Well, here’s my take on the seven proposed amendments. The few readers I do have probably don’t live in Texas, so just ignore this. I’m not going to repeat all of the amendments here; they are readily available elsewhere.
- FOR. It’s a step in the right direction.
- FOR; if we’re going to give tax exemption to disabled veterans and their widows (2011), we should make the correction
- AGAINST. I was for this at first, simply thinking that in this modern day of transportation and communication, that this requirement was obsolete. But then, if a state official lives a long way off, say in El Paso, that means that we, the taxpayers will bear the full cost of their commute to Austin. As it stands now, a state official needs to pay for his own residence. Having this be a reimbursable expense means a lot of extra cost to us. So I’m against it.
- AGAINST. I was the most uncertain of this one. On one hand, raising money for charity sounds like such a great idea. Yet… something about this makes me uneasy; perhaps it is the statement that this would open the door for all raffles to award cash prizes; perhaps because (as one person) said, this “smacks” of cronyism. It has all the earmarks of being the entry point of a lot of other changes. When in doubt, vote no.
- FOR. On the general principle of moving control away from centralization and to the local people.
- FOR. While this shouldn’t be necessary, we live in a crazy world. Any extra protection of our constitutional rights is a good thing.
- FOR. There may be a lot to criticize about how transportation is funded in Texas, but this would at least help a bit. As one person wrote, given the political reality, this may be the best we can do.
So, there you have it.
rlosey 