EDINBURG — A trio of local lawmakers tackled a host of pressing topics during a panel discussion hosted by the Texas Tribune at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance on Wednesday afternoon.
State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen and state Reps. Oscar Longoria, D-Mission, and Armando “Mando” Martinez, D-Weslaco, took on questions about everything from healthcare, to gun safety, as well as a growing sense among some political pundits that the Rio Grande Valley — long a Democratic stronghold — is fast becoming red.
The hour-long discussion, which included a short Q&A with members of the audience, was moderated by Tribune CEO and veteran journalist Evan Smith.
Smith began by immediately diving into the deep end and asking a timely question about abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade.
“Tomorrow is the day that the trigger law goes into effect and abortion is set to be illegal in Texas,” Smith said.
“Sen. Hinojosa, what — if anything — do legislators do about that?” Smith asked, adding that all three of the Democratic lawmakers voted against the bill.
“There’s not much you can do about it for the simple reason that the majority of legislators supported legislation that passed and triggered the legislation that’s going to impact (tomorrow),” Hinojosa replied.
Longoria, who spoke of his two young daughters, said he disagreed with an absolute ban on abortion, especially in cases involving child victims of sex crimes.
He added that his vote was tempered by the will of his constituents.
“I’m Catholic. I have faith, but I still believe there’s a separation between church and state. And a lot of the decisions I make are based on my faith, but ultimately, they’re contingent on what my constituents want,” Longoria said.
However, Longoria put the onus for the passage of such restrictive legislation back on the voters at large.
“If the majority of the state wants to continue in this direction where we have an absolute ban… well, hopefully they vote in that manner. And if they don’t hopefully, they vote in the manner that’s more aligned with what their personal interests are,” Longoria said.
Meanwhile, like Sen. Hinojosa, Armando Martinez alluded to the near irrefutable strength of the Republican majority in both houses of the state legislature.
“I think whoever the majority is is gonna be the one that controls that narrative,” Martinez said.
And for Texas conservatives, that narrative focused on outlawing abortion, redrawing legislative maps, restricting voting rights, limiting what teachers can teach in their classrooms, and passing legislation aimed at transgender children.
It took a failed walkout by Democratic lawmakers and three special sessions that stretched well into the fall of 2021 before Texas Republicans fully prevailed on those priorities.
“I think that their intention is probably gonna pass and they are gonna continue to push social issues instead of entertaining and looking at the issues that really concern Texans, which is education, healthcare (and) safety,” Martinez added.
Smith would later return to the idea that conservatives had established an iron grip on the capitol in 2021.
“One theory of last session is that the Republicans ran the table. They had a very ambitious agenda and once they realized that you guys were not gonna take back control of the Texas House in 2020… they knew they could pretty much do whatever they wanted,” Smith said.
“They put everything out there and they got almost everything they wanted,” he said.
Conservatives pursued that agenda while forgoing other critical issues — issues that had stark spotlights shone on them in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a rise in mass casualty gun violence.
Rep. Martinez — a career paramedic — lambasted Texas’ woefully insufficient public health support net.
“When you have a state that’s ranked last in healthcare, last in education, I think there’s a concern with a state that is the ninth largest global economy. We should be first in healthcare, first in education,” Martinez said.
Texas has repeatedly refused to expand Medicaid, which provides federally-backed free or low-cost health insurance to low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities.
But for Hinojosa, doing so just results in Texas shooting itself in the foot.
“Keep in mind that when we don’t provide health insurance, provide healthcare to many families who are not covered, we still pay for it. They end up in the emergency room, or our insurance rates go up to pay for their medical costs,” Hinojosa said.
“So, there’s always a cost involved.”
Perhaps one of the most contentious issues the lawmakers touched on was gun control.
During the 2021 session, the legislature passed HB 1927, making permitless carry legal.
Republicans have often balked at any attempt to regulate gun ownership, including proposals to raise the minimum purchasing age to 21, or the implementation of so-called “red flag” laws that would restrict gun possession by individuals with a history of domestic violence, mental health issues or other similar concerns.
On May 24, an 18-year-old man armed with an assault rifle carried out one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country when he murdered 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.
In the wake of Uvalde, Smith asked the lawmakers how they anticipated the gun control conversation to look in 2023.
“It is a complete disappointment that we have not addressed this issue,” said Martinez, who had a concealed carry license prior to the permitless carry law going into effect.
“When you have a governor that called a special session on election issues because of a big lie, you did not have a governor who is stepping up to protect our children and protect our teachers,” he said.
