November 4, 2025 • 34 mins
We sit down with Representative Jeff Barry to unpack community-driven leadership, growth pressures in Brazoria County, the realities of lawmaking in Austin, and why water, taxes, and insurance costs are the fights that matter. Faith, service, and practical deals frame a conversation about doing the most good when the spotlight is harsh.
Contact me at Jeff at votejeffberry.com, jeff.berry@berryinsurancegroup.com, or call 281-352-3525
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Next is Charlie Mike, the podcast.
Veterans Helping Veterans,talking about things happening
in the veteran community, thingswe've experienced and overcome,
such as addictions, PTSD,depression, legal trouble, and
we also promote veteran-ownedbusinesses.
If you're talking about it,we're talking about it.
(00:24):
This is Charlie Mike thePodcast.
SPEAKER_02 (00:31):
Yo, welcome back to another episode of Charlie Mike
the Podcast.
As always, I'm your host, Rowe.
Today, I have a very specialguest in the house today.
It's Jeff Barry, my friend.
And I am excited and I want tolet Jeff introduce himself.
He's a busy man, and I am veryappreciative that he took the
(00:52):
time to come out and speak to uson the podcast today.
Jeff wears many hats.
Yes.
And uh I'm gonna let Jeffintroduce himself for the people
that don't know who he is.
Jeff, tell us a little bit aboutyourself, who you are, what you
do.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Hey Raul, it's always a pleasure to be with
you.
Uh uh I'm actually the owner ofBering Insurance Group here in
in Paraline, Texas, been herefor uh 26 years.
Uh, gonna be 27 here coming upsoon.
Um, but uh I'm also the staterepresentative for House
District 29 and uh recently gotelected to that post.
And I'm looking forward tocontinuing the work there.
(01:30):
We just had our first specialsession, and um it's it's nice
to be back.
You know, I was gone for ninemonths and come back and uh kind
of get settled back in town andyou know, hang out with my wife
and my friends and and get outinto the community and do the
things I like doing.
SPEAKER_02 (01:48):
Yeah, that's amazing.
With uh with you coming up inParaland, what was the moment
you decided, all right, I'mstepping up, I'm running for
office?
SPEAKER_01 (01:57):
Well, uh if you recall, um our previous state
representative Ed Thompson hadbeen in that office for, I
believe, 12 years.
Um, and it it it was not on ourradar.
I think anybody that wasinvolved with with the city or
schools or anything locally, itwasn't really on our radar for
Ed to step down.
(02:18):
And when when Ed stepped down,it was a shocker to a lot of
people.
He's always done such a greatjob.
We love Ed.
Uh, we're very thankful for hisservice.
Uh so there were a few peopleout there that kind of kicked it
around a little bit and didtheir due diligence with their
families and asked all the rightquestions.
And and finally, uh when whenthose individuals decided that
(02:40):
they it wasn't going to besomething for them, I stepped up
and you know that's that's whatI've always done.
Um when there's a when there's avoid or or or a need in the
community, I generally try totry to fill that void if I can,
if the if the people will allowme to do it.
Um I did the same thing onschool board and city council
(03:00):
and in other areas of ofFairland.
So so that's that's kind of howit happened.
It was it wasn't something I Isought out.
SPEAKER_02 (03:08):
You're you're very active in the community.
What what are some of theorganizations you're part of
currently?
SPEAKER_01 (03:13):
Well, um I'm part of the one of the organizations I'm
really passionate about um isthe Northern Missouri County
Education Alliance.
Um they are an organization thatsupports current technology.
They're 501c3 here in Parland.
I think they've been in inexistence since 2007.
Um if I recall, it's been a longtime.
(03:36):
Uh, but um that's that's one ofthe organizations.
I'm also members of of all thechambers, Parland, Alvin,
Manville, uh, Brausselsport.
Uh I'm also a member of theAssociated Association of
Builders and Contractors.
Uh they support a lot of ourindustrial trades um around
around Texas and the UnitedStates.
(03:58):
Uh great organization.
And and there's others uh thatthat we I'm a Lions Club member.
I support our Lions here inParaland, um, one of the largest
Lions clubs in the state ofTexas.
And uh we we generally donate toour Lions Camp about$150,000 a
year.
So we're very, very proud ofthat to support our kids at the
(04:18):
Kerrville Lions Camp too.
SPEAKER_02 (04:20):
So and uh and for you that don't know, the Lions
Club in Paraland are everywhere.
Yes, they do so much here in thecommunity and elsewhere.
I you you can't go anywherewithout seeing the Lions Club
participating in everythingthat's going on here in the
community, and that's that'stremendous.
SPEAKER_01 (04:40):
That's yeah, if you don't know about lions in
Parland, um the the there's amen's club and a women's club.
Well, there's several women'sclubs in Pareland.
Uh so my wife is a lion, I'm alion.
So our whole household itrevolves around Lionism.
Uh, and we we believe in theirmission.
So it's a it's a wonderfulorganization.
(05:02):
Lionism.
SPEAKER_02 (05:03):
Is that is that is that a real thing?
SPEAKER_01 (05:05):
Just made that up.
SPEAKER_02 (05:08):
It sounds good.
Go with it.
Go with it.
That's hilarious.
Uh since taking office, uh,what's something that surprised
you?
Um maybe something that you knowthe normal people on the outside
don't see.
SPEAKER_01 (05:22):
You know, um since going in going to Austin, uh the
beautiful pink building inAustin, Texas, uh some of the
things that people don'tnecessarily see are are the
relationships that are built inthe background.
Um everybody has their ownapproach to business uh and
(05:43):
doing doing the people'sbusiness in Austin.
But as a freshman coming in, theone thing that surprised me, and
and looking back on it, itshouldn't have surprised me, but
what really surprised me themost is that how much of the
stuff that we were gonna work onhad really already been defined
during the interim, which is whyyou said, Oh, I see you
(06:05):
everywhere.
Well, I'm I'm everywhere becauseI want to make sure that I I see
everyone, I talk to everyone,hear their concerns, could
because now in the interimbetween this session and next
session are when is when thework gets done.
A lot of people have this uhmisconception that we don't, you
know, we're we're only workingwhen we're on the floor.
(06:27):
And that couldn't be furtherfrom the truth.
Uh we're not doing work whenwe're on the floor.
We may be having conversationsand so on, but our real work
gets done in our offices and ourcommittee meetings when we're
when we're we're trying tonegotiate different bills and uh
and things of that sort.
So that's that's that was thesurprising, surprising thing to
(06:49):
me.
SPEAKER_02 (06:49):
So when when I when I see y'all sitting, you know,
for a session, the way I pictureit is like uh, you know, left,
right, uh someone from the leftshooting a spitball over there
across to the right.
Is it like that?
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
Maybe not a physical spitball, but there are
spitballs, you know, from uh umuh you know, a certain sense.
Uh we do have heateddiscussions.
I mean, there's no questionabout it.
You know, we had um we had therecently we had um the THC bill.
That was a heated discussion,never really got solved.
(07:31):
Um we had uh property taxes.
That that's not necessarily aheated discussion, but people
are very, very, very passionate,as I as am I, about property
taxes.
Um you want, you know, we hadthe some social bills that were
very heated.
Um we had some bills thataddressed um uh financial, you
(07:54):
know, supporting uh or removingsupport from foreign
adversaries, you know, and beingable to invest our pension funds
in foreign, foreign,foreign-owned entities that were
our enemies.
Why would we ever do that,right?
Yeah, yeah.
Why would we ever allow thoseentities to own property in the
state of Texas?
So those things were very, veryuh, you know, passionate and
(08:15):
heartfelt, I would say, on thefloor.
Um so so yeah, and some nightswe didn't get out of there till
three in the morning.
You know, start at 10 a.m., getout of there at 3 a.m.
So uh and then we started allover again the next morning.
SPEAKER_02 (08:30):
Is it is it ever like shake hands, let's let's
grab a beer?
Is it is it everybody's always?
Yeah.
Always.
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
Oh, good, good, you know, it it is.
And look, you and I candisagree.
And uh one thing I want tostress, one of the most
important things that I'vealways said, it's like, look, if
you and I, it's it's like Reaganalways said, if you and I can
agree on 80%, that's a win.
Right.
Well, you and I are never gonnaagree on 100% of the things.
(08:56):
And if we do, great.
I mean, that's unusual.
But there are 20% of the thingsthat we're commonly gonna
disagree on, but it's the way inwhich we disagree.
Do we disagree in a cordialmanner to say, you know what,
Ro, you and I are gonna disagreeon this issue, but you're a
great guy.
Let's go have lunch.
You know, so I remember uh Iremember um a situation, a
(09:21):
situation this session where wewere having some conversations
with a group of folks.
Uh a friend of mine had a bill,and it was about it was a bill
to support ATT.
And ATT deals with a lot ofcopper theft.
And one of the things is is thatyou know, people will actually,
you know, pull copper out ofbuildings and um and they'll
(09:46):
take those fiber, I mean thosecopper bundles and go to go to
um metal yards, scrapyards, andsell the copper.
And the scrapyards don't knowwhere this copper came from.
It's just another, it's morephone wire, right?
So they buy it and and there yougo.
Well, next thing you know, theydidn't know that it was AT ⁇ T's
copper, you know.
(10:06):
So they had this bill anyway.
So a group of people came by myoffice.
I was I was opposing their bill,or I wanted to change their bill
a little bit.
And um, you know, we were goingback and forth and we weren't
really making a whole lot ofprogress.
But at the end of the deal, Isaid, look, this is the way I
see this bill.
It's ATT's problem.
They're trying to, they'retrying to fix their problem on
(10:26):
the backs of on the backs of themetal recyclers in the state of
Texas.
And I understand that.
And and everybody agreed.
I said, so why don't we get AT⁇ T to pay for all their
training, all the softwareupdates that they have to do for
their businesses and things ofthat sort.
Well, the person I was talkingto didn't necessarily like that.
(10:47):
He goes, man, he goes, I don'tknow, it's getting time close to
lunch.
Why don't we go have lunch?
You know?
So so those kinds of things, youknow, and we still have a great
relationship today, but we'lldisagree.
And that's fine.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:00):
You know, the whole time you were saying that, I was
hearing, and get paid in twodollar bills.
That's when I was hearing.
You know, what what are some ofthe biggest challenges you're
seeing right now around, youknow, Paraland and around the
district?
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
Yeah.
So uh we have we have severaldifferent, I mean, you want to
start talking.
I mean, we there's a lot ofchallenges we have, you know,
countywide challenges.
Um we have we have areas of thecounty um now, give I think it
was since 2023 session, uh theADA legislature uh allowed
(11:38):
allowed uh businesses andproperty owners to uh de-annex
themselves from ETJs, uh, movethemselves out of ETJs.
That's causing huge problems.
Uh we have development, youknow, moving into Brizouria
County in droves.
Uh I think you know, we eitherhave you know 40,000 to 50,000
(11:58):
homes either in planning and orin actual construction phase in
Brizzouria County right now.
What that means is that that'sall count, that's all in the
county.
Uh and when you're not withinthe city, a lot of our cities
have development, uh,development codes and stuff like
that where they have certainrules and guidelines that you
(12:20):
have to follow when you build inthe cities.
But when you're in the county,there there are none.
And our counties don't reallyhave the the purview to uh to to
create laws.
So people move to the countybecause they want to be free of
being in the city.
They don't want the traffic,they don't want all the things
that go along with living in acity.
(12:41):
Um, so they want to beindependent.
Well, these a lot of ourdevelopments are they're like
city developments, but they'reputting them in the county.
And the sheriff's department'sthe one that has to actually be
the sole law enforcement uhofficer in the county, which is
huge.
It's a huge burden on oursheriff's department.
We have ESDs that are not new,but we have the largest ESD in
(13:04):
the state of Texas, ESD3, inBrisbane County.
Um, and they're growing likegangbusters.
It's a taxing entity.
Um, so again, you know, we needto support these things.
Um we have property taxes thatwe need to control.
And it's not really the taxrates per se, but it's the
appraisal appraised values thatI think people need to uh you
(13:27):
know understand how to manage,you know, from the from the
appraisal district standpoint.
Uh we need to understand betterhow that's getting done.
Um, what's with rationale forsome of the values that are
coming out of the appraisaldistrict and so on.
Um a key point on that is thatthose those appraisal districts
are not county, they're not runby the county.
(13:50):
They're actually run by thecomptroller's office.
So that's a key distinction thatI think a lot of people get
confused with uh when they thinkthat you know Matt Sebasta in
Brizouria County is actuallyrunning the appraisal district,
and they're not.
Um so the that they fall underthe jurisdiction of the
comptroller's office.
We have insurance issues,whether it's property and
(14:12):
casualty issues or healthinsurance issues, big issues.
We still have just because wegot rid of the border, border
used to be number one, propertytax is now the number one issue
across across our district, andinsurance costs are are very
close to right now.
I I believe that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:31):
What what with you your opinion, what's a what's an
issue that doesn't makeheadlines um but really
affecting everyday Texans?
SPEAKER_01 (14:40):
You know, I would say the I would say the actually
really the health insurancepiece.
We all talk, we all hear aboutthe health insurance issues at
on TV and so on and so forth,but I'm not gonna walk up to you
in town and say, man, our healthinsurance, we need to do
something about the cost of ourhealth insurance and this, that,
(15:01):
and the other.
But if you if you just recentlyhad your homeowner's renewal,
you would say, oh man, we needto do something about our
homeowners renewal.
A lot of people that have healthinsurance have health insurance
under their company.
You know, there are small, smallbusiness owners that have
individual plans and smallplans, and we sell those in our
office.
So I get to talk to these peopleall the time.
(15:22):
Um, and over the years, what'shappened is we've we've stacked
regulation on top of regulationon top of regulation on these
health insurance companiesthat's causing the cost of these
plans to go up.
Add to that, the Affordable CareAct in 2010.
At the time, everybody, youknow, back in the day thought it
(15:43):
was a great idea.
And it was a great start, Iguess.
It was it was a line in the sandthat somebody had to draw and it
got drawn.
But with the unlimited claimsfund and you know, things of
that sort, it becameextraordinarily important for
insurance companies to startaccumulating a lot of money to
(16:05):
manage claims.
So it's a very complicatedissue.
People don't necessarilyunderstand how bad it really is.
I know it's expensive, but mostemployees only pay 50% or less
of what the total cost is.
So uh that's a big issue to me,uh, along with the property and
casualty issues we have uh inproperty taxes.
(16:28):
So those are my three big issuesthat I'm gonna work on.
SPEAKER_02 (16:32):
You know what?
Uh I this is one thing that Ialways want to ask you,
especially you know, being inthe office and and being in
spotlight, you know, politicscan get messy.
How do you how do you stayfocused in serving the people
instead of just you know partylines?
How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01 (16:51):
Gotta stay grounded.
SPEAKER_02 (16:52):
And how do you stay off of social media?
And how do you not read thecomments?
How do you just say like we'rewe're different?
Yeah.
Because, you know, um, um yeah,just I I I respect you, man.
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
Look, um sometimes you have to make some hard
decision and pop decisions inpolitics, you know, and you
know, I'll just take this onedecision head on that everybody
always falls back on.
It was the it was the wholevoucher vote, right?
It was uh it was a situationwhere, I mean, all throughout
the campaign, I always saidthat, you know, I'm gonna always
(17:29):
support my public schools 100%.
I come from public schools, Ihelped to bring bring, you know,
Turner Career in Technology HighSchool to Paraland.
I did all those things, right?
And I still support our publicschools.
The one most underserved uhdemographic in all of our all of
our public schools is are kidswith disabilities.
So when uh we got to the pointwhere we're gonna have this vote
(17:54):
on vouchers and stuff like that.
Uh we went into a caucusmeeting, you know, the governor
was there, the president calledinto the caucus meeting and so
on and so forth.
I was still a no, still a no atthat point.
Um, but then once I got to thefloor, I start to realize that
they have 81 votes already.
(18:16):
So, so I lost.
And I'm fine with I'm fine withthat.
But what happened was whenleadership comes to you and
says, hey, you know, if you hadyour choice, what what is it
that you can get into this billthat would make you vote for
this bill?
And I gave them a list, youknow, on a on a card, and I
(18:37):
said, I want 80% of all themoney to go to kids with
disabilities or economicallydisadvantaged permanently, not
just for one year.
I want uh annual audits toprivate schools.
I want those to happen annually.
I want the uh I want testing,the the tests that these
students take that are gettingthe ESA uh funding.
(18:59):
I want those test scores to goto TEA so that they can be
reported to um to uh to TEA andreported to the public because
it's public money.
And then lastly, I wanted to Iwanted to lock it in at a
billion dollars on on the actuallimit of money that we could
spend.
The way the bill was originallywritten was the 80% was gonna
(19:22):
happen, but just for the firstyear.
And then the billion dollars wasgonna happen, but just for the
first year, they were gonna rollthe waiting list into the into
the cost associated with thatbill.
So there's a lot of dynamicsgoing on.
And when I I said I want to lockin at a billion dollars, I
really thought that that was adeal breaker.
(19:43):
When I said that I wanted tomake 80% uh of the kids with
disabilities and economicdisadvantaged uh have all the
money, 80% of them, I thoughtthat was going to be a deal
breaker.
And then only to realize that asyou start looking at the cost of
rolling in the waiting list, youknow, and it being a billion
(20:04):
dollars, by 2030, that costwould have risen to over four
and a half to five billiondollars.
This is on the taxpayers of ofTexas, okay?
And that we would have beenobligated to pay that money.
So what we did was, what I feltlike I did was I protected kids
with disabilities and those thatare economically disadvantaged
(20:25):
by giving them 80% of the moneyin perpetuity.
And in order for us to increasethe amount of money that the
state of Texas has to pay, Irequired them to come back to
the legislature and ask for moremoney.
So the waiting list no longerrolls in automatically.
And then the other things arekind of dichotomies that help
control uh the cost, uh, controlthe the way that the the
(20:50):
vouchers are distributed orwhatever, and the reporting
associated with that.
So when all was said and done, Iwas a no, I lost.
So if I lost a battle, what am Igonna do?
I'm gonna try and get the bestdeal I can possibly get.
And if you're gonna try and ifyou're gonna get five amendments
(21:12):
on a bill, you have to vote forthe bill.
That's just the way it works inAustin.
So if I go and it doesn't matterwhat it is, we had we had a
couple bills that we worked onwith the city uh for small lot
sizes.
They came in and we we hadconversations with bill authors.
The bill author, you know,implemented everything that we
(21:32):
asked.
So I'm obligated to to vote forthat bill.
Even though I still don't thinkit's a great bill, it's not as
bad as it was.
SPEAKER_02 (21:41):
Uh that makes sense 100%.
And to me, I understand whatyou're saying as well.
With veterans and firstresponders are a big part of
this community.
Uh what's your take on how wecan better support them after
service?
SPEAKER_01 (21:56):
After service?
Yes, sir.
Uh so this session, what we did,we had a bill that that got
passed, this session that thathelped that helped the um uh
surviving spouses of veteransthat were disabled who
ultimately paid the the ultimateprice and passed.
Those those spouses are nowgoing to continue to have have
(22:17):
coverage on you know taxexemptions and things of that
sort.
Uh so that's something new.
Um there's not there's not anysort of undercurrent, I would
say, in Austin that is trying tooppose our veterans and our
service members whatsoever.
Um I tried working on a bill toum get the Operation Lone Star
(22:44):
soldiers uh back pay for um fortheir their service time going
towards their retirement,because if you get deployed on a
state level, it turns out thatyou don't get you don't get
time.
You don't get service time forthat towards your retirement.
It's only if you're federallydeployed do you get that money.
(23:04):
Um I got to a point where youknow I think I think the
legislature was a little bitconfused on really what was
going on, even though they knewhow to do it, we had to bridge a
gap between the state and thefederal government because the
federal government tracks that,the state doesn't.
And that's where things kind offell through the cracks.
(23:25):
You know, we needed to literallyupdate our state software in
order to be able to track it.
And then how do we track it andhow do we calculate all the back
pay?
And I mean, it would have beenum it would have been a yeoman's
feat to be able to do it.
I'm not saying that I stilldon't want to get that done.
Right.
I just um right now what I'vedone is I've gotten to a point
(23:46):
where I think I can get a billto the floor that says that
state, if you're on statedeployment, you can have like a
401k created under the state,state plan to to contribute to
that.
Um I'm still working out thedetails.
SPEAKER_02 (24:03):
But I'm I'm curious, uh who's someone that's
influenced the way you lead andserve?
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
Oh man, um you know, I I just don't really know.
Um you know, growing up, youknow, my parents were always
they've they're the ones thatprobably influenced me the most.
You know, it was you know,always think about others before
yourself.
(24:34):
You know, anytime that anytimethat I do anything, you know,
how is this gonna affect others?
Even in my business, you know,if if I'm a client of mine, how
do I want to be treated, youknow, when it comes to these
situations?
And so I I always I always usethat line of line of thought
when when dealing with e whethermy clients or my constituents or
(24:59):
or anybody, you know, so sothat's that's kind of the that's
kind of what's influenced me themost is is you know just my
Christian grounding.
I'm I'm grounded in Christ allday long, every day.
And if if I'm not, you can getreally lost in in a lot of these
things, right?
You have people that want to,you know, take you places and
(25:21):
take you to dinners and do allthese things all the time, and
you can get lost in what thereal goal is.
The real goal is to betteraffect my district.
How am I going to address theneeds of my district?
And when you people say this allthe time, well, when you go to
Austin, when people go toAustin, they just get lost in
all this stuff.
It's easy to do.
You just have to be focused onwhat it is, you know.
(25:44):
I call it headstrong.
You have to be, you know,headstrong in in knowing why
you're there and knowing knowingthe fact that you're there
temporarily.
Because I have to come back andface face everyone.
Yeah.
I have to face my district.
I have to sit across this tableand look at you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (26:02):
Oh man, that's uh that's I love that.
Family.
Yeah.
And you and your faith.
Uh you know, when you when youhear when you hear the phrase
self uh service before self,what does that mean to you
personally, especially with youbeing a veteran?
SPEAKER_01 (26:21):
Yeah, I mean, you know, you always have to uh have
your eye on the greater good.
You always have to have your eyeon the greater good.
It's not about me.
And and let's just kind of takea step back.
You know, we're we're not herebecause we're put here.
God put me here, and the reasonI'm here is to be able to to
leave my impression upon mycommunity, my state, my world,
(26:44):
or whatever it is.
And um, I'm gonna be there.
I want to leave, I want to leavethis community better off today,
uh, tomorrow than it is today.
And I hope that I can lead inthat way uh so that people can
can look at the way that I'veled in the past to say, you know
what, he's always done the rightthing.
And I feel like I've always donethe right thing.
(27:05):
And um I know that there arethose on social media that say
otherwise.
I'm sure you you probably uh Ican name them all if you wanted
to, but um, there are quite afew folks out there that are um
probably disappointed in somevotes or something like that.
Uh one in particular, but um Iget it.
(27:27):
But what I would encourage allthose individuals to do is call
me.
I everybody has my cell phonenumber.
My cell phone number isplastered all over the place.
I have a district office here inParland, I have one in Austin.
I'm I'm available, I'm probablyone of the most available rep
representatives in the house.
(27:48):
So I'm in the community all thetime and I'm easy easily
accessible.
So service before self, I alwaysgive to my community before I
even think of myself.
So that is always the way it isfor me.
SPEAKER_02 (28:00):
I uh I love that about you, and I truly believe
that.
And uh I go to bat for youbecause I believe in you and and
that's uh that's the truth.
I appreciate it.
I really do.
I really do.
What's uh what's one mission orgoal that you're focused on for
(28:21):
the next couple of years?
SPEAKER_01 (28:24):
We're just trying to get I'm I'm really trying to I'm
I'm trying to get some dynamicfunding for various things.
You know, we you may have youmay have heard that we have all
these propositions on the ballotright now.
Proposition four is a waterfund, it's a billion-dollar
water fund.
Um it's a billion dollars a yearthat the state of Texas is going
(28:46):
to guarantee for the next 20years to address water issues.
Um, if there's any one thingthat you know I want to
accomplish, I want people,whether it be the legislature or
municipalities or whatnot, tounderstand the importance of
infrastructure maintenance.
If we can if we can encourageevery municipality, every county
(29:13):
in the state of Texas to takethat challenge on, we would be a
lot better off today.
Uh we're gonna be a lot betteroff, let's say in two years than
we are today because we'relosing so much water.
It's a precious resource that wehave.
Uh, it's probably one of themost valuable resource because
we need it as humans to live, weneed it in industry to drive
(29:35):
business and support employmentand so on.
Um we need it all over.
It's it's just the one basicfundamental piece thing we need.
If we can get drive that homeand try to make sure that our
cities and municipalities arefocused on updating their
infrastructure uh over the nextcouple of years, I think we're
(29:55):
gonna see a drastic change inthe way that our water level
levels look um and utilizationfor water so we can protect that
over the next if we focus on itthe next couple years we can
protect the water water for ageneration when when it's all
said and done what what kind oflegacy does Jeff Barry want to
(30:20):
leave behind?
No legacy here.
Just gonna be I'm just gonna go.
You know, let someone else takeup the charge and hopefully you
know hopefully whoever whoeverdoes that um is in it for the
right reasons.
You know I still got a long wayto go I hope and as long as the
you know the citizens of youknow District 29 want to
(30:42):
continue to elect me to to dothe job for them I'm happy to do
it.
But there will come a day and itgenerally does except for a
handful of folks uh in thelegislature where where those
days those come to an end.
And um it's not necessarilytheir fault.
It's just things change and uhmaybe they just weren't willing
(31:03):
to change with the way theircommunity's changed.
I always feel like I have apulse in our community um I'm in
it for our community uh I'm inthe community so I can continue
to have a pulse in our communityand uh I hope that whenever it's
all said and done people knowthat I I meant that and I was in
it for them not just for me.
SPEAKER_02 (31:24):
I think the true residents and the people that
truly know you see that and seethe hard work that you're you're
you're doing.
Well thank you.
For anyone that's listeningright now and who wants to make
a difference in the communitywhat advice would you give them
I would say pick pick anorganization and get involved.
SPEAKER_01 (31:46):
You know it doesn't have to be every day it doesn't
have to be every week it couldbe monthly or or or or whatever
whether it's your your churchyou want to get involved in
whether it's a nonprofit dosomething to give back to our
community and that's what I'vealways done.
When uh my wife and I realizedwe weren't going to have a
(32:08):
family per se you know wededicated all of our time and
energy into education that was athat was a decision we both
made.
But it doesn't have to beeducation it could be anything
it could be help the homelessmake our community better do
something to address and affectour community whatever that is
(32:28):
whatever you're passionateabout.
I know this lady who'spassionate about dogs so she
goes to the SBCA every singleday.
This lady doesn't have to workbut she likes to go to the SBCA
every single day and and walkdogs that's a value to that
organization.
Right.
Right?
And that's giving back in a bigway to to them yeah so um just
(32:50):
give back and it doesn't have tobe a big way.
SPEAKER_02 (32:53):
That's that's amazing.
Uh final thoughts what would youlike to say to the people if
they want to reach out to you umif they just like to say
something to you anything.
SPEAKER_01 (33:04):
I mean you can shoot me an email um my email's um
Jeff at votejeffberry.com orjeff dot berry at berry
insurance group dot com or Ihave a house email uh call me on
my cell phone 281-3523525 is mycell phone number uh feel free
(33:24):
to use it tell you a funny storyuh about that I sent out a bunch
a bunch of Christmas cards lastyear after the election and
stuff I think I would send outabout 30 000 of them maybe more
um people started I had my cellphone number on the card you
know and I said hey if you wantto contact me please feel free
or whatever people were callingthe number just to see if
someone would answer the phonefor but I I absolutely it's a
(33:50):
funny thing then they would justhang up like is this Jeff Barry?
Yes it is oh and they laugh andthey hang up you know so uh just
so you know that is a realnumber and I'm always here for
anybody that needs my assistanceat all.
SPEAKER_02 (34:03):
So that's that's amazing.
Yeah uh Jeff again I want to saythank you for giving me your
time today and I reallyappreciate you coming in and
just spending some time with meand letting me just my pleasure
it's been too long.
It really has and I I I tell youman um just watching you is is
amazing and continue the workand congratulations on the new
(34:23):
baby too thank you thank youthank you I appreciate it you
you just get him back for twomonths walking around everywhere
I can't believe it.
I cannot believe it all rightJeff thank you thank you again I
appreciate you you're welcomeanytime
Next is Charlie Mike, the podcast.
Veterans Helping Veterans,talking about things happening
in the veteran community, thingswe've experienced and overcome,
such as addictions, PTSD,depression, legal trouble, and
we also promote veteran-ownedbusinesses.
If you're talking about it,we're talking about it.
(00:24):
This is Charlie Mike thePodcast.
SPEAKER_02 (00:31):
Yo, welcome back to another episode of Charlie Mike
the Podcast.
As always, I'm your host, Rowe.
Today, I have a very specialguest in the house today.
It's Jeff Barry, my friend.
And I am excited and I want tolet Jeff introduce himself.
He's a busy man, and I am veryappreciative that he took the
(00:52):
time to come out and speak to uson the podcast today.
Jeff wears many hats.
Yes.
And uh I'm gonna let Jeffintroduce himself for the people
that don't know who he is.
Jeff, tell us a little bit aboutyourself, who you are, what you
do.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Hey Raul, it's always a pleasure to be with
you.
Uh uh I'm actually the owner ofBering Insurance Group here in
in Paraline, Texas, been herefor uh 26 years.
Uh, gonna be 27 here coming upsoon.
Um, but uh I'm also the staterepresentative for House
District 29 and uh recently gotelected to that post.
And I'm looking forward tocontinuing the work there.
(01:30):
We just had our first specialsession, and um it's it's nice
to be back.
You know, I was gone for ninemonths and come back and uh kind
of get settled back in town andyou know, hang out with my wife
and my friends and and get outinto the community and do the
things I like doing.
SPEAKER_02 (01:48):
Yeah, that's amazing.
With uh with you coming up inParaland, what was the moment
you decided, all right, I'mstepping up, I'm running for
office?
SPEAKER_01 (01:57):
Well, uh if you recall, um our previous state
representative Ed Thompson hadbeen in that office for, I
believe, 12 years.
Um, and it it it was not on ourradar.
I think anybody that wasinvolved with with the city or
schools or anything locally, itwasn't really on our radar for
Ed to step down.
(02:18):
And when when Ed stepped down,it was a shocker to a lot of
people.
He's always done such a greatjob.
We love Ed.
Uh, we're very thankful for hisservice.
Uh so there were a few peopleout there that kind of kicked it
around a little bit and didtheir due diligence with their
families and asked all the rightquestions.
And and finally, uh when whenthose individuals decided that
(02:40):
they it wasn't going to besomething for them, I stepped up
and you know that's that's whatI've always done.
Um when there's a when there's avoid or or or a need in the
community, I generally try totry to fill that void if I can,
if the if the people will allowme to do it.
Um I did the same thing onschool board and city council
(03:00):
and in other areas of ofFairland.
So so that's that's kind of howit happened.
It was it wasn't something I Isought out.
SPEAKER_02 (03:08):
You're you're very active in the community.
What what are some of theorganizations you're part of
currently?
SPEAKER_01 (03:13):
Well, um I'm part of the one of the organizations I'm
really passionate about um isthe Northern Missouri County
Education Alliance.
Um they are an organization thatsupports current technology.
They're 501c3 here in Parland.
I think they've been in inexistence since 2007.
Um if I recall, it's been a longtime.
(03:36):
Uh, but um that's that's one ofthe organizations.
I'm also members of of all thechambers, Parland, Alvin,
Manville, uh, Brausselsport.
Uh I'm also a member of theAssociated Association of
Builders and Contractors.
Uh they support a lot of ourindustrial trades um around
around Texas and the UnitedStates.
(03:58):
Uh great organization.
And and there's others uh thatthat we I'm a Lions Club member.
I support our Lions here inParaland, um, one of the largest
Lions clubs in the state ofTexas.
And uh we we generally donate toour Lions Camp about$150,000 a
year.
So we're very, very proud ofthat to support our kids at the
(04:18):
Kerrville Lions Camp too.
SPEAKER_02 (04:20):
So and uh and for you that don't know, the Lions
Club in Paraland are everywhere.
Yes, they do so much here in thecommunity and elsewhere.
I you you can't go anywherewithout seeing the Lions Club
participating in everythingthat's going on here in the
community, and that's that'stremendous.
SPEAKER_01 (04:40):
That's yeah, if you don't know about lions in
Parland, um the the there's amen's club and a women's club.
Well, there's several women'sclubs in Pareland.
Uh so my wife is a lion, I'm alion.
So our whole household itrevolves around Lionism.
Uh, and we we believe in theirmission.
So it's a it's a wonderfulorganization.
(05:02):
Lionism.
SPEAKER_02 (05:03):
Is that is that is that a real thing?
SPEAKER_01 (05:05):
Just made that up.
SPEAKER_02 (05:08):
It sounds good.
Go with it.
Go with it.
That's hilarious.
Uh since taking office, uh,what's something that surprised
you?
Um maybe something that you knowthe normal people on the outside
don't see.
SPEAKER_01 (05:22):
You know, um since going in going to Austin, uh the
beautiful pink building inAustin, Texas, uh some of the
things that people don'tnecessarily see are are the
relationships that are built inthe background.
Um everybody has their ownapproach to business uh and
(05:43):
doing doing the people'sbusiness in Austin.
But as a freshman coming in, theone thing that surprised me, and
and looking back on it, itshouldn't have surprised me, but
what really surprised me themost is that how much of the
stuff that we were gonna work onhad really already been defined
during the interim, which is whyyou said, Oh, I see you
(06:05):
everywhere.
Well, I'm I'm everywhere becauseI want to make sure that I I see
everyone, I talk to everyone,hear their concerns, could
because now in the interimbetween this session and next
session are when is when thework gets done.
A lot of people have this uhmisconception that we don't, you
know, we're we're only workingwhen we're on the floor.
(06:27):
And that couldn't be furtherfrom the truth.
Uh we're not doing work whenwe're on the floor.
We may be having conversationsand so on, but our real work
gets done in our offices and ourcommittee meetings when we're
when we're we're trying tonegotiate different bills and uh
and things of that sort.
So that's that's that was thesurprising, surprising thing to
(06:49):
me.
SPEAKER_02 (06:49):
So when when I when I see y'all sitting, you know,
for a session, the way I pictureit is like uh, you know, left,
right, uh someone from the leftshooting a spitball over there
across to the right.
Is it like that?
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
Maybe not a physical spitball, but there are
spitballs, you know, from uh umuh you know, a certain sense.
Uh we do have heateddiscussions.
I mean, there's no questionabout it.
You know, we had um we had therecently we had um the THC bill.
That was a heated discussion,never really got solved.
(07:31):
Um we had uh property taxes.
That that's not necessarily aheated discussion, but people
are very, very, very passionate,as I as am I, about property
taxes.
Um you want, you know, we hadthe some social bills that were
very heated.
Um we had some bills thataddressed um uh financial, you
(07:54):
know, supporting uh or removingsupport from foreign
adversaries, you know, and beingable to invest our pension funds
in foreign, foreign,foreign-owned entities that were
our enemies.
Why would we ever do that,right?
Yeah, yeah.
Why would we ever allow thoseentities to own property in the
state of Texas?
So those things were very, veryuh, you know, passionate and
(08:15):
heartfelt, I would say, on thefloor.
Um so so yeah, and some nightswe didn't get out of there till
three in the morning.
You know, start at 10 a.m., getout of there at 3 a.m.
So uh and then we started allover again the next morning.
SPEAKER_02 (08:30):
Is it is it ever like shake hands, let's let's
grab a beer?
Is it is it everybody's always?
Yeah.
Always.
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
Oh, good, good, you know, it it is.
And look, you and I candisagree.
And uh one thing I want tostress, one of the most
important things that I'vealways said, it's like, look, if
you and I, it's it's like Reaganalways said, if you and I can
agree on 80%, that's a win.
Right.
Well, you and I are never gonnaagree on 100% of the things.
(08:56):
And if we do, great.
I mean, that's unusual.
But there are 20% of the thingsthat we're commonly gonna
disagree on, but it's the way inwhich we disagree.
Do we disagree in a cordialmanner to say, you know what,
Ro, you and I are gonna disagreeon this issue, but you're a
great guy.
Let's go have lunch.
You know, so I remember uh Iremember um a situation, a
(09:21):
situation this session where wewere having some conversations
with a group of folks.
Uh a friend of mine had a bill,and it was about it was a bill
to support ATT.
And ATT deals with a lot ofcopper theft.
And one of the things is is thatyou know, people will actually,
you know, pull copper out ofbuildings and um and they'll
(09:46):
take those fiber, I mean thosecopper bundles and go to go to
um metal yards, scrapyards, andsell the copper.
And the scrapyards don't knowwhere this copper came from.
It's just another, it's morephone wire, right?
So they buy it and and there yougo.
Well, next thing you know, theydidn't know that it was AT ⁇ T's
copper, you know.
(10:06):
So they had this bill anyway.
So a group of people came by myoffice.
I was I was opposing their bill,or I wanted to change their bill
a little bit.
And um, you know, we were goingback and forth and we weren't
really making a whole lot ofprogress.
But at the end of the deal, Isaid, look, this is the way I
see this bill.
It's ATT's problem.
They're trying to, they'retrying to fix their problem on
(10:26):
the backs of on the backs of themetal recyclers in the state of
Texas.
And I understand that.
And and everybody agreed.
I said, so why don't we get AT⁇ T to pay for all their
training, all the softwareupdates that they have to do for
their businesses and things ofthat sort.
Well, the person I was talkingto didn't necessarily like that.
(10:47):
He goes, man, he goes, I don'tknow, it's getting time close to
lunch.
Why don't we go have lunch?
You know?
So so those kinds of things, youknow, and we still have a great
relationship today, but we'lldisagree.
And that's fine.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:00):
You know, the whole time you were saying that, I was
hearing, and get paid in twodollar bills.
That's when I was hearing.
You know, what what are some ofthe biggest challenges you're
seeing right now around, youknow, Paraland and around the
district?
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
Yeah.
So uh we have we have severaldifferent, I mean, you want to
start talking.
I mean, we there's a lot ofchallenges we have, you know,
countywide challenges.
Um we have we have areas of thecounty um now, give I think it
was since 2023 session, uh theADA legislature uh allowed
(11:38):
allowed uh businesses andproperty owners to uh de-annex
themselves from ETJs, uh, movethemselves out of ETJs.
That's causing huge problems.
Uh we have development, youknow, moving into Brizouria
County in droves.
Uh I think you know, we eitherhave you know 40,000 to 50,000
(11:58):
homes either in planning and orin actual construction phase in
Brizzouria County right now.
What that means is that that'sall count, that's all in the
county.
Uh and when you're not withinthe city, a lot of our cities
have development, uh,development codes and stuff like
that where they have certainrules and guidelines that you
(12:20):
have to follow when you build inthe cities.
But when you're in the county,there there are none.
And our counties don't reallyhave the the purview to uh to to
create laws.
So people move to the countybecause they want to be free of
being in the city.
They don't want the traffic,they don't want all the things
that go along with living in acity.
(12:41):
Um, so they want to beindependent.
Well, these a lot of ourdevelopments are they're like
city developments, but they'reputting them in the county.
And the sheriff's department'sthe one that has to actually be
the sole law enforcement uhofficer in the county, which is
huge.
It's a huge burden on oursheriff's department.
We have ESDs that are not new,but we have the largest ESD in
(13:04):
the state of Texas, ESD3, inBrisbane County.
Um, and they're growing likegangbusters.
It's a taxing entity.
Um, so again, you know, we needto support these things.
Um we have property taxes thatwe need to control.
And it's not really the taxrates per se, but it's the
appraisal appraised values thatI think people need to uh you
(13:27):
know understand how to manage,you know, from the from the
appraisal district standpoint.
Uh we need to understand betterhow that's getting done.
Um, what's with rationale forsome of the values that are
coming out of the appraisaldistrict and so on.
Um a key point on that is thatthose those appraisal districts
are not county, they're not runby the county.
(13:50):
They're actually run by thecomptroller's office.
So that's a key distinction thatI think a lot of people get
confused with uh when they thinkthat you know Matt Sebasta in
Brizouria County is actuallyrunning the appraisal district,
and they're not.
Um so the that they fall underthe jurisdiction of the
comptroller's office.
We have insurance issues,whether it's property and
(14:12):
casualty issues or healthinsurance issues, big issues.
We still have just because wegot rid of the border, border
used to be number one, propertytax is now the number one issue
across across our district, andinsurance costs are are very
close to right now.
I I believe that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:31):
What what with you your opinion, what's a what's an
issue that doesn't makeheadlines um but really
affecting everyday Texans?
SPEAKER_01 (14:40):
You know, I would say the I would say the actually
really the health insurancepiece.
We all talk, we all hear aboutthe health insurance issues at
on TV and so on and so forth,but I'm not gonna walk up to you
in town and say, man, our healthinsurance, we need to do
something about the cost of ourhealth insurance and this, that,
(15:01):
and the other.
But if you if you just recentlyhad your homeowner's renewal,
you would say, oh man, we needto do something about our
homeowners renewal.
A lot of people that have healthinsurance have health insurance
under their company.
You know, there are small, smallbusiness owners that have
individual plans and smallplans, and we sell those in our
office.
So I get to talk to these peopleall the time.
(15:22):
Um, and over the years, what'shappened is we've we've stacked
regulation on top of regulationon top of regulation on these
health insurance companiesthat's causing the cost of these
plans to go up.
Add to that, the Affordable CareAct in 2010.
At the time, everybody, youknow, back in the day thought it
(15:43):
was a great idea.
And it was a great start, Iguess.
It was it was a line in the sandthat somebody had to draw and it
got drawn.
But with the unlimited claimsfund and you know, things of
that sort, it becameextraordinarily important for
insurance companies to startaccumulating a lot of money to
(16:05):
manage claims.
So it's a very complicatedissue.
People don't necessarilyunderstand how bad it really is.
I know it's expensive, but mostemployees only pay 50% or less
of what the total cost is.
So uh that's a big issue to me,uh, along with the property and
casualty issues we have uh inproperty taxes.
(16:28):
So those are my three big issuesthat I'm gonna work on.
SPEAKER_02 (16:32):
You know what?
Uh I this is one thing that Ialways want to ask you,
especially you know, being inthe office and and being in
spotlight, you know, politicscan get messy.
How do you how do you stayfocused in serving the people
instead of just you know partylines?
How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01 (16:51):
Gotta stay grounded.
SPEAKER_02 (16:52):
And how do you stay off of social media?
And how do you not read thecomments?
How do you just say like we'rewe're different?
Yeah.
Because, you know, um, um yeah,just I I I respect you, man.
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
Look, um sometimes you have to make some hard
decision and pop decisions inpolitics, you know, and you
know, I'll just take this onedecision head on that everybody
always falls back on.
It was the it was the wholevoucher vote, right?
It was uh it was a situationwhere, I mean, all throughout
the campaign, I always saidthat, you know, I'm gonna always
(17:29):
support my public schools 100%.
I come from public schools, Ihelped to bring bring, you know,
Turner Career in Technology HighSchool to Paraland.
I did all those things, right?
And I still support our publicschools.
The one most underserved uhdemographic in all of our all of
our public schools is are kidswith disabilities.
So when uh we got to the pointwhere we're gonna have this vote
(17:54):
on vouchers and stuff like that.
Uh we went into a caucusmeeting, you know, the governor
was there, the president calledinto the caucus meeting and so
on and so forth.
I was still a no, still a no atthat point.
Um, but then once I got to thefloor, I start to realize that
they have 81 votes already.
(18:16):
So, so I lost.
And I'm fine with I'm fine withthat.
But what happened was whenleadership comes to you and
says, hey, you know, if you hadyour choice, what what is it
that you can get into this billthat would make you vote for
this bill?
And I gave them a list, youknow, on a on a card, and I
(18:37):
said, I want 80% of all themoney to go to kids with
disabilities or economicallydisadvantaged permanently, not
just for one year.
I want uh annual audits toprivate schools.
I want those to happen annually.
I want the uh I want testing,the the tests that these
students take that are gettingthe ESA uh funding.
(18:59):
I want those test scores to goto TEA so that they can be
reported to um to uh to TEA andreported to the public because
it's public money.
And then lastly, I wanted to Iwanted to lock it in at a
billion dollars on on the actuallimit of money that we could
spend.
The way the bill was originallywritten was the 80% was gonna
(19:22):
happen, but just for the firstyear.
And then the billion dollars wasgonna happen, but just for the
first year, they were gonna rollthe waiting list into the into
the cost associated with thatbill.
So there's a lot of dynamicsgoing on.
And when I I said I want to lockin at a billion dollars, I
really thought that that was adeal breaker.
(19:43):
When I said that I wanted tomake 80% uh of the kids with
disabilities and economicdisadvantaged uh have all the
money, 80% of them, I thoughtthat was going to be a deal
breaker.
And then only to realize that asyou start looking at the cost of
rolling in the waiting list, youknow, and it being a billion
(20:04):
dollars, by 2030, that costwould have risen to over four
and a half to five billiondollars.
This is on the taxpayers of ofTexas, okay?
And that we would have beenobligated to pay that money.
So what we did was, what I feltlike I did was I protected kids
with disabilities and those thatare economically disadvantaged
(20:25):
by giving them 80% of the moneyin perpetuity.
And in order for us to increasethe amount of money that the
state of Texas has to pay, Irequired them to come back to
the legislature and ask for moremoney.
So the waiting list no longerrolls in automatically.
And then the other things arekind of dichotomies that help
control uh the cost, uh, controlthe the way that the the
(20:50):
vouchers are distributed orwhatever, and the reporting
associated with that.
So when all was said and done, Iwas a no, I lost.
So if I lost a battle, what am Igonna do?
I'm gonna try and get the bestdeal I can possibly get.
And if you're gonna try and ifyou're gonna get five amendments
(21:12):
on a bill, you have to vote forthe bill.
That's just the way it works inAustin.
So if I go and it doesn't matterwhat it is, we had we had a
couple bills that we worked onwith the city uh for small lot
sizes.
They came in and we we hadconversations with bill authors.
The bill author, you know,implemented everything that we
(21:32):
asked.
So I'm obligated to to vote forthat bill.
Even though I still don't thinkit's a great bill, it's not as
bad as it was.
SPEAKER_02 (21:41):
Uh that makes sense 100%.
And to me, I understand whatyou're saying as well.
With veterans and firstresponders are a big part of
this community.
Uh what's your take on how wecan better support them after
service?
SPEAKER_01 (21:56):
After service?
Yes, sir.
Uh so this session, what we did,we had a bill that that got
passed, this session that thathelped that helped the um uh
surviving spouses of veteransthat were disabled who
ultimately paid the the ultimateprice and passed.
Those those spouses are nowgoing to continue to have have
(22:17):
coverage on you know taxexemptions and things of that
sort.
Uh so that's something new.
Um there's not there's not anysort of undercurrent, I would
say, in Austin that is trying tooppose our veterans and our
service members whatsoever.
Um I tried working on a bill toum get the Operation Lone Star
(22:44):
soldiers uh back pay for um fortheir their service time going
towards their retirement,because if you get deployed on a
state level, it turns out thatyou don't get you don't get
time.
You don't get service time forthat towards your retirement.
It's only if you're federallydeployed do you get that money.
(23:04):
Um I got to a point where youknow I think I think the
legislature was a little bitconfused on really what was
going on, even though they knewhow to do it, we had to bridge a
gap between the state and thefederal government because the
federal government tracks that,the state doesn't.
And that's where things kind offell through the cracks.
(23:25):
You know, we needed to literallyupdate our state software in
order to be able to track it.
And then how do we track it andhow do we calculate all the back
pay?
And I mean, it would have beenum it would have been a yeoman's
feat to be able to do it.
I'm not saying that I stilldon't want to get that done.
Right.
I just um right now what I'vedone is I've gotten to a point
(23:46):
where I think I can get a billto the floor that says that
state, if you're on statedeployment, you can have like a
401k created under the state,state plan to to contribute to
that.
Um I'm still working out thedetails.
SPEAKER_02 (24:03):
But I'm I'm curious, uh who's someone that's
influenced the way you lead andserve?
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
Oh man, um you know, I I just don't really know.
Um you know, growing up, youknow, my parents were always
they've they're the ones thatprobably influenced me the most.
You know, it was you know,always think about others before
yourself.
(24:34):
You know, anytime that anytimethat I do anything, you know,
how is this gonna affect others?
Even in my business, you know,if if I'm a client of mine, how
do I want to be treated, youknow, when it comes to these
situations?
And so I I always I always usethat line of line of thought
when when dealing with e whethermy clients or my constituents or
(24:59):
or anybody, you know, so sothat's that's kind of the that's
kind of what's influenced me themost is is you know just my
Christian grounding.
I'm I'm grounded in Christ allday long, every day.
And if if I'm not, you can getreally lost in in a lot of these
things, right?
You have people that want to,you know, take you places and
(25:21):
take you to dinners and do allthese things all the time, and
you can get lost in what thereal goal is.
The real goal is to betteraffect my district.
How am I going to address theneeds of my district?
And when you people say this allthe time, well, when you go to
Austin, when people go toAustin, they just get lost in
all this stuff.
It's easy to do.
You just have to be focused onwhat it is, you know.
(25:44):
I call it headstrong.
You have to be, you know,headstrong in in knowing why
you're there and knowing knowingthe fact that you're there
temporarily.
Because I have to come back andface face everyone.
Yeah.
I have to face my district.
I have to sit across this tableand look at you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (26:02):
Oh man, that's uh that's I love that.
Family.
Yeah.
And you and your faith.
Uh you know, when you when youhear when you hear the phrase
self uh service before self,what does that mean to you
personally, especially with youbeing a veteran?
SPEAKER_01 (26:21):
Yeah, I mean, you know, you always have to uh have
your eye on the greater good.
You always have to have your eyeon the greater good.
It's not about me.
And and let's just kind of takea step back.
You know, we're we're not herebecause we're put here.
God put me here, and the reasonI'm here is to be able to to
leave my impression upon mycommunity, my state, my world,
(26:44):
or whatever it is.
And um, I'm gonna be there.
I want to leave, I want to leavethis community better off today,
uh, tomorrow than it is today.
And I hope that I can lead inthat way uh so that people can
can look at the way that I'veled in the past to say, you know
what, he's always done the rightthing.
And I feel like I've always donethe right thing.
(27:05):
And um I know that there arethose on social media that say
otherwise.
I'm sure you you probably uh Ican name them all if you wanted
to, but um, there are quite afew folks out there that are um
probably disappointed in somevotes or something like that.
Uh one in particular, but um Iget it.
(27:27):
But what I would encourage allthose individuals to do is call
me.
I everybody has my cell phonenumber.
My cell phone number isplastered all over the place.
I have a district office here inParland, I have one in Austin.
I'm I'm available, I'm probablyone of the most available rep
representatives in the house.
(27:48):
So I'm in the community all thetime and I'm easy easily
accessible.
So service before self, I alwaysgive to my community before I
even think of myself.
So that is always the way it isfor me.
SPEAKER_02 (28:00):
I uh I love that about you, and I truly believe
that.
And uh I go to bat for youbecause I believe in you and and
that's uh that's the truth.
I appreciate it.
I really do.
I really do.
What's uh what's one mission orgoal that you're focused on for
(28:21):
the next couple of years?
SPEAKER_01 (28:24):
We're just trying to get I'm I'm really trying to I'm
I'm trying to get some dynamicfunding for various things.
You know, we you may have youmay have heard that we have all
these propositions on the ballotright now.
Proposition four is a waterfund, it's a billion-dollar
water fund.
Um it's a billion dollars a yearthat the state of Texas is going
(28:46):
to guarantee for the next 20years to address water issues.
Um, if there's any one thingthat you know I want to
accomplish, I want people,whether it be the legislature or
municipalities or whatnot, tounderstand the importance of
infrastructure maintenance.
If we can if we can encourageevery municipality, every county
(29:13):
in the state of Texas to takethat challenge on, we would be a
lot better off today.
Uh we're gonna be a lot betteroff, let's say in two years than
we are today because we'relosing so much water.
It's a precious resource that wehave.
Uh, it's probably one of themost valuable resource because
we need it as humans to live, weneed it in industry to drive
(29:35):
business and support employmentand so on.
Um we need it all over.
It's it's just the one basicfundamental piece thing we need.
If we can get drive that homeand try to make sure that our
cities and municipalities arefocused on updating their
infrastructure uh over the nextcouple of years, I think we're
(29:55):
gonna see a drastic change inthe way that our water level
levels look um and utilizationfor water so we can protect that
over the next if we focus on itthe next couple years we can
protect the water water for ageneration when when it's all
said and done what what kind oflegacy does Jeff Barry want to
(30:20):
leave behind?
No legacy here.
Just gonna be I'm just gonna go.
You know, let someone else takeup the charge and hopefully you
know hopefully whoever whoeverdoes that um is in it for the
right reasons.
You know I still got a long wayto go I hope and as long as the
you know the citizens of youknow District 29 want to
(30:42):
continue to elect me to to dothe job for them I'm happy to do
it.
But there will come a day and itgenerally does except for a
handful of folks uh in thelegislature where where those
days those come to an end.
And um it's not necessarilytheir fault.
It's just things change and uhmaybe they just weren't willing
(31:03):
to change with the way theircommunity's changed.
I always feel like I have apulse in our community um I'm in
it for our community uh I'm inthe community so I can continue
to have a pulse in our communityand uh I hope that whenever it's
all said and done people knowthat I I meant that and I was in
it for them not just for me.
SPEAKER_02 (31:24):
I think the true residents and the people that
truly know you see that and seethe hard work that you're you're
you're doing.
Well thank you.
For anyone that's listeningright now and who wants to make
a difference in the communitywhat advice would you give them
I would say pick pick anorganization and get involved.
SPEAKER_01 (31:46):
You know it doesn't have to be every day it doesn't
have to be every week it couldbe monthly or or or or whatever
whether it's your your churchyou want to get involved in
whether it's a nonprofit dosomething to give back to our
community and that's what I'vealways done.
When uh my wife and I realizedwe weren't going to have a
(32:08):
family per se you know wededicated all of our time and
energy into education that was athat was a decision we both
made.
But it doesn't have to beeducation it could be anything
it could be help the homelessmake our community better do
something to address and affectour community whatever that is
(32:28):
whatever you're passionateabout.
I know this lady who'spassionate about dogs so she
goes to the SBCA every singleday.
This lady doesn't have to workbut she likes to go to the SBCA
every single day and and walkdogs that's a value to that
organization.
Right.
Right?
And that's giving back in a bigway to to them yeah so um just
(32:50):
give back and it doesn't have tobe a big way.
SPEAKER_02 (32:53):
That's that's amazing.
Uh final thoughts what would youlike to say to the people if
they want to reach out to you umif they just like to say
something to you anything.
SPEAKER_01 (33:04):
I mean you can shoot me an email um my email's um
Jeff at votejeffberry.com orjeff dot berry at berry
insurance group dot com or Ihave a house email uh call me on
my cell phone 281-3523525 is mycell phone number uh feel free
(33:24):
to use it tell you a funny storyuh about that I sent out a bunch
a bunch of Christmas cards lastyear after the election and
stuff I think I would send outabout 30 000 of them maybe more
um people started I had my cellphone number on the card you
know and I said hey if you wantto contact me please feel free
or whatever people were callingthe number just to see if
someone would answer the phonefor but I I absolutely it's a
(33:50):
funny thing then they would justhang up like is this Jeff Barry?
Yes it is oh and they laugh andthey hang up you know so uh just
so you know that is a realnumber and I'm always here for
anybody that needs my assistanceat all.
SPEAKER_02 (34:03):
So that's that's amazing.
Yeah uh Jeff again I want to saythank you for giving me your
time today and I reallyappreciate you coming in and
just spending some time with meand letting me just my pleasure
it's been too long.
It really has and I I I tell youman um just watching you is is
amazing and continue the workand congratulations on the new
(34:23):
baby too thank you thank youthank you I appreciate it you
you just get him back for twomonths walking around everywhere
I can't believe it.
I cannot believe it all rightJeff thank you thank you again I
appreciate you you're welcomeanytime
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