Hegar Feels Good About First Year: Freshman Senator Passed Bills on Aquifer, Navigation District

By Patrick Brendel, Victoria Advocate, Texas

May 30–Freshman Senator Glenn Hegar has spent the last 140 days working for the interests of the 660,000 constituents making up his District 18. That’s five times larger than the area he represented during two terms in the Texas House. For the next week, though, the youngest member of the Texas Senate is going to focus his attention on one person — 2-year-old daughter Claire — as he unwinds after a tumultuous first session: One marked by political leadership struggles and controversy over major bills, but one Hegar ultimately deems a success, due to the passage of Edwards Aquifer legislation, a two-year moratorium on certain kinds of private toll roads, and bills affecting people at the district level.

Hegar recognized his office staff for their work and local state representatives for their assistance and cooperation.

“For our first term in the State Senate, it’s been a great success for our Senate district,” Hegar said. “This is because of water issues, transportation issues, and a wide range of local issues. It’s been a success. We accomplished the goals needed by our district to be accomplished this session.”

Former longtime District 18 Sen. Ken Armbrister, now legislative director for Governor Rick Perry, was full of kudos for his successor.

“I think he’s doing a great job. He’s very smart and well-liked by the members. He has great interpersonal skills. He knows the system. He learned the system of the Senate very quickly,” he said.

Hegar said he avails himself of Armbrister’s experience when dealing with complex issues like water rights. Armbrister said one of the reasons why Hegar has caught on so quickly is Hegar’s time in the House. Armbrister also was a representative before becoming a senator.

Hegar agrees. “I don’t know how at this time I could actually have been effective at this position, this year, if not for my experience in the House,” he said. EDWARDS AQUIFER

Consuming the majority of Hegar’s time was legislation creating an Edwards Aquifer consortium. After the original stand-alone bill died in the House, the aquifer language was added in an amendment to the omnibus water bill, Senate Bill 3, which passed into law Monday, the final day of the session. Credit Rep. Geanie Morrsion, R-Victoria, with the assist: it was she who, collaborating with Hegar, affixed the amendment to SB 3.

“We have worked very closely on a lot of legislation,” Morrison said. “We have a great working relationship.”

The aquifer language was also added to a water bill on the House side, HB 3, which passed into law on Tuesday.

The Edwards Aquifer legislation basically does four things: 1) increases the amount of water that can be pumped from the aquifer; 2) sets up critical period management stages, where the pumping cap is temporarily reduced when the aquifer is low or in times of drought; 3) gives the Edwards Aquifer Authority the power to issue bonds to finance, build and operate facilities that collect rainwater to recharge the aquifer; and, 4) defines a “Recovery Implementation Process,” convening aquifer stakeholders — irrigators, urban residents, people downstream, environmentalists — to discuss how to manage and protect the Edwards Aquifer.

Not everyone’s pleased with the aquifer legislation — namely Ken Kramer, director of the Texas Chapter of the Sierra Club. His main concern is raising the pumping cap for the aquifer, and he has said his organization might take the state to court over it.

Kramer said that, if more and more water is drawn from the aquifer over the years, then it could jeopardize aquifer-fed springs and endanger native species. This was the reason behind a 1993 federal judge’s decision (prompted by a Sierra Club lawsuit) that created the Edwards Aquifer Authority in the first place.

Hegar sees his role as a mediator, and he said it would be a shame for aquifer stakeholders to spend time arguing in court when they could be negotiating in consortium. Plus, he said it would be disappointing to get sued over a bill he sees as a compromise, and one he worked so hard on to get through the political process. More than just water

While the aquifer consortium was Hegar’s top priority this session, he’s not hanging his hat on a single bill.

“A legislator is not accomplished in his or her job, in my opinion, by looking at one issue,” he said.

Even though he did not author any bills related to transportation, and is not on a transportation committee, Hegar considers it a success that the Legislature passed a two-year moratorium on certain Comprehensive Development Agreements, where a public agency contracts with private entities to design and build a road, sometimes in exchange for control of the road and its toll receipts for 50 years or more.

On the local level, Hegar is proud of House Bills 3837 and 3838, which he worked on with Rep. Yvonne Toureilles Gonzalez, D-Alice. He said the two bills put some protections in place for Goliad constituents in regards to uranium mining.

He also had a bill relating to the Victoria County Navigational District and one creating the Lavaca County Groundwater District. Hegar also is happy that he got a bill passes that caps at 10 percent the maximum annual increase in property value appraisals. Providing that there is no veto by Gov. Perry, Texans will vote on the constitutional amendment when they go to the polls in the fall.

Hegar got a feather in his cap early on in the session, as he led the charge against Gov. Perry’s executive order mandating immunization against human papilloma virus for Texas schoolgirls. He authored the first bill to rebut the order and the Legislature eventually passed a House bill by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, identical to Hegar’s bill in the Senate. Post session plans

When Hegar first spoke out against the order, he cited his concern as a father. Now that he’s got a reprieve from Austin, Hegar will spend the next week having “father-daughter days” with Claire, visiting his farm and Katy office. He also plans to field and return phone calls to constituents. Hegar’s also anxious to spend quality time with wife Dara, an attorney with the Lanier Law Firm in Houston.

From then, Hegar plans to spend the off season making scheduled appearances and speeches, talking with constituents and state agencies, “really being out in the district, meeting people, being at events, being visible,” he said.

Hegar said it’s too early to start thinking about specific issues for the 2009 session, but that he will take advantage of the next 18 months to learn more about his diverse district — which sprawls across 19 counties, from Waller to Aransas — and the matters important to its residents. Patrick Brendel is a free-lance reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at pbrendel@gmail.com, or comment on this story here.

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