News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: September 22, 2021
CONTACT: John Buxie
PHONE: (214) 801-1038
EMAIL: john@chrispaddie.com

Following what many have called the most conservative session in Texas history, State Representative Chris Paddie (R-Marshall) today announced that he will not seek re-election to Texas House District 9 in 2022. House District 9 includes Cass, Marion, Harrison, Panola, Sabine, and Shelby counties.

“Serving as State Representative for the people of East Texas has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” said Paddie. “I’m proud of the many accomplishments and landmark reforms my colleagues and I have delivered during my service as State Representative.”

“I love and respect the Texas House and will certainly miss serving with so many great people who have become like family to me. However, I also recognize that the greatness of the House existed long before I joined it and it will exist long after I am gone. I look forward to supporting Speaker Phelan and my House colleagues as they continue their service to our great state.”

“There are far too many people to thank, but I have to express my gratitude to my wife, Brooke, and our boys, Topher and Noah, for their unwavering support. They have sacrificed so much over the last ten years and it’s time for me to focus on what’s best for them and our future.”

“Serving in the Legislature is not a career, but a way to serve your neighbors. I remain forever grateful for the constant support and trust shown to me by the people of House District 9. I remain fully committed to advocating for good public policy and will continue do so in non-elected avenues of public service.”

“As the House begins working through the process of redistricting, I have decided that the timing is right to spend more time with my family and allow my East Texas colleagues to spend time fighting for our values instead of having to make some of the tough choices required in the redistricting process.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: August 27, 2021

CONTACT: John Buxie

PHONE: 214-801-1038

EMAIL: john@chrispaddie.com

Chris Paddie announces he will seek Re-Election following “Most Conservative Session in History”

MARSHALL – State Representative Chris Paddie (R-Marshall) has announced that he will seek re-election to Texas House District 9 in 2022. House District 9 is includes Cass, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Sabine, and Shelby counties.

“It was a banner year for conservatives in the Texas House,” said Paddie. “Some of our achievements include passing Constitutional Carry to protect the 2^nd Amendment, the largest border security investment to date, and a landmark bill to support rural broadband. I proudly co-sponsored the Heartbeat Bill to protect unborn babies from the moment a heartbeat is detectable. I coauthored legislation that prevents churches from ever being shut down and authored much-needed electric grid reform.”

Chris Paddie serves as chairman of the highly influential State Affairs Committee. In his time as state representative, he has been consistently endorsed by conservative leaders and organizations such as the Texas Alliance for Life, the National Rifle Association, the Texas Farm Bureau, and many more.

“We had a great session, but as we are now hard at work in our second special session, many things remain undone,” said Paddie. “Property tax relief, election integrity, protecting the free speech of conservatives on social media, and sending a 13^th check to our retired teachers are just some of the issues we are continuing to address. I am committed to continuing this work through the special sessions and into this coming term.”

Chris and his wife, Brooke, make their home in Marshall with their two sons, Christopher and Noah.

Last week was a long one in Austin, with floor debates going late into the night several nights.  But I am committed to delivering conservative results for East Texas, which is what we have been seeing out of the Texas House.

Last week, the House debated and passed the Heartbeat Bill (HB 1515/SB 8), which I am proud to co-sponsor and support.  After several hours of debate the House passed the bill which would ban an abortion after an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable.  To date, an abortion is the only instance where it is not illegal to stop a beating human heart.  The Heartbeat Bill brings a much needed protection for the unborn in Texas.

We also passed HB 1280 which ban abortion in Texas in the event that the United States Supreme Court were to overrule its ruling in Roe vs. Wade.  This shows Texas’ continued commitment to life and our hope that the Supreme Court will come to share that commitment.

The House also passed HB 764 which would reduce high stakes STAAR testing.  While the testing would continue for diagnostic purposes, it would not be used to determine graduation requirements.  I have heard from many parents and educators about the stress caused by high stakes testing.  This bill will provide flexibility for school districts to ensure that their students are learning without the determinants of high stakes testing.

The House also passed HB 1505, which I am proud to author, which bring additional funds and help to expedite deployment of broadband internet in rural Texas.  We have seen the heightened need for high speed internet as work, school, court, doctor’s appointments and so many other daily functions have moved online.  Expediting rural broadband is one of the most important issues for rural Texas and I am proud to be leading the way in this effort.

It is great to hear from so many of you, letting me know what is important to you.  I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or legislation that you would like to see advanced.  I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.texas.gov.

In addition, my district director, Joe Buck Crisp, will be spending time each month in every county to meet with you about legislative concerns and to help with issues you may be having with the state government.  Please contact our Marshall office at 903-935-1141 if you would like to meet with Joe when he is in your town.

We are in the final month of the 87th Texas Legislative Session, the home stretch, and things are moving fast in Austin.

Last week, the House debated and passed HB 570, the Rural Jobs Act, which I am proud to author.  This bill creates an incentive for investment funds to invest in companies in rural Texas.  There are several programs that attract businesses to Texas and encourage expansion, but the vast majority of those dollars go to investments in urban areas.  HB 570 would provide badly needed capital for rural businesses and provide opportunities for growth which are currently not readily available in rural communities.

The House also passed two Sunset bills, the most significant being for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR).  TDLR licenses a broad range of Texas professionals, and does so in a very efficient manner, consistently reducing costs for licensees and making sure customer service is top notch.  In the Sunset review of TDLR, we discovered that there were several licenses created by previous legislatures that had outlived their usefulness.  In response to these findings, the legislature eliminated over a dozen licenses.  These are the kind of results that the Sunset review process is set up to achieve.

We also passed HB 2622, which would prevent Texas law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws which violate the 2nd Amendment.  This will protect law abiding Texas gun owners from an increasing federal overreach.

The State Affairs Committee continued hearings this week, hearing bills relating to reforming lobbying in Texas to ownership structure of companies that grant their employees ownership in the company.  We also heard legislation to help the legislature make the most of each 140 day session and to make changes to healthcare law more transparent to legislators as we consider these oftentimes complex bills.

It is great to hear from so many of you, letting me know what is important to you.  I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or legislation that you would like to see advanced.  I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.texas.gov.

In addition, my district director, Joe Buck Crisp, will be spending time each month in every county to meet with you about legislative concerns and to help with issues you may be having with the state government.  Please contact our Marshall office at 903-935-1141 if you would like to meet with Joe when he is in your town.

Last week, the House passed the only bill that we are constitutionally required to pass, the state budget.  While the Legislature addresses many important issues each session, the budget is the only legislation that we are required to pass or come back for a special session.

The House continued its commitment to Texas taxpayers by passing a budget that is below the rate of population and inflation growth.  This is the measure that shows if government spending is actually growing in light of Texas’s increasing population.  The current rate of population and inflation growth is 5.0%, while the House budget only grows all spending at 2.4%.  This reflects that like Texans, the state has to tighten its belt during tough times.

Another commitment that the House made was to continue funding Texas schools at the same rate as last session, while also maintaining property tax relief for Texas property owners.  The House budget contains $6 billion in general revenue to maintain the property tax relief that was passed last session.  Further, earlier this week, the House passed HB 1525 which cleans up the school finance reform legislation from last session and directs an additional $325 million to Texas schools over the next two years.

Last week, the House also considered several other important measures, including two Sunset bills which I carried.  One abolishes the Texas Anatomical Board and the other continues the Brazos River Authority while implementing some governance reforms.  We also passed bills to help ease the burden on Texas electricity and natural gas customers as extraordinary costs from February’s storm work their way through the system.  These are common sense reforms to help Texans get through these tough times without the sudden shock of high utility bills.

The State Affairs committee continued its work this week, hearing bills ranging from increasing cybersecurity for school districts to asserting Texas’ sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, and several measures in between.

It is great to hear from so many of you, letting me know what is important to you.  I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or legislation that you would like to see advanced.  I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.texas.gov.

In addition, my district director, Joe Buck Crisp, will be spending time each month in every county to meet with you about legislative concerns and to help with issues you may be having with the state government.  Please contact our Marshall office at 903-935-1141 if you would like to meet with Joe when he is in your town.

Last week was a busy one in Austin, with House debates heating up and committee hearings running late.

Last week saw movement on three bills which are important many East Texans. HB 1515, the Heartbeat Bill was heard in the Public Health Committee on Wednesday, with the hearing going well into Thursday morning.  The Heartbeat Bill would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, providing needed protections for our unborn.

After a marathon hearing last week, the Elections Committee voted to send HB 6 to the full House for debate.  HB 6, the companion to SB 7, would serve to strengthen our elections process and make sure Texans have confidence in our elections.

The third issue, Constitutional Carry, which I have heard from many of you on, moved to the Calendars Committee.  I am hopeful that this bill will be on the House floor for a debate soon.  I am proud to co-author all three of these bills and look forward to working with my colleagues to pass these bills out of the House and on to the Senate for their consideration.

State Affairs met again last week and considered several bills on a wide range of topics.  We heard a bill that would close a loophole currently being exploited by the City of Austin to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.  We also heard several bills relating to the structure of our electricity market, ranging from allowing more consumer choice in storage and home energy generation to the need, or lack of, to incentivize building additional generation facilities.  We also heard several bills which would strengthen Texas’ public information act and ensure transparency for taxpayers.

Last week, the House debated and passed HB 5, which creates the Broadband Development Office within the Office of the Comptroller.  This office will help the state understand where our deficiencies are and develop a plan to bring broadband to rural Texans.  This office will also help bring in federal dollars that are being directed to help bring broadband to rural areas.  We also passed HB 1239 which would protect churches from being shut down by executive order.  I am proud to co-author both of these important pieces of legislation.

It is great to hear from so many of you, letting me know what is important to you.  I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or legislation that you would like to see advanced.  I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.texas.gov.

In addition, my district director, Joe Buck Crisp, will be spending time each month in every county to meet with you about legislative concerns and to help with issues you may be having with the state government.  Please contact our Marshall office at 903-935-1141 if you would like to meet with Joe when he is in your town.

I hope you got to spend sometime with your families last weekend as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ!

The House took Good Friday off so the members could return home and spend some time with their families, but we are back this week as we enter the final sixty days of the 87th Legislative Session.

Last week, the House and Senate both passed important reforms to our state’s electricity system.  The House bills include several of the bills that I have discussed before, including bills which require that the members of the ERCOT Board of Directors be from Texas, require that power generators weatherize their facilities, and create an emergency alert system to improve communications with Texans in the event of an extended power outage.  The House and Senate will now go about the process of settling the differences between our legislation.  I will keep you updated on this process.

Last week, the House also considered some other bills on the floor.  I am proud to support HB 1195, which says that funds businesses received from PPP loans should not be included in a businesses franchise tax.  This is a common sense provision that makes sure there is not a tax increase on struggling businesses.  The House also passed HB 139 which would ease licensing burdens for spouses of active duty military members who are already licensed in another state.  This will bring more professionals into our workforce and provide more opportunities for military spouses when they relocate to Texas.

The State Affairs Committee met again this week, thankfully for less than 20 hours!  We heard several bills relating to fixing the financial mess created by the February storm which would provide utility companies tools to deal with the large bills that they are receiving.  We also heard bills that would protect our 2nd Amendment rights.  One prevents the enforcement of federal laws that violate the 2nd Amendment, another that prevents the state from doing business with companies that have an anti-2nd Amendment policy, and a third that prevents the closure of 2nd Amendment related businesses by executive order.

We are in the part of session where legislation is moving fast and I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or legislation that you would like to see advanced.  I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.texas.gov.

In addition, my district director, Joe Buck Crisp, will be spending time each month in every county to meet with you about legislative concerns and to help with issues you may be having with the state government.  Please contact our Marshall office at 903-935-1141 if you would like to meet with Joe when he is in your town.

Last week saw another the marathon hearing in the State Affairs committee and the House passed its first bills of the session.  Last week also represented the half-way point of the 87th Legislative Session.

One of the first bills to pass in the House reflects one of the most well-known changes made during the pandemic:  allowing restaurants to serve alcohol to-go.  HB 1024 repeals one of the regulations that was waived in order to help restaurants survive the pandemic.  I am proud to support this legislation and many other bills which will formalize the waiver of regulations that were suspended during the pandemic.

The State Affairs Committee had another marathon hearing, starting at 8:00a.m. Thursday morning and not ending until 4:30a.m. Friday morning.  As you can imagine, the hearing covered a wide range of issues, from adding resiliency to our electric grid, protecting churches from government ordered shut downs, and ending the defunding of police in Texas.

Another committee that had a marathon hearing yesterday was the Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee.  Over several hours of testimony, they heard bills relating to constitutional carry.  I am proud to again co-author this legislation, which would allow Texans to carry their legally held firearms without a permit.

We are in the part of session where legislation is moving fast and I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or legislation that you would like to see advanced.  I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.texas.gov.

In addition, my district director, Joe Buck Crisp, will be spending time each month in every county to meet with you about legislative concerns and to help with issues you may be having with the state government.  Please contact our Marshall office at 903-935-1141 to find out when Joe will be in your town.

Last week, House committees continued working on several important pieces of legislation.  I laid out several bills, including the Texas Small Business Recovery Act and several of the electric reform bills that I wrote about earlier this month.

One of the bills that I laid out is HB 570, the Texas Small Business Recovery Act.  This Act, which passed the House last year, but didn’t make it through the Senate, would provide an incentive for investment funds to invest in small businesses in rural Texas.

Currently there are multiple programs that work to bring businesses to Texas, but we see the majority of those dollars going to large cities.  The Texas Small Business Recovery Act, would help our existing businesses accelerate growth by encouraging investments in businesses that are actually creating new jobs in rural Texas.

The State Affairs Committee heard from witnesses and voted on several important electric reform bills, including:

• HB 10 – reforms the ERCOT board and makes it accountable to the Legislature,
• HB 11 requires electric generators to weatherize their facilities to prevent the failures we saw during the winter storm,
• HB 12 – creates a statewide notification system to alert Texans about coming disasters and electric issues related to them,
• HB 13 – forms a council to ensure there is communication between natural gas providers and electricity generators during times of crisis, this should help prevent the kind of black outs we experienced during the storm,
• HB 16 – prevents the billing plans that left consumers with electric bills running into the thousands and tens of thousands for a few days of electricity, and
• HB 17 – prevents cities and counties from banning the use of natural gas in new construction.

I look forward to these bills coming before the entire House for a vote very soon and advancing these important reforms to the Senate for their consideration.

I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or legislation that you would like to see advanced.  I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.texas.gov.

In addition, my district director, Joe Buck Crisp, will be spending time each month in every county to meet with you about legislative concerns and to help with issues you may be having with the state government.  Please contact our Marshall office at 903-935-1141 to find out when he will be in your town.