Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Texas House of Representatives District 28

Gary Gates

Gary Gates is the current Representative for State House District 28, and the Republican Candidate. Gates founded his own company of buying, renovating and renting homes and apartments. His top priorities are protecting taxpayers by banning a state income tax, providing security funding and emergency response training for schools, emergency and flood preparedness, securing the Texas border, and protecting religious liberty.

Gary Gates Campaign Website

Criminal Justice & Public Safety

  • Nothing listed on Campaign website for this issue

Education Funding & Teacher Pay

  • “Gary supports our public schools and giving parents a choice to determine the best education opportunity for their kids.”
  • “Gary supports Governor Abbott’s plan to provide comprehensive security funding and emergency response training for school personnel with the goal for making Texas schools the safest in the nation.”

Texas Economy & Taxes

  • “He knows high property taxes make it harder and harder for younger families to achieve the dream of owning their home. Gary supports reforming the appraisal process that has been the main culprit in higher property taxes.”
  • “Gary is also asking all Texas voters to join him and vote for the constitutional amendment banning a state income tax once and for all.”
  • “If we pass Prop 4 on November 5th, we will make it unconstitutional for Texas to create a state income tax. I ask you to join me in keeping our economic engine strong by voting Yes on Prop 4, the ban on state income tax.”

Government Transparency & Ethics

  • “The protection of freedom of religion is never far from Gary’s mind.”
  • “We cannot allow liberal governments deny business opportunities to Texans based on their religious affiliations, like what happened to Chick-Fil-A in San Antonio.”

Healthcare

  • Nothing listed on Campaign website for this issue

Immigration

  • “Gary knows the importance of protecting our borders.”
  • “He supports the effort to deployed 1,000 additional National Guard Troops to help secure the border, in addition to increasing penalties for drug and human trafficking operations.”

Reproductive Health

  • “Gary is 100% pro-life.”
  • “In fact, Gary and his wife Melissa believe every life is precious, they have opened their home and adopted children that the system left behind.”
  • “Gary will fight in the state house to protect each life.”

Infrastructure & Environment

  • “He wants to make sure the state is equipped and can more quickly respond to and recover from natural disasters.”
  • “Proposition 8 provides support for important flood infrastructure projects without raising taxes. We have all experienced the negative impacts of flooding recently and Prop 8 is part of a broad plan to minimize the damages of natural disasters using our existing resources.”

Social Services

  • Nothing listed on Campaign website for this issue

Elizabeth Markowitz

Elizabeth Markowitz is the Democratic Candidate running for the District 28 Texas House of Representatives. She was raised in Sugar Land, TX, and currently works as an instructor, corporate trainer, and as an author with the Princeton Review. Markowitz’s top priorities are providing healthcare to all Texans and providing high-quality education in the public school system.

Elizabeth Markowitz Campaign Website

Criminal Justice & Public Safety

  • “We must implement drug courts, veterans' courts, and diversionary programs that provide nonviolent offenders with rehabilitation opportunities, rather than mandated incarceration.”
  • “We must eliminate for-profit prisons and detention centers in the state of Texas, which have been found to be corrupt, racist, and inhumane in their treatment.”
  • “Texas should immediately institute universal background checks when an individual goes to purchase a gun, and close the gun-show loophole, in order to ensure that such weapons are not acquired by violent criminals, abusers, or terrorists.”
  • “We must institute red-flag laws that will allow action to be taken to remove weapons from the hands of individuals who have exhibited behavior that could be dangerous to themselves or others.”

Education Funding & Teacher Pay

  • “The state should immediately establish a school finance system with sufficient revenue to provide every individual with accessible, high-quality education.”
  • “Above all, the $5.4 billion of public school funding that was eliminated by the Republican legislature in 2011 must be restored to fund improvements in Texas education.”
  • “If we wish to recruit superior, certified teachers that have the training and tools necessary to support all students throughout their educational journey, we must increase teacher pay and provide quality, affordable healthcare and retirement options.”
  • “The state should not support “school choice“ schemes that use public school funds to support either private or sectarian schools. We should oppose the implementation of any school voucher or tax credit program that would financially and academically harm the Texas public school system.”

Texas Economy & Taxes

  • Nothing listed on Campaign website for this issue.

Government Transparency & Ethics

  • On gerrymandering -- “The Texas legislature must also establish an independent redistricting committee that will remove the redistricting process from the hands of political parties and put voters in control.”
  • “We must adopt regulations for automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, and online voter registration.”
  • “Furthermore, we must repeal the restrictive Texas photo Voter ID law, which requires voters to show a government-issued photo ID and has been found to penalize minority populations.”
  • “The state must also pass legislation that penalizes those found guilty of voter intimidation tactics.”

Healthcare

  • “Health care is a human right and every Texan should have access to high- quality, affordable health care.”
  • “Texans should support legislation that expands upon the principles of the Affordable Care Act, providing preventative and primary care treatment for medical, dental, and vision issues.”
  • “We must support a system that allows Texans to choose their providers, yet replaces high insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-pays with progressive financing.”
  • “We must also ensure that Texans have access to quality, affordable prescription drugs. No individual should be the victim of a corporation's desire to manipulate the cost of health care treatment.”

Immigration

  • “We must support the passage of the DREAM Act, which will allow those here under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) to achieve their citizenship and their American dream.”
  • “We cannot allow the current policies of child separation, 'tender age' shelters, and a zero-tolerance approach to immigration to continue.”
  • “We should not support using taxpayer money to build a border wall, which experts have stated will be ineffective.”
  • “We must repeal Senate Bill 4, or the ‘Show Me Your Papers’ law, which has simply led to an increase in xenophobic, racist, and bigoted behavior.”

Reproductive Health

  • “Texans must have autonomy over their own bodies and are provided access to medically sound reproductive health services.”
  • “Crisis pregnancy centers that misrepresent their services should be stripped of funding and designation as a licensed medical facility.”
  • “Every Texan should have the opportunity to make their own decision regarding childbirth and should have access to contraception, counseling, family planning services, pre-natal and post-natal care, affordable childcare, and abortion services.”

Infrastructure & Environment

  • Disaster Management: “The state must develop, fund, and implement processes to ensure the welfare of Texan residents, including plans to manage emergency transportation, both the temporary and permanent housing of displaced individuals, both the short-term and long-term health care needs of displaced individuals, the educational needs of displaced students, debris and hazardous material removal, testing physical locations prior to repopulation, and securing funding to rebuild.”
  • “The state must also pass legislation that will prohibit the sale of residential land located in a flood-plain without the buyer's knowledge.”
  • “We must also invest in clean energy research and development, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and providing incentives for companies and households that minimize carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.”
  • “We must also ensure that our public lands and waterways are protected from pollution and fossil fuel extraction in order to maintain the unique levels of biodiversity and ensure that our natural resources are available for future generations.”

Social Services

  • “By ending both the ‘war on drugs’ and eliminating for-profit prisons and detention centers, we can end the school-to-prison pipeline by investing in jobs and education, rather than in jails and incarceration.”
  • “Accordingly, it is imperative that every Texas school provide and fund high-quality career and technical educational programs. The implementation of hands-on training programs will prepare students for a specific career or trade.”
  • “Both gifted students and those with disabilities are entitled to receive appropriate, high-quality early, secondary, and postsecondary education and access to all services and support indicated in their individual education plans.”

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