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TYLER – In a report from our news partner, KETK, East Texas representatives gave an update on bills filed by lawmakers for the 89th legislative session.<\/p>\nTYLER – In a report from our news partner, KETK, East Texas representatives gave an update on bills filed by lawmakers for the 89th legislative session.<\/p>\n
East Texas representatives, like State Rep. Cole Hefner (R-Mount Pleasant), who hopes to get his own bills passed. One of his top priorities is House Bill 17. This bill restricts the purchase of land in Texas from \u201chostile countries\u201d such as China, Russia and North Korea.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat bill is in the homeland security and public safety committee…in a week or two, we\u2019re going to have a day of hearings where we hear our bills that have to do with foreign adversaries,\u201d Hefner said.<\/p>\n
Another big topic in the Texas House is water. Both State Rep. Hefner and State Rep. Gary VanDeaver (R-New Boston) are working to keep East Texas water in the Piney woods.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a growing state, but that doesn\u2019t mean they get to come take our private property so that they can keep their swimming pools full,\u201d Hefner said.<\/p>\n
VanDeaver also has filed House Bill 18 to make sure rural Texans receive adequate medical care. The bill would provide a \u201csafety net\u201d for rural hospitals, especially those hospitals that are at risk of closing.<\/p>\n
Representatives explain that one of the most talked about issues is House Bill 3 also known as the \u201cschool choice\u201d bill, but as a former superintendent VanDeaver says he isn\u2019t on board with with that bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just convinced it\u2019s not good for my district, and it\u2019s not good for the children of Texas, so my position hasn\u2019t changed on it. I plan to vote against it,\u201d Vandeaver said.<\/p>\n
No matter which side they are on when it comes to each bill, Hefner and Vandeaver say East Texas lawmakers are sticking together and making sure they do what is best for the people of East Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cEast Texans are united, and we\u2019re digging in for the fight to protect our resources, and the private property rights of our citizens,\u201d Hefner said.<\/p>\n
The regular session ends on June 2, with only Governor Gregg Abbott having the power to add special 30-day sessions, limited to designated topics afterwards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TYLER – In a report from our news partner, KETK, East Texas representatives gave an update on bills filed by lawmakers for the 89th legislative session. East Texas representatives, like State Rep. Cole Hefner (R-Mount Pleasant), who hopes to get his own bills passed. One of his top priorities is House Bill 17. This bill … Continue reading State Representatives give updates on 89th session<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1400412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/03\/Texas-State-House-e1743082472980-200x200.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1400398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-10 01:21:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/03\/Texas-State-House-e1743082472980-200x200.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1400398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1400398"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1400398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1400428,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1400398\/revisions\/1400428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1400412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1400398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1400398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1400398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}