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By Colleen Schreiber VICTORIA, Texas — "If you think these last three special sessions have been tough, just wait until school finance." That warning came from Ed Small, attorney for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers’ Association, during the group’s annual fall board meeting here recently. "In redistricting, you really only have 10 or 15 key players on either side," Small said, "but we’re all experts on education." He told listeners that it will take about $2 billion to replace the current "Robin Hood" finance method, which transfers money directly from property-rich districts to those with less property value. "And that’s an absolute," Small insisted, "we’re going to stop Robin Hood. And we’re going to cut property taxes, so we’re talking about coming up with $5-7 billion just to get started, so we’re talking about a whole new set of taxes. There’s talk of increasing sales tax on all services, but that’s just one thing." Agricultural tax exemptions, he warned, are certainly on the radar screen. Senator Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, also spoke on school finance. "We have 4.5 million public school children and 1058 public school districts that are saying that the system is broke. Robin Hood districts only represent about five percent of the total districts in Texas. "So, if 95 percent of the districts are actually getting money, then what’s the problem? The majority of the 95 percent are up to the $1.50 cap and they can’t keep up with the demands that the citizens expect schools to do," Armbrister explained. "To change that we would have to raise the cap, which means increased taxes, and no one got elected by saying they would raise taxes." Agricultural use valuation of property, he told listeners, is one of the possible revenue-raisers he’s seen on a couple of lists. Ag value, he reminded, is statutorily protected but not constitutionally protected. "It’s real important that you as an individual, that you as an organization, make sure that whoever represents you understands the value of ag-valued property and the importance of that to rural Texas. "If they did away with our ag value, it would be the ag industry marching on Austin, saying, ‘Give us an income tax. Let us pay on our income, not what you’re now taxing us on our property.’ Nobody wants an income tax. "Be awfully cognizant that as we go into that special session that your voice is heard," he reiterated. The labor committee heard from Katherine Bloemendal, legislative assistant to U.S. Senator John Cornyn, on Cornyn’s immigration reform legislation. "Senator Cornyn is concerned about the eight to 10 million undocumented individuals living in this country," Bloemendal told the group. "Our government has no way of finding out where these people are living." Failure to enforce existing immigration laws, Bloemendal said, breeds a general disrespect for the law. Cornyn is interested in promoting economic prosperity on both sides of the border and he’s concerned about the exploitation of undocumented workers, she continued. His proposed legislation takes these things into consideration. The guest worker bill, Bloemendal said, would apply to all businesses and sectors of the economy, not just agriculture. There would be two ways to participate. Workers from abroad could apply through the Homeland Security and State departments. The State Department would be responsible for creating regulations and contracting with the foreign country for workers. Additionally, under the proposed legislation, undocumented workers who are currently in the country would have one year from the date of enactment of the law to come forward with a U.S. employer sponsor and apply to the guest worker program. Seasonal workers may stay nine months out of the year, while non-seasonal workers would be authorized to stay up to three years. After three years of work in the U.S., these immigrants would have to return to their homeland before they could apply for citizenship to the U.S. "Senator Cornyn recognizes that the U.S. economy depends on the labor of these undocumented individuals, but the Mexican government would also like to see these hard-working individuals return to Mexico to create a stable middle working class." During their time here, the guest workers’ federal payroll taxes would go into an individual investment account. It is thought that the money could be used to provide health care, for example, for the individual while working in the United States. The guest worker, Bloemendal explained, would have access to the remaining money in his account after he returned to his own country. Other immigration reform proposals have been presented, she said, but none are as comprehensive as Cornyn’s. The only program of similar magnitude was the "bracero" program, which brought an estimated four million Mexicans into the Southwest to work as farm laborers. The program ended in 1964. "Senator Cornyn is very glad that the dialog has at least started again," Bloemendal said. "Since September 11th the dialog has been very extreme, and now he’s hoping we can come to the center and reach some kind of consensus." The first step to furthering the process, she added, would be to get a hearing on the matter. "There have not been any hearings on any of these guest worker program proposals. Our hope is that this legislation will receive a hearing." She concluded by asking TSCRA members to give Cornyn some input on his proposed legislation. |
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