Latest news with #JayDean
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How did your East Texas House representative vote on school vouchers?
TYLER, Texas (KETK)– Each East Texas Representative except for one, voted to pass Senate Bill 2. At the end of a long night on the Texas House floor, East Texas lawmakers help pass the school voucher bill 85-63. Here is how your representatives voted: State Rep. Daniel Alders (R) Tyler Yes State Rep. Trent Ashby (R) Lufkin Yes State Rep. Keith Bell (R) Athens Yes State Rep. Jay Dean (R) Longview Yes State Rep. Cody Harris (R) Palestine Yes State Rep. Cole Hefner (R) Lindale Yes State Rep. Brent Money (R) Greenville Yes State Rep. Joanne Shofner (R) Nacogdoches Yes State Rep. Gary Vandeaver (R) New Boston No The vote came after 10 hours of deliberation on the House floor; a vote finally took place around 3a.m. ' A lot of relief, joy and just really excitement for the parents and students of Texas,' State Rep. Brent Money said. In 2023, the school voucher program was amended from the previous education package, but a big step was made to make education savings accounts a reality. 'It's just a fundamental right of parents to be able to make the choice that best suits their family. This is just another tool in the toolbox,' State Rep. Cole Hefner said. This is a historic bill, which approved $1 billion of taxpayer funds for families to use to pay for private school tuition or homeschooling. Rep. Money said many students in his district are homeschooled. He believes the $2,000 allotted can help those students with resources they need and allow students to be homeschooled. 'If they need a little bit of financial assistance to help them get curriculum, computers, supplies and things like that, they'll have access to ESA's to be able to do that,' Rep. Money said. State Rep. Jay Dean from Longview was a big opponent of school vouchers and voted against it in 2023. He changed his vote early Thursday morning. 'My reaction is this bill was going to pass with or without my vote, we knew this was a priority for the Governor from last Session. Once it was clear the votes were there, I worked to make it the best deal all around for HD 7 that I could. I am proud to have stuck with the negotiations, late into the night, working alongside pro-public education groups and other rural Republicans, to make the bill better,' said Rep. Dean. Dean continued to explain why he decided to vote yes, ' My responsibility as State Rep is to make the best decisions I can to improve lives of HD 7. This was going to pass. I could vote no, and lose a lot for HD 7. Or I could sit at the table, work, and vote yes for a better bill for HD 7. That's why I worked so hard and why I ultimately voted yes. No, it's not the bill I would have written. But that's not how this place works. It's not always 'my way or the highway.' There is give and take and ultimately this is a better bill because of my work on it and that's better for East Texas,' Rep. Dean said. Dean acknowledged that some maybe disappointed in his decision, but he believes it was the best vote for the people in House District 7. The school choice bill is not automatically implemented. The House will amend the Senate's bill and that version will need to be agreed upon by the Senate before it heads to the Governor's desk. 'There's not a lot of daylight between the two, so I foresee a pretty amenable process of coming together and settling on a bill and then send it to the governor's desk in the coming days,' Rep. Hefner said. Representative Cody Harris' Reaction to the vote: 'This is a huge victory for students and families in the State of Texas. We are educating our future leaders and it is imperative to give families the resources they need so that students are not merely getting by, but getting ahead. This is an exciting time for our educational system and I firmly believe that we do not have to choose between supporting public education and offering choices for families. We can and will do both. As a result our children will reap the benefits as they reach new levels of excellence in the classroom.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘WE SAVED OUR LAKES!': North Texas Water District Board drops plan to buy water from Lake O' the Pines, Rep. Dean says
TYLER, Texas (KETK) – The North Texas Water District Board has negotiated a deal to get water from sources other than the Lake O' the Pines, East Texas State Rep. Jay Dean of Longview announced on Friday. State Rep. Jay Dean hosts 'Let's Save Our Lakes' town hall 'The North Texas Water District Board has negotiated a deal to get water from resources closer to them and they have abandoned their proposal to buy the water rights to Lake O' the Pines! This was a huge group effort by the most amazing folks in Texas,' Dean said. Dean's announcement comes after several local cities and counties passed resolutions opposing the sale of their rights to water from Lake O' the Pines. According to Dean, Jefferson, Daingerfield, Uncertain, Longview, Lone Star, Marion County, Morris County, Upshur County, Gregg County, Harrison County and Cass County have all now passed measures protecting their water rights. 'Thank you to these local leaders and thank you to all the community members who showed up repeatedly to speak at commissioners court and city council meetings,' Dean said. On Friday, the Longview City Council passed a resolution that affirms 'the City's interest in the reliable and equitable supply of raw water from Lake O' the Pines' and 'opposes any actions that would compromise water availability, sell water rights or lease large quantities of water, or increase costs to Longview ratepayers.' The Caddo Lake Institute and other community members spoke about the impact that a water sale from Lake O' the Pines would have at the Longview City Council meeting on Friday. The full discussion of the Lake O' the Pines resolution can be watched in the video above. Dean thanked the Caddo Lake Institute and the Lake O' the Pines Chamber of Commerce for their efforts and support in protecting the lake's water. 'The work by these individuals, organizations and entities will serve as a warning flag for any future attempts to take our water. We have put the entire state on notice that we are not for sale,' Dean said. Dean added that he successfully added an amendment during a budget hearing on Friday morning that would prohibit the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from spending money on or approving any inter-basin water transfers from the East Texas Cypress Basin to the metroplex's Region C for two years. Water district tries to ease concerns about Dallas buying Lake O' the Pines water The proposed sale of Lake O' the Pines water was a controversial idea to many outspoken East Texans. Dean hosted a 'Let's Save Our Lakes' town hall on Feb. 8 where many concerned members of the public talked about the Lake O' the Pines and other water issues. This backlash against the proposed sale prompted the Northeast Texas Municipal Water District to go public defending the deal. The North Texas Municipal Water District was publicly recommending using Lake O' the Pines water as recently as late February. In their Feb. 27 board of directors meeting, North Texas Municipal Water District general manager and executive director Jenna Covington said the following: 'No single water source will meet all the needs for North Texas. To meet those needs, we're focused on increasing water conservation and reuse, using innovative technology to better leverage existing water supplies, and building new connections to existing reservoirs with excess supplies, like Lake O' the Pines,' Covington said on Feb. 27. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas House considering allowing employers to provide less health insurance
In most cases, your health insurance must cover a list of certain services such as cancer screenings even if you get it from your employer. The proposed Texas House Bill 139 could remove that requirement and let a company provide an "Employer Choice of Benefits Plan" that does not provide all those state-mandated services. The bill was filed by Rep. Jay Dean, R-Longview, who is the chair of the House Committee on Insurance. Dean's office did not respond to questions from the American-Statesman on the bill. State-mandated services include: Providing coverage for newborn children, students, adopted children and certain grandchildren. This includes children up to age 26. Supplies and services for diabetes care Serious mental illness coverage Childhood vaccines Hearing screenings Covering an out-of-network specialist when an in-network specialist is not available Cancer screenings, including mammograms, colonoscopy or other colon cancer screenings, pap smears and prostate cancer screenings. The health benefit plan would have to share with employees this disclaimer: "This Employer Choice of Benefits Plan, either wholly or partly, does not provide state-mandated health benefits normally required in health benefit plans in Texas. This employer health benefit plan may provide a more affordable health benefit plan for you, although, at the same time, it may provide you with fewer health benefits than those normally included as state-mandated health benefits in health benefit plans in Texas. Please consult with your insurance agent to discover which state-mandated health benefits are excluded from this health benefit plan." The plan then has to give a list of mandated health benefits it is not providing. If this bill becomes law on Sept. 1, "it would allow insurers to offer plans that fail to meet basic expectations that most Texas patients have," said Katherine McLane, spokesperson of Texas Coalition for Patients. She said the coalition believes this legislation would "throw away" 35 bills of protection from the past five legislative sessions. The employer choice of benefits plan still would have to follow federal rules set by the Affordable Care Act, which does include preventative cancer screenings, newborn screenings and vaccines, for example. The coalition worries that as the ACA continues to be attacked at the federal level, Texans can't rely on federal law to continue to uphold health care insurance protections, said the coalition's Talan Tyminski. "Mental health, children's health care, those would all be gone," she said. Dean has another bill that also has the coalition frustrated. HB 138 would create the Health Impact, Cost and Coverage Analysis Program that would create a report of any added cost that mandated health legislation would have on insurance providers or the state, as well as individuals. That report also would analyze if the legislation would increase or decrease the use of health services. The Center for Health Care Data at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston would create the report, but McLane worries patients and providers would be left out of the decision-making. "This has the stink of big insurance all over it," she said. "We can't exclude patients and Texans from it and (from) taking a wholistic view of health care." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Employer health insurance bill in Texas could reduce coverage mandates
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Water district tries to ease concerns about Dallas buying Lake O' the Pines water
HUGHES SPRINGS, Texas (KETK) – The Northeast Texas Municipal Water District (NETMWD) went public to defend their potential sale of water from Lake O' the Pines on Friday following public backlash. State Rep. Jay Dean hosts 'Let's Save Our Lakes' town hall Many local residents remain concerned about the impact a potential sale would have on the cities, towns and other bodies of water that Lake O' the Pines feeds. East Texas State Representatives Jay Dean, Cole Hefner, Gary VanDeaver spoke along with Laura-Ashley Overdyke from the Caddo Lake Institute at a town hall discussing the potential sale in Avinger on Feb. 8. They answered questions from residents who are concerned about Lake O' the Pines drying up, the proposed Marvin Nichols reservoir and the future of Caddo Lake, which is fed by Lake O' the Pines. Those living near Lake O' the Pines require the water their cities get from the lake for drinking water, bathing and growing plants. Even those with their own wells are worried that a sale would lower the lake level, affecting the surrounding water table and drying up their wells. Now, NETMWD, an East Texas water district, is addressing these concerns. The water district said their discussions with the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) to sell or lease Lake O' the Pines water are ongoing so they don't have specifics to provide regarding any potential agreements. However, they did release several 'facts' in attempt to clarify their position. 'We understand that our friends and neighbors are concerned and want answers. Sadly, too many of the answers you've been given simply aren't true.' Wayne Owen, general manager and executive director of NETMWD, said. 'It is normal to enter a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) between entities during the research and discovery phase of a deal such as this. We are sharing the information we have available at this time to set the record straight while we investigate the options of a sale or lease of excess water.' These are NETMWD's new facts: NETMWD is not negotiating with the City of Dallas to sell water. The City of Dallas won't receive any water from North Texas MWD, which only provides water to areas north and east of Dallas. NETMWD has been selling water from Lake O' the Pines for the past 60 years. Several industrial water contracts are ending which will free up water that North Texas MWD wants to buy or lease along with unused water from NETMWD's cities. NETMWD said Lake O' The Pines will produce enough water to meet current and future needs in East Texas. In a single day, the lake produced 1.1 billion gallons of water. which reportedly is enough to feed all of NETMWD's cities for a whole year. NETMWD said Lake O' the Pines will still send billions of gallons of water into Caddo Lake regardless of whether or not they sell to North Texas MWD. Lake O' the Pines provides less than a quarter of the water feeding Caddo Lake on average. Every year, Lake O' the Pines provides 445,000 acre-feet of water to Caddo Lake via Big Cypress Bayou. 'We will earnestly share information as it becomes available via public notices and public meetings while we work alongside elected officials to be as transparent as possible throughout the process,' Owens said. 'Our goal is to do the best by our NETMWD member and customer cities, Lake O' the Pines and Caddo Lake.' Selling East Texas Water: Reps file bill to stop Marvin Nichols Reservoir NETMWD's press release comes on the heels of the Marion County Commissioners Court unanimous approval of a resolution opposing NETMWD's potential sale of water rights from Lake O' The Pines. The resolution encourages the City Council of Jefferson to take a firm stance against any sale proposed by NETMWD that would hurt local interests. Jefferson, Pittsburgh, Daingerfield, Avinger, Lone Star, Ore City and Hughes Springs helped fund the lake's creation and those seven cities would all have to vote to approve the sale. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
