By State Rep. Brooks Landgraf
The desert oasis that is West Texas is a place like no other. I can’t help but think that the sand here is a brighter tint of red and our cacti a little greener. I can always look to our horizon and witness a beautiful spectacle. Our sunsets here put the most beautiful of oil paintings to shame and looking at them is one of my favorite things to do after a long day of hard work. I believe a sunset to be one of nature’s most beautiful cycles, marking the ending of a day where soon we can look forward to a new tomorrow.
Like a West Texas sunset, our form of government in Texas has a cycle. The drafters of our 1876 Texas Constitution were visionary and had the foresight to develop a structure of government whereby the government would be limited and lawmakers would be grounded with the people they represent.
That’s one of the great things about our great state, the Texas legislature doesn’t meet every single year, giving state representatives and senators the opportunity to take time to vet potential legislative solutions and avoid unintended consequences that always come with changes to the law. Not only that, but after members spend 140 days voting on bills at the state capitol during the regular session that takes place every odd-numbered year, they go back home to their districts to live under those new laws and answer for their votes for the rest of their 2-year term.
That doesn’t mean my work as your state representative ever stops during the interim. There is still plenty of work to do in the months between now and the start of the next legislative session in 2023. Just recently, House committees were given a list of interim charges by the Speaker of the House, which to put simply, is homework for us to prepare for the next session.
As chairman of the House Environmental Regulation Committee, I am tasked with overlooking one of the most important committees in the Texas House of Representatives. In addition to oversight of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the committee has jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to waste disposal and pollution, including environmental regulation of industrial development.
During the regular session, I worked tirelessly to derail “Green New Deal” legislation coming through my committee that would have been incredibly harmful to the livelihoods of the hard working men and women of the Permian Basin. I was also proud to file and pass House Bill 4472, which reformed the Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP) to allow industry and innovation to flourish without the threat of shutdown from the federal government and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Among the Environmental Regulation Committee’s most important interim charges is to evaluate the implementation of HB 4472 and the effectiveness of current allocation of TERP funds. Furthermore, during the interim the committee will monitor newly adopted regulations by the federal government and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that could directly impact economic development, manufacturing, and industrial activities that fall within the committee’s jurisdiction.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be heading back to the Capitol to preside over committee hearings and begin to plan important legislation for the upcoming session. I will continue fighting relentlessly to keep Joe Biden’s EPA in check and out of the Permian Basin.
Until then, I will take every opportunity to enjoy a West Texas sunset and look forward to a new tomorrow.
God Bless Texas!
