Canales filed bill to make information on House website available in Spanish.
Lawmaker Hopes to Boost Hispanic Civic Engagement
by Veronica Zaragovia, KUT News, Texas Tribune,
In an attempt to increase civic participation among the state's growing Hispanic population, state Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, has filed a bill to make legislative information from the state House available on the internet in Spanish.
Canales Support UTRGV bill.
Valley medical school proposal passes Texas Senate
Written by David A. Diaz, Progress Times
Legislation that would merge the University of Texas-Pan American and UT-Brownsville – and also creates a UT medical school in the Rio Grande Valley as part of the proposed system – was passed by the Texas Senate on Wednesday, March 13.
The Senate vote paves the way for action in the coming days by the House of Representatives.
“Among many advantages it represents for South Texas, this bill would allow UT-Pan American, which is in my legislative district, UT-Brownsville, and the planned UT medical school access to the multi-billion dollar Permanent University Fund, which helps pay for major construction projects,” said freshman State Representative Terry Canales.
The measure approved by the Senate, Senate Bill 24, is authored by Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., D-Brownsville, Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo.
Canales authors bill requiring poachers to pay landowners.
State officials weigh outdoors recreation issues
By Shannon Tompkins, Houston Chronicle
Outdoors recreation and the wildlife, fisheries, land, water and other natural resources underpinning activities such as fishing, hunting, boating and camping play profoundly valuable roles in the quality of lives of millions of Texans while annually pumping billions of dollars into the state's economy.
Canales says 2/3 vote needed for university funds.
Senate approves university
By Matthew Waller Scripps Texas Newspapers
AUSTIN, Texas - The full Texas Senate voted in favor of starting a new, major University of Texas System university and medical school in South Texas.
With a vote of 30-1, the Senate approved Senate Bill 24, which would create the institution by merging two existing universities, UT-Pan American in Edinburg and UT-Brownsville. The UT Health Science Center San Antonio Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen also would be part of the new institution.
"Today is a historic day for the Rio Grande Valley," state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, a primary author of the bill, told his Senate colleagues in a prepared statement.
"The Rio Grande Valley is one of the largest and fastest-growing geographical areas in Texas. Our demographics already offer a preview of what the nation's demographics will look like within a generation. This new university will immediately become one of the largest Hispanic-serving institutions in the country," according to another part of his statement.
Canales proposes bill to increase tax free hotel period to 60 days.
Hotel rooms and worker lodges are full across South Texas, as the oil and gas industry rushes to drill thousands of new wells in the Eagle Ford Shale.
With a lack of available rental homes and apartments, companies must house workers in temporary lodging.
And communities have been more than happy with the increasing hotel-motel taxes.
But workers who stay in a hotel for at least 30 consecutive days don't have to pay the hotel-motel tax — at all.
Under scrutiny, bill would limit food stamp rollovers
An Edinburg legislator filed legislation Friday that would limit the benefits recipients of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — known as food stamps — could carry over continually, days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture directed state agencies to conduct a review of high balance accounts.
The USDA directive was apparently issued independently but State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, began work on the legislation after local television news story on a single SNAP account with a balance of more than $7,000.
Canales’ bill would require that benefits not used 90 days after they are issued be expunged from an account and credited back to the original funding source.
“I think that ensures that there are funds available for the people that really need it,” he said.
Bill to change Hotel Tax.
Bills target those long oil field hotel stays
Hotel rooms and worker lodges are full across South and West Texas, as the oil and gas industry rushes to drill thousands of new wells.
And communities across the state are more than happy to take the hotel-motel taxes.
But not long into the oil boom, it became clear that there’s a loophole at work.
Workers who stay in a hotel for at least 30 consecutive days don’t have to pay the hotel-motel tax at all. And given the lack of available rental homes and apartments in the regions, companies are housing workers in hotels and special lodges that cater to the industry.
Lawmakers Takes Action After SNAP Investigative Report
A bill has been filed limiting rollovers of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds.
It comes directly after an investigative report by Action 4's Joey Horta.
Concerned viewers first asked why there was no limit on how much taxpayer dollars can be given to someone on SNAP?
The questions came after our story of a man who worked at a convenience store noticed a customer paying with a lone star card---who had a balance of more than 7 thousand dollars which had not yet been used and instead rolled over from month to month.
Action 4 brought the issue up to state representative Terry Canales, who took quick action to limit those monies.