Today, I join the many Texas veterans and their families in gratitude to YOU, the Texas voters. The proposed constitutional amendment extending a 100%, service-connected disabled veteran’s property tax exemption to their surviving spouse passed by the widest margin of any item on the ballot, which I think is a wonderful statement you have made for them and the value of their service to us. Many thanks!
Charles “Doc” Anderson

In 2009, I was pleased to network with local officials and stakeholders in McLennan, Hill, and Bell counties to demonstrate to the Texas Transportation Commission our unity and commitment to improving the I-35 corridor through our region.

Today marked a great day of progress for the Heart of Texas, as ground was broken for the I-35 expansion project between West and Abbott. This segment is a $100 million project scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2015.

Officials in Austin have been impressed with our level of commitment to increasing the capacity and safety of the I-35 corridor — rightly called “The Main Street of Texas”. For the millions of people using I-35 locally, regionally, and state to state, who depend upon the rapidly developing corridor for safe travel and efficient commerce, days like these are great reminders of not only having important priorities, but seeing that they are implemented.

Many thanks to TxDOT for their continued efforts on this and other segments of this very vital project!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : OCTOBER 7, 2011

WACO — Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson (R-Waco) is planning an October 19th Town Hall Meeting on Texas water issues. State, regional, and local water policy experts are being invited to brief the public on drought conditions, water levels, conservation efforts, and other water issues at the Auditorium of the Texas Farm Bureau Headquarters, 7420 Fish Pond Road, Waco, from 6 – 8 PM.

“As we continue to endure historic levels of drought, I call upon all Texans to take an increased stewardship role in ensuring water availability through this challenging time, and for the future,” Rep. Anderson said. “Water is our most precious natural resource, and we must all plan proactively to maximize its availability.”

State agency and regional water planning personnel from:

· Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
· Texas Water Development Board
· Brazos River Authority
· Southern Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, and
· City of Waco

will be on hand to give us a good idea of where we stand, and what our options are going forward. Rep. Anderson said, “I’d like for the public to come see the roles that these servants are taking on, and what our roles are in water planning for our future, and our children’s future.”

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011
TOWN HALL MEETING ON WATER
Texas Farm Bureau Headquarters
7420 Fish Pond Road
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Public Welcome

On Thursday, September 1, 2011, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will host a public meeting in each of its 25 districts throughout the state to provide information and solicit input from the public regarding the planning and funding of a variety of transportation projects. The discussions will center on recommended revisions to the 2012 Unified Transportation Program (UTP), the 2011-2014 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), and distribution of Proposition 12 funds approved by voters in 2007.

The Waco District meeting will be held from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 1, 2011 at the following location:

TxDOT Waco District Office Administration Building

100 South Loop Drive

Waco, Texas 76704

Beginning promptly at 5:30 p.m., TxDOT staff will conduct a brief presentation on the purpose and revisions of the 2012 UTP. Additional information will be available for public viewing and TxDOT representatives will be on-hand to discuss the development process and answer questions. All interested parties are encouraged to attend.

Additionally, forms will be provided in order to receive written comments. Interested parties may submit written comments online or by mail to: TxDOT Finance Division, 150 E. Riverside Drive, Austin, Texas 78704. Public comments will be received until September 26th.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Unified Transportation Program – Revisions
The UTP is a comprehensive 10-year statewide plan for the development and construction of transportation projects. The Texas Transportation Commission approved the 2012 UTP in May 2011. The September 1 meetings will include discussions regarding the revision of the UTP to include the addition of four metropolitan corridor projects in the El Paso District, tier-funded projects not previously identified, and language to allow for greater funding flexibility. For additional information regarding the UTP, please go to http://www.txdot.gov/public_involvement/utp.htm or call the toll-free information line at (800) 687-8108.

Statewide Transportation Improvement Program – Revisions
The STIP is a mechanism used by TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration to fund projects for the next four years. The STIP includes all federally funded projects. The September 1 public meetings pertain specifically to FY 2011 August Quarterly STIP revisions that have gone through local project selection and public involvement processes. The FY 2011 STIP Amendment for August 2011 may be viewed online at http://www.txdot.gov/business/governments/stips.htm.

First of all, I can’t tell you how glad I am to be back home! The framers of the Texas Constitution intended a true citizen legislature — for representatives to spend most of their term living under the very laws they wrote, just like everyone else.  In that sense, let me just say again how glad I am to be back in the absolute Heart of Texas.

The 82nd Texas Legislature was faced with perhaps the biggest fiscal challenge to ever hit our great state: rising costs, falling revenues, and the steepest economic decline in over 70 years due to the national and international recession.  At the same time, voters sent a clear message — an expectation of fiscal discipline and living within our means — by voting into office many new elected officials at all levels of government who shared those same fiscal values.

In the 140 days of the 82nd Texas Legislature, and the 30 day special session which immediately followed — while not a perfect session — Texas legislators accomplished the following tasks, again leading the nation in sensible policy and economic opportunity:

• Patched up budget shortfalls in the current budget through a combination of spending cuts and use of the Economic Stabilization (i.e., Rainy Day) Fund. This kept us in compliance with a constitutional ban on deficit spending in the budget we adopted two years ago;
• Provided for essential state functions in the upcoming 2012-2013 budget which raises no new taxes, lives within our means, and does not further dip into the Rainy Day Fund;
• Maintained critical funding for border security law enforcement;
• Minimized cuts to local schools by adding $1.6 billion in funding over the next two years, a 5.6 percent increase over last budget period;
• Avoided devastating cuts to our nursing homes;
• Passed a balanced budget which reduced 15 billion dollars in overall spending (reducing the size of state government), and also reduced General Revenue Funds spending for the second session in a row for the first time in Texas history;
• Passed redistricting maps for Congressional, State Board of Education, State Senate, and State House of Representatives district boundaries, another first in modern Texas history;
• Continued to be a pioneer in reforming abusive practices in lawsuits by passing “loser pays” legislation to curb frivolous lawsuits;
• Passed the long-awaited law requiring a photo ID to be presented while voting and other election reforms which protect the integrity of the ballot, especially for our overseas military;
• Required valid proof of citizenship for the issuance of a Texas drivers’ license;
• Further action to defund taxpayer-financed abortions and funding to facilities which provide abortion as one of their services, which along with the sonogram bill makes this the most pro-life session in Texas history;
• Protected and extended 2nd Amendment rights (premises concealed carry);
• Honored our 100% disabled veterans by allowing their property tax exemptions to extend to their surviving spouses.

These are just a few of the many highlights of our service in Austin this session.  The economic realities and struggles which have been brought to so many of us have, seemingly, long been immune from public sector spending.  You have asked Texas budget writers to be cognizant of those realities, and not keep coming to you for money you don’t have.  I am proud to have been involved in many of these key, historic decisions which have kept essential services operational–but on a real budget like many of you have to face.

Thank you for the honor and privilege of serving as your voice in the Texas House of Representatives.

GOD BLESS TEXAS!

Remembering Heart Of Texas Heroes on Memorial Day
–Charles “Doc” Anderson
District 56, Texas House of Representatives

We have heard the story of Waco native Doris “Dorie” Miller, the USS Virginia Mess Attendant who, on December 7, 1941, gunned his way into World War II history as the first African-American hero of the war.  The honors bestowed upon him from his actions that day reach across the region, and across the generations.

This brought to mind, as we observed Memorial Day, some of the other heroes of our area who distinguished themselves with honor and bravery in combat.  Included among the many thousands of soldiers from the Heart Of Texas area who risked or gave their lives for freedom are the following soldiers who earned the Medal of Honor:  Naval Commander William Kelly Harrison of Waco in 1914,  Army Air Corps Colonel John Riley Kane of McGregor in 1943, Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant Jack Lummus of Ennis in 1945, and Marine Pfc. Whitt Lloyd Moreland of Waco in 1951.
While in Austin, on my way from my Capitol office to the House floor, I walk by a display of all Medal of Honor honorees from Texas.  It is an appropriate and constant reminder of the price of freedom.  Finding out more about these individuals only deepens the respect.  Here are their stories:
Prior to official American entry into World War I in 1917, Commander William Kelly Harrison was involved the Mexican Campaign in Vera Cruz, Mexico.  Commander Harrison, on the USS Chester, was able to maneuver his ship into a key strategic point in the inner harbor during the night and morning hours of April 21-22, 1914 without a pilot or the use of navigational lights, and was able to “use his guns with telling effect at a critical time”, according to the citation.  For this, he became McLennan County’s first Medal of Honor recipient.

*****

Colonel John Riley Kane earned his Medal of Honor in 1943 while piloting a B-24 and leading a group on a low-altitude bombing raid on an Axis oil refinery in Romania. Due to cloud cover and the mountainous terrain, Col. Kane’s group had been separated from the main attack group.  By the time he had arrived over the refinery, a different attack group, having missed their target area, had already bombed the area assigned to Col Kane.  Despite the refinery’s defenses being by that time fully engaged, as well as the danger of flying low through smoke, over refinery fires, and delayed action bombs released by others in the raid, Col. Kane displayed courageous leadership and superior flying skills in furthering the attack on the refinery.

*****

The raising of the flag on Iwo Jima is one of the most indelible images of the 20th Century, and, in 1945, a precursor to the Allied victory.  But it also signified some of the most intense fighting in the Pacific Theater of operations.  Nearly two dozen Marines and half a dozen sailors earned the Medal of Honor in that 36-day battle, most of them posthumously (FYI — the flag was raised on Day 4). 1st Lt. Jack Lummus from Ennis was one such recipient.

A two-sport star at Baylor who played a year of pro football with the New York Giants before the outbreak of World War II, Jack Lummus led a Marine Corps rifle platoon in action on Iwo Jima.  On March 8, 1945, 1st Lt. Lummus advanced his platoon through hostile fire from the enemy’s networks of pillboxes and other entrenched fortifications.

Moving ahead of his own front lines, he survived a grenade explosion and neutralized one pillbox, and then came immediately under fire from a second supporting pillbox.  Although injured by a second grenade, he staunchly continued his heroic 1-man assault, charged, and destroyed the second pillbox.
Returning to his platoon position, he fearlessly traversed his lines under fire, encouraging his men to advance while directing the fire of supporting tanks against other enemy emplacements.  Held up again by a devastating barrage, he again moved into the open, rushed a third heavily fortified installation and killed the defending troops.  He continued leading his men indomitably, personally attacking foxholes and spider traps with his carbine and systematically reducing the opposition until, stepping on a land mine, he sustained fatal wounds.

*****

Whitt Lloyd Moreland was a Private First Class in the Marine Corps during the Korean War.  An Intelligence Scout, Pfc. Moreland volunteered to accompany a rifle platoon on an assault against a strongly defended hill on May 29, 1951.  His accurate firing was integral in helping to take the hill.  Moments after, he observed and attempted to neutralize an enemy bunker some 400 yards away.  Advancing under fire, Pfc. Moreland deflected several live grenades before falling next to another grenade.  Unable to get up or deflect the grenade, he shouted a warning to his comrades, covered the explosive device with his body, and absorbed the full blast, thereby saving his colleagues from injury or death.  He was 21 years old.

*****

The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the armed forces of the United States.  Typically presented to the recipient by the Commander in Chief, this award is often called the Congressional Medal of Honor.  It has been bestowed upon 3,456 individuals since its creation in the Civil War.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT SPONSORED BY ANDERSON
SENT TO VOTERS FOR APPROVAL IN NOVEMBER
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUSTIN, TX — Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson, House sponsor of SJR 14 by Sen. Leticia Van de Putte to extend homestead property tax exemptions to the surviving spouse of a totally disabled veteran, heralded the passage of both the constitutional amendment and the enabling legislation (SB 516) as the 82nd session of the Texas Legislature neared completion.  The final day of regular session was Monday, May 30th; Governor Perry has called legislators back into special session to address budget and school finance matters, as well as Congressional redistricting.

“When Texans voted in 2007 to grant a property tax exemption for the homesteads of our disabled veterans, we were all pleased, but our job was not complete,” said Rep. Anderson, who also serves as Vice-Chairman of the Texas Veterans Caucus.  “It took the Legislature until 2009 to put the working parts of that law into practice, and the bill to grant that exemption to the surviving spouse upon the death of a veteran got bogged down.”

“This time, the Legislature got it right, and we got both the constitutional amendment and the enabling legislation through the Legislature in the same year,” Rep. Anderson said.  “Widows and widowers of 100% disabled veterans, who previously qualified for a homestead property tax exemption based upon their service-connected total disability, will be able to apply for the continuation of that property tax exemption in the 2012 tax year.”

On November 8th later this year, voters will be asked to approve an amendment to the Texas Constitution to grant a homestead property tax exemption to spouses of 100% disabled veterans.  This provision would continue as long as the spouse has not remarried since the death of the veteran.  Additionally, a surviving spouse would be entitled to transfer such an exemption to a different property if that property is established as the homestead residence of the surviving spouse.

“As we remember our brave heroes who have given their lives to guard our freedoms, let us not forget the many who also endured unimaginable sacrifices in service to our country, and the spouses who have cared so much, and so long, for them,” Rep. Anderson said.  “When a dying soldier asks that those left behind are cared for, we should all feel greatly honored to do what we can.  I ask all Texans to support this constitutional amendment in November.”