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Texas Agriculture Archive

July 4, 2003

A strong agriculture protector

Rick Hardcastle served as the Chairman of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee this session, replacing Representative David Swinford.

This Vernon Republican is directly involved in cattle ranching, and formerly operated his family's crop protection business. His colleagues view him as honest and fair, and a staunch defender of agriculture and rural Texas.

In his first term as Chairman of the Agriculture and Livestock Committee, Representative Hardcastle skillfully moved important agriculture issues through the process.

One bill, HB 151, allows producers to capture or kill dogs and coyotes harming livestock, and holds owners of dogs responsible for any damages caused.

Another bill, HB 240, increases to a felony the penalty against bio-terrorists who introduce animal diseases into this country.

Chairman Hardcastle was also instrumental in passing HB 1452 to protect the private information of livestock producers from release through an Open Records request.

Chairman Hardcastle provided a strong defense against efforts to make cuts in funding for programs important to agriculture, including Boll Weevil Eradication, Brush Control, the Animal Health Commission and many others.

Agriculture's new war horse...

For the past 10 years, agriculture has relied heavily on legislators like former Farm Bureau Vice President turned Representative Bob Turner to fight for our issues. Redrawing of state legislative districts cost us many of our old "war horses." With the loss of many good friends in the Texas House, Representative Robby Cook stepped forward to lead the fight on our issues. His rural colleagues in the House, both Republican and Democrat, recognized his leadership by electing him as Chairman of the Rural Caucus.Working in tandem with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rick Hardcastle, Robby charged forward on water, rural schools, property rights, and funding for agriculture programs.

One of agriculture's most critical issues this session was the condemnation of water rights. Recently, cities have begun looking at condemning water rights. The time was now to make changes to their eminent domain authority. Representative Cook boldly filed and worked to pass our legislation to make it more difficult for cities to use eminent domain on water rights. With perhaps the most powerful grassroots lobby organization in Texas, the Texas Municipal League, hotly opposing the legislation, Robby took no prisoners in moving the bill through the Texas House. The legislation was signed by Governor Perry.

Representative Robby Cook is one of only three members of the Texas Legislature that derive 100 percent of their living from agriculture. He is one of our organization's best friends. He is our hero. No one fights harder for our industry or our way of life.

A true voice for agriculture...

Although his roots are in East Texas, Senator Todd Staples of Palestine is a friend of farmers and ranchers across the state. During the 78^th Legislative Session, Senator Staples was instrumental in helping the organization accomplish much of its legislative agenda.

Senator Staples served on several important committees including Natural Resources and Finance and was truly a rural voice in an increasingly urban legislature.

During the public school finance debate which would have allowed the state to collect taxes on services, Senator Staples stood up for agriculture by offering an amendment that would have exempted services associated with production agriculture from being taxed.

This amendment would have saved our industry millions of dollars in taxes. The amendment failed, along with the legislation. However, if a special session is called to address public school finance, having Senator Staples as an advocate will be extremely important for agricultural.

Senator Staples was also a key leader in the passage of legislation that will allow landowners to kill coyotes on their own land without a hunting licences. This issue has been a problem for ranchers who lose livestock every year to coyotes. Senator Staples' leadership and willingness to stand up for agriculture proves that he is a hero for rural Texas and a true friend of the Texas Farm Bureau.

Fair and conservative

Sharp, fair and conservative, as well as the product of a Louisiana farm operation, helps explain a little about Appropriations Committee Chairman Talmadge Heflin. As a four-term veteran of the committee, Mr. Heflin was the favored choice for chairman.

Chairman Heflin started the session with the daunting task of writing a budget with a shortfall of $12 billion, as well as balancing the needs of current spending and federal fiscal mandates.

It was a heavy load, but it should be noted that the Chairman accomplished this task without additional taxes. It is important to note that Mr. Heflin, while a representative of Harris County, has always had an open door to the needs and concerns of the Texas Farm Bureau.

Without his leadership, agricultural programs such as integrated pest management and brush control would not have fared as they did.

Texas Farm Bureau appreciates Mr. Heflin's leadership and willingness to work with us and other agricultural organizations in tough fiscal times.