Republican Valoree Swanson is running for re-election for state Representative, District 150. She has served as the District 150 representative since 2017.
Swanson will face Democrat Micha
el Shawn Kelly in the Nov. 6 election.
Community Impact Newspaper sent Swanson four questions on her candidacy. Her written responses, edited for publication style and clarity, are below.
Q: What is the first piece of legislation you would file if re-elected?
A: I will file legislation on a variety of issues that my constituents have consistently stressed are important to them. I will continue to fight to cut spending and to limit the huge rises in our property taxes. I will push to have a portion of the Rainy Day Fund allocated to flood-mitigation infrastructure since this is one type of project for which I, as a conservative legislator, fought to save the fund. I will also continue to fight against additional foreign-owned toll roads and to strengthen Texas' laws against voter fraud. I will file additional bills this session to give citizen groups more power to block government-subsidized, low-income housing projects from being built where there is no community support in the area.
Q: What would you do to prevent future flooding in your district?
A: Flood recovery and mitigating future flooding has been my No. 1 issue since Harvey. It has always been high priority for me since my own home flooded in 2002. My staff and I have spent untold hours helping Harvey flood victims, both at the time and now. I have also had many personal conversations with all levels of government officials, attended constant meetings, and participated in many conference calls to stay on top of the latest facts, keep my constituents informed and fight for projects that would help our area. The support and cooperation we have received from all levels of government has been extremely encouraging. I will continue to make this a top priority in the 2019 legislative session and beyond.
Q: What, if anything, should be done to improve the public education funding system for districts statewide?
A: Proper funding of public education is extremely important to me, not only because three of my children graduated from area public schools, but because our future depends on good, quality public schools. Over the decades, court cases and legislation have continued to pile on many different, byzantine funding formulas that apply to different districts. It has become extremely complicated and unfair to many districts. La Joya ISD, a very poor district in the [Rio Grande] Valley, has so much excess state taxpayer funding that they just built their own 90,000-square-foot entertainment water park, 27-hole golf course and a planetarium. This was our taxes they spent so wastefully. Meanwhile, other districts cannot afford basic necessities for students. I will fight to fix the broken funding systems and put in place a system that is fair for all our area districts. I will work to make sure our schools are properly funded while protecting taxpayers at the same time. I will also continue to support proper funding for Texas' legal obligations to our retired teachers.
Q: What national issue do you think is of greatest concern or importance for your district?
A: My constituents continue to name two overall issues that must be dealt with by the federal government and not just state government. The first is sealing the border and ending sanctuary cities. I fought for and helped pass the strongest bill in the nation to end sanctuary cities. I have continued to support funding to protect our border, but the federal government needs to fulfill its duty to seal the border. I will continue to work with our U.S. senators and congressmen to achieve this. The other federal issue constituents name is help building major flood infrastructure. Now that Congress and the president voted billions of dollars in disaster funding for Texas, I will continue to work with both our U.S. senators and our area congressmen to speed the money to this area and make sure it is spent on high-priority, effective projects. This will continue to require great communication and cooperation between federal, state, county and other government entities.
