We must fight to keep jobs in Texas. Great paying jobs are critical to stable, successful families. For decades we have steadily encouraged businesses to leave bastions of liberalism, such as California and New York, for Texas – however burdensome regulations continue to rob Texan families of opportunity. This must stop. It is essential that we are competitive in a global economy as well as within the national economy. Regulatory burdens need to be eased for energy, exporters and job creators so they actually want to create jobs here instead of overseas or in other states. We cannot continue strapping the hands of our job-creating businesses behind their backs.
Furthermore, we must make Houston the site of choice for major capital and employment efforts. We need to continue to compete with the other major US and global markets to promote our city as the best place to raise families, build commercial real estate projects and grow the next generation of bioscience, technological and educational leaders.
As the dad of children currently thriving in the public school system, I am a believer in an educational system where the schools and parents work together as a team. I believe the out of control teachers unions should work for the parents.
We have a duty to defend our children from out-of-control school districts which promote non-binary gender activism in its reading and sex-ed curriculum, promotion of liberal ideological books and the advancement of anti-religious history and fake, politically-motivated science.
An investment in our children’s education is an investment in our country’s future. Parents, teachers and local school districts should be the driving force behind our children’s education, not federal government bureaucrats. Higher standards and increased parental involvement are absolutely key to success in the classroom, but we can go further. By significantly limiting the scope of the Department of Education to administering population-based funding to states, we will take power back to Texas, independent school districts and parents.
Property taxes are immoral. The retirement of our senior citizens and financial prosperity of every Texan is put at risk as long as we never truly own our homes. We as Texans are independent self-starters who aspire to own our homes, but that is never truly possible as long as property tax burdens remain in place. Our homes are put in peril annually.
We should replace the property tax with a consumption tax, paid with the sales tax, which affords Texas’ most fragile populations important and fairer protections:
1 -Once their homes are paid off, or payments are timely made, they can never lose their homes,
2 -Seniors and the poor, whose consumption is very low, no longer must worry about losing their homes or paying the hidden added costs of higher rents to cover property taxes, and
3 -Texas’ income taxes remain at 0% – keeping us competitive.
Our safety from threats both foreign and domestic must be the primary concern for Texas. A robust defense starts by securing our borders, continues through an unwavering support for our law enforcement and ends with a no-nonsense approach to foreign diplomacy.
We cannot incentivize illegal immigration through sanctuary cities and states. This disregards our state and nation’s laws and sends the wrong message to those who wish to enter our country legally. We must foster a more efficient immigration system to encourage only legal immigration and penalize those who disrespect our laws.
We will create jobs and lower energy prices. While we allow other countries or the Federal Government to take advantage of our wallets, Texas sits on large amounts of oil and natural gas reserves.
We must ease regulations on energy producers, open domestic drilling and encourage an expanded network of pipelines. This would lower gas prices, save you money and create thousands of Texas jobs. These common-sense solutions can remain while we continue to explore new sources of renewable energy.
Our right to bear arms is a sacred right in our Constitution. All Texans should have the ability to protect their families through responsible and comprehensive gun ownership, just as I protect my family by owning firearms. We believe broader responsible gun ownership, along with proper training, could save countless lives here in Texas.
Hurricane Harvey left a trail of destruction in our area. Like thousands in the greater Houston area, my family and I were forced to rebuild our home left damaged by the floodwaters. Dishonest contractors, predatory trial lawyers, insurance companies and slow government agencies are causing unnecessary pain and ongoing hardships in our communities.
We need to continue to fight for families, taxpayers, and seniors to get relief and improve flood mitigation.
We should continue to pressure the state to fix the San Jacinto River Authority’s governance, and Harris & Montgomery Counties to provide maintenance dredging of Lake Houston, to save Kingwood, Atascocita, Humble and Spring from future flooding. Much has been done over the past 3 years, but we have much work left to do.