Education
Public Education is job one for the Texas Legislature, but state financial support has dropped for several years.  As a result, local property taxpayers are overtaxed while our teachers are under-paid.  Private school vouchers would make a bad situation worse.  We need to get our priorities straight and come up a funding formula that's fair to taxpayers and good for our children.

Immigration
A fence is not the answer; they'll just build taller ladders.  However, we do need to make it harder to get into Texas and make it less attractive to try. Texas should increase funding for border security to stem the tide of border crossings.  Meanwhile, the state should crack down on businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens.  This could take the form of fines or even revocation of business licenses.

CHIP
We need to make sure that all eligible children in Texas are enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.  CHIP not only benefits kids but also local hospitals which will have fewer children going to emergency rooms for basic care.  A healthy child becomes a productive adult.

Transportation
Last year, the Texas Department of Transportation, TxDOT, made a $1 billion-dollar budget error, forcing the cancellation of road-building projects and cuts in the road maintenance budget.  Meanwhile, the agency is signing controversial toll road contracts with little or no public scrutiny.  It's time for the Legislature to step in and take responsibility for fixing this troubled agency.

Trans-Texas Corridor
This road complex should not be built. Texas will have to borrow $150,000,000,000 and condemn almost 500,000 acres of private land for it to be built.  A Spanish corporation, Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. (Cintra) , will charge the toll and carve out a profit.  We need to maintain the roads and bridges we have now.

Taxes
The new "margins tax" on small business needs to be re-worked.  Some businesses are having to pay high tax bills that drive them into the red.  We need to exempt marginally-profitable businesses and businesses with revenues of $1 million or less.

Budget Surplus
Most of the excess 10.7 billion-dollar surplus should be used to improve our public education system, bolster CHIP, and help alleviate taxes on small businesses.