Last Saturday, Representative Jodie Laubenberg (R-TX-89-Collin) held a town hall meeting during which Collin County Libertarian Party Vice-chair Patrick Peavy asked what her position is on HB-464 which is currently sitting with the Calendar committee.
The Representative said she “completely supports the bill.” This is unfortunate.
HB-464, proposed by Rep. Drew Springer (R-TX-68-Gainesville), would seek to impose a fee for candidates to appear on the ballot in the November General Election. This is simply absurd — here is why.
In Texas there are type types of parties: primary and convention. The former (used by the two major parties) uses tax payer dollars to settle what is effectively an internal political dispute, namely who will be the nominee for a party in a race where two or more people from the same party seek the office. These primaries cost the tax payers millions of dollars.
With convention parties, rather than being taxpayer funded, the parties themselves fund a convention system wherein the nominee for the party is selected. These conventions are run from the precinct level all the way up to the state convention. Just to repeat the important point, the conventions are held using money from the parties themselves and not the taxpayers.
Representative Springer’s bill is, in effect, a poll tax on the convention parties. It is anti-Liberty and imposes fees on the democratic process. It would likely mean the end of many third party candidiates and would give the voters of Texas even fewer choices than they have now.
Furthermore, it is likely that this bill is Unconstitutional and will surely cause the State of Texas to litigate the enforcement again at taxpayer expense.
In this video, Ed Kless, Collin County Libertarian Party Chair, asks Liberty minded people, especially of District 89 to call Represntative Laubenberg’s office in Austin and ask her to reconsider her position on this bill. Her number is (512) 463-0186. Please call today!
For more information on HB 464 visit the Libertarian Party of Texas’ Legislative Call to Action site.
HB 464 is not yet out of the House Calendars Committee for consideration by the full House. If any of the Calendars Committee members represent you, please contact them and register your opposition to HB 464:http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Committees/MembershipCmte.aspx?LegSess=84R&CmteCode=C050.If you can come to Austin for a day to personally visit committee member offices, even better. Contact legislation@lptexas.org if you can help and would like more details.