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Zwiener cites virus, education, healthcare as biggest challenges facing legislative session

Texas State Rep. Erin Zwiener expects COVID-19 vaccine distribution, education, healthcare and social services funding to be the main focus and biggest challenges facing the 87th legislative session.

As she reflected on the legislative session’s first week, Zwiener (D-Driftwood) said the pandemic is more dangerous now than any previous time.

“This pandemic is not going out with a whimper, it’s going out with a bang,” said

Zwiener, who was reelected to House District 45 in November. “It’s more dangerous now than any point previously and the vaccine is not going to be enough to slow it down. We have to wear masks and limit interactions with folks outside our household. I know people are tired and it’s hard to hold that danger in our heads all the time but hope is around the corner, and us taking those steps will have a bigger impact than any other time before.”

The Texas legislature wrapped up its first week, elected the new speaker Dade Phelan and set house rules for moving through the session.

Zwiener was disappointed they didn’t move to provide a guarantee to virtual testimony, instead it lies at the discretion of committee chairs.

“It was a conversation of chairs’ discretion versus taking chairs’ power away,” she said. Initially there was a provision in the rules that would have allowed a minority of members to compel a visual testimony, we desperately need to hear from our community, but because of covid people will be wary to testify in person. Disappointed in that. Ready to work with chairs to get some of those things without the protection language.

Zwiener spent the last very hectic two weeks addressing concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine, trying to get good information to her constituents and advocating for various medical providers to receive vaccines like the Hays County Local Health Authority, Emergency Services, and clinics that serve large numbers of patients and underserved communities.

“I quite firmly believe there is no work we are going to do this session that is more important than getting shots into arms,” Zwiener said. “The demand far exceeds supply. There has been very confusing information at the federal level about how much is available and confusing information at state level, resulting in a lot of folks being understandably frustrated.”

The slow approval of local providers who want to provide the vaccine was caused by a large backlog at the Department of State Health Services, according to Zwiener.

“We have historically underinvested in our public health infrastructure and we are seeing the cost of that, throughout the pandemic and continuing now,” she said.

Not too long after digging into that backlog, DSHS shifted to a hub model of vaccine distribution, in an attempt to make the distribution easier while there is such limited supply. Hays County was not selected for an initial hub, but its residents can use neighboring Austin’s to get vaccinated if they fit into the current testing phase eligibility.

Zwiener said Hays County will be getting its own hub with its own vaccines soon, and reports more vaccines will be coming into Texas next week.

Other expected challenges this session are redistricting and the budget, although Zwiener said their biennial revenue estimate was better than they hoped. She is optimistic that education, healthcare and social service agencies that have been running on “shoestring budgets” will get more adequate funding this session.

“If the state cuts school funding, that revenue cost gets passed on in property taxes to everyday Texans,” Zwiener said.

She is hopeful for medicaid expansion this session, saying, “It would bring over 6 billion of federal funding into the state every year, dealing with some of the challenges in the budget this cycle. That money that would flow through to healthcare workers. We are finally in a place to have a bipartisan conversation about it.”

Zwiener filed many pieces of legislation this session and is particularly optimistic about one that would double the homestead tax exemption from $2,500 to $5,000, saving Hays County residents an average of $325 every year, although the difference in revenue would have to be made up elsewhere.

She is also working on environmental legislation to protect the Texas wildlife against future catastrophic incidents, and feels there is strong bipartisan interest this session.

“I would like TECQ to have stronger teeth in order to have a proactive compliance culture in the industry,” Zwiener said. “Too many facilities take advantage of lax enforcement to cut corners.”

Zwiener also refiled a piece of legislation with Senator Judith Zaffirini that was inspired by a San Marcos woman to apply sexual harassment protections to all workplaces in Texas. Right now there are only protections for those with more than 15 employees, leaving 300,000 working Texans out, Zwiener said.

“We got heartbreakingly close last session but didn’t make it to the deadline,” she said. “We were 20 minutes away from passing that bill. I’m excited to work with Zaffirini on this. It’s about giving every single Texas getting the right to due process. Three-hundred-thousand don’t even have a place to file a complaint if they experience harassment.”

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054