NEW BOSTON, Texas - In a virtual meeting with constituents Tuesday, Texas House Rep. Gary VanDeaver addressed a range of concerns including passing a new state budget and drawing new legislative districts during next year's session of the state legislature.
VanDeaver hosted an online town hall dubbed a "listening tour" for Texas House District 1 residents during which he presented an outlook for the state's biennial legislative session, answered questions and conducted online polls of those in attendance.
Citing a predicted reduction in state revenue of about 12% since last session, VanDeaver predicted that passing a budget - in the only state that requires by law a balanced budget each session - will be "very daunting."
"It's going to be a very tough year to pass a budget," he said.
A biennial revenue estimate due from the state comptroller before next year's session begins will shed more light on the budget situation, VanDeaver said.
Redistricting as a result of this year's census will also present challenges to legislators, he said, speaking to concerns about dilution of rural districts' representation.
Given an increase in the state's population of about 19%, each of Texas' House districts will have to expand to include about 31,000 more people, which will thin rural districts' representation, he said.
"The voice of rural Texans is shrinking," VanDeaver said.
He called for a common-sense approach to redistricting.
"I think it's important for me that we draw our maps in such a way that truly represents the state of Texas. And I believe we do that by using common-sense boundaries. You look at the map today, and there are some districts that I don't believe you could follow a mule around and get a more crooked boundary line than what we see in some of these districts today. I think it goes back to common sense.
"Look at the makeup of the area, and I don't think the first test should be, 'Does this area, if we include this little niche out of this county, will this make this a Democrat district or a Republican district?' And maybe I'm wearing rose-colored glasses when I look at this, but it just seems to me if we look at House District 1, let's say, as a congressional seat, as a congressional district, does the district make sense? And right now I believe House District 1 makes sense," he said.
VanDeaver postponed the event and another meeting with students for a week as he quarantined at his home after testing positive for the coronavirus.
VanDeaver represents Texas House District 1, which includes Bowie, Franklin, Lamar and Red River counties.
He was first elected to the House in 2014 and is running unopposed for re-election this year.