Patricia Harless

How will House Bill 2528 help nonprofits fund economic development in your district?

It’s going to be a big challenge for the nonprofits to get the MUDs to participate. But after they participate, [MUDs] can add a box on their water bill to allow a member of the community to check it off to contribute [to economic development projects]. So if the MUDs chose to go forward with it, they can add that to their water bills, and there’s going to be a community education process to do that. You have to check it off and add a dollar to your bill or however much you want to add. But say the average person adds $1 a month. That’s $12 a year times—in a subdivision like Champion Forest—at least 1,200 homes. If half of those people do it, that’s a significant amount of money for economic development.

What made you decide not to run for re-election in 2016?

I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of sessions. I love serving my district. It’s been a huge honor, and my constituents have always given me flexibility and independence. I don’t vote straight in line with my Republican party or straight in line with these outside groups that want to score [legislators]. It’s been frustrating the last couple of sessions because these outside groups have become such a loud voice. It’s gotten to where if you’re a Republican, you can’t really [support] your district. [These groups] don’t care about the issues in your district, and the bills that I carry are unique in my district, and they may not be a Republican issue. It’s time for me to put my family first instead of my constituents, who I consider family as well.

Were you pleased with the overall work done by the Legislature this session?

It seemed like this session was a slow play, which I’m sure it was because we filed more bills than we’ve ever filed, and we’ve passed fewer than we’ve ever passed. There was a lot of stuff that didn’t get done because it seemed like the House and the Senate weren’t in a hurry. I think it was more of a game of chicken with the House and the Senate. There was a lot of big pieces of legislation that got tied up in the dynamics of, ‘Who’s going to win this battle: the House or the Senate?’ So all of the rest of our bills that were little bills that didn’t have influence over those big issues got slow-played because of the dynamics going on. But that’s what the process is about. It’s not necessarily to pass a bunch of bills. And when we leave passing fewer bills than we’ve ever passed, that saves us and our constituents a lot of unintended consequences.

Are you pleased with what you accomplished in your time with the Legislature?

I’m very pleased. I feel like we spent a lot of time trying to understand what the needs of the district are. And besides the photo voter ID legislation, which had statewide implications, most of the bills that I passed have to do with my community. And every year I’ve been successful in passing those bills, and I work hard and have close relationships with my colleagues. It’s always been fairly easy for me to get things done. I know some people spend years there and never can accomplish anything. But I value relationships, and I’ve worked hard on those relationships.

What will you do now that you are not running for re-election?

For 30 years I was a community activist, and that’s how I got asked to run for office. I will continue doing that. I still really want to remain involved in Republican politics because I have lots of concerns in the direction we’re going. The party is so divided right now. We’ve made it to where the conversation and campaigns now [are] if you reach across the aisle—you work together and build a consensus—it’s a bad thing.