Question

Contacting your representative is one way to engage in politics, but many Texans are unsure how to get in touch with their representatives or how to make their wishes known. This assignment is designed to allow you the opportunity to walk through the process of contacting a representative in the Texas Legislature. You will walk through the process but you are not required to actually call or email your representative. However, if you do reach out to your representative, please include the outcome. You may want to first explore the optional documents below to help with your research. Once you have done the research, answer the following topics within your paper. Directory For Texas State Senators Links to an external site. Directory For Texas State Representatives LegiScanLinks to an external site.- a database of bills and issues before the Texas Legislature The Questions: Select an issue that you are concerned about. Explain in one paragraph why you are interested in this issue and what you believe should be done about it. Research your issue and explain if and when this has come before the Texas Legislature in the past. If it has not, explain why you think it has not yet come before the legislature. Pick a representative to write or call about your issue. Explain why you picked this specific representative and what you might ask them to do to support your convictions in this area. Include the contact information for your representative. Explain how you would contact them (email, letter or phone call) and why you selected that method. Include the script you would use to contact your representative. Feel free to use the template Download templateprovided. Evaluate the process of contacting a representative. Did you actually make the call or send the letter? Why or why not? Would you be able to do this in the future? If you did contact your representative, report back on the experience.

Answer 1

The issue that I would raise with my representative in the Texas State Assembly would be Property Taxes.

Property taxes are a major burden for homeowners in Texas. The average effective property tax rate in Texas is 1.83%, which is higher than the national average of 1.78%. In some areas of the state, property taxes can be even higher.

I believe that there are a number of things that can be done to reduce property taxes in Texas. One option would be to cap the amount of revenue that the state can collect from property taxes. This would prevent property taxes from increasing even faster than property values.

This issue has come before the Texas Legislature in the past. In 2019, Governor Greg Abbott signed a law that requires school districts to get voter approval before raising property taxes by more than 2.5%.

I have decided to contact State Representative John Cyrier. I have chosen Representative Cyrier because he is a member of the House Committee on Property Tax, which is the committee that is responsible for considering legislation related to property taxes.

I would contact Representative Cyrier by email. This is because I believe that email is the most effective way to reach him. I would include a brief explanation of why I am contacting him and what I would like him to do.