Election Coverage 2018 State Representative District 45

WV: What are your top priorities for the next legislative session?

Zwiener: School finance reform, stopping skyrocketing property taxes, shoring up the Hays-Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, and protecting Texans’ access to healthcare.

Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, and healthcare costs are skyrocketing for everyone. No one should be bankrupted by illness. The best thing Texas can do to improve health coverage and reduce costs is expand Medicaid. Right now a large portion of the population are unable to pay for necessary health care. When they are unable to pay, those costs are passed on to patients who can. This makes health care costs rise for everyone. Expanding Medicaid will bring in $6 billion of federal funding, cover 1.5 million Texans (10,000 in this district), and drive down health costs for all Texans.

WV: What is your position on some of the large water permits up for consideration locally like Electro Purification and Needmore Ranch?

Zwiener: Our streams and rivers are the lifeblood of the Hill Country, and we know that with groundwater, they form one system, one water. Right now Texas law is stacked in favor of extraction. We need to revamp our groundwater protection standards, so that we’re prioritizing historical domestic use and ecological health instead of for-profit drilling. I’ve watched the community banding together against both the Electro Purification and Needmore water permits. It’s inspiring, but it shouldn’t be necessary. It shouldn’t be this hard to protect our water. I’ll fight to give the Hays-Trinity Groundwater Conservation District full authority under Texas water law, to close the arbitrary gaps between groundwater conservation districts, and to give all conservation districts more ability to act proactively instead of reactively. Our water is too important to be for sale to the highest bidder.

WV: Do you agree with Texas’ Rule of Capture, which essentially allows landowners access to as much water as they can pump from their land? What do you think needs to be done at the state level about Texas groundwater laws?

Zwiener: The twin threats of development and climate change are straining our aquifers. Jacob’s Well, our region’s famous artesian spring, has stopped flowing three times since 2000. It had never stopped in the previous 200 years of recorded history. Protecting our water is urgent. The “Rule of Capture” (essentially, if you can reach the water, it’s yours) is an outdated “wild west” groundwater standard that limits our ability to protect our aquifers. Surface water, in contrast, is default owned by the State of Texas in trust for its people. We know that our surface water and groundwater are fundamentally linked, particularly here in the spring-filled Hill Country. I want us to apply the same standard to groundwater that we do to surface water, state-owned in trust for the people. This will allow us to think ahead and prevent a catastrophic water shortage instead of only being able to respond after it’s too late.

WV: Do you support the way the State Legislature finances school districts currently? If so, why? If not, what will you try and change?

Zwiener: Our school finance system is based on outdated formulas that are almost three decades old and are full of inaccurate cost estimates. Furthermore, these formulas have resulted in the state share of public education steadily decreasing and local property taxes carrying more and more of the burden. This both jeopardizes the quality of our children’s education and makes it less and less affordable for average folks to live here in Texas. I will work to overhaul our funding formulas, commit more state funding, and relieve the property tax burden. Overhauling the formulas will include increasing the basic student allotment, removing the “cap” on special education, and allocating transportation funding for large rural districts. I will also fight for an amendment to the Texas Constitution that requires the state to contribute at least half of the cost of public education, which will prevent us from getting back into this same situation in the future.

WV: State Representatives have tremendous power over the use of Municipal Utility Districts, which are a popular tool to help develop property and have been used throughout Hays County. What is your opinion on the use of MUDs to foster growth in Hays County?

Zwiener: Hays County is one of the fasting growing areas in the country. We are going to continue to grow, and we need to make sure that we grow in a way that maintains local character, improves quality of life, protects the natural world, and incorporates community input. Municipal Utility Districts are a useful tool for funding infrastructure in new development areas. However, the legislative path to creating MUDs is opaque, overused, sidesteps local accountability, and encourages developers to “buy” access to legislators. I would prefer to see MUDs be created using the county path and be voted on by the county court. This allows for more transparency, public involvement, and accountability by officeholders. Our county judge and commissioners can make better decisions about local development than 181 legislators in Austin, most of whom don’t represent our area. As your state representative, I will tell developers who come to me seeking a MUD to go to our county commissioners and follow a transparent process.