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Firm hired to monitor legislature

Hays County
Sunday, December 16, 2018

Hays County will once again be working with the firm of Davis Kaufman on issues related to the next session of the Texas Legislature.

At its meeting last week, the county commissioners court approved an agreement with Davis Kaufman, which the county has used before. The firm will monitor legislation of interest to Hays County or that could affect the county, provide legal advice to Hays County regarding lobbying and advocacy and serve as a direct advocate for the county before the executive and legislative branches of the state government.

Hays County resident Dan Lyon was critical of the agreement, which will cost the county more than $84,000.

“That’s $85,000 a year for this questionable service that y’all are going to contract for,” he said, accusing the commissioners of “abdication of your responsibilities.”

Lyon argued that the commissioners should be the ones speaking to legislators, not a hired firm.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell said that he agreed but that the firm’s services are important as special interest groups fight for influence. Without the services Davis Kaufman provides, he said, the county would have a hard time being heard.

“I wish things worked differently at our capitol, but they don’t,” Shell said.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe agreed that county representatives should go to Austin themselves when possible.

“We do have a responsibility to, when we’re able, to go and present ourselves in front of the legislature,” she said.

Ingalsbe noted that she is currently president of the South Texas County Judges and Commissioners Association, so she will be present for some of the next legislative session.

Shell said that during the 86th Legislature, he is expecting water issues and county regulatory issues to come up.

In other business, the commissioners approved three grant applications concerning flood mitigation. The first is an application for a grant from the Texas Water Development Board for flood mitigation assistance. The second and third are applications for grants from the Texas Department of Emergency Management for pre-disaster mitigation funding for the Hays County Community Flood Mitigation Project and for the expansion of the current flood system infrastructure.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666