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EL PASO BUILDERS A S S O C I AT I O N O F
www.elpasobuilders.com
National, State & Local Building Industry News 2017: Issue 2
RALLY 20 DAY 17 Builders Outlook Special Edition
EPAB meet with leaders in Austin for Rally Day
RALLY DAY 2017
Members of the El Paso Association of Builders attended Rally Day at the State Capitol February . The biennial event allows our members the opportunity to meet with legislators and discuss issues that will impact the housing industry. More photos on page 8
by Ray Adauto The El Paso Association of Builders (EPAB) took a trip to the Capitol on February 22 to visit with the El Paso delegation in their offices. The purpose of the trip was to present the political agenda for the Texas Association of Builders and the El Paso Association of Builders. A total of twenty members and two Friends of the EPAB joined together for the trip. The delegation was led by President Don Rassette, Randy Bowling and Bobby Bowling IV as captains for Rally Day. The El Paso contingent joined over 800 other Texas Association of Builders members who traveled to the event from all over Texas. In attendance were: John Chaney Sam Shallenberger Sergio Cuartas Erika Cuartas Edmundo Dena Edgar Garcia Maribel Garcia Frank Ortega Giselle Ortega Don Rassette Luis Rosas Fernando Torres Walter Lujan Carlos Villalobos Randy Bowling Bobby Bowling IV Gus Loy Laura Loy Margaret Adauto Ray Adauto and from Austin joining us for the visit was Alexis Adauto Ferguson, from Cedar Park and Ruth Rivera, our new retirement agent who lives in Round Rock. The visit was coordinated over the last few months and scheduling appointments with each of our five state Representatives and
the Senator. In addition to the visit with our delegation we had the opportunity to attend El Paso Day’s reception and join with a large contingent of community and business leaders in Austin to promote El Paso to the greater Texas state delegates. We were on the plane with such notables as Mayor Oscar Leeser, City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, City reps Emma Acosta, Peter Svarzbien, and Carl Robinson; Greater Chamber President Richard Dayoub and Chairman Jack White; EPAB member Doug Schwartz and wife Emma; among many others. The trip began with an unofficial lunch at an Austin favorite Gus’s Memphis Style fried chicken where our own Laura Loy learned that this wasn’t just any fried chicken but one that was a tad spicy. From there a contingent went on to the Bullock Texas Museum of History for a lesson on how Texas became Texas. This fascinating museum has blended the history of Texas and its people in a fun factual lesson on the story of us. “I have to say that this was a neat experience for me as a history buff and as a guy who just loves learning,” said John Chaney. Sometimes it was Chaney who turned teacher and gave the rest of us, especially Carlos Villalobos, a historical viewpoint not necessarily on the walls at the museum. We found that getting around Austin is challenging and sometimes pricey due to this city’s ban on Uber and Lyft the standard bearers of off taxi car sharing. Taxis were easily found but they are also keen on taking you off the most direct path unless you remind them. A short rest and then it was off to our ‘Thank You for attending’ dinner. This event was held at the Capital Grille, one of Austin’s nicest steak houses and located within walking distance of our hotel the Driskill. Dinner was hosted by Morrison Supply, HUB International and Passage
Supply. Our thanks to them for making the dinner something we won’t soon forget. Our morning began with a quick early trip to visit our newest representative Evalina Ortega and her staff. President Rassette led our early contingent to meet with her and
present our important legislative agenda and frankly to let each one of us meet each other. As a freshman Representative Ortega is hard at work to learn the ins and outs of the system. She has a capable staff to help but the action is fast and furious. Our next visit was with Representative Joe Moody and we were joined by the entire contingent in his office. Moody welcomed us and sat down with our captains Bobby and Randy Bowling as Bobby IV led the conversation on the TAB agendas and our hopes for the El Paso area. Representative Moody took the information packet and gave us thanks for the time we spent with him. The El Paso Contingent, dressed in white shirts with the new EPAB logo stitched on them were easily identifiable. It also allowed our twenty two to look like forty two as we jammed office after office and hallway after hallway. Our next visit really told that story best.
We made our way to Senator Jose Rodriguez’s office and unfortunately he was tied up in committee meetings on the floor of the Senate. However his staff called to let him know that we had “invaded” his office and he was soon in the room with us. We were joined by his staff. Senator Rodriguez has been a good friend to new home construction and construction trades overall. Our primary talk turned to education and the need for the state to fund trades education at the high school level and to provide funding for transportation and liability insurance for students who are taking courses in the trades. Bobby pointed out that “you can draw house framing on the chalk board but you can’t learn how to nail it” without going onsite, and for that to happen Texas needs to fund trades education. Senator Rodriguez was very supportive of our stand and said he would champion whatever he could to get that done. Our twenty minutes turned to thirty and we thanked the Senator well. The contingent then visited with Representative Mary Gonzalez who asked a simple question when we walked in. “Where’s the women” and if just on que the women walked into the office. Representative Gonzalez is concerned with immigration and equal rights, including our concerns with immigration and labor. Representative Gonzalez has been appointed to the appropriations committee, a plum appointment where the action is all about who gets funded. Our next visit was with Representative Joe Pickett the senior legislator from El Paso and one of the highest ranking House members on the hill. He is transportation Chair and with that comes all the responsibilities of the Texas Department of Transportation. He is an expert in transportation and to prove that point he has a real model T in his office that he and his son hand built piece by piece. Pickett, an avid car collector, said he had to sneak each part in through security. “It got kind of hairy at the end because we almost got caught bringing in the engine lift”, referring to the huge hand crank that lifts the engine into the body. He has some serious concerns on whether or not this session will produce anything of value due to the infighting amongst the senate, legislators and executive branch. “I don’t expect much until we quit fighting...” he said. Our final visit was with Representative Cesar Blanco. He met us in the hallway outside Pickett’s office and promptly took us to the floor of the House. Blanco gave the contingent a private escorted tour of the chamber from inside the “gold Rail” something that is unusual except for some very important guests. He showed the group all the inner workings of his desk and pointed out that there is a bible in each desk that is marked by each of the reps who sat at that desk with their favorite bible verses. Lots of photos later we had to leave the chamber and head back to the Driskill for the reception for our delegation and staff. All in all the day was full, lots of walking and lots of climbing stairs. It was fast and furious but fruitful. With our thanks to those who made the trip or joined us in Austin.