texas!legislature!passed!Senate!Bill!1,!
dramatically!reorganizing!the!Texas!Water!
Development!Board!and!the!way!in!which!water!
planning!is!carried!out!in!the!state.!In!contrast!to!
the!"topGdown"!approach!implemented!over!the!
previous!four!decades,!SB1!established!sixteen!
regional!waterGplanning!groups!(RWPGs),!to!
recognize!and!account!for!the!disparate!climates,!
economies,!and!political!cultures!within!the!state.!
Most!RWPGs!are!organized!along!river!basins!or!
watershedsGGfor!example,!regions!G!and!K,!which!
comprise!the!Brazos!and!lower!Colorado!river!
basins,!respectively.!Each!group!comprises!a!
number!of!stakeholders,!from!farmers!and!businesspeople!to!environmental!groups,!who!are!responsible!for!
designing!and!implementing!a!water!plan!every!five!years.!This!plan,!which!forecasts!and!prescribes!future!
water!use!and!development,!is!implemented!by!a!RWPG!political!subdivision!such!as!a!river!authority!or!
groundwater!conservation!district,!which!manages!the!practical!execution!of!the!group's!recommendations.!
Each!group!meets!bimonthly;!these!meetings!are!open!to!public!involvement,!which!allows!the!citizens!in!a!
region!to!participate!in!determining!the!future!of!their!water.!This!means!that!citizens!also!have!a!civic!
responsibility!to!provide!input!and!ensure!that!they!are!represented!during!the!process.!Unfortunately,!many!
Texans!do!not!even!know!which!RWPG!they're!a!part!of,!which!means!they're!unable!to!be!a!part!of!the!
process.!
!

What!region!are!you!fromand!where!is!your!water!coming!from?!

Be a Water Captain! Water Captains are local members of the faith community who partner with state and local leaders to make sure the
Texas water planning process works for everyone.!

!
For!more!information!contact:!Rev.!Sam!Brannon!at!sam@texasinterfaith.org!or!call!(979)!942G0731!
!
!

!
!
Whats!the!next+best!thing!this!side!of!Heaven?!!
Why!its!Texas!of!course!!
!
And!Texas!has!what!most!western!states!lack:!
water,!and!a!lot!of!it!!!But!all!water!has!a!source!
and!all!sources!are!finite.!!Thus,!water!planning!is!
paramount!to!a!healthy!and!sustainable!future!for!
Texas!and!her!people.!
!
In!1997,!the!Texas!legislature!passed!Senate!Bill!1,!
dramatically!reorganizing!the!Texas!Water!
Development!Board!and!the!way!in!which!water!planning!is!carried!out!in!the!state.!In!contrast!to!
the!"top+down"!approach!implemented!over!the!previous!four!decades,!SB1!established!sixteen!
regional!water+planning!groups,!to!recognize!and!account!for!the!disparate!climates,!economies,!
and!political!cultures!within!the!state.!
!
Written!into!the!law!as!bold!as!Texas!herself!is!clear!wording!that!the!public!shall!offer!testimony!to!
the!water!groups!and!that!testimony!shall!be!considered!in!the!groups!deliberations.!!That!spells!an!
opportunity!for!the!public!to!get!involved!in!the!most!important!issue!of!the!21st!century.!
!
Right!now,!energy,!healthcare,!economic!security!are!the!issues!that!folks!are!most!concerned!over.!!
But!into!the!next!few!decades,!because!of!population!growth,!economic!growth,!and!climate!change,!
water!will!become!the!most!important!issue!in!the!history!of!our!state,!country!and!world.!!Shall!we!
plan!for!that!now!or!wait!until!there!is!a!severe)crisis?!
!
Texas!offers!so!much!to!the!world.!!We!have!incredible!resources,!beautiful!landscapes,!lots!of!great!
tasting!locally!grown!food,!wonderful!cities!and!towns,!untold!opportunities,!and!beautiful!people.!!
Texas!can!be!a!model!for!the!future!of!the!civilized!world.!A!hundred!years!from!now!as!they!look!
out!over!the!beautiful!expanse!of!Texas,!what!will!your!great+grandchildren!say!about!you?!
!
Be#a#Water#Captain#and#plan#for#the#future#of#Texas#water!#Water!Captains!are!local!members!of!
the!faith!community!who!partner!with!state!and!local!leaders!to!make!sure!the!Texas!water!
planning!process!works!for!everyone.!
!
For!more!information!contact:!Rev.!Sam!Brannon!at!sam@texasinterfaith.org!or!call!(979)!942+
0731!
!

Texas Impact was established by Texas religious leaders in 1973 to be a voice

in the Texas legislative process for the shared religious social concerns of
Texas faith communities. Texas Impact is supported by more than two-dozen
Christian, Jewish and Muslim denominational bodies, hundreds of local
congregations, ministerial alliances and interfaith networks, and thousands of
people of faith throughout Texas.

Protect Texas Communities by Instituting Provisional Drivers Permits for

Drivers Ineligible for Licenses
Lawmakers can make Texas roads safer for everyone by providing alternative permits for drivers who are
ineligible for state-issued drivers licenses.
Under current law, applicants for Texas drivers
licenses must show proof of legal status in the United
States. This requirement prevents any resident without
identification, including undocumented residents,
from obtaining drivers licenses. They also are
ineligible to take driver safety courses.
Lack of a license means individuals are either unable
to insure their vehicles, or can only purchase
expensive, substandard insurance increasing the risk
to other drivers of being in an accident involving an
uninsured motorist. Texas had 1.6 million uninsured
motorists in 2012 according to a recent report by the
national Insurance Research Council (IRC). The
report estimated that $2.6 billion was paid in the U.S.
on 2012 uninsured motorists claims, up 75 percent
over the last 10 years. That total represents $14 per
insured motorist in 2012.
Finally, because licenses and insurance are both
requirements for operating a motor vehicle in Texas,
drivers without licenses have increased incentive to
flee the scene of an accident rather than stopping to
render aid, potentially leading to preventable loss of
life.
Proof of legal status was not required until 2011 in
Texas. Prior to that time, applicants for Texas drivers
licenses were not required to show proof of
citizenship.
In 2013, HB 3206 would have authorized the
Department of Public Safety (DPS) to issue a Texas
resident driver's permit to a person who, as of the date
the permit was issued, had resided in the state for at
least one year, and met other conditions. HB 3206 was
reported favorably from the House State Affairs
Committee late in the legislative session and did not
make it through the entire legislative process.

HB 3206 would have established that a Texas resident

driver's permit was not valid as proof of the permit
holder's identity for any federal purposes. The bill
would have required DPS to designate and clearly
mark as a Texas resident driver's permit each permit
issued; designate and clearly mark as a provisional
Texas resident driver's permit each permit issued to a
person who is at least 16 years of age but younger
than 18 years of age; and include on an issued permit
an indication that the permit is not valid proof of
identity for any federal purposes. The bill would have
established a fee of $150 for applying for a Texas
resident driver's license permit. The bill set the
expiration of each issued Texas resident driver's
permit at two years after the date of issuance.
HB 3206 would have imposed proof of insurance
conditions on motorists driving with the proposed
drivers permit. The bill would have expanded the
conduct that constitutes the offense of driving with an
invalid license to include the operation of a motor
vehicle on a highway if the person holds a Texas
resident driver's permit and is unable to provide
evidence of financial responsibility for a vehicle the
permit holder is operating.
According to the National Immigration Law Center, at
least ten states already issue some form of drivers
permit for individuals unable to prove legal status.
California adopted legislation that established drivers
licenses for undocumented individuals in 2014 and
began issuing the permits in January 2015.
The National Immigration Law Center also points out
that, while drivers permit policies are aimed
primarily at undocumented immigrants, circumstance
leave millions of U.S. citizens without proof of
citizenship, including some married women who have
no proof of legal status showing their married names.

Texas Impact 200 East 30th Street, Austin, Texas 78705 www.texasimpact.org 512.472.3903

 Time to Act: A Guide to 2015 Climate Engagement

Science Updates

2014 was the hottest year for the earth on record. NASA and NOAA

May, 2014 National Climate Assessment report released. Shows impacts of
climate change in the U.S. by region.
http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/


U.S. Policy Updates

Carbon Pollution Standards moving forward:
o Carbon Pollution Standards for New Power Plants
o Carbon Pollution Standards for Existing Power Plants
o http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards

Ozone Standards: EPA proposed updates to national air quality standards for
ground-level ozone, or smog, in November, 2014.
o Information about the proposal:
http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/actions.html
o Information about January 29, 2015 public hearing in Arlington, TX:
http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/hearings.html

Methane Standards: EPA announces in January, 2015, that they will develop
proposal for methane standards for oil & gas industry.
http://www.epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/pdfs/20150114fs.pdf


International Updates: The Road to Paris

November, 2014: U.S.-China Climate Agreement announced.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/fact-sheet-us-
china-joint-announcement-climate-change-and-clean-energy-c

December, 2014: 20th Conference of the Parties (COP 20) talks in Lima, Peru. A
good source of info, opinion, and analysis:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/cop-20-un-climate-change-
conference-lima

Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy l 200 East 30th Street l Austin, TX 78705
512.472.3903 l www.texasinterfaith.org l yaira@texasinterfaith.org

COP 21 December, 2015 in Paris

o About:
http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/negotiati
ons/future/index_en.htm

o OurVoices.net Organizing a global religious movement for
lead-up to COP 21 talks in Paris. http://ourvoices.net/Texas-
IPL

2015 Timeline

March 31 Due date for countries to submit their Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions (INDCs).

Spring
o Expected release of Popes Encyclical on Climate Change
o Will Congress approve Obamas request for $3 billion commitment to Green
Climate Fund?

Summer EPA issues Final Rules for:
o Existing Power Plants in States, Indian Country, and U.S. Territories
o Carbon Pollution Standards for New, Modified, and Reconstructed Power
Plants

June OurVoices fast for climate

Stay Tuned! Its an important year for the climate.

People of faith can make a difference.

Have questions? Want to be involved? Call our office or e-mail Yaira:
yaira@texasinterfaith.org

Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy l 200 East 30th Street l Austin, TX 78705
512.472.3903 l www.texasinterfaith.org l yaira@texasinterfaith.org

Texas Impact was established by Texas religious leaders in 1973 to be a voice

in the Texas legislative process for the shared religious social concerns of
Texas faith communities. Texas Impact is supported by more than two-dozen
Christian, Jewish and Muslim denominational bodies, hundreds of local
congregations, ministerial alliances and interfaith networks, and thousands of
people of faith throughout Texas.

Promote Health and Recovery by Lifting Restrictions on Food Assistance

Lawmakers should eliminate the lifetime ban on SNAP benefits for individuals convicted of drug felonies.
Texas is one of the last few states still maintaining a
lifetime ban on federally funded food assistance for
individuals who have been convicted of drug felonies.
The restriction is counterproductive to the
Legislatures goals for both criminal justice and social
welfare.

including those in Texas have turned increasing

attention to preventing recidivism by providing
services and supports for individuals returning to the
community after incarceration. As a result, most states
have chosen to waive or modify the ban on SNAP for
convicted drug felons.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

(SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program,
provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and noincome Americans. SNAP is a federal program
administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).

Texas is one of only nine states that still have a full

ban for drug felons on SNAP. The others are Alabama,
Alaska, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, West
Virginia, and Wyoming. Missouri eliminated the ban
in 2014.

States partner with the federal government to

administer SNAP, with the federal government paying
100 percent of the cost of food and administration.
SNAP benefits are distributed in Texas by the Texas
Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC).
In FY 2013, SNAP benefits cost $76.4 billion and
supplied roughly 47.6 million Americans with an
average of $133.08 per month in food assistance.
More than 4 million Texans receive SNAP, most of
them children, elderly, and individuals with
disabilities. In addition to the direct benefit to
individuals, every dollar in SNAP assistance results in
$1.70 in economic activity. In 2013, SNAP generated
$5.6 billion in economic activity in Texas.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act signed by President Clinton in
1996 imposed a lifetime ban for any convicted drug
felon to receive SNAP. However, the federal law
contained a provision allowing states to opt out of the
lifetime ban.
The drug felon ban was enacted at a time when
Congress and the states favored tough-on-crime
legislation and harsh penalties for drug-related
offenses. Since that time, criminal justice experts

States that have eliminated the ban have cited several

concerns:
1. The ban unfairly penalizes children; although
children of individuals under the ban can
receive SNAP, benefits for the entire
household are reduced.
2. The ban impedes successful re-entry and
eventual self-sufficiency.
3. The ban impedes recovery for individuals
with substance abuse issues.
4. The ban does not save states any money since
SNAP is 100 percent federally funded; on the
contrary, it reduces profit for food stores and
increases demand on nonprofit social services.
Legislative Options
Eliminating the ban completely would be the most
effective strategy, but some states have modified the
ban rather than eliminating it completely.
Modifications include: applying the ban only to those
convicted of trafficking; lifting the ban for those who
have completed substance abuse treatment; lifting the
ban for individuals who test negative for drug use at
regular intervals; and lifting the ban sometime after a
waiting periodfor example, allowing the individual
to enroll in SNAP two years after completing their
sentence.

Texas Impact 200 East 30th Street, Austin, Texas 78705 www.texasimpact.org 512.472.3903

SCHOOL FINANCE

Court Issues Ruling: A Broken School-Finance System

Needs Fixing Nowthe Kids Cant Wait
AUGUST 28, 2014 BY TEXAS AFT STAFF

State District Judge John Dietz of Austin today issued a long-awaited final decision in
the school-finance case brought against the state by hundreds of school districts. Judge
Dietz found overwhelming evidence that the current funding scheme is constitutionally
inequitable, inadequate, and in violation of the ban on a statewide property tax.
He noted that the state has raised its standards of required academic achievement
while depriving school districts of the resources needed to help students meet those
standards. He cited the ongoing effects of deep budget cuts enacted in 2011including
layoffs of teachers and support personnel, inflated class sizes, and the elimination of
pre-K expansion grants and extra services for struggling students. Dietz found that the
cuts in state aid to districts have been only partially reversed in 2013, leaving annual
funding on average some $600 per pupil below levels reached in 2008.
Even without the 2011 cuts, Dietz said, a trend toward systematic underfunding has
been evident over the past decade. The districts hit the hardest have been those with
the highest concentrations of high-need studentsthe economically disadvantaged and
English Language Learners especially. Overall, Dietz found, credible expert testimony
indicated a shortfall in state funding as high as $1,000 per pupil. That would translate
into more than $5 billion a year that is needed but not being provided to meet state
college-readiness targets.

Texas AFT President Linda Bridges responded to todays ruling with this statement:
Heres how this situation looks from the classroom perspective: The kids are worth it,
and they shouldnt have to wait any longer for the state to do whats right, fix this
problem, and fund their education adequately and equitably as required by law.
The Texas Constitution requires the state to provide a free and effective system of
public schools for all our children, not just some. The decision by District Judge John
Dietz holds that the state system of school finance leaves our schools underfunded,
deprives our schoolchildren of equitable access to educational opportunities, and
improperly burdens local taxpayersall in violation of clear constitutional requirements.
State officials should stop trying to defend this indefensible system. Instead of delaying
the case as long as possible on appeal, they should face up now to the states duty to
provide every child with a full opportunity to achieve his or her educational potential.
The timing is right. The state economy is booming, and the state treasury is overflowing
with available revenue. Lawmakers have the wallet, if they have the will, to give our
students the education they deserve.

State Appeal Schedule in School-Finance Case Would

Push Final Ruling Into 2016
JANUARY 8, 2015 BY TEXAS AFT LEAVE A COMMENT

Responding to a district courts ruling last year that the state system of school funding
violates the state constitution, the state of Texas (via the attorney generals office over
which Gov.-elect Greg Abbott still presides) this week has requested a schedule for
appellate argument that would push final Texas Supreme Court action into 2016. If the
request is granted, some lawmakers are sure to use the pending case as an excuse for
continued inaction this year on overdue restoration of funds cut in 2011 and for
continued resistance to much-needed funding improvements. But the situation is really
not that different from the one we faced in the 2013 session, in which several billion
dollars for public schools were restored even though the school-finance lawsuits

outcome, then as now, was not final. The use of pending legal action as an excuse for
inaction by the legislature was feeble then, and it is feeble now. Legislators need to
make increased school funding a priority in the 2015 session, and the funds are
available to do it.

National Report Ranks Texas 49th in Per-Pupil

Spending, Gives State a D for School Finance and a Cfor Student Achievement
JANUARY 8, 2015 BY TEXAS AFT 1 COMMENT

The Education Week Research Centers 2015 Quality Counts report puts Texas 49th
in the nation for its level of school spending per pupil. The ranking is based on an
apples-to-apples comparison among the states that takes regional cost variations into
account, so the abysmal ranking is no fluke. This low investment in the states youth
explains why the overall ranking for Texas on school finance is a letter grade of D. The
states score for student achievement in grades K-12 was a C-, matching the average
across all states.
The Education Week research findings back up what Texas educatorsand a state
district courthave seen in our under-resourced schools and classrooms: a state
system of school funding that does not meet constitutional requirements to ensure
equitable and adequate educational opportunity to all students.

First Draft of the State Budget Fails to Use Available

Revenue to Restore and Enhance Education Funding
JANUARY 19, 2015 BY TEXAS AFT 1 COMMENT

On January 15 the Texas House released a first draft of the state budget that falls short
of even a bare-bones level of funding that would maintain current state services. It
would take about $102 billion in general revenue to maintain current services, and the

initial House proposal for 2016-2017 comes in about $3 billion below that, at $98.8
billion. For public education, the bill purportedly would cover the cost of enrollment
growth, but it would rely heavily on the use of increased local property-tax collections,
and it would not add new general revenue to reverse past funding cuts, let alone
enhance formula aid for school districts.
One positive provision at least can be noted. This initial version of the budget maintains
the state contribution rate for the TRS pension fund at 6.8 percent, the level to which it
was increased last session as part of an overall package deal to strengthen the pension
fund. Regarding the TRS-Care health plan for retirees, however, the proposal does not
include additional state funding needed to keep the program solvent without big
premium increases or benefit cuts. Nor does the initial budget draft address the
increasingly unaffordable increases in health-insurance costs and erosion of benefits
borne by active school employees.
Overall, the proposal leaves $14 billion in general revenue available but as yet
untouched, not to mention another $11 billion in the Economic Stabilization Fund
reserve. The biggest question of the 2015 session therefore remains as described in
stark terms by the late Texas AFT President Linda Bridges just last week, on the eve of
the session: Will lawmakers use available funds to address neglected needs or to grant
more tax giveaways to special interests?

VOUCHERS

Segregation and school vouchers share a common pedigree

By Louis Malfaro, Texas AFT Secretary-Treasurer
Education is the new civil rights movement we are told by latter-day school reformers who
promote school choice, vouchers, and erosion of the common neighborhood school as a path to
educational opportunity for poor and underserved children.
One wonders what Thurgood Marshallthe late civil rights attorney and eventual U.S. Supreme
Court justicewould have had to say about this inverted notion of civil rights, in which the state, in
lieu of providing a high-quality education to all students in every neighborhood, turns education into
a commodity for parents and students who are expected to shop around town to find a school.
Marshall successfully advocated an end to legal segregation in public schools and won a
unanimous ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that separate schools, even supposing
they might have substantially equal resources, are inherently unequal if they remain segregated by
race.
As the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision turns 60 this year, it is important to reflect
on the promise (yet to be realized universally) of public education where students of all
backgrounds have access to high-quality, integrated public schools. It is likewise important to recall
how those who opposed school equality and desegregation used school choice, tuition grants, and
vouchers to undermine the goals of Brown in an attempt to maintain a system of separate schools.
In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, many states and cities, particularly in the South,
adopted freedom of choice policies that allowed students to remain in segregated schools. Later,
when the court required school desegregation, segregation academies sprung up to allow white
students to attend these private schools with public tuition grants or vouchers. The earliest impetus
1

for publicly funded school choice was a desire to maintain separate and unequal systems of
schooling for children from different backgrounds and circumstances. The unwillingness to provide
and maintain high-quality schools for all students remains an abiding motivation for voucher and
choice advocates.
Vouchers have been the bedrock of the radical right-wing education agenda for decades. They
serve the dual purpose of privatizing what has historically been the function of the state (a
constitutionally mandated duty in most states, including Texas) and of providing tax dollars for
religious, segregated, and private institutions of education. Vouchers also extend the ideological
fetish for markets into the education arena. And voucher backers make the facile argument that no
attention need be paid to teacher preparation, curriculum, student needs, or any of the myriad
factors that determine educational attainment; the invisible hand of the market will bring improved
educational outcomes.
Despite their history as a tool for denying poor and minority students access to high-quality
education, vouchers and school choice are now being touted as a way of furthering the civil rights
of poor and historically underserved students. Do vouchers do what their supports claim they will
do? Do they reduce the achievement gap between rich and poor, black and white? Do they further
the cause of integrated schools? The answer to each of these questions is NO.
In Milwaukee, where a large private school voucher program has been in place for nearly 25 years,
research has determined that vouchers have not improved educational outcomes for students who
attend private schools on a voucher or in the public schools of the city. In fact, Milwaukee
compares with Alabama and Mississippi on NAEP scores. Wisconsin, which underfunds the
schools in Milwaukee where two-thirds of the states African American students live, has one of the
largest achievement gaps between black and white students of any state. The story is much the
same in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and other places where large-scale voucher programs have
been introduced. A review of all existing vouchers studies conducted in 2009 found no evidence
that vouchers produce achievement gains for affected students, nor do they drive improvements in
neighborhood schools through competition (market forces).
The Cleveland voucher program, which provides public dollars for students to attend religious
schools (over 90 percent of voucher recipients in that city attend sectarian schools), was found to
be constitutional by a narrow 5-to-4 margin of the Supreme Court. The court ruled on this technical
point: since the voucher money went to parents who then paid the private, religious school, the
2

program did not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits public
support for religious institutions.
The NAACP staged a demonstration on the steps of the Supreme Court against the Cleveland
voucher program as the court heard the case. Public education is not a new civil rightit is a right
we have been working for decades to make available to all Americas children. It is an essential
institution in our nations promise to provide equality of opportunity and ensure economic and
social mobility are available to all children. The only way to fulfill that promise to all children is
through a system of high-quality, free public schools accessible to all students regardless of
income, background, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, race, language, or disability.
John Dewey summed it up pretty well: What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child,
that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and
unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.

Coalition for Public Schools Blasts First Voucher Bill of the

2015 Session
JANUARY 7, 2015 BY TEXAS AFT

Sen. Donna Campbell, a San Antonio Republican, has pre-filed the first private-school voucher bill
of the 2015 session, SB 276. Sen. Campbell timed the pre-filing of her bill to coincide with issuance
of a pro-voucher report by a pro-voucher advocacy group in Austin. Her bill was greeted with a
hard-hitting critique by the Coalition for Public Schools, in which Texas AFT and more than 30
other community, education, and labor organizations united in support of neighborhood public
schools. Here is the Coalition for Public Schools press release in full:
A proposed new private school voucher scheme, a so-called taxpayer savings grant, represents a
massive tax-giveaway that would drain hundreds of millions of dollars each year from
neighborhood public schools to subsidize tuition at private and religious schools, mostly benefiting
wealthy families.
Charles Luke, coordinator for the Coalition for Public Schools, notes several major flaws to Sen.
Donna Campbells voucher scheme, Senate Bill 276.

Senator Campbells proposal would pose yet another threat to the education of 5.1 million Texas
children who attend our local neighborhood schools, Luke said. Weve seen this kind of creative
math before, and the state of Texas simply cannot afford to fund two separate school systems: one
for the vast majority of Texas children and another for those students granted state funding to
attend a private, for-profit school that is not accountable to the taxpayers for how they use our tax
dollars.
Among the flaws in Sen. Campbells proposed voucher scheme:

First, the scheme is modeled after previous bills that analysts have shown would end up
funneling more state dollars to educate a student at a private school than a student attending
a public school.

Second, the proposed legislation explicitly exempts private schools that accept the voucher
dollars from state education accountability regulations, financial and academic, that public
schools must meet. That would leave private schools unaccountable to the taxpayers
providing the funds.

Third, the students most likely to benefit from this voucher scheme are those from wealthy
families that can afford to pay the difference between the value of the voucher and the actual
cost of tuition at a private or religious school. That contradicts claims that this voucher
scheme would close achievement gaps between low-income and wealthy families.

The Legislature has yet to make up the massive funding cuts to public schools passed in 2011.
This proposed voucher scheme would make it even harder for public schools to cover that funding
shortfall.
This bill is just another voucher scam that cuts funds that public schools need to educate the vast
majority of Texas students while creating a parallel taxpayer-funded system for unaccountable
private schools, Luke said. The promised savings come at the expense of kids left behind in
public schools with even less funding than they had before.

The Case Against Private School Vouchers

More than 50 years have passed since Milton Friedman first proposed private school vouchers as a
public policy. During that time, proponents have spent hundreds of millions of dollars attempting to
convince a skeptical public and lawmakers of the concepts efficacy, and yet, five decades later,
vouchers still remain controversial, unproven and unpopular. Opposition to vouchers emanates
from constitutional and democratic concerns, as well as from practical and policy-related flaws,
including many of those listed below.

Either youre for accountability or youre not Vouchers eliminate public accountability.
Vouchers channel tax dollars into private schools that do not face state-approved academic
standards, do not make budgets public, do not adhere to open meetings and records laws, do not
publicly report on student achievement, and do not face the public accountability requirements
contained in state and federal laws, including special education laws. They also do not have to
accept all students.

Vouchers divert critical dollars and commitment from public schoolsVouchers divert
attention, commitment and dollars from public schools to pay private school tuition for a few
students, including many who already attend private school. A dollar spent on a tuition voucher is a
dollar drained from public education. Even proposals that purportedly create a new funding
stream to pay for vouchers miss the mark: if new public money is available for education it should
be invested in strengthening the schools that educate the vast majority of our students and are
accountable to all taxpayers our public schools.

Vouchers are no way to raise student achievement for allDespite built-in screening
advantages for private schools, a GAO report to Congress on the Cleveland and Milwaukee voucher
programs noted that the most credible research found little or no difference in voucher and public
school students performance. The federal evaluation of the Washington, D.C. voucher experiment
discovered the same two years running.

Vouchers waste taxpayer moneyVouchers force taxpayers to support two school
systems: one public and one private, the latter of which is not accountable to all the taxpayers
supporting it. Existing private school students usually are eligible to receive vouchers, creating a
new cost to taxpayers.
Vouchers leave behind many students, including those with the greatest needs Vouchers
leave behind many disadvantaged students because private schools may not accept them or do not
offer the special services they need.

Vouchers give choices to private schools, not parentsPrivate schools decide if they want to
accept vouchers, and then how many students they want to admit. And even if a voucher student
does gain acceptance into a private school, the school can later reject him or her for numerous
reasons.

Vouchers remain publicly unpopularUtah voters, in 2007, overwhelmingly voted to repeal a
state voucher program by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent. This marked the 11th time in 11
referenda over the past 30 years that voters have decisively rejected specific voucher or tuition tax
credit proposals.

GRAND JURIES
____________________________________________________
About Grand Juries:

A grand jury consists of twelve people whose job is to review criminal complaints and
decide if there is sufficient evidence to issue an indictment. The standard of proof for an
indictment is probable cause.
Grand jurors in Texas are most often selected through the Key Man system, which is
used in only one other state: California. District judges appoint three to five people to
serve as grand jury commissioners, requiring each to select a handful of people willing
to serve. Judges pick grand jurors from that pool. The majority of counties in Texas uses
this system including the higher populated counties.
Houston has an application process where people have to fill out a form & have it
notarized in order to be considered to be on a Grand Jury.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the key man system but
warned that it is "highly subjective" and "susceptible of abuse."
"Many jurors are drawn from those persons who are considered pillars of the
community and retirees," John Stride, a senior appellate attorney for the Texas District
and County Attorneys Association, wrote in an article for the organization in spring of
2012. "Many of these may have strong ties with law enforcement officers ... (and are
therefore) more likely to buy into whatever the judge, prosecutor or officers say."
There is another option. State law gives judges another choice in how they seat grand
juries. It permits them to select grand jurors from 20 to 125 randomly chosen people
from the county's pool for regular jury duty. (Appears to do a better job of getting
diverse jury that is representative of the community)

What you can do:

o If you live in Harris County, go out & get registered to participate on Grand Juries. The
website where you can get the form is http://www.justex.net/grandjuryinfo/faq.aspx
o Reach out to the judges in your community and find out what system they use to pick
grand juries. If they use Key Man let them know of your interest to be a Grand Jury
Commissioner or talk to them about using the system that randomly chose people from
the regular jury duty pool.
o Serve on juries in your community when available.

Provided by the Texas NACCP

Four-Part Series Published in the Houston Chronicle

LISA FALKENBERG (07/16/2014)

Part I: A disturbing glimpse into the shrouded world of the Texas grand jury system

"Sir, I don't know anything else," the young mother of three told a Harris County prosecutor on an
April morning in 2003. But the prosecutor, Dan Rizzo, didn't believe her. And neither did the Harris County
grand jury listening to her testimony.
They seemed convinced that Ericka Jean Dockery's boyfriend of six months, Alfred Dewayne Brown,
had murdered veteran Houston police officer Charles R. Clark during a three-man burglary of a check-
cashing place, and they didn't seem to be willing to believe Dockery's testimony that he was at her house the
morning of the murder.
"If we find out that you're not telling the truth, we're coming after you," one grand juror tells
Dockery.
"You won't be able to get a job flipping burgers," says another.
Dockery tells the group that if she believed Brown actually killed people, she'd turn him in herself: "If
he did it, he deserves to get whatever is coming to him. Truly," she says.
In May, I reported that a land-line phone record supporting Brown's contention that he called
Dockery that morning from her apartment phone had mysteriously turned up in a homicide detective's
garage, more than seven years after he was convicted and sentenced to death. The Harris County District
Attorney's Office maintained Rizzo, now retired, must have inadvertently lost the record, and agreed to a
new trial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals inexplicably has sat on the case for more than a year.
Initially, Dockery's story meshed with Brown's. She told grand jurors he was indeed asleep on her
couch at the early morning hour when prosecutors believed he was scouting venues. Dockery also
confirmed the land-line call to her workplace - made at the same time prosecutors placed Brown at an
apartment complex with suspects, changing clothes and watching TV news coverage of the crime.
Neither the prosecutor nor the grand jury would take Dockery's "truth" for an answer.
The young woman, a home health aide who made Subway sandwiches by night, had no attorney. No
experience dealing with authorities. No criminal history aside from traffic tickets.
She caved. At Brown's capital murder trial in October 2005, Dockery was a key prosecution witness,
helping seal her boyfriend's death sentence by telling the court that when she asked him if he did it, he had
confessed, saying, "'I was there. I was there.'"
How she got from one point to another would be hard to imagine. But thanks to a formerly
confidential document in Brown's court file, we don't have to imagine.
In a rare, disturbing glimpse into the shrouded world of the Texas grand jury system, we can read
with our own eyes the beginnings of the young woman's tortured evolution.
Appellate attorneys were so outraged by a 146-page transcript of Dockery's testimony before the
208th Harris County grand jury on April 21, 2003, that they entered it into the public record for judges to
review.
In it, grand jurors don't just inquire. They interrogate. They intimidate. They appear to abandon their
duty to serve as a check on overzealous government prosecution and instead join the team.
"Unbelievable," veteran criminal defense attorney Pat McCann said after I asked him to read the
document. "When she went in there, Mr. Brown had an alibi. When they were finished browbeating her with
her children, he didn't. That's the single biggest misuse and abuse of the grand jury system I have ever seen."
Reproduced with permission of the author and the Houston Chronicle.
Not to be reproduced without written permission, in accordance with international copyright law.


Rizzo and Lynn Hardaway with the DA's office declined comment, citing a state law that keeps grand
jury proceedings secret.
At first, the fact that Dockery seemed to be "a good, nice, hard-working lady," in the words of one
grand juror, gave her credibility with the group. But jurors soon seized on her vulnerabilities and fear.
"Hey, Dan," the foreman calls to the prosecutor. "What are the punishments for perjury and
aggravated perjury?"
"It's up to 10 years," Rizzo responds.
"In prison. OK," the foreman says.
"Oh no," says another grand juror as if on cue, echoing other commentary that reads at times like a
Greek chorus.
"I'm just trying to answer all your questions to the best of my ability," Dockery says.
A bit later, a female juror asks pointedly: "What are you protecting him from?"
"I'm not protecting him from anything. No ma'am. I wouldn't dare do that," Dockery eventually
responds. As Rizzo and the grand jurors parse Dockery's every word and challenge each statement, she
complains they're confusing her.
"No, we're not confusing you," a grand juror says. "We just want to find out the truth."
Although Dockery says repeatedly that she knew it was Brown on her couch that morning, the
foreman tries to get her to subscribe to an implausible theory that it was somebody else on her couch.
She doesn't budge. The group takes a break - one of several.
When the grand jury returns, the foreman says the members are not convinced by Dockery's story
and "wanted to express our concern" for her children if she doesn't come clean.
"That's why we're really pulling this testimony," the foreman tells her.
The foreman adds that if the evidence shows she's perjuring herself "then you know the kids are
going to be taken by Child Protective Services, and you're going to the penitentiary and you won't see your
kids for a long time."
'Think about your kids'
Rizzo goes on to accuse Dockery of misleading the grand jury. Then, after being told again and again
to think about her children, Dockery changes her story a bit. She says Brown was not at the house when she
left for work.
"No, no, no," she finally blurts out.
"One minute, Ericka," a grand juror says a bit later, apparently sensing an opportunity. "He wasn't in
the house when you put your kids on the bus either, was (he)?"
"I'm trying to remember," she says.
"Think about your kids, darling," a grand juror says.
"I'm trying to remember," Dockery says.
"That's what we're concerned about here, is your kids," the foreman says.
"He was not at the house," a grand juror urges.
"We're as much concerned about your kids as you are," the foreman says. "So, tell the truth."
"He was not in the house when you put your kids on the bus, was he?" a grand juror says.
"Tell the truth, girl."
"Yes," Dockery says finally. "He was there."
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A bit later, Dockery acquiesces on that point, saying that Brown was not in her house earlier that
morning, either.
There's a long break. Whatever happened during that time must have been profound. Dockery comes
back in and tells yet another, completely different, story - that she left her house far earlier than she'd said
previously, to rekindle a relationship with an old lover, and therefore doesn't know what time Brown left.
Rizzo, his patience seemingly wearing thin, suggests again he doesn't believe her story. "I think that
you're up to your neck involved in this deal," he says.
show.

He is intent on getting Dockery to admit she made a call to one of the suspects, as he says records
"I never called. I never called," she says.
"Girl, you just made a big mistake," a grand juror says. One of them advises her to get an attorney.
"We're done," Rizzo announces.

And although Dockery had never been implicated in the crime, a grand juror closes out Dockery's
testimony by leveling the harshest, most intimidating allegation yet.
"I think she was with him at the check cashing place."
Months later, Dockery found herself in jail charged with perjury for allegedly lying about what time
she last saw Brown the day of the murder and whether she called another suspect. She faced bail she
couldn't pay and, apparently, one cruel choice - stay locked up away from her children, or tell them what
they wanted to hear.


LISA FALKENBERG (07/17/2014)
Part II: Mother of 3 pressured into changing story, but jailed anyway

For 120 days, Ericka Dockery sat in a Harris County jail cell on Baker Street, a place she would later
describe as hellish, "nasty," full of fights, "unclean women," and a world away from the most important part
of her life - her three children.
Dockery had a choice: Stay locked up, or tell authorities the story they wanted to hear so they could
prosecute her boyfriend for capital murder.
Nearly seven weeks in, Dockery chose the latter.
On Oct. 9, 2003, she dictated a jailhouse letter, a desperate plea to state district Judge Mark Kent
Ellis, asking him to consider her children, then ages 11, 8 and 6, and vowing to be "a productive mother and
citizen if allowed to go home."
"The time here without them is almost unbearable," she wrote in the letter, obtained from Alfred
Dewayne Brown's court file.
As I recounted in Thursday's column, Dockery was a home health aide who had worked nights
making Subway sandwiches when she found herself charged with three counts of felony aggravated perjury
- allegedly for lying to grand jurors after they pressured her to change her story in a 2003 cop-killing case.
Dockery had testified to the grand jury that her then-boyfriend, Brown, was at her apartment when
prosecutors believed he was with guys he knew from the neighborhood, scouting venues for a burglary that
would lead to the murder of Houston police officer Charles R. Clark.
Dockery also testified that Brown made a landline call to her workplace around the time of the crime,
a contention that would have supported his alibi but was never supported with evidence at trial. It wasn't
Reproduced with permission of the author and the Houston Chronicle.
Not to be reproduced without written permission, in accordance with international copyright law.


until more than seven years after Brown's 2005 conviction and death sentence that a phone record
documenting the landline call turned up in a detective's garage. Last year, the judge agreed to a new trial,
but the state's highest criminal court has been dallying for over a year on whether to allow it.
Back in 2003, the lead Harris County prosecutor, Dan Rizzo, believed early on that Brown was the
murderer, and the grand jury apparently agreed. A transcript of the secret proceedings details how the
group intimidated Dockery into changing her story by threatening to take away her children and send her to
prison.
She did change her story, but Rizzo saw to it that she was charged with perjury anyway - perhaps to
compel her cooperation, perhaps to help discredit her with the jury if she ever tried to defend Brown again.
Another grand jury indicted her, in part for testifying that the last time she saw Brown on the
morning of the murder was 8:30 a.m., when she later said it was 6:50 a.m. And in part for denying she had
made a phone call to another of the murder suspects when phone records showed that she had.
Why Dockery would deny making the phone call to an acquaintance of her boyfriend's, if in fact she
did, is still a mystery to me. She may have lied out of fear, or perhaps she forgot the call or didn't realize she
had miss-dialed. Whatever the reason, it gave Rizzo rope to bind her.
Bail was set at $5,000 for each count and wasn't lowered, even though Dockery wasn't much of a
flight risk - she had local ties, a steady job, and no criminal record beyond traffic tickets and children.
Dockery couldn't pay it. So, she appealed to Judge Ellis, and confessed her guilt of aggravated perjury.
"At the time I appeared in front of the grand jury I answered their questions to the best of my belief
and knowledge," Dockery wrote, adding that she didn't know at the time that Brown was not at her
apartment. "He (Brown) asked me to lie and tell anyone who asked that he was in fact at my home when in
fact he was not."
She claimed that Brown's brother had threatened to kill her and her children if she gave any
statement conflicting with Brown's.
"Out of fear for the safety of my children, I remained silent," she wrote the judge.
She gave details about the crime that she said she had gleaned from others, and reiterated her plea
for leniency.
"Again your honor, I just want to say that I am guilty of aggravated perjury and of loving my children
more than anything else in the world and would do whatever necessary to protective (sic) them and keep
them safe from harm," she wrote.
"Whatever necessary" apparently meant cooperating with the prosecutors and becoming their key
witness.
Among conditions of Dockery's release from jail, she agreed to a 10 p.m. curfew, drug testing twice a
month and to wear an ankle monitor. The last one made sure she stuck around. But it wasn't enough.
To make sure she stuck to her story, Dockery was required to call a homicide detective once a week.
Two criminal defense attorneys told me they'd never heard of such a thing. Rizzo, the prosecutor,
defended the requirement for a witness who was expected to give important testimony at trial.
"That's fairly typical for someone we're not sure is going to be there, to just keep in contact so you
don't have to go looking for them again," he said, adding that he believed the calls to the homicide detective
came only after Dockery gave a sworn statement on her version of events.
Randall Ayers, who was Dockery's court-appointed defense attorney at the time, said the intent of
the provision was clear, but it was one to which his client readily agreed.
"Obviously, I think their goal was to keep her under their thumb," Ayers said. "Of course I was
concerned but there's nothing I could really do. The judge required it. It was just how it was."
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She testified at Brown's capital murder trial in October 2005 that, once, when she asked if he had
done it, he told her "I was there. I was there."

It was the first time Dockery had ever mentioned that statement, according to Brown's appeal.
After Brown's conviction and death sentence, Dockery tried to get on with her life. In November
2005, she was granted two years community supervision. And in 2007, Judge Ellis ended her supervision
early and she avoided a conviction through deferred adjudication.
Years later, when an investigator for Brown's appellate attorneys came knocking on her door, hoping
she would help lead them to the truth, Dockery turned the woman away and ordered her off the lawn.
Then one day they sent someone else, a capital murder exoneree who had survived his own tortured
journey through the criminal justice system.
"Look, sister," Anthony Graves told her before she could close the door. "I just want to tell you what
happened to me."
And she let him in.


LISA FALKENBERG (07/23/2014)
Part III: Anthony Graves helps open a painful door to the past, and perhaps the truth

For years, Dockery had eluded appellate attorneys for death row inmate Alfred Dewayne Brown who
wanted to question her about why she went from bolstering her ex-boyfriend's alibi to testifying against
him at his 2005 cop-killing trial.
When the legal team did find her, she wouldn't talk. So, an investigator reached out to Graves, who
had only one year earlier been freed after 18 years behind bars following a wrongful 1994 conviction for the
murder of a Somerville grandmother, her daughter and four children.
Graves agreed to help when he learned that the capital murder case bore a similarity to his own:
Graves' strongest alibi witnesses, Yolanda Mathis, a friend with whom he'd stayed up talking the night of the
murders, refused to testify after being threatened with a capital murder charge by authorities as well.
In an interview in May, Graves said he shared his story with Dockery one day in August 2011 after
the then-36-year-old mother of three let him and an investigator into her living room. "The next thing I
know, she was telling us everything," Graves said.
He said Dockery recounted how she'd been threatened into testifying against Brown, how she'd been
jailed away from her three children on perjury charges after being accused of lying to a grand jury, how
upon her release she was forced to wear an ankle monitor.
In previous columns, I reported how Dockery initially backed up her ex-boyfriend's claim that he'd
been at her apartment around the time Brown was accused of murdering
Houston Police Officer Charles R. Clark during a three-man robbery of a check-cashing place. She
testified he made a land line call from the apartment to Dockery at her workplace, which should have
bolstered his alibi.
But a phone record documenting that land line call was never revealed at trial, even though Harris
County lead prosecutor Dan Rizzo had obtained it. It only surfaced seven years later in a homicide
detective's garage. The discovery led the Harris County District Attorney's Office and trial Judge Mark Kent
Ellis to quickly agree to a new trial, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has yet to rule more than a year
later, leaving Brown marking time on death row.
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Not to be reproduced without written permission, in accordance with international copyright law.


"When I asked her 'was Alfred Brown innocent,'" Graves recalled, "she told me about the phone call.
She told me he didn't do anything."
That was quite a different story than the last one Dockery had told at Brown's trial, when she
testified that Brown confessed to being at the murder scene. As I've reported, her trial testimony came only
after Dockery went before a grand jury that threatened to take her children and lock her up if she didn't
change her story.
Graves said Dockery's experience happens all too often among witnesses who can't afford attorneys,
have little experience with the criminal justice system, and are easily intimidated by authorities who wield
great power. He said his Graves Foundation is looking at ways to help raise money to provide key witnesses
with legal representation in certain cases.
"I just think it's so important," Graves said. "That's a major breakdown. They don't have to go and
threaten the suspect anymore. They go to the witnesses."
Graves' visit apparently made an impression on Dockery. She later agreed to meet with Brown's appellate
attorneys and to give a sworn statement recanting much of her key trial testimony.
In the November 2011 statement, Dockery says Brown never told her to lie to the grand jury and he
never confessed he was at the crime scene.
"Dewayne always denied his involvement in the offense," Dockery states. Dockery says she
specifically remembers Brown's call to her workplace around the time of the murder, and that the caller ID
showed it was coming from her home. Then Dockery levels serious accusations against Rizzo, the former
assistant district attorney, accusing him of intimidating her off-the-record in a room alone during the grand
jury session.
"Rizzo told me that he did not believe me, that I was not a good person, that he was going to take my
children away by calling Child Protective Services, and that I was going to go to jail for a long time," she says.
"I felt very threatened by ADA Rizzo throughout this whole case."
She says Rizzo threatened her by saying that he was going to make her a "co-defendant in the
murder case, and I would never see my children again. At that moment, I was very scared and threatened by
Mr. Rizzo. These threats are why I gave the testimony I did."
Rizzo, who is now retired, adamantly denies Dockery's claims, saying he was firm and zealous only
within the bounds of the law. "I don't know why she recanted," said Rizzo, who still believes Brown is guilty.
"The
things she said about me were not true. They were the farthest thing from the truth. I was offended by those
things."
I asked Rizzo about others who have since recanted testimony fingering Brown, including an alleged
accomplice who also was convicted of capital murder and two women who said they felt pressured into
their statements. One of them basically accused Rizzo of putting words in her mouth. "Recanting happens,"
he said. "It happens for a lot of reasons."
Lynn Hardaway, chief of the DA's post-conviction writs division, who also believes
Brown is guilty, speculates that Dockery may be acting on residual feelings for Brown and says that
sometimes in death cases witnesses recant to help the inmate avoid execution. "She has told several
different stories," Hardaway says of Dockery, "but what I ultimately believe is what she testified at trial."
Dockery hasn't responded to my attempts to reach her. But I have to wonder why a
hard-working mother with no criminal record beyond traffic tickets who seems to have wanted desperately
to move on with her life would now vouch for a convicted
cop-killer if she didn't really believe he was innocent. Randall Ayers, the appointed attorney who defended
Dockery in the perjury cases, was similarly perplexed when attorneys notified him of Dockery's recantation.
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Not to be reproduced without written permission, in accordance with international copyright law.


"I was like 'Really?'" Ayers said. "I told the defense attorney and the prosecutor both
'Wow, I'm really surprised' because, you know, when it was all said and done, she had a new guy in her life ...
and she was moving away somewhere, and I thought, well, good for her, she's moving on."
But maybe, just maybe, there's no moving on from the truth. Maybe it has a way of finding you.


LISA FALKENBERG (07/24/2014)
Part IV: Cop was foreman of grand jury in cop-killing

We can't hear his voice as he browbeats the mother of three within the secret confines of the grand
jury room. We can't see his face as he dogs her to stop supporting her boyfriend's alibi in a cop-killing case.
But we know when the grand jury foreman is talking. We know because the 146-page transcript
notes it in all capital letters. And we know by his words. He's the one who calls out to the Harris County
prosecutor with the familiarity of a guy asking a buddy to pass a beer, "Hey Dan, what are the punishments
for perjury and aggravated perjury?"
He's the one who tells the 27-year-old witness, Ericka Dockery, that if she perjures herself, "then you
know the kids are going to be taken by Child Protective Services, and you're going to the penitentiary and
you won't see your kids for a long time."
He's the one who tries to get Dockery to subscribe to the implausible theory that it was someone else
- not her boyfriend, Alfred Dewayne Brown - sleeping on her couch just before the murder at a check
cashing store, even though she insisted again and again she knew it was Brown by his build, his tennis
shoes, and the color of the shirt she bought him.
Understandably, the cold-blooded murder of a police officer rouses strong emotions. Dockery was
questioned only 18 days after veteran Houston Police Officer Charles R. Clark was gunned down in April of
2003 trying to stop a three-man burglary at a check-cashing store. Clark was 45, on the brink of retirement,
and married. Officers had worked throughout the night to hunt down his killer. The loss was fresh.But if the
foreman seems a little too passionate to be impartial, a little too invested to fairly lead a grand jury
investigating an officer's murder, maybe it's because he was. The foreman, records reveal, was himself a
veteran Houston police
officer.
Records obtained through a Texas Public Information Act request show that Senior Police Officer
James Koteras, sworn in in July of 1972, led an investigation into the death of his own colleague. A
confidential grand jury record released by state district Judge Denise Collins shows that Koteras identified
his occupation in 2003 as "Retired-Houston Police Officer." But police and city payroll records and officials
confirm that Koteras was an active-duty officer in HPD's auto theft division until his retirement in March
2008.
Technically, Koteras is still on the city payroll today, receiving compensation for time he accrued as
an officer. The date discrepancy is not necessarily Koteras' fault, as his occupation may have been updated
in a subsequent grand jury service.
Regardless, Dockery didn't stand a chance against a deck that stacked.
The blatant conflict is stunning even in a county known for its cozy, pick-a-pal grand jury system
stocked with police- and prosecution-friendly elites. Any nave notion that the grand jury would act as a
check on overzealous prosecution withered when Koteras failed to recuse himself.

Reproduced with permission of the author and the Houston Chronicle.

Not to be reproduced without written permission, in accordance with international copyright law.


"I would personally recuse myself," HPD Chief Charles McClelland said Thursday when I asked what
he'd do in a similar situation, "because of just the air or the perception of what the community may feel. But
that's me personally."
Judge Collins, who impaneled the grand jury, seems as disturbed as anybody at reports of the
harshness with which grand jurors interrogated Dockery. "It's terrible, it's terrible," the judge told me. "That
shouldn't have happened. I hope that was an aberration. No, grand jurors do not work for the state."
Still, she stands by her decision to appoint a law enforcement officer to the body, noting that she also
appoints defense attorneys as well.
"I just don't think you should just eliminate people because of what they do," she said. "They're a
citizen as well."
I don't disagree with her on that. And I also don't blame her for Koteras' role in Brown's case. The
judge had no direct oversight over which cases he handled or how he handled them. She isn't the one who
assigned a grand jury led by a cop to a cop-killing case.
That was the decision of Dan Rizzo, former Harris County assistant district attorney who served as
lead prosecutor. His choice of Koteras "would scream conflict of interest to nearly all reasonable people,"
says University of Houston law professor David R. Dow. "The DA's office is full of reasonable people. So the
only logical conclusion is that they just didn't care about this conflict."
When I asked Rizzo about the conflict he drew a blank."It's one of those things that I just don't
remember," he said. But he added: "That alone would not cause me to say a grand jury was not an objective
grand jury." Rizzo, now retired, was a seasoned prosecutor in 2003. He had easy access to the same type of
form I obtained in which Koteras listed his occupation. He had to have known about the conflict. And in
truth, he would have welcomed the advantage.
Not that he needed it over a group of largely black suspects from a bad part of town. Dockery worked
as a home health aide and made Subway sandwiches at night. She had no one to advise her with the grand
jury. Lawyers aren't allowed inside, but she didn't even have one waiting in the hall.
Rizzo's selection of Koteras' grand jury worked out well for his case. After the group threatened
Dockery, she changed her story. She was charged with perjury anyway for good measure, locked up away
from her children until she agreed to become the prosecution's key witness against Brown.
Her testimony helped seal Brown's conviction and death sentence in 2005. That could have been the
end of the story if a phone record supporting Brown's alibi that he was at Dockery's apartment around the
time of the murder hadn't surfaced last year in a homicide detective's garage. The district attorney's office
and the trial judge quickly agreed to a new trial, but the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals has yet to rule on
the case more than a year later.
Koteras has not responded to my attempts to reach him. I haven't been able to ask him why he didn't
simply recuse himself from the proceeding and allow the rest of the quorum to hear Brown's case.
Three other grand jurors who served on the 2003 panel said their faded memories didn't recall any
undue pressure on Dockery, or any perceived bias from the police officer acting as foreman.
"We talked about it and all," grand juror MaryAnna Montalbano said about Koteras' occupation. "If it
affected him and he served any way, that's not good." But she didn't recall him acting unfairly. Another
grand juror, Richard Alan Ogle, who teaches writing at UH-Downtown, said having a police officer on a
grand jury "probably does influence some cases." But whether it had an impact on this one, he couldn't
remember. Ogle remembered feeling that Dockery's testimony "didn't sound right" and that "her body
language, the way she talked, some inconsistencies in what she said" raised suspicions.
Most telling, though, was my interview with grand juror Randy Russell, a recent president of the 100
Club, the nonprofit that helps support dependents of peace officers and firefighters who die in the line of
duty. When I started describing the case to jog his memory, Russell insisted I had the wrong guy. "It
Reproduced with permission of the author and the Houston Chronicle.
Not to be reproduced without written permission, in accordance with international copyright law.


definitely wasn't me. And I'll tell you why," he said. "We had an HPD sergeant (sic) who was the foreman of
our panel and we did not hear any cases involving police officers."
I read him the names of the other grand jurors, including Koteras', and it all started coming back. He
then assured me that, despite the fact that an officer was at the helm, the panel was independent and "it
wasn't a rubber stamp kind of thing."
Still, one thing continued to stump him. "I don't know why we heard that case," he said.
I don't know why, either. But I have an idea. And the reason wasn't justice. It was the farthest thing
from it.
In addition to intimidation, threats and imprisonment, a grand jury led by a cop was another
powerful weapon for a prosecutor determined to get justice for a fallen officer.
But it was a blunt instrument used against a person who couldn't fight back.

Reproduced with permission of the author and the Houston Chronicle.

Not to be reproduced without written permission, in accordance with international copyright law.

CIVIC LIFE IN AMERICA

All rankings reflect where Texas residents rank among

residents in the 50 states and Washington, DC

TEXAS VS.USA
Key:

Texas

Political Action, 2011

Read the full report at

www.txcivichealth.org

12

26%

9 %
12

TX

29 %

TX

51st
42nd

TX

US

Express Opinions about

Political or Community
Issues on the
Internet

Discuss Politics with

Family or Friends

Contact Elected
Officials

44 th

Texas residents are ranked 49th

for contacting elected officials

Electoral Participation, 2010

7%
8%

US

US

49th

Ranking in bottom half of states

Ranking in top half of states

USA

Texas residents are ranked 44th for

discussing politics a few times a week
or more

Texas residents are ranked

51st for voter turnout

TEXAS

36 %

Texas residents are ranked

42nd for voter registration

62 %

USA

Voted

Regis

tered

46 %
65 %

Social Connectedness, 2011 1

TX US

TX

%
78 % 79

US

15 14 %

Legend

16th

A Few Times a Week or More Often

Exchange Favors With Neighbors

See or Hear from Friends

or Family, Whether
TX US
%
In-Person or Not
50% 57

TX

US

43 44%
Trust most or all of the
people in your neighborhood

Talk to Neighbors

Participation in Formal/Informal Volunteering, 2011 3

TX

25

27 %

TEXAS

EDUCATIONAL

40 %

RELIGIOUS

%
39
38

42nd

25%

SERVICES

USA

Where Texans Volunteer

6% Health
5% Civic
4% Other
3% Unknown
3% Sports/Arts

SOURCES

1 2011 Current Population Survey (CPS) November Civic Engagement Supplement, according to analysis provided by the
Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University
2 2010 CPS November Voting/Registration Supplement, according to analysis provided by CIRCLE
32 2011 CPS September Volunteering Supplement, according to analysis provided by CIRCLE
4 2011 CPS September Volunteering Supplement, according to Volunteering and Civic Life in America website

(www.volunteeringinamerica.gov)

27 %

Texas residents are ranked

42nd for volunteering.

%
14
SOCIAL

US

Participation in any group or

1
organization

47 %
TEXAS

52 %
USA

Percentage of Texas residents

who donated $25 or more to
charitable causes 3

Texas Impact was established by Texas religious leaders in 1973 to be a voice

in the Texas legislative process for the shared religious social concerns of
Texas faith communities. Texas Impact is supported by more than two-dozen
Christian, Jewish and Muslim denominational bodies, hundreds of local
congregations, ministerial alliances and interfaith networks, and thousands of
people of faith throughout Texas.

Support Proposals to Enact Reporting Requirements on

Politically Active 501(c)(4) Organizations
Lawmakers should enact reporting requirements for politically active 501(c)(4) organizations and other
organizations that do not meet the definition of a political action committee
501(c)(4) social welfare organizations are nonprofits that
historically have played a very limited role in campaign
finance. Following the Citizens United Supreme Court
decision, however, increasing numbers of 501(c)(4)
organizations are engaging in electoral politics. Failing
to require robust disclosure of contributors for these
organizations threatens to undermine the Legislatures
goals for transparency in Texas electoral process.
An organizations tax-exempt status does not just impact
the deduction its donors can take on federal taxes; it also
impacts the ways the organization can attempt to
influence policy and politics. On the most restrictive end
of the spectrum are 501(c)(3) public charities, which
have no involvement in elections and are allowed to
spend only very limited funds on lobbying. On the other
end of the spectrum are 527 political action committees
(PACs) that are formed primarily to influence elections
through direct spending and campaign contributions.
501(c)(4) social welfare organizations are more
complicated; while they dont make contributions to
candidates directly, they can influence elections by
creating and distributing information supporting or
opposing specific candidates.
Unlike PACs, 501(c)(4) organizations do not have to
disclose their donor listsand unlike 501(c)(3) donors,
c4 donors cant claim a tax deduction for their
contribution, so they dont have to report themselves.
Thus, those contributions are kept in the dark. Voters
can find themselves subjected to large volumes of
positive or negative information about a particular
candidate, with no way of learning what interests are
funding the production of the information.

represented a small fraction of the more than $7 billion

in total spent on the elections by candidates and
organizations, the 2012 election was the first presidential
election since the Supreme Courts Citizens United
decision establishing federal policy that 501(c)(4)
organizations can spend money on electoral activities
without disclosing their donors.
In Texas, Citizens United has led to a rapid increase in
501(c)(4) political activity: according to the Texas Ethics
Commission, the number of non-PAC direct campaign
expenditure reports has risen from 28 in 2010 to 95 in
2014. In 2014, campaign spending by those 95 groups
exceeded $1 million, when just before 2010 there had
been none.
Legislative History
In 2013, Texas lawmakers approved regulation of dark
money through SB 346, but then-Governor Perry vetoed
the measure. SB 346 would have imposed new reporting
requirements on certain persons who do not meet the
definition of a political committee. Groups falling into
this category (1) do not meet the definition of a political
committee, (2) accept political contributions, (3) make
one or more political expenditures that in aggregate
exceed $25,000 during a calendar year.
The bill sought to impose disclosure requirements on
politically active organizations, asking them to disclose
all their political contributions accepted and all political
expenditures made in that calendar year. The bill limited
disclosure of donors only if their contribution exceeded
$1,000.

During the 2012 election cycle, 501(c)(4) organizations

spent more than $300 million nationally to influence the
outcomes of political campaigns. While this amount
Texas Impact 200 East 30th Street, Austin, Texas 78705 www.texasimpact.org 512.472.3903

January 9, 2015

Cheat Sheet for the Texas Revenue Estimate

By Eva DeLuna Castro

On January 12, new Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar will issue the revenue estimate for the 2016-17
budget cycle, as well as update legislators on 2014-15 state revenue collections.
Perenially missing from the early stages of the official process is a clear understanding of the funding
needed just to deal with growth in the number of public school or college students, publicly funded
health care and pension beneficiaries, prison and jail inmates, and other major drivers of the Texas
budget. Nor does the Legislative Budget Board calculate new funding needed to fully cover higher costs
such as rising prescription drug prices, hospital charges, or highway construction materials.
But by examining state agencies budget requests and other budget documents for the 2016-17
biennium , its possible to estimate the minimum amount of General Revenue a net increase of $6
billion (or 6 percent more) needed to fund a "current services" budget that at least keeps up with
population-driven and cost growth.
The Texas budget will need additional General Revenue to resolve the school finance issues currently in
the courts, as well as to implement any new policies proposed by legislators or state officials.

General Revenue in 2014-15 Texas Budget,

and 2016-17 Current Services Needs
$100
$3
$6
$8
$75

$30
$50
$13

Other General
Revenue-funded
programs

$4
$6
$10

Dept. of Criminal
Jus`ce

$33

TRS, ERS, & other

state employee/
teacher benets
Health and Human
Services

$14

Higher Educa`on

$25
$34

$33

Texas Educa`on
Agency
$-

2014-15: $95 Billion

2016-17: $101 Billion

7020 Easy Wind Drive, Suite 200 Austin, TX T 512.320.0222 F 512.320.0227 CPPP.org

The Texas Education Agency accounts for just over one-third of General Revenue spending. In the next
budget cycle, the education agency is asking for $1.1 billion less in General Revenue than it currently
receives, because rising property tax collections are expected to reduce the amount of state aid to local
school districts.
Health and human services agencies combined are almost another third of General Revenue spending,
and many of these dollars bring additional federal matching funds for Medicaid and the Childrens
Health Insurance Program, foster care, and other social services. The consolidated HHS proposal
requests almost $3.4 billion more in General Revenue, roughly half to cover Medicaid and other growth
in demand for services, and the other half for medical cost increases.
Higher education is another major part of the General Revenue budget. The Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board recommends almost $1.1 billion more in funding along with about $200 million
more to maintain state financial aid programs.
Finally, the Employees Retirement System and Teacher Retirement System combined have requested
$1.8 billion more in General Revenue to address funding needs for state employee pension and health
plans and for TRS-Care (health insurance for retired school employees).
Adding these and additional "current services" items for criminal justice and other areas of state
spending to current spending of $95 billion yields $101 billion in General Revenue as a "bare bones"
current services proposal for the 2016-17 budget cycle. This funding level would not undo the cuts in
state services that remain from the 2011 session. Nor does this funding level include the many
"exceptional items" that state agencies requested but which would either improve state services or
address long-neglected issues such as capital repairs or purchases.
Many of the "exceptional items" agencies have carefully requested are for the investments that will
build a Texas where everyone is healthy, well-educated and financially secure. To remain competitive,
lawmakers should make investments today to make Texas the best state for hard-working people and
their families.


For More Information, please contact:
Eva DeLuna Castro
Investing In Texas Program Director
delunacastro@cppp.org
512.823.2861

Dick Lavine
Senior Fiscal Analyst
lavine@cppp.org
512.823.2860

About CPPP
The Center for Public Policy Priorities is an independent public policy organization that uses research, analysis and
advocacy to promote solutions that enable Texans of all backgrounds to reach their full potential. Learn more at
CPPP.org.
Join us across the Web
Twitter:
@CPPP_TX
Facebook: Facebook.com/bettertexas

Center for Public Policy Priorities - Dick Lavine lavine@cppp.org

1/23/15

Where Does the State

Get Its Money?
Source

What Taxes Does the State Rely On?

Tax

2016-17 revenue
(in $billions)

Percent of total tax

revenue

Sales tax

61.5

56%

Motor vehicle sales

10.1

9%

Franchise (margins)

9.6

9%

Motor fuels

7.0

6%

Oil

5.7

5%

Insurance

4.3

4%

Natural gas

3.2

3%

Tobacco

2.6

2%

Alcohol

2.4

2%

Hotel, utility, other

2.5

2%

For more recent information, visit www.cppp.org

2016-17 revenue
(in $billions)

Percent of total
revenue

Tax collections

109.0

49%

Federal income

72.9

33%

Licenses, fees, fines

16.8

8%

Lottery

3.8

2%

Interest, land income

7.3

3%

Other

11.1

5%

Proposal: End Gasoline Tax

Diversion
Texas Constitution requires of motor
fuels tax to go Available School Fund
($810 million in 2014)
Remaining is sent to State Highway
Fund ($2.4 billion in 2014)

Center for Public Policy Priorities - Dick Lavine lavine@cppp.org

1/23/15

Proposal: End Gasoline Tax

Diversion

Proposal: End Gasoline Tax

Diversion

Highway Fund is to be used for

acquiring rights-of-way, constructing,
maintaining, and policing such public
roadways, and for the administration of
such laws as may be prescribed by the
Legislature pertaining to the
supervision of traffic and safety on such
roads

So Legislature uses $800 million from

Highway Fund to fund
DPS - $475 million
Dept of Motor Vehicles - $49 million
Related activities

Proposal: End Gasoline Tax

Diversion

Proposal: Use Motor Vehicles

Sale Tax for Highways

Argument for: Gasoline tax should be

used only to build and maintain roads
But: To continue funding DPS etc, must
use General Revenue that is currently
funding other services

Argument for: Motor vehicle sales tax is

paid by car buyers, so should be used
to build and maintain roads
But: How to fund services that are now
paid for with General Revenue from
motor vehicle sales tax

For more recent information, visit www.cppp.org

9 23 2014
Check the box that applies:
I want to sign on as a supporter of the CTN 2015 legislative agenda
I want to sign on as a supporter of the CTN 2015 legislative agenda, AND be listed as a CTN member
organization (coalition members will be listed on the CTN website as members)
Organization Name: _____________________________________________________
Contact Person: Name ____________________
Title ____________________
Phone number _____________
Email ___________________

2015 Legislative Agenda

Toward the goal of expanding health coverage to more Texans, the Cover Texas Now Coalition supports the
following policy strategies and initiatives:
1. Improve the health and well-being of Texans by ensuring access to affordable health care coverage.
Leverage federal healthcare funds to ensure low-wage Texans have options for affordable
healthcare coverage.
Implement 12-month eligibility for children on Medicaid.
Eliminate CHIP waiting periods.
2. Ensure that all Texans have ready access to the robust information, application/enrollment systems, and
consumer assistance they need to gain, use and maintain quality health insurance.
Verify Texas has a diverse, stable, sufficient corps of paid and volunteer assisters to maximize
Texans participation in available health insurance programs.
Verify that the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) eligibility system is fully
interoperable with the Health Insurance Marketplace and able to provide No Wrong Door
access for Texans.
Encourage HHSC, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and other state agencies to increase
access and maximize resources by building consumer assistance partnerships with local
communities and community-based organizations.
Enhance HHSCs capability to provide consumer assistance and ombudsmen services to the
increasing share of the Medicaid population receiving services through managed care.
3. Strengthen health coverage consumer protections by improving access to needed information on health
plan features, ensuring adequate networks, and stopping surprise medical bills.
1

9 23 2014

Verify that provider networks in Medicaid, CHIP and private insurance are adequate to meet the
needs of Texans
Verify that consumers can readily get needed information upfront to make informed choices
when they shop for and use health insurance.
Stop surprise medical bills stemming from care that, unbeknown to the consumer, is from a
provider not covered by their insurance.

1. Improve the health and well-being of Texans by expanding access to affordable health care coverage
a) Accept federal healthcare funds to ensure low-wage Texans have options for affordable healthcare
coverage.
Cover Texas Now supports expanding coverage to ensure that low-income Texans have access to
affordable healthcare coverage. Currently, there are more than one million Texans who are in the Texas
Coverage Gap. They do not qualify for the current Medicaid option for adults which provides coverage
only to parents up to 19% of the FPL ($313 a month for a family of 3) and make too little to receive
financial assistance in the Marketplace. Texans in the Coverage Gap include 66,000 veterans and their
spouses, Texans living with a mental illness or disability, as well as those working retail, construction, child
care, hospitality, health care, or food service.
The Coverage Gap hurts working families most since the federal poverty level for a family is calculated
using family size. A working mom with one child may be under the poverty level and in the Gap, while her
single co-worker who makes the same income, gets substantial financial assistance in attaining coverage
through the Marketplace.
The coalition supports closing the Coverage Gap, which can be done through a variety of methods. The
Coverage Gap can be closed by expanding traditional Medicaid. It can also be closed by negotiating with
the federal government to develop a custom-built, private-coverage solution for our state, something that
many conservative states have successfully negotiated.
Whatever path Texas chooses, the federal government will pay 90 percent or more of the cost of closing
the Gap. Former state demographer Billy Hamilton and leading economist Ray Perryman have modeled
that closing the Coverage Gap will pay for itself due to the significant federal match, off-setting the cost of
current healthcare programs that would no longer be needed, and through the increased revenue
generated from taxes on healthcare premiums. Additional benefits to closing the coverage gap include
the creation of 200,000 - 300,000 jobs over the next the next 10 years; reducing property tax pressure and
lowering insurance premiums for businesses and taxpayers. Because of the Coverage Gap, an estimated
9,000 Texans are expected to die prematurely each year; more employers will pay a federal penalty for
failure to provide insurance to their employees, which could reach $399 million per year; and Texas cities
and counties will pay over $4 billion in annual cost for uncompensated care.
Those wishing to close the Gap include supporters and opponents of the Affordable Care Act. The Texas
Association of Business, local chambers of commerce, economists, hospitals, doctors, county officials,
churches, state legislators, and taxpayers all support closing the gap.
b) Implement 12 -month eligibility for children on Medicaid.
2

9 23 2014

The coalition supports implementing 12 months of continuous eligibility for children in Medicaid, as we
have for CHIP and most other state programs. This recognized national best practice is the single most
effective step our state can take to reach the more than 500,000 remaining uninsured children who are
eligible for Medicaid and CHIP but, not yet enrolled. Children continue to fall through the cracks with six
month eligibility and workload is doubled for the state. Twenty three states have adopted 12 month
continuous eligibility since it has been well document in significantly reducing the number of uninsured
children. In 2009, HHSC estimated that 12-month continuous coverage could have cut Texas child
uninsured rate by half.
c) Eliminate CHIP Waiting Periods.
In a world where children at all income levels have access to healthcare coverage it no longer makes
sense to maintain the CHIP waiting period. Waiting periods were originally developed to help prevent
individuals dropping their employer-based healthcare coverage to get their children onto CHIP. If a child
today was subject to the 90 day CHIP waiting period, they would be eligible for Marketplace coverage for
those 90 days and then be transferred back to CHIP, likely experiencing gaps in coverage along the way.
This creates an added level of coordination between the Marketplace and CHIP and is not an efficient use
of state and federal resources. Additionally, any gap in coverage created by a waiting period or the
administrative process to transfer children between different coverage options can be harmful to child
health and development, particularly for very young children. Given the complexity of transitioning
children between coverage options, it is virtually impossible to ensure that they will not face a gap in
coverage.
2. Ensure that all Texans have ready access to the robust information, application/enrollment systems, and
consumer assistance they need to gain, use and maintain quality health insurance.
a) Ensure Texas has a diverse, stable, sufficient corps of paid and volunteer assisters to maximize Texans
participation in available health insurance programs.
Research indicates that a majority of Americans, including Texans, prefer or require in-person assistance
to apply for and enroll in health insurance. Types of assisters include licensed health insurance agents,
public employees, health and social service professionals, community-based volunteers, communitybased social workers and others. Lawmakers should affirm the important role assisters play in our states
health insurance system, and ensure that all assisters receive the support they need to perform their
work.
b) Verify that the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) eligibility system is fully interoperable with
the Health Insurance Marketplace and able to provide No Wrong Door access for Texans.
As Texas families apply for health care coverage through two different portals HHSC and the federal
Marketplace we must ensure that they encounter user-friendly eligibility systems that are accurate and
timely in the determination of coverage for various family members. This will require effective
information exchanges and communication between the states Health and Human Services Commission,
which administers CHIP and Medicaid, and the federal Marketplace, which administers private coverage
for 734,000 Texans. Often families will have children on Medicaid and CHIP and parents in the
Marketplace, making the interaction between HHSC and the Marketplace important to Texas families.
3

9 23 2014

c) Encourage HHSC, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and other state agencies to increase access
and maximize resources by building consumer information and assistance partnerships with local
communities and community-based organizations.
Getting all 26 million Texans the health insurance information and assistance they need is a big job! State
agencies can extend their reach and make sure messages are appropriately tailored for a variety of
audiences by partnering with local nonprofits and communities. For example, HHSCs Community Partner
Program provides access to application assistance through local faith and community-based Community
Partners. TDI can build on past work with community-based organizations to educate more Texans on
how insurance works. Lawmakers can encourage state agencies to develop networks of partners to
ensure information and assistance are accessible statewide.
d) Enhance HHSCs capability to provide consumer assistance and ombudsmen services to the increasing
share of the Medicaid population receiving services through managed care.
Over the last 20 years enrollment in Texas Medicaid managed care has expanded from serving less than
3% of Medicaid clients in state fiscal year 1994, to serving about 85% of Medicaid clients in 2014, and
planned future managed care expansions will increase that share. HHSCs Medicaid Managed Care
Helpline and ombudsmen have been instrumental in assisting individuals with navigating the health care
system, understanding Medicaid coverage and resolving problems with access to care. However, the
number of staff serving in this capacity has not increased commensurate with the expanded population in
managed care.
In order to ensure Texas Medicaid managed care enrollees have access to the full array of entitled
services and fully understand their benefit they must have sufficient support from an independent public
advocate. The coalition supports implementing Medicaid managed care ombudsman best practices with
localized assistance, adequate staffing, independence, and consistency in reporting and analysis of
complaint data.

3. Strengthen health coverage consumer protections by improving access to needed information on health
plan features, ensuring adequate networks, and stopping surprise medical bills.
a) Verify that provider networks in Medicaid, CHIP and private insurance are adequate to meet the needs of
Texans.
The coalition supports ensuring the adequacy of networks so they meet the needs of Texans who are
healthy, as well as those who require highly specialized care, by:
Ensuring that HHSC and TDI can adequately review and enforce network adequacy standards, and
Strengthening standards for inclusion of essential community providers with expertise in
serving low-income and underserved populations.
b) Verify that consumers can readily get needed information upfront to make informed choices when they
shop for and use health insurance.

9 23 2014
Consumers report difficultly getting accurate information on which providers are in network, and in some
cases, choosing a plan based on network information that turns out to be inaccurate. Insurers and
providers are both parties to network contracts, and it is reasonable to expect that they can accurately
relay information about network status to consumers, including participation in plans sold in the Health
Insurance Marketplace. Consumers are not party to network contracts, yet they are the ones who
ultimately suffer financial or health harm when they receive misinformation about a providers network
status with an insurer.
Insurers commonly offer multiple provider networks, formularies, and cost-sharing levels. It should be
clear from marketing materials and insurer websites which provider network, formulary, and cost-sharing
levels apply to specific plans, so consumers are not in a position where they could guess incorrectly or
misinterpret information causing them to choose plans that do not meet their needs.
c) Stop surprise medical bills stemming from care that, unbeknown to a consumer, is from a provider not
covered by their insurance.
Even diligent consumers who ask all of the right questions can unexpectedly end up getting care outside
of their insurers network, which can cost a consumer hundreds or thousands of dollars more than innetwork benefits. This can happen, for example, in an emergency and other scenarios when consumers
have no reasonable choice in which providers treat them. Unexpected out-of-network care can lead to
large, surprise medical bills, often called balance bills, because the consumer is asked to pay the balance
of what insurance doesnt pay.
Texas should stop unexpected balance bills and ensure consumers arent the ones who pay the price
when insurance companies and out-of-network providers cant agree on fair rates. We can do this by
directing providers and insurers to take their billing disputes to mediation and removing the consumer
from the endless billing tug-of-war.

As people of faith, we should

know our local community.
better citizens when we appreciate the challenges our local
leaders face. We are better advocates when we can use personal
experience to share community needs with elected officials. We are better
neighbors when we understand the lives our sisters and brothers live.
We are

Know Your Community

Treasure Hunt

How does public polic y come to

life in your communit y?
Many of the programs and services that exist in local communities are there as a response to public policy. Your local
governments perform many social service functions because the law requires it.

How do members of your community work

together to meet each others needs?
Local charities help carry out those functions...and often, they step in where laws do not meet all the needs in the
community.

How can you find out the best answer when

someone asks you for help?
Learning the policy context for outreach and service programs helps you be a more effective volunteer or leader.

Whats the treasure in

this treasure hunt?
Were inviting you to go on a treasure hunt in your local community...and we want YOU to tell US what the
treasure is!
On your treasure hunt, we predict you will discover information about your community that you never knew
before. You might meet people who do jobs you think are important, or learn new ways to help members of your
community who need you. You could learn more about the natural resources in your area and how to protect them,
and you might decide to work to strengthen certain services in your community.
2

Instructions
The Know Your Community Treasure Hunt is a series of challenges. You can do the treasure hunt by yourself, but
its more fun in a grouplike a religious education class, ministry team, womens group, or even your choir! The
treasure hunt is suitable for youth and adults.
For each challenge, you will do a little background research on an issue in your community. Most if not all of
these issues are common in all communities across the U.S. This research mostly relies on information you can
find online easily.
After you do your research, you (and your group if you have one) will take a field trip to meet people in your
community who work in that issue area and see the relevant facilities or programs operating in your community.
Document what you did using the forms provided at the back of this handbook or on the Treasure Hunt website
(www.texasimpact.org/treasurehunt). Finish all twelve challenges in a single year to receive a prize from Texas
Impact!

The Challenges
Employment

Public Transportation

Environment

Mental Health
Food Assistance

Homelessness

Affordable Housing

Criminal Justice
Utility Assistance

Education

Health Care
Local Leaders
3

Challenge 1: Employment
Knowing the answers to the following types of employment-related questions can help you identify issues far
beyond the economic sustainability of your communitythe types of jobs available can also impact community
members physical and mental health. Who are the major employers in your community? Are there lots of locallyowned businesses and industries in your area, or are most businesses part of larger corporations headquartered
elsewhere? What types of jobs are available in your community (for example, low-paying service jobs, or high-skilled
technology jobs)? What is the unemployment rate? The answers to these questions can shed light about the jobs
or lack thereofavailable in your community and help you better understand what services are most needed and
appropriate in your local area.
Assignment (Send us the information you find, plus a picture of yourself at your local job office):
1. Find out what the local unemployment rate of your community is.
2. Visit your local workforce development board (information can be found at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/dirs/
wdas/directory-offices-services.html) and schedule a time to meet with a staff person who can help you
determine the top three most pressing employment needs in your community.

Challenge 2: Environment
We are all connected to the environment through the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.
Protecting the health of our local environment is directly connected to protecting the health of our local families
especially children and the elderly. At the same time, the ways our lives and communities are structured (for
example: urban sprawl, electricity generated by burning fossil-fuels, and a consumer-based economy) depend upon
industries that have environmental impacts.
Assignment (Send us the information you find, plus a picture of yourself at one of the locations you identify
in #2):
1. Find out what the major source of environmental pollution is in your community and its related health
impacts, if any.
2. On a map, locate the following:
a. Where your water comes from (probably a river or reservoir)
b. Where your water is treated
c. Where your electricity comes from (probably a power plant)
d. Where your trash goes after it gets picked up

Challenge 3: Criminal Justice

One in every 27 adults in Texas is in prison or on probation/parole. Understanding how or why people become
involved in the criminal justice system and what happens once they are can paint a complex picture that
encompasses a variety of issues such as mental health, poverty, education, and racial disparity.
Assignment (Send us the information you find, plus a picture of the visitor pass from the local jail):
1. Schedule a tour of your local jail and speak to jail staff about the trends and issues they encounter on a daily
basis.
2. Visit a local reentry program or halfway house and speak to individuals returning home after incarceration to
learn more about their personal stories and the barriers they may be facing in coming back to their communities.

Challenge 4: Affordable Housing

Having safe, reliable shelter is essential for all families, but many are not able to access quality, affordable housing.
The U.S. government classifies affordable housing as housing that is 30% or less of family income.
Assignment (Send us the information you find):
1. If in a family of four, both parents are working 30 hours per week earning the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per
hour), or one parent works full-time and the other roughly half-time, then that family would be designated as
poor under current federal guidelines. The 2014 Federal Poverty Guidelines set the poverty line for a family of
four at $23,850 per year. For this family of four making roughly $21,500 per year, try to find quality, affordable
housing in your community.
2. Learn about the process for applying for public housing options in your community and make recommendations
for the example family of four.
Challenge 5: Homelessness
When we think of homelessness, we tend to think of a person huddled under blankets sleeping on the steps of a
church. It is important to recognize that alongside this more visible form of homelessness, there are many other
individuals and families experiencing homelessness that we do not see. Learning more about the stories of these
people can help us understand more about the needs, strengths, and weaknesses in our communities.
Assignment (Send us the information you find, plus a brief reflection on your service experience):
1. Visit a local homeless shelter and find out more about what the homeless population looks like in your
community and what services are available for them.
2. Serve a meal at your local soup kitchen and listen to the story of at least one person who is homeless.

Challenge 6: Education
Quality public education can be a great equalizing force in our society. Local communities have a large impact on
both school performance and future opportunities for children. They operate schools, implement and enforce state
laws and policies, develop and implement their own educational policies, hire and supervise professional teaching
staff, and raise money to pay for schools (usually through property taxes plus special bond issues).
Assignment (Send us the information you find, plus a picture of the visiting pass from the school and the agenda
from the school board meeting):
1. Visit a low-performing school in your district and schedule a time to meet with the school nurse or school
counselor. Find out about the top needs and problems facing the school and the children in the school.
2. Attend a school board meeting and identify who the education decision makers are in your community.

Challenge 7: Local Leaders

While most news coverage focuses on policy issues of state and national significance, local leaders shape many of
the decisions that impact us on a daily basis, and some local leaders will go on to become state or national figures.
It is important to build relationships with local elected officials, both to impact short-term local legislation and to
prepare for the possibility of their becoming state or national elected officials.
Assignment (Send us the information you find, plus pictures of the Council agenda and of you with the Mayor or a
member of the City Council):
1. Find a local issue to study and identify who the local leaders are that can influence or make decisions on that
issue.
2. Learn the names of all your local City Council members and attend a local City Council meeting.

Challenge 8: Utility Assistance

Regardless of whether a family is working or not, money can be tight and families might not be able to cover the
cost of utilities. Often families who are trying to keep the lights on or the heat running will turn to congregations
for help.
Assignment (Send us the information you find and some comments about how easy or difficult it was to find this
information):
1. In some communities, multiple groups or agencies might offer utility assistance. If your community has a 2-1-1
help line (or visit http://www.211.org), call or go online to see what sources of help they say are available in your
area. Are there other sources of assistance?

2. Find out, as best you can, all the places where families could go in your community for utility assistance and
how much money is available. Is it easy to find this information, or did you have to call multiple people or
offices? Is there often a shortfall between the amount of money thats available and the need?

Challenge 9: Public Transportation

Many families in Texas are unable to afford their own personal transportation and rely on public transportation.
Public transportation has the added benefit of being good for the environment. How would your community rate in
terms of public transportation?
Assignment (Send us the information you find, plus a picture of yourself using public transportation if it is available
in your community):
1. Identify all local forms of public transportation.
2. Select an address or intersection from a low-income neighborhood in your community and plan out how you
would get from there to the nearest grocery store or doctors office and back. How long would it take you? Are
there different schedules for different days of the week? Report back on any perceived shortcomings (access for
low-income families, distance to grocery stores, schools, benefits offices, etc.)

Challenge 10: Mental Health

Mental health conditions affect everyone: grandparents, children, neighbors, community leaders, and the people
with whom we worship. An estimated fifty percent of all people will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental
health condition at some point within their lifetime. In 2009, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) gave
Texas mental health services a D grade and the Texas Department of State Health Services acknowledged that
Texas mentally ill population was not receiving adequate mental health care. Texas ranks 50th among U.S. states
in mental health expenditures per capita. Texas also ranks far below the national average in the number of mental
health professionals per 100,000 residents.
Assignment (Send us the information you find):
1. Find out what mental health services are available in your community for low-income individuals without health
insurance.
2. Visit your local law enforcement agency and ask them about their approach in dealing with the individuals they
encounter who have a mental illness.

Challenge 11: Food Assistance

Only half of Texans eligible for food assistance are receiving it, causing the state of Texas to leave almost $4 billion
in federal SNAP benefits unused each year. These are dollars that low-income families in your community could
be using to improve their quality of life and lessen the strain on local food pantries, and would have a positive
economic impact on your local community while helping those who need it most.
Assignment (Send us the information you find plus a short reflection on how your community might better be able
to help families who qualify for food programs):
1. Identify how much your county is leaving on the table in SNAP benefits by viewing the Texas Hunger Initiatives
report Hunger by the Numbers: Blueprint for Ending Hunger in Texas (https://bearspace.baylor.edu/Tariq_
Thowfeek/public/blueprint.pdf )
2. Identify which grocery stores in your community accept SNAP benefits by using the USDAs SNAP Retailer
Locator (www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailerlocator). Where are they located in relation to families who might need
help? Are there farmers markets in your community that accept SNAP benefits? (Find out here: http://www.fns.
usda.gov/sites/default/files/SNAP-FM-0114.xlsx) Where are they located in relation to families who might need
help? Take a picture at one of the grocery stores or farmers markets.

Challenge 12: Health Care

There are about one million Texans who qualify for benefit programs administered by the state such as Medicaid,
CHIP, SNAP and TANF, but who are not enrolled. Many of these low-income Texas families are living in your
community. It could be that they do not know that they are eligible, or they might not know how to sign up. Texas
Impact is working with the other members of the Community Partner Recruitment Initiative to recruit faithbased organizations to help make it easier for low-income families to sign up for benefit programs online. This is
particularly important for low-income families who are not computer-proficient or do not have easy access to the
Internet.
Assignment (Send us the information you find plus a picture of yourself at a location where community members
can go to apply for state benefits):
1. Report on the following. If you were not able to use the internet to apply for Medicaid or CHIP, where would
you go in your community to sign up? Are there long lines or extended office hours? Do any communities of
faith help provide these services through the Community Partner Program? Think about how your congregation
could participate in programs to help people apply for benefits.
2. Visit with a staff member or volunteer at the location where you would send someone to apply for these benefits.
Consider contacting Texas Impact about sending members of the Community Partner Recruitment Initiative
team to your community to visit with groups who might like to help.

Helpful Hints
Consider the possibility of working on this project with other congregations in your community or partnering
with your congregations youth group to complete the assignments.
Report back to your congregation and to us about what you learn. There are several ways for you to
communicate your findings, such as writing a blog post or article for the newsletter, giving a brief presentation
during a worship service or religious education class, or creating resource materials for your faith community
that contain information about local services.
If you get stuck, need additional information, or would like a Texas Impact staff member to give a presentation
on one of these issue areas, please contact Scott Atnip at scott@texasimpact.org or 512-472-3903.
Make it FUN!

All-Purpose Script
(suitable for phone, email or snail-mail):

Hi, my name is ____________________________. This year Im participating in a leadership program where I am

learning about community needs and resources here in [YOUR TOWN].
I would like to schedule a time for a brief conversation with you or someone from your office to talk about [THE
POLICY AREA] in our community. I know you are busy and I want to be respectful of your time. I am hoping for
about 15 minutes of your time, and I would be happy to come to your office or the location of your choice.
Please let me know when might be a convenient time for us to talk, or how to go about setting up an appointment
with someone else from your office.
I appreciate your work on behalf of our community, and I look forward to hearing more about what you do. Thanks
for your attention!
Sincerely,
YOU!
9

Know Your Community Treasure Hunt

Reporting Form
For each challenge, complete this form and send it to Texas Impact via email (treasurehunt@texasimpact.org),
fax (512-473-2707), or snail mail (200 East 30th Street, Austin, Texas 78705). You can also report online at
www.texasimpact.org/treasurehunt. Feel free to use extra pages if you want to! Questions? Call us at 512-472-3903.

Name of Treasure-Hunter

This can include your name as well as the name of your group if you have one
and the names of other members of your group if they want to be included.

Name of Challenge
Tell us about your research. Was it easy to find the information you needed? If you are working in a

group, did one person do most of the work or did you divide it up? Were the questions we suggested the right ones for your
community? What else do you think is important to mention?

Tell us about your field trip. Was it easy to find the right person to talk to? Were you welcome to visit

the facility or attend the meeting? Did you feel awkward? Are you glad you went? What else do you think is important to
mention?

10

Treasure Hunt Reporting Form page 2

Tell us about your conclusions. Were you satisfied with what you learned? Are you satisfied with how
your community is handling needs in this challenge area? Did you see opportunities to strengthen local services? If so, can
you see ways that you or your congregation could help with that? Did you learn of new activities you or your group might
like to participate in? What else do you think is important to mention?

Tell us about your next steps. Do you or your group plan to follow up on this challenge area? Do you
plan to do more challenges? Do you need any support or resources from Texas Impact or other groups to help you move
forward? Do you have any suggestions for other individuals or groups who take on this challenge? What else do you think is
important to mention?

Tell us about you. Please share as much information as you deem relevant about you and/or your group.
Congregation/Faith Community
Address
Email (you, a group leader or other contact)
Phone
Do you have a current mission, outreach or service focus? If so, what is it?
Are you interested in learning more about Texas Impact?
Are there particular issue areas you are interested in learning more about?
Are you interested in learning more about policy advocacy?
What else do you think we should know?
11

Texas Impact was established by Texas religious leaders in 1973 to be a voice in

the Texas legislative process for the shared religious social concerns of Texas faith
communities. Texas Impact is supported by more than two-dozen Christian,
Jewish and Muslim denominational bodies, as well as hundreds of local
congregations, ministerial alliances and interfaith networks, and thousands of
people of faith throughout Texas.

Texas Impact 200 East 30th Street Austin, Texas 78705 512-472-3903 www.texasimpact.org


FOR
MORE INFORMATION
Email: josh@texasimpact.org
Call: 512-472-3903
Sign Up: project362.org

Good public policy depends on quality relationships.

Youve met with your legislator. You wonder how effective the visit was. Now what?
You cant change Texas on your ownthats not how democracy works. Neither can your legislator. Public
policy is a collaborative process. Your individual effectiveness depends upon the level of credibility, trust,
and friendship with your legislator.
Most legislators serve out of a sense of responsibility to public service, and a desire to make their
community a better place. However, legislators often get treated like commodities. Constituents forget they
are real people from their community with families, jobs, and personal lives.
Building effective legislative relationships means more than just knowing where a lawmaker stands on the
issues. It means seeing yourself as a diplomatic liaison from the faith communitya kind of
ambassadorwho cares about their legislator personally, and understands the challenges they face as
public servants. Ambassadors work constructively to help their legislator represent their shared community.
Ambassadors dont just call a legislator when they want something. They send a personal note; find
common ground; pass on important information about policy or the district; show the district staff special
appreciation; and pray for the legislator and their family.

Thats why Texas Impact seeks 362 Ambassadors, two in each of the 181
legislative districts in the Texas Legislature, committed to developing a cell
phone number relationship with their state legislator.
. Sign Up to be an Ambassador at Project362.org. .
Ambassadors receive special support from Texas Impact to help build legislative relationships. Heres some
of what you can find on the website:

Biographical information on your elected official

District-specific information on your community
Information on candidates during both the primary and general elections
Networking with other ambassadors of faith across Texas
Insider information from the Texas Impact lobby team during the legislative session

Interested in a deeper level of policy engagement?

If you think being an Ambassador is for you, sign up at
Project362.org!

Texas Impact 200 East 30th Street Austin, Texas 78705 512-472-3903 www. texasimpact.org

Public Education: Filling in the Blanks

What is the address for the Texas Education Agency website?
www.tea.state.tx.us
Where is my school districts headquarters? _______________________________________
Who is the superintendent? ____________________________________________________
What is the superintendents email address? _______________________________________
What is my districts website address?_______________________________________
TEA/Texas Schools/General Information/District Directory (AskTED)/Quick District Lookup
Who is on my school board? ___________________________________________________
When are board meetings? __________________________________________________
See individual districts website
How many students are in my district? _______________________________________
What percentage are African American______%, Hispanic______%, White______%, or other
ethnicities_____%?
What percentage are economically disadvantaged? _______%
TEA/Reports & Data/Snapshot (Located under School District Data)/Snapshot 2013/District
Detail Search/Enter school district information
What percentage of my districts students passed the STAAR tests? ______%
What was the average SAT score of students in my district? ______
In Snapshot 2013 district detail STAAR, College Admissions
How many teachers are there in the district? ______
What is their average salary? $_________
How many students are there per teacher, on average? ______
What percentage of teachers have five or fewer years of experience? ______
In Snapshot 2013 district detail Staff, Teachers

Texas Impact

January 2015

Public Education: Filling in the Blanks

What is my districts tax rate? ______What is my districts total revenue per student? $_________
What percentage of my districts revenue comes from the state? From local property taxes? From the
federal government? ______%
In Snapshot 2013 district detail Taxes and Actual Revenue

Where can I find detailed information on the academic performance of students in my district,
subdivided by grade, test, ethnicity, economic status, etc?
TEA/Reports & Data/T.A.P.R (located under School Performance)/2013-14 T.A.P.R/District Report
(located on top left)
Where can I find detailed information on the academic performance of students in a specific
campus in my district?
See above, but choose campus on the page 2013-14 Texas Academic Performance Report
Where can I find, in one place, the average SAT scores for students on all campuses in my
district?
TEA/Reports & Data/College Admissions & Testing (located under Student Data)/District Data/SAT
district-level data (.pdf)/Find your district
Where do I find information on the dropout rate in my district? Can I get this information broken
down by race/ethnicity, economic status, and gender?
TEA/Reports & Data/Accountability Research (found under School Performance)/2012-13 Annual
Dropout Rates/Data Search District
Then choose view table by race/ethnicity, economic status, and gender
Where can I find information on the dropout rate of a specific campus in my district? Can I get this
information broken down by race/ethnicity, economic status, and gender?
At page Class of 2013 four-rate rates, choose data search by campus, then view table by
race/ethnicity, economic status, and gender
Where can I find even more detailed information about how much school district is funded?
TEA/Finance & Grants/State Funding Research & Data (found under State Funding)/School
District Aid Report: Summary of Finances/Select Summary of Finances from the dropdown
menu/select school year/enter district name

Texas Impact

January 2015

Now Its Your Turn

Make it Count!

You learned a lot in Austinbut now what are you going to do about it?
Here are some ideas to help you get the most out of your experience, for you and for your
community:

Make a Presentation:

Present the Community Partner Program to your congregation or group, or help schedule a Better
Neighbors event in your community. (Scott)
Present your 2015 Legislative Agenda to your congregation or group.

Make a Commitment:

Sign up for the Water Captains team in your region. (Sam)

Sign up for Project 362 at www.project362.org. (Josh)

Make Some Noise:

Collect Cover Texas Now postcardsyou can order more kits or print the cards from Texas Impacts
website. Remember to mail all postcards to Texas Impact so we can deliver them to lawmakers
together. (Cara)
Plan an in-district lobby dayschedule a meeting with your lawmaker or their staff in their district
office for your group. Tell your local newspaper about your meeting and send them a digital photo
when its over. Dont forget to fill out a Legislative Visit Evaluation and send it to Texas Impact! (Sean)

Make New Friends:

Join the weekly Alliance for a Clean Texas activist call and find out what environmental advocates
are focusing on this week. (Yaira)
Attend a public meeting in your community that you wouldnt typically attend. Introduce yourself and
follow up with people you meet.

Make a Plan:

Enlist friends and start checking off items in the Know Your Community Treasure Hunt.
Form a faithful citizenship or souls to the polls task force and start planning now to help
encourage great participation in the 2016 primary and general elections. (Bee)

Make Us Work!
Build the Network: join Texas Impact, invite friends, and ask your church to join (Sadia)

See you in 2016!

HHSC Community Partner Program Checklist

Organizations can use the following checklist as a guide to becoming a
Community Partner and satisfying all of the Texas Health and Human
Services Commission (HHSC) requirements for initial participation in the
program.

Fill out the non-binding online interest form at http://tinyurl.com/CPPInterest.

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If the organization is not already in the 2-1-1 Texas system, it may be required to
submit two letters of recommendation to HHSC. HHSC will provide specific
instructions if this is required.
If approved for the Community Partner Program, organizations will receive a
nonfinancial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) from HHSC.
Checklist for Partnership Levels I and II
Complete, sign, and return a copy of the MOU to HHSC by mail.
Assign a Site Manager who will be the point of contact for the organization.
The Site Manager completes 3 online training modules:
HHSC Benefit Programs
HIPAA Rights and Responsibilities
Application Assistance Login and Computer setup

Site Manager completes, signs and returns (by mail) a Computer Use Agreement
requesting a Site Manager account.
Site Manager completes, signs and returns (by mail) a Computer Use Agreement
requesting a Community Partner organization account for use on one or more
computers that applicants and clients will use to access YourTexasBenefits.com.
Additional Items for Partnership Level II
Site Manager ensures completion of certification requirements for each navigator.
Site Manager certifies each navigator and registers each certification with HHSC
online.
For Community Partners with Case Assistance navigators:
Site Manager completes, signs and returns (by mail) a Computer Use Agreement
requesting a login for each certified case assistance navigator.

Assistance Site Implementation Suggestions

There are many different ways Community Partners can provide application
assistance through YourTexasBenefits.com. Each organization should determine the
method(s) that works best for them. Listed below are examples of how organizations
can implement the program.
By Appointment Only
Organizations can provide clients the opportunity to schedule specific times with staff
or volunteer navigators to attain assistance with the application process. This
approach can help staff or volunteers incorporate application assistance into their
existing activities.

Computer Lab or Kiosk

Organizations that have computer labs for public use can combine self-service and
application assistance options. Individuals can use the computers to access and use
YourTexasBenefits.com. Organizations can also provide staff or volunteers to
supervise the computer labs and be available to provide application assistance as
needed.

During Set Hours

Organizations can establish certain set hours each week in which staff or volunteers
are available to provide application assistance through YourTexasBenefits.com.
These hours can be advertised to clients through Texas 2-1-1 if the organizations
choose to make them available.
Examples: Food Pantry, After School Programs, ESL Classes

Community Events
At Community Events, organizations can arrange for staff or volunteers with laptops
to have special booths where they can provide online application assistance for
attendees. Because of the public nature of the event, steps will need to be taken to
ensure privacy for the applicants such that confidentiality is maintained.
Examples: Kindergarten Roundup, Clothing and Toy Drives, Festivals and Fairs

He shall judge between many peoples,

and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
Micah 4: 3-4