Texas Legislature Archives - The Austin Common

Explaining Your Ballot: State Propositions

Amy Stansbury — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 03:12:08 +0000

The are 14 proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot this year. In this episode we take a deep into several of them, including Prop 4 (property taxes), Prop 6 (water), and Prop 8 (broadband internet).

Our guests include state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, Jennifer Walker (National Wildlife Federation), and Kelty Garbee (Texas Rural Funders).

You can hear this episode on any of the following podcast services:

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Explaining Your Ballot: State Props

Amy Stansbury — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 02:04:10 +0000

Hey Texas! Did you know that you have 14 state propositions on your ballot this year? Keep scrolling for a rundown of what they all mean.

You can check out our Prop A guide here & our Prop B guide here.

Want to learn even more? Another great resource is the League of Women Voters Guide. And you can look through the endorsements issued by our two big local papers – The Austin Chronicle & The Austin American-Statesman.

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Coffee Jolt With Senator Eckhardt

Amy Stansbury — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Join state Senator Sarah Eckhardt for a morning coffee and discussion about all things Texas Legislature.

Not sure who your state senator is? You can look it up here.

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Constituent Coffee: An Afternoon of Acudetox

Amy Stansbury — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:00:00 +0000

Exciting news! We’re hosting a SPECIAL EDITION of our monthly Constituent Coffee, dedicated entirely to the incredible advancements in Acudetox access and promoting community wellness.

RSVP: https://bit.ly/acudetoxafternoon

What is Acudetox?
Acudetox, also known as the 5NP or Five Needle Protocol, is a transformative, non-pharmaceutical treatment known to alleviate stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and even chemical dependency.

Why attend?
Learn about the pioneering Texas legislation that Representative Goodwin passed this past 88th session to make this treatment accessible. The treatment will be provided at this event by certified specialists.

RSVP
Due to space and to get maximum benefit from the treatment, this event will be limited to the first 20 attendees to RSVP. Link: https://bit.ly/acudetoxafternoon

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HD 49 Townhall

Amy Stansbury — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 14:30:00 +0000

Join us on Saturday, August 19th at 9:30am to 10:30am at the Austin Recreation Center (1301 Shoal Creek Blvd, Austin, TX 78701) for a HD 49 Town Hall! Rep. Hinojosa will give an overview of major legislation passed this past session and during the two special sessions, as well as take audience questions and answers. There will be tacos and coffee for those in attendance. See you there!

Not sure which Texas House district you live in? You can look it up here.

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What About The Legislature? Civic Power Up

Amy Stansbury — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 17:00:00 +0000

The Texas Legislature impacts local budgets in lots of ways. In the past few years, the Legislature has passed several laws that limit how cities can spend their money & how much money they can raise in property taxes. And just last month, the Legislature passed an $18 billion tax cut for property owners statewide.

To explain it all for us, Luis Figueroa (chief of legislative affairs at Every Texan) will be joining us for this session. We’ll go over the basics & explain how all of these state policies impact Austin & you!

Want to tune in? Sign up for our latest Civic Power Up, “Budgetland”.

Can’t tune into the event live? Join The Common Club today and get a recording of this livestream (plus all of the other Civic Power Up events).

What’s a Civic Power Up?

Civic Power Ups are a way for you to deepen your learning & allow you to participate in more hands-on, action-oriented, (and fun) activities. The Austin Common offers several of these action-oriented challenges/mini courses a year, covering topics from climate to civic engagement.

Our latest Civic Power Up is called Budgetland and it lasts from July 17th to July 21st. Click here to sign up and each day, you’ll receive an email with links to live zoom sessions, budget explainers, and tips for how to share your thoughts on the city’s budget with our local elected officials.

The entire Civic Power Up is free for all to participate & to watch our daily videos live. However, we’ll only be sharing recordings of the videos with our Common Club members. This is our way of honoring our commitment to making all of our news & information free to all, while still offering a small perk to our Common Club members.

So, if you’re not able to make it to any of the live sessions (or if you just want to support The Austin Common), consider joining The Common Club today! Memberships start at just $3, most of the levels come with fun swag, and your support allows us to continue doing all of our civic awesomeness

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State and Local Town Hall

Amy Stansbury — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 17:00:00 +0000

On Saturday, April 22nd, Council Member Vanessa Fuentes is teaming up with Texas State Rep. Lulu Flores for a State and Local Town Hall in Easton Park. Join for community updates on local policies and the legislature, and an opportunity to ask questions! There will be flautas and beverages available for all who can make it. Spanish/English interpretation will also be available.

RSVP here!

If you are interested in helping with community outreach to spread the word about the town hall, please sign up here.

What: State and Local Town Hall with CM Fuentes and Rep Flores
When: Saturday, April 22, 2023, 12 PM – 1:30 PM
Where: Easton Park Amenities Center
Who: D2 Council Member Vanessa Fuentes and HD51 State Representative Lulu Flores

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ACT Lobby Day

Amy Stansbury — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 14:00:00 +0000

The Alliance for a Clean Texas (ACT) will hold a Lobby Day, with Texans from across the state coming together to call on the Legislature to strengthen environmental protections. We hope you can join us!

Sign up to attend and we’ll schedule meetings with your state representative and senator and invite you to an issues briefing on April 6.

Key Issues:

The state’s main environmental regulator, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), is currently going through “Sunset review,” which means the Legislature must vote to reauthorize the agency to continue its work. This provides a unique opportunity to reform the agency to improve public participation in the permitting process, raise penalties against polluters, and clean up our air, water, land and climate.

Our air is polluted, with about half of Texas’s population living in areas that fail federal standards for smog pollution. About a third of our rivers, lakes and streams are unsafe for swimming and fishing.

TCEQ is the largest statewide environmental agency in the country, but it is broken. Called a “reluctant regulator” by the Sunset Commission, the TCEQ too often rubber stamps pollution permits without properly giving the public a chance to weigh in. TCEQ rarely fines companies who violate the law; when they do, the fines are often just a slap on the wrist.

Solutions:

ACT is supporting a robust Sunset Bill that requires TCEQ to raise the maximum daily fines from $25,000 to $40,000 for lawbreakers, follow federal law on public participation in permitting and consider cumulative impacts in all major permits.

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Legislative Advocacy Training Day at the Texas Capitol

Amy Stansbury — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 18:00:00 +0000

*Please note – Because of the winter storm, this event was postponed until Feb. 10th*

The 88th Session is underway, and we want to give you the tools you need to navigate the state’s policy making process.

Join Representative Goodwin’s office to learn how to:
*Effectively interact with legislators and their staffs;
*Write effective testimony;
*Submit written testimony;
*Testify in front of legislative committees.

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Sierra Club Climate Crisis Committee Meeting – Why and How to Fight for and against TX Bills

asierraclub — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 01:00:00 +0000

Presentation on why and how to fight for and against bills in the Texas Legislature with an emphasis on climate bills. We’ll provide a quick overview of some of the major issues. We’ll argue why more Texas citizens should be involved and how to be involved with relatively little time. We’ll also show how and why you can fight for state and national agencies to hold more polluters accountable and actually enforce some laws that are on the books to protect the public.

Everyone is welcome.

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