THE ISSUES

Senator Hinojosa has continually fought for better health care, more competitive utility rates and several other key issues to improve the quality of life for Texans. His ambitious plans include:

Making a College Education More Affordable
Senator Hinojosa fought against tuition deregulation because he feared that it would make it harder for working families to afford college. During the 80th session, he spearheaded a legislative agenda to impose a three-year moratorium on rising tuition rates, which have soared by more than 35 percent since tuition was deregulated. And his legislation would have allowed a single yearly increase after the three-year moratorium with a cap on the yearly increase at five percent. While it generated much debate during the 80th legislative session, the leadership chose not to address this issue. Next session, Senator Hinojosa plans to keep on pushing until real reform happens.

More Competitive Utility Rates
While our summer has been milder this year, our utility prices have not been so cool. Senator Hinojosa has been a very vocal opponent of the skyrocketing energy rates saddling South Texans with mountains of debt. As a result, he secured $170 million to fund electric rate discounts during our hottest months in the next two years. The Senator will continue to work on making utilities more affordable for working Texans.

Affordable Health Care for Every Texan
Every Texan has the right to affordable health insurance – not just a chosen few. This is why Senator Hinojosa sponsored HB 109 to restore Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits to 127,000 children in Texas. And when the state demanded more than $150 million from local taxpayer funded public hospitals, he worked to reverse the policy, which would have been yet another drain on local taxpayers, and would have diminished the care that these hospitals could provide to their communities. There is no doubt that our health care system is in crisis, and Senator Hinojosa will continue to fight for our most basic right to affordable health care.

Enforce Policies to Improve Child Safety in Schools
We should feel that our children are safe when they attend our public and private schools. When Senator Hinojosa learned that a simple machine called an Automatic External Defibrillator, or AED, could save hundreds of lives, he authored SB 7. Now every school in Texas will have an AED so no more lives are tragically lost to sudden cardiac arrest. He also sponsored legislation that will expand criminal background checks on adults who come into contact with our children at school, and he passed legislation that mandates school districts address teen dating violence. With a comprehensive background in criminal justice, Senator Hinojosa will continue to make safety in schools one of his top priorities.

Strengthen Border Security and Law Enforcement
Nobody knows more about border security than the communities who live along the border. As a lifelong resident of South Texas, Senator Hinojosa has made it a top priority to give law enforcement the tools they need to protect our border region. This is why he fought for a new $43 million Department of Public Safety headquarters that will oversee 13 counties along the border. And he worked with a bipartisan group of legislators to allocate more than $120 million to border security, ensuring that our officers have the training and technology they need to keep our communities safe. Senator Hinojosa will continue to work with legislators from across the state on strengthening border security without harming the business and cultural relations with Mexico that make our region one of the most dynamic in the nation.

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