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The government's waste-elimination momentum is wiping out the country, from Washington's Government Efficiency (DOGE) to the parallel Texas initiative. In that spirit, we recently met to discuss Senate Bill 19 (SB19), written by Senator Mays Middleton, with Lt. Col. Dan Patrick's top priority.
Texas will become the first state to ban the use of public funds for lobbying. It is essential to restore Republican principles and reimbursing corrupt anti-taxes. We are the government of people by and for the people, and we use people's money to make special benefits unacceptable.
What are taxpayer-funded lobbying activities? In recent years, Texas has seen a surge in local governments, school districts and associations, such as the Texas Board of Education Association.
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Tax-funded lobbying helps in special interests, not public interests.
Under Texas law, “lobbying” refers to the employment or contracting of recruited Austin lobbyists to affect the law. Despite taxpayers' expectations that government agencies act in the interests of their citizens, local governments, school districts and associations regularly hire lobbyists to block voters' will.
The Texas Legislature is fighting to free Texan residents from having to fund groups lobbying against the will of their voters. File: Texas State Capitol Building in Austin, Texas. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)
Your taxes are used to lobby for divisive and left-wing causes. Progressive politicians, backed by extremists like billionaire George Soros, spend hundreds of millions of dollars on their agenda in the Texas Legislature, killing common sense policies and pushing the state to the left.
For example, lobbyists funded by Texas taxpayers have spent public funds against the ban on men who enter women's toilets. Worse, many unelected bureaucrats and regulators are captured by the very industries they oversee, using taxes on lobbyists who settle oligocory and crush competition.
Naturally, taxpayer-funded lobbyists are also opposed to tax relief and instead help increase sales tax, gasoline tax and vehicle registration fees. They oppose common sense issues such as border security, voter ID, teacher pay raises, election integrity with citizenship verification, and parental choice in education.
Taxes help core functions, not lobbyists
It cannot be defended from spending more than $100 million a year on lobbyists at a time when Texas is facing real issues with public safety, infrastructure and critical services. The public overwhelmingly agrees.
Recent polls reveal that 81% of Texans are opposed to the practice, and that the Texas Legislature prefers to abolish it. Rather than arming ideological opponents to fight for Texan rejection, Texan leaders should boldly pursue investing valuable taxes in roads and law enforcement, or even better, providing a tax relief for Texans.
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Importantly, SB19 never silences local governments. Local officials can call, write and testify before the council. Cities, and in fact, all local governments, are created to serve people, and people are tired of drowning out their voices with guns hired to use their own taxes on them.
Taxpayer-funded lobbying bans promote direct expression and communication. It does not prevent local elected officials and their staff from communicating with the Legislature, traveling to Austin, or hearing their voices at associated costs.
Your taxes are used to lobby for divisive and left-wing causes. Progressive politicians, backed by extremists like billionaire George Soros, spend hundreds of millions of dollars on their agenda in the Texas Legislature, killing common sense policies and pushing the state to the left.
Tax-funded lobbying undermines constitutional principles
All governments are created by those who recognize the power to represent us. By funding lobbyists who promote voter rejection on the agenda, local governments violate their governed consent and break the core principles of the American and Texas constitutions that derive their authority. In effect, established bureaucrats create an independent cycle of influences that overturn true democracy.
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By continuing to allow Texans to acquire public funds in the hands of progressive special interests that undermine the very principles they cherish, we risk eroding the constitutional foundations where states and nations were built. As part of this broad struggle, the taxpayer-funded lobbying effort is Texas USAID, but Doge initiatives, including SB19, aim to reimburse this terrible waste.
By passing SB19, we strengthen the trust of our people and ensure that taxes meet the true needs of the Texans, not the interests of bureaucrats or hired guns. In this session, join a call to ultimately ban taxpayer-funded lobbying. It has come time for the government, and by the people, and for the people, to show the nation thriving in Lone Star State.
Joe Lonsdale is an entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded the venture company 8vc with Palantir Technologies. He is the chairman of the University of Austin (UATX) and the Cicero Institute, a national policy group.
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