Local Lawmakers to File Bills
Posted/updated on: February 15, 2011 at 2:14 am
EAST TEXAS — Privacy at airport check-ins, larger homestead exemptions and open government bills are among measures Northeast Texas lawmakers hope to pass now the 82nd legislative session is good to go. The assignment of House members to their committees this past week means lawmakers can start doing more than passing resolutions honoring clubs and causes back home. That will unloose the Senate from relative inaction, too.
Representatives David Simpson of Longview, Chuck Hopson of Jacksonville and Senator. Kevin Eltife of Tyler, all Republicans, have filed bills they are confident will find support in their GOP-dominated chambers. Those include a bill near and dear to Longview Mayor Jay Dean, who wants to bump up the local hotel/motel tax rate from 7% to 9% of the tab for overnight stays. Dean asked the Gregg County Commissioners Court this past week to build a $10 million events center the city would operate on the increased hotel/motel levy.
It turns out Hopson and Eltife already were working on a bill to hike Tyler’s hotel/motel tax the same degree. Tyler wants to use the increase to build an events center, Eltife said, and both men said Friday that Longview is welcome to tag along.
