Why Is The Texas Attorney General Race Important?
Texas has a weak governor system with power shared with the Attorney General, who is the state’s elected chief legal officer. The AG is key to redistricting. Importantly, the Attorney General is one of 5 members of the Legislative Redistricting Board. We must realize that the Texas Attorney General will be defending Texas redistricting before the courts and the Department of Justice. Too few people realize the enabling role of the Texas Attorney General in Tom DeLay's mid-decade redistricting. It would not have happened but for the conduct of Texas AG Greg Abbott. With Texas expected to gain four congressional seats after the census, the direction of those new seats interests the entire nation.
• The Attorney General possesses Constitutional authority to make the legal calls on behalf of the state and defend state statutes. The Attorney General also decides when to confess error with regard to a statute, analogous to a court striking down a statute or the President telling the Solicitor General to confess error on a federal statute.
• The Attorney General sits as an ex-officio member of state committees and commissions.
OUT OF CONTROL INSURANCE AND ELECTRIC RATES
• The rate setting systems in Texas are broken. Companies are overcharging. We all suffer from the lack of enforcement of prompt pay rules and lack of transparency for risk loss ratios. Anti-competitive practices and profiteering have led to sky high rates. The Attorney General has massive power to protect the State and Texas consumers.
THE FRANCHISE MARGIN TAX: UNCONSTITUTIONAL
• It was an informal AG opinion which permitted the "franchise margin tax", an income tax falling disproportionately on Texas partnerships, Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and a variety of service businesses. Despite clear Texas Constitutional prerequisites for a statewide referendum on any income tax a referendum was never held. The margin tax is unfair, unconstitutional and skews school finance.
