County warned of upcoming special session

Alan Bristol, county relations officer with the Texas Association of Counties spoke to the Jack County Commissioners during their regular meeting Monday.

He warned that the upcoming special session of the Texas Legislature could be damaging for county governments.

“Only God knows what they’re going to do to you in a special session,” Bristol said. “Mitchell can probably verify this, historically, special sessions usually have one or two items. This one has the sunset stuff to take care of the medical board. They’ve been ordered to deal with that first and then they’ve got 19 items including the revenue caps and the bathroom bill and 17 other items that Greg Abbott wanted on there. I personally think he’s running scared, trying to put himself right of Patrick afraid he may run against him for governor. But we’re all in danger with the revenue cap issues. It won’t do any good to stay on your senator, but stay on your state rep.”

He spoke of the Texas Counties Deliver initiative which seeks to let the public know what county governments.

“Everything from emergency management, flooding, which y’all have had a history of here, to running your elections, safeguarding your records — all of the things that county government does that the general public has no idea of,” Bristol said.

He said it is important for counties to tell their story because cities and counties are both under attack, but only county offices are constitutionally protected.

To read the complete article, see the June 16 edition of the Herald-Gazette.