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Texas Agriculture Archive

July 4, 2003

Many of our legislators deserve our thanks for their hard work in furthering the cause of agriculture and rural Texas. But these 12 stars were a bit hotter and shined a little brighter as they took risks, actions, worked hard and passed legislation important to the Texas Farm Bureau.

This special section recognizes these "12 Stars for Rural Texas," and to each of them, a special thanks from the members of the state's largest farm organization.

After serving on the Tarrant Regional Water District and Texas Water Development Board for a total of 10 years, Representative Geren is an expert on water issues. As a rancher, he understands our issues with water and property rights. He proved his dedication to these issues when he agreed to file Texas Farm Bureau's groundwater condemnation bill. An urban legislator filed legislation that every city in Texas tried to kill.

H.B. 803 ensures landowners will be paid for their groundwater when their land is condemned for it. Charlie went on a personal crusade to see that the legislation we failed to pass in 2001 would indeed make it to the Gov-ernor's desk this time. He succeeded, and we were able to accomplish a major water priority.

This session was marked by an issue that pitted agriculture against animal rights activists in Texas. Our state is home to the only two facilities in the United States that process horse meat for human consumption. The animal rights groups made it a priority to stop legislation to keep these plants open. Representative Geren did everything possible to pass the bill. We lost that fight, but we have an ally that would not back down to the hundreds of calls and letters received by the animal rights activists. He understands that horses are livestock, not pets.

We find that the urban legislature includes folks that, even though their address says Ft. Worth, Dallas, or Houston, understand and sometimes even have an investment in agriculture. Texas Farm Bureau, and Texas agriculture, is fortunate that Charlie Geren decided he wanted to serve in the Texas Legislature. We hope he continues for many years to come.

The right man, the right place
Changes in leadership in the legislature always bring some "nail biting" for any organization that has a legislative agenda. When the organization promotes agriculture and rural Texas to an urban legislature, it can be downright frightening.

Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst put those fears to rest when he named committee chairs for the 2003 session. Senator Ken Armbrister was appointed chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. No other committee in the Texas Senate has more control over the fate of our legislative priorities. Texas Farm Bureau has long counted Senator Armbrister as a friend of agriculture.

Chairman Armbrister proved that not only was he friendly to our issues, he considered our priorities as his priorities. He passed legislation to protect surface water rights from an environmental water grab in every river basin in Texas. He pushed a bill to level the playing field for landowners who could have their groundwater rights restricted by groundwater conservation districts. And, the senator made sure every piece of legislation that was good for agriculture and landowners was approved by his committee. Texas Farm Bureau couldn't have asked for more from the chairman.

Senator Ken Armbrister represents a rural Texas district where agriculture is a predominant economic force. We hope Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst continues to agree with us that Senator Armbrister is the right man to lead the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

Hats off to Harvey Hilderbran!

Representative Harvey Hilderbran's leadership and willingness to work hard for the farmers and ranchers of Texas earned him a spot in our special 12.

Representative Hilderbran served on the Ways and Means Committee and chaired the State Cultural and Recreational Resources Committee, an important committee for Texas Farm Bureau, farmers and ranchers and rural Texas.

Thanks largely to the leadership of Representative Hilderbran, the Texas Farm Bureau was successful this session in passing legislation that would allow landowners to kill feral hogs on their own property without having a hunting license. Legislation similar to this has been attempted several times in the past, but passed this year, thanks to the dedication and hard work of Representative Hilderbran.

This long-time Farm Bureau friend also championed HB 1452, a bill extremely important to the Texas Farm Bureau, through the legislative process. The legislation protects livestock producers by exempting their personal information from the open records law. The measure prohibits the Texas Department of Agriculture from disclosing the name, address, or telephone number of a person who is authorized to use a predator control device.

Hats off to Representative Harvey Hilderbran—a hard worker on behalf of Texas agriculture!