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Texas
Agriculture Archive
July 4, 2003
New House Ag Chairman,
great results for rural Texas!
By Gene Hall
Publisher
When asked if his first session as chairman of the Texas House Agriculture and Livestock Committee was all that he expected, Rick Hardcastle (R-Vernon) answered tactfully, "Yes and no."
Certainly, the state's agriculture groups appear to be pleased with Representative Hardcastle's work as chairman and the agricultural industry appeared to fare reasonably well during the 140-day session.
Chairman Hardcastle pointed out that most of the House chairs were heading their committees for the first time, and the timing could not have been worse. The Legislature convened last January with the specter of a $10 billion budget shortfall.
It was a given that all programs, including many near and dear to Texas farmers and ranchers, would be cut. Agriculture survived with most of its programs intact, but there are fewer dollars to go around.
"All in all, it was quite successful for production agriculture," Chairman Hardcastle said. "It was painful, because we were $10 billion short, and ag programs took as big or bigger cuts as any programs. It will hurt and it will hurt for a long time."
On other important issues, such as animal rights and property rights legislation, he said agriculture enjoyed one of its best sessions.
Hardcastle used the important Cooperative Extension Service as an example.
"Extension's budget is 82 percent payroll," he said. "With a 12 to 15 percent cut across the board, there's no place to cut but payroll."
Chairman Hardcastle hopes that attrition will take care of the bulk of the cut, but worries that services in rural communities will eventually be affected.
"We got the funding for brush control, but to get it, we had to accept two gubernatorial appointments on the soil and water conservation board," Chairman Hardcastle said. He feels other agencies, such as the Animal Health Commission and the Texas Department of Agriculture "came out all right."
The rancher from Vernon assumed the leadership of the ag committee in a different climate than any of his predecessors. By his count, only he and two other members of the Texas House are full- time farmers and ranchers. Only 37 members live in true rural communities now. It creates, he says, both challenge and opportunity.
"It's bad because we no longer have 78 votes (a House majority) in the rural caucus, but we've learned to pick our fights better," he said. "The inner city of San Antonio needs everything we (rural Texas) need for education. They have the same problems of declining valuations and falling numbers, so the formula we figure out for one helps the other. We are learning to work together." Other groups, the chairman says, are eager to align with the ag community on property rights and other issues.
Hardcastle says not losing agriculture's sales tax exemptions and agricultural valuation on property taxes in this session was a critical victory for Texas agriculture.
It's hard to imagine a tougher first session for the Chairman of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee.
He summed it up like this: "It wasn't a perfect session and there were some disappointments, but given the budget shortfall, I think it was a good session for production agriculture."
