Issue Position: Rural Issues

Issue Position

Rep. Eddie Rodriguez has been committed to serving all of House District 51, from the urban areas in Central Austin to the rural communities in East and Southeast Travis County. He has worked together with the emergency services district in Southeast Travis County and Senator Judith Zaffirini to ensure that emergency services districts are fairly compensated when cities annex parts of their territory, which is incredibly important for their operations and service delivery (HB 2267/SB 1083 - 86R). He has worked together with Senator Kirk Watson to establish municipal utility districts to meet the needs of rural communities (HB 4345/SB 1996 85R).

Rep. Rodriguez was a coauthor of the bipartisan eminent domain reform bill (HB 991/SB 421 - 86R) and he was a joint author of the Hemp Farming Act (HB 1325 - 86R) in 2019, and he supported creating incentives to drive the expansion of broadband internet access into rural communities (SB 14 - 86R). He also strongly opposed the bill criminalizing pipeline protesters.

Rep. Rodriguez has worked closely together with the community and with local government partners on trying to increase food access and address food insecurity in food deserts (HB 1252 - 86R). He also co-founded the Farm-to-Table Caucus with Senator Lois Kolkhorst, the first bipartisan legislative caucus of its kind in the nation, in 2012, and has championed policies to create economic opportunities for Texas's small and family farms, ranches and other food producers while promoting sustainable, diversified local food systems like the Texas Cottage Food Law.

Highlights:

Emergency Services District compensation for annexation (HB 2267/SB 1083 - 86R)

Coauthor, Eminent Domain Reform (HB 991/SB 421 - 86R)

Joint Author, Hemp Farming Act (HB 1325 - 86R)

Grocery Access Investment Fund (HB 1252- 86R)

Co-founded bipartisan Farm-to-Table Caucus (2012)

Texas Cottage Food Law

2014: "Texans Created Over A Thousand Local Businesses After Texas Eased Restrictions On Selling Food Made At Home" (Forbes)

2019: "New changes to the Texas Cottage Food Law mean more options at farmers markets (and online)" (Dallas Morning News, Texas Tribune, Forbes)

2019: Worked together with bipartisan group of legislators and diverse coalition of stakeholders to lead the most successful legislative session ever for the local foods movement in Texas

Source