Your Voice, Your Values: Working For You

By Cody Harris

State Representative Cody Harris is in his third term representing House District 8 which covers Anderson County, Cherokee County, Navarro County and a portion of Henderson County. Harris is a Republican and resides in Palestine with his family.

We are coming to the crucial stretch of our time in this 88th Legislative session and things are moving at a record pace. Over 5,000 bills have been submitted for consideration.
As I often tell people, there is a reason it is so difficult to get a law passed. The design by our founders was intentional. It should not be an easy process and it should be one where every idea is thoroughly vetted and handled with utmost respect.
This is happening every day in the Texas House of Representatives.
I do not take lightly my responsibility and it is the reason I am working from early morning often straight through until early morning. This was the case with our Public Education Committee last Tuesday. We had over 200 witnesses testify. These are the voices of the people we represent and this is where the Texas House gets it right. Our federal government often presents bills that legislators don’t have time to read, much less hear testimony on. While our process may be tiring and at times tedious, I would not change a thing. This is how we know we can do work representative of our citizens’ needs and desires.
The things of greatest value often require the greatest sacrifice and I believe what we are doing will ultimately improve the lives of the people I represent.
This past week was tiring, no doubt, but well worth the time and energy invested. It will only continue to ratchet up as we move nearer the end of session at the end of May.
My office continues to hear from constituents across our district concerning bills before us. I am always grateful for your input and we are striving to be sure we are not overlooking any critical points.
Last week I received a letter of thanks from a church who let me know they are praying for me and for the work we are doing. I am so grateful for this kind of support and encouragement.
Also last week I had the privilege of laying out six separate bills before various committees:
HB 4456 & HB 4865 in the Ways and Means Committee, HJR 182 in Public Education Committee, HB 799 in Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, HB 3297 in Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee and HB 4062 in Juvenile Justice and Jurisprudence Committee.
We were also able to pass HB2 that would bring immediate tax relief across the state. This bill will now move to the Senate as we seek a reasonable compromise between our two versions of tax relief bills.
To research any bill or its progress, you can go online to house.texas.gov and click on the Research tab. On this page, any bill can be researched by number. This will provide all of the background and every step along the way. You can access the bill text, amendments and committee referrals. When I am asked about a bill from a prior session or for detailed information, this is the same resource I use to provide answers.
On the same web site, you can always access the Video/Audio tab which gives daily live streams to any committee meetings underway. I encourage you to tune in when you can and follow along.
Thank you for your support and as always, don’t hesitate to reach out to my office to offer feedback.

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