The Texas Tribune, the statewide, nonpartisan public service digital news organization, hosted industry experts, community leaders and local lawmakers from across Texas for a special event, The Future of Rural Texas, on Nov. 17-18 at Texas Tech University and livestreamed at texastribune.org.
On Thursday, lawmakers representing rural Texans discussed broadband access, school choice, property taxes and other priorities ahead of the 2023 legislative session. On the topic of health care access, state Rep. Eddie Morales Jr., D-Eagle Pass, said the state needed to expand Medicaid, noting that almost 1 in 5 Texans are uninsured. But state Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, noted that Republicans remain hesitant to expand Medicaid in the state because of the waste, fraud and abuse he said are present in the federal system.
Instead, he offered a “Texas-centric model” in the form of a health care block grant from the federal government that the state can administer with more control.
At a panel on Friday afternoon, three local leaders of rural Texas communities discussed a series of topics that they said were at the top of their minds and their constituents’ minds: infrastructure needs, access to the Legislature, regional collaboration and disinformation.
Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson said the spread of disinformation in her city mirrors the nation’s levels of distrust in government and has been making local infrastructure fixes more difficult to carry out.
