January 11, 2019 - Last Tuesday marked the start of the 86th Texas Legislature. I am profoundly humbled and honored that you have again entrusted me to represent you in the Texas House of Representatives.
This session started off with the first open race for Speaker of the House in recent history. While there were several contenders this past fall, shortly after the November 6th elections, Rep. Dennis Bonnen of Angleton secured the votes to become the next Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
The first act of the House of Representatives was to unanimously elect Bonnen as Speaker. I am proud to work with and support Speaker Bonnen as he leads the House as we tackle the important issues you have sent us to Austin to address.
On Wednesday, we had the final meeting of the Sunset Advisory Commission. I have served as the Vice Chairman of the Commission for the past year as we reviewed 32 state agencies for their continued necessity and made suggestions to the entire legislature relating to the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of these agencies. I will be talking more about the Sunset process in the coming weeks.
As we move through the 140-day legislative session, I look forward to updating you about the goings-on in Austin and about the legislation that I am authoring to help make our government operate more efficiently and to better serve you, the citizens.
I want to encourage you to reach out to me about issues that concern you or ideas for legislation that would help make Texas an even better place to live. I can be reached at 512-463-0556 or district9.paddie@house.state.tx.us.
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.
