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Measure is a grab bag for special interests
By Linda Curtis, For the Express-News : October 17, 2013 : Updated: October 18, 2013 5:27pm
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Photo By CourtesyLinda Curtis is the director of Independent Texans at IndyTexans.org, a citizens' general purpose political action committee formed in 2001.
SAN ANTONIO — Texas voters will soon be bombarded by political ads by Water Texas PAC, a high-dollar political action committee established by Texas House Speaker Joe Straus. Those ads will not tell you that the $6 billion “revolving water bank” bonds, passed narrowly by voters in 2011, has yet to be tapped.
You read that right.
Proposition 6 calls for a $2 billion diversion of our tax dollars from the Rainy Day Fund for a grab bag of 526 water projects, such as the proposed, incredibly wasteful Marvin Nichols Reservoir (where we can expect 50 percent evaporation rates), while Dallas continues to thwart conservation. But real estate developers cannot get enough of that lakefront property — even in the midst of historic drought.
The proponents will also not explain the reason their largest contributors are bankrolling Proposition 6. They would be the Texas Contractors Association and Dow Chemical. If you are concerned about water, please consider voting no to save both your wallets and your water. If we manage to defeat this amendment, it will send a message to Straus and the entire Legislature that if water (and we might add, roads) is so important (and it is), it should be funded “online” — as part of the regular state budget, not by raiding the Rainy Day Fund, which is supposed to be there in times of revenue shortfalls.
Constitutional Amendment 6 is a clever maneuver by Straus to get better borrowing terms for the governor's special-interest friends. These well-heeled corporate interests do not need a government subsidy. This explains why a prerequisite for getting Proposition 6 passed by the Legislature was the “streamlining” of the Texas Water Development Board, or TWDB, to three paid appointees by Gov. Rick Perry. The Democrats bought in to Proposition 6 in a political deal to get education funding. Only a few genuine fiscal conservatives in the Legislature, like Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, and Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, stood up to the speaker and challenged this dangerous amendment.
Check out the sponsors of the other PAC pushing Proposition 6. H204Texas is a who's who of interests not exactly known for conserving water resources, such as ExxonMobil and a plethora of land and water speculators looking for profits off high-dollar projects.
Do not fall for the crocodile tears Proposition 6 proponents shed about the little towns that are running out of water. The new TWDB admits on its official website that the legislation will not be available to these towns until 2015. Should the folks in Barnhart and Uvalde, to name two, stop drinking water while they wait for help?
Both parties gerrymandered the language. The legislation says they “shall undertake to apply,” rather than simply “shall apply” 10 percent of the fund for rural and 20 percent for conservation.
If you haven't heard yet about the Simsboro aquifer in Lee County, you will. Forestar Real Estate Group (an offshoot of Temple Inland) has been working hand-in-glove with Hays County officials for the last three years to raid Lee County's aquifer, some 70 miles away.
The gloves came off recently when Hays officials voted for a contract with Forestar to aid their efforts to raid the Simsboro just before they had their own “Perry oops” moment, realizing this may not be legal. They punted the ball to Attorney General Greg Abbott for a legal opinion. Let's hope that voters send state leadership, especially those like Abbott who wants to move up on the political ladder, a message by voting down Proposition 6. The message is quite simple — it is not right to covet thy neighbor's water.
There are 526 projects in the Texas Water Development Plan goodie bag. If you trust Rick Perry's new TWDB or you like your food shipped in from China, go right ahead and vote for Proposition 6.
The only good thing we have to say about Proposition 6 is that you get to vote on it. Vote NO!
Early voting starts Monday and runs through Nov. 1. Election day is Nov. 5.
Linda Curtis is the director of Independent Texans at IndyTexans.org, a citizen's' general purpose political action committee formed in 2001.