Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seven fifty one now here in Houston's warning news. All Right,
nobody's been victimized more than Currville from the floods and
now from Democrats in the state legislature who are not
showing up to pass aid for Currville. Texas State Representative
West Burdell joins us kind of adding insult to injury, isn't.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It, Wes, Yeah, it's extremely disappointing. We want to get
work done and we want to take care of legislation
dealing with Currville and many other areas.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
What I'm sure there's been preliminary talks and I'm sure
the Senate is talking about it as well. What are
some of the things that the state is talking about
providing to Currville to help them recover.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So we're looking at state funding for warning systems and
better gauge systems, and also we're looking.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
At the possibility with.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
FEMA. Basically what happens is FEMA reimburses, so the companies
have to put up the funding first to fix all
the infrastructure, and so we're looking at options that we
can actually help the local counties out before FEMA reimpurse them.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, the state has a raindy Day Fund. Obviously, I'm
not sure exactly how much is in there right now.
You would know better than I do, But is there
any talk that you Okay, obviously there's some money that's available.
There is the state talking about the possibility of dipping
into the Raindy Day Fund in order to be able
to fund some of these projects that need to be done.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, I've had some conversations with some of the financial
folks in the House, and there is that option. We
have a letter w We're about sen of the governor
requesting that he used some of those funds to help
out for the moment, so and hopefully he'll help us
out on that.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah. I've seen a lot of video obviously coming out
of Kerrville in Kerr County, and you know, there's a
lot of damage that remains. I guess there's probably damage
that's going to be there for a while. There's a
lot of sheet rocks sitting by the roadways and all
sorts of other issues. And I'm thinking too that maybe
the community that in addition to obviously the residents and
many of whom have lost everything, there's a lot of
(02:00):
businesses in Curveville right now that are hurting aren't there.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
There are, And so we actually filed a bill. I
filed a bill House Bill two zero six, And what
the bill does is it gives preference to local contractors
for goods and services before going elsewhere. So basically, your
if your government is contracting for goods or services to
help with this, my bill would give preference to the
locals first, and that would help keep the money in
(02:24):
the district. We haven't got a hearing on that yet.
Hopefully our next committee hearing will have that. But the
bill's not going to pass if the Democrats don't come
home and help us out.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah. And part of the problem too, is is that
a big chunk of your economy in Curveville comes from tourism,
does it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, tourism and camps, and the camps are all, you know,
shut down for the rest of the summer.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, and tourism I'm thinking is now too that there's
been I've seen a lot of stories of wedding venues
and other things out there in the Hill Country that
have been basically don't have the business that they were
going to have. A lot of people canceled.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, it's a real concern, and so we need the tourism,
and it also helps the tax revenue for the local governments,
which then helps them rebuild, you know, all the infrastructure
that's been damaged from that flood.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now about those Democrats, how are we going to get
them to come home? I think that the governor is
doing just about all he can do at this point.
We'll find out how far he's willing to go. I
think he's pretty much given them until tomorrow to get
back to Austin, or the firings, if you will, will begin.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I believe that's the case. You know, we'll be back
there tomorrow. I'll get there tomorrow morning, and I hope
my peers come in. The reality is is we're getting
paid to be there each day. And imagine any other
job where you don't show up to work and you're
still getting paid. So I support the fines for them
not being there. And the other frustrating thing is a
lot of us actually work for a living outside of
(03:52):
the legislation, and I need to be taking care of
business back home, and I'm not able to do that
because we can't get business done in Austin right now.
So it hurts not only other families and curve them
all too. Help hurts my family too.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, how long if you're a betting man, how long
do you think they try to hold out? Do you
think do you think you have enough for quorum come
tomorrow or do you think this thing's going to stretch
into the next week and maybe the week after that.
It's fifty fifty.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We're I think we're getting really close to that quorum number.
And I'm grateful to the Democrats that have shown up
to do the work that they promise their constituents they
would do. But it's going to be close, and I
really am not sure. But you know, I think when
they start threatening and taking away their seniority and vacating
chairs and everything, I think some of them are taking
(04:37):
a lot more serious. And there's the reality that there
are vice chairs. You know, the Democrats are put into
vice chair positions and they get extra funding each month
because they're a vice chair. I think we need to
take away their chairmanships, which would take away their office funding.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, well, they seem to respond to that idea take
away their funds, all right? Wes, thanks for joining us
and thanks for the update on Curveville. Appreciated. Texas State
Representative Wes Verdell
Seven fifty one now here in Houston's warning news. All Right,
nobody's been victimized more than Currville from the floods and
now from Democrats in the state legislature who are not
showing up to pass aid for Currville. Texas State Representative
West Burdell joins us kind of adding insult to injury, isn't.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It, Wes, Yeah, it's extremely disappointing. We want to get
work done and we want to take care of legislation
dealing with Currville and many other areas.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
What I'm sure there's been preliminary talks and I'm sure
the Senate is talking about it as well. What are
some of the things that the state is talking about
providing to Currville to help them recover.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So we're looking at state funding for warning systems and
better gauge systems, and also we're looking.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
At the possibility with.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
FEMA. Basically what happens is FEMA reimburses, so the companies
have to put up the funding first to fix all
the infrastructure, and so we're looking at options that we
can actually help the local counties out before FEMA reimpurse them.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, the state has a raindy Day Fund. Obviously, I'm
not sure exactly how much is in there right now.
You would know better than I do, But is there
any talk that you Okay, obviously there's some money that's available.
There is the state talking about the possibility of dipping
into the Raindy Day Fund in order to be able
to fund some of these projects that need to be done.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, I've had some conversations with some of the financial
folks in the House, and there is that option. We
have a letter w We're about sen of the governor
requesting that he used some of those funds to help
out for the moment, so and hopefully he'll help us
out on that.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah. I've seen a lot of video obviously coming out
of Kerrville in Kerr County, and you know, there's a
lot of damage that remains. I guess there's probably damage
that's going to be there for a while. There's a
lot of sheet rocks sitting by the roadways and all
sorts of other issues. And I'm thinking too that maybe
the community that in addition to obviously the residents and
many of whom have lost everything, there's a lot of
(02:00):
businesses in Curveville right now that are hurting aren't there.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
There are, And so we actually filed a bill. I
filed a bill House Bill two zero six, And what
the bill does is it gives preference to local contractors
for goods and services before going elsewhere. So basically, your
if your government is contracting for goods or services to
help with this, my bill would give preference to the
locals first, and that would help keep the money in
(02:24):
the district. We haven't got a hearing on that yet.
Hopefully our next committee hearing will have that. But the
bill's not going to pass if the Democrats don't come
home and help us out.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah. And part of the problem too, is is that
a big chunk of your economy in Curveville comes from tourism,
does it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, tourism and camps, and the camps are all, you know,
shut down for the rest of the summer.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, and tourism I'm thinking is now too that there's
been I've seen a lot of stories of wedding venues
and other things out there in the Hill Country that
have been basically don't have the business that they were
going to have. A lot of people canceled.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yeah, it's a real concern, and so we need the tourism,
and it also helps the tax revenue for the local governments,
which then helps them rebuild, you know, all the infrastructure
that's been damaged from that flood.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now about those Democrats, how are we going to get
them to come home? I think that the governor is
doing just about all he can do at this point.
We'll find out how far he's willing to go. I
think he's pretty much given them until tomorrow to get
back to Austin, or the firings, if you will, will begin.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I believe that's the case. You know, we'll be back
there tomorrow. I'll get there tomorrow morning, and I hope
my peers come in. The reality is is we're getting
paid to be there each day. And imagine any other
job where you don't show up to work and you're
still getting paid. So I support the fines for them
not being there. And the other frustrating thing is a
lot of us actually work for a living outside of
(03:52):
the legislation, and I need to be taking care of
business back home, and I'm not able to do that
because we can't get business done in Austin right now.
So it hurts not only other families and curve them
all too. Help hurts my family too.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, how long if you're a betting man, how long
do you think they try to hold out? Do you
think do you think you have enough for quorum come
tomorrow or do you think this thing's going to stretch
into the next week and maybe the week after that.
It's fifty fifty.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We're I think we're getting really close to that quorum number.
And I'm grateful to the Democrats that have shown up
to do the work that they promise their constituents they
would do. But it's going to be close, and I
really am not sure. But you know, I think when
they start threatening and taking away their seniority and vacating
chairs and everything, I think some of them are taking
(04:37):
a lot more serious. And there's the reality that there
are vice chairs. You know, the Democrats are put into
vice chair positions and they get extra funding each month
because they're a vice chair. I think we need to
take away their chairmanships, which would take away their office funding.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, well, they seem to respond to that idea take
away their funds, all right? Wes, thanks for joining us
and thanks for the update on Curveville. Appreciated. Texas State
Representative Wes Verdell
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