Positions | RONALD PAYNE FOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION AND GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

The Founders of the United States and Texas intended that our system of government would be one of self-government of the people, by the people, and for the people. However it seems that with the passage of time government rather than being the servant of the people has become our governmental master. It is now time to reverse this trend towards tyranny and return full course to liberty and freedom. Our system of government must have checks and balances upon itself and the people must have checks and balances upon the government.

The people should have the right to elect those to whom they cast their vote. They should equally have the right to deny via the electoral process those to whom they have collectively determined should not be elected to office. I will support a constitutional amendment to provide that in all elections the voters will have the option to vote “none of the above” and if that option is selected by a majority of the electorate then all such non-elected candidates would be disqualified from the next electoral cycle and another election would then be scheduled and conducted.

Those who today govern should tomorrow be the governed. I will support a constitutional amendment that will require that all elected members of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches be subject to recall elections and lifetime term limits.

The legislative branch of government should equally represent the people proportionate to their percentage of the population and electoral districts should not be subject to political manipulation, also known as the gerrymander. I will support a constitutional amendment that will restructure the legislature into a unicameral house with its members chosen by statewide at-large elections with proportional allocation of representatives corresponding with the percentage of the vote received thereby.

Majority rule should not result in minority oppression. I will support a constitutional amendment to require a two-thirds vote of the legislature to enact, amend, or repel legislation, or a simple majority vote if the legislation is thereafter submitted to the people for ratification via referendum.

When the legislature acts or fails to act in the best interest of Texas and Texans, the People should have the ability to substitute itself for the legislature in all aspects whatsoever. I will support a constitutional amendment that will create an Initiative Process for the people to directly submit to themselves proposals for enactment, amendment, and repeal of constitutional provisions and legislation.

Those who are entrusted with the judicial function should be the most qualified to adjudicate disputes in law and equity. I will support a constitutional amendment that will require that supreme court judges to have previously served a full term as judges of the appellate courts; that judges of the appellate courts to have previously served a full term as trial court judges; and that trial court judges previously were members in good standing with the state bar and have been practicing attorneys for such time as is equal to, or greater than, the term of office for the trial judgeship to that which is sought.

Sovereign Immunity is a doctrine which holds that the king can do no wrong and that the state may not be sued without its consent. Sovereign Immunity except when limited to international affairs, is otherwise incompatible with liberty and freedom, let alone governmental responsibility and accountability. I will support a constitutional amendment that will abolish absolute immunity and replace it with qualified immunity.

The United States Constitution and the Texas Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land. There can be no true recognition of Right without a real remedy in law or recourse in equity for a violation thereof. I support amending the Texas Tort Claims Act to waive Sovereign Immunity for all claims and causes of action that set forth a violation of any right that is protected by the United States and Texas Constitutions and to otherwise impose strict liability upon state and local governmental entities for wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, wrongful conviction, and wrongful imprisonment.

I will support the enactment of a constitutional amendment to create independent commissions that are modeled after the California Grand Jury System that will receive and investigate allegations of government misconduct and criminal offenses; to initiate removal proceedings and to render and refuse criminal indictments for both felonies and misdemeanors; to conduct inspections of governmental facilities and governmental records to ensure that government is being operated honestly and efficiently so as to eliminate and control abuse, fraud, and waste; to publish reports of such inspections and recommendations for corrective actions; and to initiate and maintain judicial proceedings to obtain declaratory judgments and injunctive orders commanding state and local governmental entities and elected officials, appointed officials, employees, and agents to comply with, applicable federal, state, and local laws.

TAXES AND BUDGET

Government that has the power to tax also has the power to destroy through oppressive taxation. Government Spending is equally capable of destruction insofar as irresponsible and reckless spending naturally leads to economic instability and collapse. Government is funded through taxation and everyone should equally share in the tax burden provided that the tax burden is not excessive or disproportionate. Likewise, our elected and appointed officials, and government employees and agents should be good stewards of the public funds. Such can only be ensured by way of constitutionally controlled taxation and spending enumeration and limitations, and independent oversight to prevent, reduce, and eliminate fraud, abuse, and waste of government resources.

I will support a United States Constitutional Amendment that will limit federal taxation to income, expenditure, imports, and exports, and will forbid all taxes not otherwise enumerated, and will limit all income and expenditure taxes not to exceed ten percent, and to otherwise authorize Congress to fix import and export taxes (tariffs and duties) in such amounts and under such circumstances as the Congress may deem in the National Interest.

I will support a Federal Constitutional Amendment that will require a Federal Balanced Budget within ten years of ratification and Debt Elimination within 30 years of ratification.

I will support the elimination and reduction of any and all federal, state, and local taxes levied upon individuals and business entities to the absolute minimum amount possible to operate the government in the public interest while simultaneously stimulating a healthy economy.

State and Local Sales Taxes can be just as oppressive as Income and Property Taxes. Texans should be constitutionally protected from excessive state and local taxation. In this regard, I will support a Texas Constitutional Amendment that would cap any and all sale taxes not to exceed ten percent.

Property Taxes by their very existence deprive Texans of true ownership interests in their private property insofar as the taxing authority converts the rightful owner into the status of a possessory inhabitant from which the taxing authority leases or rents such property to the rightful owner in the amount of such property tax levied by the taxing authority. In this regard I fundamentally oppose any and all property taxes as an infringement upon private property ownership rights and I support the abolition of the property tax in its entirety.

In the alternative to the abolition of the property tax, I will support a constitutional amendment and/or legislation that will create a standard or adjustable deduction from property taxes that is based upon personal or family income, and to exempt the disabled corresponding with the extent of their disability, social security as sole income recipients, unemployment beneficiaries, and others who are receiving means-tested benefits such as TANF and SNAP from property taxes during such time as they are receiving disability, unemployment, or means-tested benefits.

Government budgets are fundamentally the same as a Family Budget. I will support a constitutional amendment that will require a gubernatorial declaration of public necessity and a two-thirds vote of the legislature to increase the public debt, requires the elimination of the public debt within 30 years, requires zero-based formula budgeting for government spending, requires that all state taxes collected be deposited in the state treasury and that the legislature allocate all government funding through the regular or special legislative process, and requires annual public audits by an independent commission of each and every state and local governmental entity.

I will support legislation that balances the state budget by maintaining or cutting spending without raising taxes or public debt and ensuring that any surplus funds that may be generated are returned to the people through debt elimination, deposit in the state economic stabilization fund (rainy day fund), and tax reductions.

NATURALIZATION AND IMMIGRATION

We are a nation of immigrants. With the exception of Native Americans, everyone in the United States is an immigrant or is the descendants of immigrants. Americans and Texans in particular embrace and value our unique blend of global diversity for we have out of many nations and states become one people (E pluribus unum).

The United States population is approximately 325 million people with an immigrant population that is estimated to be about 50 million people from which approximately one-third is believed to be in the United States in an unauthorized status (10 to 20 million people with a median of 15 million people). On average every year the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) authorizes approximately one million lawful permanent resident aliens via admission or adjustment of status, approves approximately one million non-immigrant visas, and issues roughly 50 million extended and short-stay visas. Approximately 500,000 people unlawfully enter or remain in the United States every year of which one-third unlawfully enters the United States by crossing the border and two-thirds unlawfully over-stay their visas. It is estimated that approximately five percent of the entire United States workforce is composed of unauthorized immigrants and approximately 2-4% of the immigrant population could be classified as criminal aliens (convicted of serious criminal offenses). Of those unauthorized immigrants in the United States, two-thirds of those have been in the United States for well over 10 years, 20% have been in the United States between five to ten years, and 14% have been in the United States for less than five years. Half of all immigrants are from Mexico, a quarter is from Latin America, 10% are from Asia (mostly China and India), 10% are from Europe and Canada, and the remaining 5% are from the rest of the world.

All sovereign nations and states control their borders and manage naturalization and immigration. In the United States and here in Texas, Immigration, both authorized and unauthorized, is a National and State Security, Humanitarian, and Economic Issue. The central issue then is to ensure national and state security while simultaneously addressing humanitarian and economic concerns. Obviously national and state security is implicated by terrorists and criminals who make up a fraction of the unlawful aliens within the United States. In contrast, the super majority of immigrants, both lawful and unauthorized, are living quietly with their families, deeply rooted in their community, law abiding, and productive taxpaying members of society, who are often working jobs that nobody else wants, but is otherwise employed in an occupation that is important to the economy.

Current Naturalization and Immigration Policy has been a policy of benign neglect and doing nothing is not a viable solution to this problem. For over 10 years I have worked both in the military and with the Allied Freedom Project performing Naturalization, Immigration, and Resettlement services in support of the United States Special Immigrant Visa Program, and I know how the naturalization and immigration system is broken and how it can be fixed.

The solution to this problem is Comprehensive Naturalization and Immigration Reform. Republicans generally support a wall and oppose amnesty. Democrats generally support amnesty and oppose a wall. Logically, meeting in the middle would entail the simultaneous implementation of a border security and immigration enforcement program and a program for the registration of unauthorized migrants, conditional admission, probationary residency, and a reasonable pathway to permanent resident status and eventual naturalization. We must also develop naturalization and immigration programs that provides incentives and rewards for immigrating in an authorized status while preventing unauthorized migration through effective law enforcement and criminal and/or administrative penalties.

I support the enactment of legislation that will simultaneously create and implement a border security and immigration enforcement program and a program for the registration of unauthorized migrants, conditional admission, probationary residency, and a reasonable pathway to permanent resident status and eventual naturalization.

To facilitate the timely and efficient registration of unauthorized migrants and to conditionally admit such unauthorized migrants into the United States in the status of a probationary resident I propose that USCIS Registration Stations should be established at all United States Post Offices and/or at such other federal, state, and local facilities as may be found suitable for this purpose and function.

A Visa Entry and Exit Tracking System should be created and implemented in which all non-immigrant visas would be tracked from issuance, entry into the United States, and upon exit from the United States. All non-immigrant visas that have overstayed their expiration date and a reasonable grace period as evidenced by a failure to register an exit from the United States would be identified in real-time and removal proceedings would be initiated via the issuance of a federal warrant for detention and deportation.

I support the following Priorities for Immigrant Visas and Adjustment of Status to Permanent Resident Alien: (1) Family Stability and Reunification for Immediate and Extended Family Members; (2) Foreign National Special Immigrants with United States Government Affiliations; (3) Millionaires and Business Investors; (4) Quota Allocated – Points Based Exceptionally Skilled Immigrants that are highly valuable to the National Economy; (5) Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Program; and (6) Refugee and Asylum Program Beneficiaries.

I propose that Employment (skilled and unskilled) and Student Visas would be issued on a yearly basis with the ability to obtain annual renewals subject to annual USCIS compliance reviews. Employees who have maintained employment for four years and students that have completed a four year university or college degree would become eligible to petition for adjustment of status from non-immigrant visa to temporary or permanent resident alien.

I propose that any Foreign National that is lawfully admitted into the United States as a non-immigrant after one year of admission may enter or otherwise join the United States Armed Forces, and may immediately adjust status to permanent resident and be eligible for expedited or accelerated naturalization.

Congress needs to enact or amend legislation to streamline the background investigation and consular adjudication process, to increase available immigrant and non-immigrant visa quotas, and to extend the Administrative Procedures Act to provide for the administrative and judicial review of denials of naturalization and immigration petitions.

Every year approximately 500,000 unauthorized migrants enter or over-stay their visas. Logically there could be an increase in lawful immigration quotas provided there was a corresponding reduction in unauthorized immigration. Half of all legal and unauthorized immigration originates in Mexico and another twenty-five percent of unauthorized immigration originates in Latin America. I propose that 500,000 temporary resident and guest employment and student visas be annually allocated to Mexico and Latin America. To reward Mexico and Latin America for controlling unauthorized migration, the annual allocation of visas will be increased equally to a corresponding number that is less of the targeted goal of unauthorized migrant interdiction and apprehension. To penalize Mexico and Latin America for failing to control unauthorized migration, the annual allocation of visas will be decreased corresponding to the number of unauthorized migrants that have been interdicted and apprehended while crossing the border in an unauthorized status.

To facilitate the proposed temporary resident and guest employment and student visa program I propose that the United States Government will establish in Mexico several “one-stop-shop” Centers that would have consolidated USCIS, Consular Services, and Social Security Offices, as well as United States based Employer Liaisons, in which Mexican and Latin American Nationals could in a single location apply for immigrant and non-immigrant visas, guest worker permits, be biometrically identified, background checked, consular interviewed, issued visas and permits, and social security numbers, as well as obtain employment in the USA prior to migration.

USCIS takes up to a year to issue and reissue lost or stolen Permanent Resident Alien Cards (Green Cards). Likewise, it is not uncommon for Green Cards to be incorrectly delivered or not delivered at all by the United States Postal Service. This is totally unacceptable. Several States, Louisiana for one example, locally produces and issues Drivers Licenses at all DMV locations. There is no reason then that USCIS could not produce and issue Green Cards and Employment Authorization Cards at all USCIS Service Centers. As such, I propose that all USCIS Service Centers locally produce and issue Green Cards and Employment Authorization Cards.

Congress should continue its support of the United States Special Immigrant, Refugee, and Asylum Programs and Congress should enact or amend legislation to ensure that Special Immigrant, Refugee, and Asylum Beneficiaries receive sufficient resources and assistance to assist them in their resettlement and integration into the United States and so enable them in as short a time as is reasonably possible to become productive and contributing members of society.

CRIMINAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE REFORM

Government first and foremost has the duty to keep the peace and to equally administer and enforce the law. Justice is not served when the guilty are left unpunished or when the innocent accused or wrongly convicted are otherwise made to suffer. Justice requires absolute truth and equality, and not even the slightest perception of injustice is acceptable in a society that is founded upon liberty and freedom. We need to balance the needs of the government to administer and enforce the law while simultaneously protecting Texans from those in government who abuse their authority.

I will support legislation that will ensure that sufficient appellate and trial courts are created and maintained so that court cases may be adjudicated in a fair and timely manner. I will also support legislation to ensure that our state and local law enforcement agencies are fully staffed, trained, equipped, and resourced to perform their duties.

Criminals who violate both federal and state laws should be simultaneously or subsequently prosecuted under both federal and state laws. In this regard, all federal, state, and local courts and law enforcement agencies should report all known or suspected violations of federal, state, and local laws to the appropriate federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies that would have jurisdiction over such alleged offense and offender. I will support enacting federal and state legislation that will require all federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to fully comply with all warrants and detainer requests issued by any other federal, state, or local court or law enforcement agency.

Organized Criminal Enterprises and Career Criminals commit the vast majority of serious criminal offenses and present the greatest threat to society. As such, all OCE members and affiliates should be collectively held criminally responsible as principals, conspirators, and accessories, for any criminal activities committed in support or on behalf of the OCE, and career criminals should be subjected to exponentially increasing penalties, including being eligible for the death penalty if convicted of two or more criminal offenses in which the authorized maximum sentence is imprisonment for life.

Cyber-Criminals and Identity Thieves disrupt the lives of our fellow Texans and cost hundreds of billions of dollars in losses to businesses and individuals. I will support legislation that will impose a criminal penalty of one year in prison for each count of identity theft or identity fraud committed and an additional year in prison for every $1000 in losses sustained as a result of such identity theft or identity fraud, with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment to be imposed if there are more than 100 victims, more than 100 counts, or if the cumulative amount of identity theft or identity fraud exceeds one-hundred thousand dollars.

International Terrorists and Transnational Criminals who harm Americans and Texans should face American and Texas Justice. Congress must enact legislation that requires an extradition agreement as a requirement to receive any foreign assistance and when extradition is denied for any reason then all foreign assistance should be immediately withdrawn or suspended. The United States and Texas should exert extra-territorial jurisdiction and in extraordinary cases use military force or covert operations to kill international terrorists and transnational criminals or to capture them wherever they may be found and then have them brought back to the United States and Texas for trial and punishment.

Correctional Institutions and Rehabilitation Centers should focus on preparing inmates for eventual release, to make restitution to their victims, and becoming productive and contributing members of society. In this regard, I will support legislation to create and expand general education programs, vocational training programs, and mental health and substance abuse treatment programs in state prisons and county jails and to remove any unreasonable and unnecessary barriers to obtaining any other knowledge, skills, and abilities to reintegrate into society as a productive and contributing member of the community.

Parole and Probation should be used for the purposes of rehabilitation and restitution. Criminal Offenders should be required to pay all court ordered fines and restitution to those whom they have harmed. I will support legislation that will impose a requirement upon all criminal offenders to fully pay all court ordered fines and restitution prior to being released from parole or probation.

Nothing better than video and audio recordings currently exist to protect law enforcement officers against false allegations of abuse and misconduct or to protect the public from law enforcement abuse and misconduct. In this regard, I will support legislation that will require all law enforcement vehicles to have top mounted video cameras with 360 degree views, interior video and audio recording, and body worn video and audio devices.

I will support legislation that will require that every county or equivalent political sub-division to have an elected District Attorney and an elected Public Defender and that both offices shall be equally funded, staffed, equipped, and resourced. Insofar as the government in criminal cases is represented by the District Attorney, and at no cost for alleged victims of crime, so too should every criminal defendant be afforded the option of being represented by the Public Defender at no cost whatsoever.

Criminal defendants who are convicted of a criminal offense are almost always sentenced to pay court costs, fees, and assessments, while criminal defendants that have been acquitted or had the cases against them favorably dismissed are currently left on their own to recover from potentially malicious judicial proceedings. In this regard I believe that the concept of “loser-pays” in civil proceedings should be fully extended to criminal proceedings. As such, I will support legislation that will provide that any state or local governmental entity that brought or participated in a criminal proceeding against any criminal defendant that was subsequently acquitted or had their criminal case against them favorably dismissed would be required to reimburse any such exonerated criminal defendant for all expenses incurred and loses sustained as a result of such criminal proceeding thereof. I would also support legislation that will authorize criminal defense attorneys to accept criminal defense cases on a contingency fee basis that is subject to public reimbursement in cases of acquittal and favorable dismissal.

Civil Asset Forfeiture laws have been abused by the government to such a degree that a large segment of society has lost confidence in the ability of the government to fairly administer the system. I will support legislation to limit civil asset forfeiture to cases in which the government bears the burden of proof and employs the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt to establish that the asset sought to be forfeited was the product of or otherwise involved in criminal activity. I also support holding the government to strict liability in civil asset forfeiture cases and authorizing the court to order the government to compensate the owners and such other persons who had an interest in such seized or detained assets for any losses, damages, or inconvenience, that was sustained as a result of any erroneous seizure or detention of such private property thereof, to include authorizing the court to award punitive damages if the court finds that the government seizure or detention of such private property was intentionally malicious or grossly negligent.

ECONOMY

Texas has had a Republican Governor and Republican Majority Control of the State Legislature for almost two decades. During this time with Republican Leadership and Conservative Principals, Texas has balanced its budget, reduced its debt, and has the coveted “AAA” credit rating. In contrast, our national economy is diseased with a federal debt that exceeds 20 trillion dollars with half of that federal debt accumulating under former President Barrack Obama and the Democrat Party in Congress, more federal debt accumulation than all of his predecessors in history combined. The federal government currently allocates 6% of the entire federal budget (230 billion dollars) to federal debt interest payments and with continued federal borrowing and reckless spending as a result of democrat obstruction, corruption, and irresponsibility, it would not be unrealistic to see federal debt interest payments in the near future exceeding ten percent. Red States over the past two decades has seen huge increases in their populations as a result of Blue State migration because Democrat Policies have driven their state and local economies into the ground. Not surprisingly, every governmental entity in the United States that has ever sought bankruptcy protection has been in Blue States and was the direct result of the liberal policies favored by the Democrat Party. Texas has one of the nation’s most healthy economies and cannot afford a return to the tax, borrow, and over-spend policies of Ann Richards and the Democrat Party.

I support the elimination and reduction of any and all federal, state, and local taxes levied upon business and individuals to the absolute minimum amount possible that ensures government operates effectively and in the public best interest while simultaneously stimulating a healthy economy.

United States Corporate and Business Tax Rates are among the highest in the world and works to undermine American competition in the global markets. These tax rates should be reduced to be some of the lowest in the world. With competitive tax rates and global confidence in the governmental stability of the United States, international corporations and business entities would return or relocate to the United States. Texas should welcome international and sister state corporations and businesses, particularly from blue states who could benefit and appreciate our business and consumer friendly atmosphere.

I support international free trade treaties to the extent that these treaties ensure free trade in both directions and are in the best interests of the United States Government and most importantly in the best interest of our businesses and consumers.

I believe that Laissez-Faire Capitalism is integral to a healthy economy. As such, I would support the repeal or amendment of any legislation or regulations that unreasonably burden business activities and consumer choice.

I will oppose any increase in the minimum wage insofar as any increase in the minimum wage will only increase the cost of producing products and services of which in turn will only increase the price of consumer products and services, which will then lead to marketplace inflation, that will ultimately and substantially harm Texas and Texans.

EDUCATION

I believe that Texas has a vested interest in an educated society and that every Texan should be provided with the opportunity to obtain an outstanding professional education, vocational training, and childhood schooling that begins at an early age. I also believe that Texas has no legitimate interest in limiting any Texan’s educational pursuits based upon the school’s classification as public, charter, private, or home based, or its status as religious or secular. Educational achievement is the single greatest predictor of social-economic future. This is evident by the common sense observation that those with the greatest wealth are well educated and those with the least education are the poorest. Thus education or a lack thereof and socio-economic prosperity or depression are mutually complementary and dependent upon each other. Education is the key to social-economic success rather than its failure.

I support the right of parents to choose public, charter, private and home based schooling regardless of its status or classification as religious or secular. I also support the distribution of federal, state, and local educational funds utilizing a Weighted Standard Student Formula modeled after the Hawaii System of Educational Funding in such a manner that educational funding follows the student to any school regardless of its classification as a public, charter, private, or home based, and regardless of its status as religious or secular.

All Schools that receive public funding should expand their educational programs and curriculum to teach using different learning strategies such as the Visual, Auditory, Read and Write, and Kinesthetic System, and embrace alternative teaching methods such as the Montessori Program. They should also have special programs for advanced academic studies, the educationally challenged, occupational training, and diverse elective classes that are designed to prepare their graduates to obtain advanced placement college credit and occupational certification so that upon graduation they may rapidly enter the workforce.

All Schools that receive public funding should whenever possible have extended hours of operations with before, during, and after school academic tutoring and meal programs. They should also have comprehensive Adult General Education and Vocational Training Programs with classes that are online and/or have flexible days and times.

We live in a global society in which our security and economy is interconnected and from which it will be vital to communicate with our friends and to understand our enemies. Foreign Language and Culture Programs should be established to teach sociology and cultural anthropology and to teach the languages most relevant to our national security and economy and to otherwise facilitate international trade, to include, but not limited to, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, Afrikaans, Amharic, Hausa, Shona, Swahili, Zulu, Kurdish, Persian, Pashto, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Hindi-Urdu, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese.

I support federal and state student loan repayment assistance programs in which government guaranteed student loans could be deferred, adjusted, or forgiven, based upon economic circumstances and/or with the performance of government or community service.

I support the creation of a Texas University and Community College Virtual Campus that is fully integrated with the University of Texas and Texas Community College System that is modeled after the University of New York Excelsior College where a student could attend both traditional, non-traditional, and hybrid courses, as well as obtain college credit based upon standardized testing and validation of military service, civilian employment, volunteer, and life experiences.

The Pell-Grant Program should include expenses for vocational training programs that leads to skilled labor occupational licensing or certification and the Pell Grant Program should also cover the expenses for standardized testing such as the College Level Examination Program.

I will sponsor legislation to create a Texas Community Service Corps that is modeled after the United States Job Corps and the California Conservation Corps to provide Texans with general education, technical training, and employment experience, as well as to serve as an emergency response force and skilled labor pool to supplement and augment other Texas State and Local Governmental Departments and Agencies.

HEALTH CARE

The healthcare crisis that is currently affecting the United States and Texans here at home is a result of countless flaws in our national and state healthcare system that has developed over the past 100 years which has caused high cost health insurance, high cost healthcare services, and a shortage of hospitals, clinics, and healthcare practitioners to serve our population, commonly known as underserved areas. We also have healthcare institutions and healthcare practitioners who are unwilling to care for Medicare and Medicaid Patients because Medicare and Medicaid has costly and burdensome compliance regulations and reimbursement rates that are so low that their profit margin at best is exceptionally low and in many cases they sustain a financial loss. We need affordable healthcare insurance, affordable healthcare services, more doctors, and more allied healthcare practitioners to supplement and augment our shortage of specialty and primary care doctors.

Medicare and Medicaid should be merged into a single health insurance program with a public option that has no limitations for pre-existing conditions and that is based upon a means-tested exemption from payment and a means-tested sliding scale for the reduced payment of monthly premiums, deductibles, and co-pays.

I will support legislation to facilitate Texas Medicaid Expansion and the expansion of Medicaid Dental Services to cover both adults and children, and I will support legislation to decrease Medicare and Medicaid burdensome regulations and to increase Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates to equal the average reimbursement rate of a comparable healthcare insurance policy in the private sector payable at the employer or group rate.

I support interstate health insurance markets that will allow the purchasing of health insurance policies across state lines and I support the right of individuals to form associations for the purpose of purchasing health insurance at employer or group rates. I also support tax credits for employers who provide health insurance to their employees and tax deductions for healthcare related expenses incurred by families and individuals that obtain their health insurance in the private sector.

The price of medications and pharmaceutical company profits have sky-rocketed. Texans should not have to choose between paying their bills or taking their medications. In many countries pharmaceuticals can be purchased at pharmacies over-the-counter at very reasonable prices. In this regard, I will support legislation that will allow patients with a valid prescription to obtain pharmaceuticals, other than narcotics and controlled substances, internationally, and across state lines.

The Government should not meddle in or otherwise interfere with the doctor-patient relationship in any manner whatsoever. In this regard I will support legislation that will decriminalize the possession and use of any pharmaceutical or other substance that a doctor or other appropriate healthcare practitioner determines to be therapeutic for their patient’s health, notwithstanding any federal, state, or local statute or regulation to the contrary thereof.

Due to budget cuts that took place over that past several decades our state prisons and county jails have been effectively converted into psychiatric hospitals. This needlessly occupies correctional facility space that is better suited to keep dangerous criminals incarcerated, is unreasonably expensive, and deprives mental patients of the proper and most therapuetic care and treatment that they need. Likewise, society is equally protected when a dangerous mental patient is confined in a locked psychiatric facility rather than in a state prison or county jail. As such, I will support legislation to increase the number of maximum and medium security state mental hospitals and to increase funding for additional minimal security private inpatient psychiatric facilities. I will also support the allocation of sufficient funding to operate community based inpatient and outpatient mental health services.

The United States and Texas in particular has a shortage of Specialty and Primary Care Doctors. Doctors who have completed fellowship and residency programs that is internationally recognized, have relevant specialty and primary care experience, and have specialty certifications that are substantially similar to those here in the United States, should be granted reciprocity provided that they have successfully completed a competency examination.

The United States should authorize immigrant visas for foreign trained Doctors and Allied Healthcare Practitioners and allow foreign nationals who are graduates of United States Schools of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences to adjust status and remain in the United States provided that they agree to serve as a doctor or allied healthcare practitioner for a reasonable period of time in an underserved area.

I will support legislation that would allow graduates of United States and internationally recognized medical schools and other mid-level practitioner training programs to become licensed and practice as surgeon assistants, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, or emergency and community health practitioners, provided that they have successfully passed the United States Medical Licensing Examinations, the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination, Nurse Practitioner Specialty Board Examination, or another similar Competency Examination.

Mid-level surgeon assistants, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners have proven themselves to be a competent and cost effective means to supplement and augment specialty and primary care doctors. The Texas Universities and Community College System should expand their Mid-Level Healthcare Practitioner Programs to include Doctoral Degree Fellowship and Master Degree Residency Programs in Surgery, Medicine, Obstetrics, Psychiatry, and other Healthcare Specialties, and to create or reinstitute these mid-level healthcare practitioner training programs at the bachelors and associate degree level.

United States Armed Forces Special Operations and Independent Duty Healthcare Practitioners, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Community Health Practitioners, and United Kingdom Emergency Care Practitioners have been competently and effectively providing emergency and primary healthcare services with a scope of practice substantially similar to traditional mid-level practitioners at a fraction of the time to train and half the cost to employ a surgeon assistant, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner. I will sponsor legislation that will create an Emergency and Community Health Practitioner (ECHP) Certification and Training Program that will be modeled after the United States Armed Forces Special Operations and Independent Duty Healthcare Practitioner, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Community Health Practitioner, and United Kingdom Emergency Care Practitioner Programs that will provide paramedic level emergency care, intermediate level community and home health nursing care, and mid-level practitioner management of minor illness and minor injuries, in emergency departments, urgent and primary care clinics, home visits, on ambulances and at emergency locations, and rural, remote, isolated, and austere conditions, under the supervision or direction of a doctor, surgeon assistant, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or pursuant to standing orders, standard protocols, and established guidelines, as applicable depending on location and circumstances.

Dental health is just as important as any other aspect of personal health. Dental disease and disorders can cause severe disfigurement and significant pain that can lead to death and disability. Texans deserve to have a Texas Smile and to be free from dental disease and disorders from which a shortage of both dentists and dentists who are unwilling to care for those who are publically insured, underinsured, or uninsured is an unacceptable reason for poor dental health. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium created the Dental Therapist as a way to supplement their shortage of Dentists and to meet the dental needs of their native population in rural, remote, isolated, and austere villages. The dental healthcare equivalent of a surgeon assistant and physician assistant, the dental therapist attends a two year training program and then performs dental surgery, oral medicine, preventative, and restorative services such as tooth extractions, filling cavities, tooth sealants, and periodontal cleanings. For less than the time and cost of training one dentist, the same time and cost can produce four or more dental therapists. In this regard, I will support legislation that will create a Texas Dental Therapist Training and Licensing Program that is modeled after and has a scope of practice that is substantially similar to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Dental Therapist Program.

MILITARY SERVICE AND EMERGENCY RESPONDERS

Overwhelming military strength and a robust emergency response system is critical to ensuring peace and safety, and when diplomacy fails, or disasters happens, to immediately respond to belligerent aggression and civilian emergencies decisively and effectively. The United States Armed Forces should always be the most powerful military force in the world and should always be fully capable and ready to conduct offensive and defensive military operations on any battlefield. The National Guard and State Guard must also be capable of conducting full-spectrum military operations and homeland security missions as well as any other emergency response or community service activities as tasked or assigned to perform. By their very designation, emergency responders must be fully staffed, trained, equipped, and resourced to respond to any emergency that may occur, be it a terrorist attack, fire, flood, accident, or healthcare emergency. Our professional emergency responders should be augmented by an equally staffed, trained, equipped, and resourced reserve and volunteer corps of emergency responders. When the government makes a promise, then the government must keep its promise. Retirement Pensions, Death and Disability Compensation, Associated Benefits, and Rehabilitative Services should be protected from loss and reductions.

Considering that nuclear weapons are being developed by North Korea and other hostile and unstable regimes coupled with their unequivocal threat to use them against the United States and our Allies, it is now time for the United States to deploy a space based and global multi-layered ballistic missile defense system to protect our homeland and our allies from rouge aggression. The United States must also field and maintain a mix of strategic and tactical nuclear weapons to deter those who would threaten us with nuclear weapons and to retaliate with disproportionate force against those who have used weapons of mass-destruction against the United States or any of our Allies.

The United States Armed Forces should be restructured and increased in size and capability to simultaneously respond to several state-on-state wars and multiple regional asymmetrical conflicts of which the United States Marine Corps should be restructured to become a Tri-Service Special Operations and Rapid Deployment Force.

The National Guard should be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security and restructured in such a manner that the Army National Guard, Air National Guard, and the United States Coast Guard would be configured to equally perform military functions, homeland security operations, disaster relief missions, and other community service activities as tasked by federal and state authorities. The Texas State Guard should also be fully staffed, trained, equipped, and resourced to respond to foreign invasion and domestic rebellion, homeland security operations, disaster relief missions, and community service activities.

Military service-members and emergency responders who are killed or wounded incidence to their service, and their spouses, and children as applicable, should be exempted from all taxes in cases of death, and in cases of disability they should also be exempted from all taxes corresponding to their degree or percentage of disability.

INFASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION

Our nation, state, and community, is the sum total of our people and infrastructure. As Texas and the greater San Antonio region rapidly grows, our infrastructure and transportation capabilities must keep pace. We must also develop and maintain our infrastructure and transportation systems while integrating environmental considerations and protecting our critical infrastructure and transportation systems from state sponsored sabotage, terrorist attack, and criminal vandalism.

I will support legislation that will fund critical state and local infrastructure expansion, upgrades, and maintenance with environmental considerations fully incorporated therewith.

I will support legislation to develop and implement critical infrastructure security capabilities and protection from hostile state sponsored sabotage, terrorist attack, and criminal vandalism.

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Energy is both a National Security and Economic Issue. Texas is an energy state that drives the national and state economy and hosts multiple military bases and military installations. Our military forces and civilian population, need, want, and deserve affordable electricity and fuel supplies. Equally important is clean air, water, and food, from which we must ensure that our environment is fully protected and rehabilitated. Those who pollute Texas should be held strictly accountable in criminal and civil judicial proceedings.

I support the development and employment of all forms of energy that are marketable in a free international and domestic market without governmental subsidies, including oil, coal, natural gas, bio-fuels, bio-mass, hydropower, geothermal power, solar power, wind power, and tidal power. This will reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign energy supplies, stabilize and develop surplus energy supplies, and control price fluctuations.

American energy producers should be free to export their products and services to foreign markets, especially where there is now an international demand for liquefied natural gas. Energy exports will create good paying jobs across the United States and particularly here in Texas, growing our economy and reducing our trade deficit.

Nuclear Power should be considered as an energy option in Texas and I support lifting restrictions to allow responsible development of nuclear energy, especially conducting research into thorium nuclear energy production, which thorium scientists claim that the technology presents zero-risk of nuclear meltdown, inability to manufacture the nuclear fuel into nuclear weapons, considerably less radio-toxic waste, and with much shorter cool off time that are estimated to be only a few hundred years as compared to several thousands of years for uranium.

I support the protection of endangered species and ecosystems that is based upon science and common sense and that is equally balanced with conflicting societal needs and private property rights.

SECOND AMENDMENT AND GOVERNMENTAL INFRINGEMENTS

The United States Constitution and the Texas State Constitution guarantees that the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall Not Be Infringed. The term “arms” in the Second Amendment is just another word for weapons, and includes, but is not limited to, firearms, knives, staffs, batons, tasers, and chemical sprays. To keep arms is to own and possess weapons. To bear arms is to carry or keep weapons in such a manner that such weapons may be immediately employed or utilized for any lawful or otherwise legitimate purpose. An infringement to keep and bear arms is anything and everything that unconstitutionally prohibits or restricts the manufacture, marketing, transportation, sale, purchase, acquisition, transfer, storage, possession, carry, employment, or utilization of a weapon, for any legal or legitimate purpose.

My litmus test for the constitutional protection of weapons is to distinguish between military and civilian weapons. Military weapons may be restricted from the civilian population, while civilian weapons may not be restricted from the civilian population, except when a court has determined after due process of law has been provided, that a person is subject to a temporary court order restricting firearm rights or privileges, has a firearm restricting mental condition, or has a firearm restricting criminal conviction.

Under my litmus test, a military weapon is defined as a weapon that is suitable only for the purpose of government sponsored warfare (for example: military weapons of mass destruction, tanks, artillery, explosives, landmines, grenades, crew served heavy machine-guns, and fully automatic assault weapons) and such weapon is absolutely and strictly restricted to military possession and employment (Army, Air Force, Navy, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, United States Coast Guard, United States Marine Corps, and State Government Organized and Operated Militias such as the Texas State Guard and other State Defense and State Security Forces). If a weapon is anything other than a military weapon, then it is a civilian weapon that is entitled to all of the protections of the United States Constitution and the Texas State Constitution.

Insofar as the statutory and common law provides that law enforcement officers and citizens have the same right and privilege to effect an arrest of another person for a criminal offense committed in their presence (Texas Code of Criminal Procedure - Title 1 - Chapter 14 - Section 14.01(a) - Citizens Arrest) then I categorically and completely reject any and all notions that civilian law enforcement officers have a greater need for any type of weaponry than the civilian people. Thus, what is good enough for the civilian government (civilian law enforcement) is good enough for the civilian people.

I strictly interpret the United States Constitution and Texas State Constitution guarantee of the right of the people to keep and bear arms and I absolutely support the right of the citizenry to own and possess and to carry openly and concealed weapons suitable for any and all civilian purposes. In this regard I will encourage the United States Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court via Amicus Curare Briefs to hold as being unconstitutional any federal, state, or local ban of any civilian weapon by model or design or characteristic, and any restriction imposed upon a person prohibiting the open or concealed carry of any handgun or long-gun or any other constitutionally protected weapon.

I will support a Legislative Resolution directed towards our Texas Congressional Delegation encouraging them to enact federal legislation to implement the doctrine of constitutional carry nationwide and to federally preempt all state and local laws in conflict therewith, or alternatively, that Congress should enact a federal carry license scheme that utilizes the shall issue standard of issuance and equally preempts all state and local laws in conflict therewith.

I will support a constitutional amendment and legislation that will implement constitutional carry statewide while maintaining the current Texas CHL system for the purpose of facilitating interstate reciprocity, and I will oppose any legislation that seeks to ban or restrict civilian weapon ownership or possession or the keeping or carrying of weapons for any lawful or otherwise legitimate purpose.

Insofar as the vast majority of mass-shooting incidents that have occurred in the United States and recently here in Texas involved those with serious mental health problems and criminal histories, I will support legislation that will require state and local courts and law enforcement agencies to report to all national and state background check databases all cases in which a person has been afforded due process of law and adjudicated as having a firearm prohibiting mental illness or having been found guilty of a firearm prohibiting criminal offense.

ABORTION AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE

Throughout time and universally recognized by all civilized societies and religious faiths, life is sacred and valuable and worthy of protection. In the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Faiths, it is mutually recognized and commanded, Thou Shall Not MURDER (Thou Shall Not KILL). I believe that life and personhood begins at conception and as such an unborn child has a constitutionally protected liberty interest in their existence (life) and that such unborn child (person) may not be deprived of their existence (life) without due process of law.

The United States Supreme Court decision in Roe V. Wade (1973) 410 US 113 was wrongly decided insofar as the question was not raised nor did the court consider the issues of when does life begin, does a fetus (unborn child) have a constitutionally protected fundamental liberty interest in their existence (life), may a fetus (unborn child) be deprived of their existence (life) without due process of law, and what due process, if any, is a fetus (unborn child) entitled to be afforded prior to being deprived of their existence (life). As such, I will support via Amicus Curare Briefs that the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe V. Wade (1973) 410 US 113 should be reversed and overruled in its entirety.

I will support a United States and Texas Constitutional Amendment that will recognize that life begins at conception and declares that a fetus (unborn child) is a person and as such is entitled to the constitutional protection of life and to not be deprived of life without due process of law.

I will oppose any government funding for an elective abortion and I will only support government funding in cases in which the health of the mother is threatened or the fetus has a health condition that is incompatible with life or otherwise has a health condition that is incurable and will subject the child to unreasonable pain and suffering.

I will support the creation and funding of educational programs designed to prevent unwanted pregnancies and alternatives to abortion such as free and reduced fee birth control preventative contraception and statewide comprehensive adoption services.

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