Being born and raised in East Texas, State Rep. Cole Hefner said it is easy to cast votes that align with his constituents, in an address Monday to the Mineola Rotary Club.

Serving in his fourth term, he said that he plans to serve another term if the voters will have him.

The Republican addressed a number of topics from the recent state legislative session, acknowledging that with limited time, he couldn’t possibly cover everything.

He started with property taxes, calling it, “the biggest thing we hear about.”

It affects everyone, regardless of geographic location or political persuasion, he said.

Though Texas has among the lowest tax burdens among the states, property taxes were the focus of a $32 billion budget surplus, trying to find the best way to return that money to taxpayers that is sustainable.

The matter was approved in a special session to increase homestead exemptions and lower school property taxes, assuming that voters approve the measures in the November constitutional amendment election.

Among other bills approved was one to expand the state’s ban on an income tax by offering an amendment for voters to approve that will also ban a wealth tax, which has been tried in some states.

A lot of legislation concerned protecting children, Hefner said, though that is not as much of a problem in this area.

One banned taking children to drag shows.

Some $1.43 billion was targeted for school safety.

Election integrity is another area that is always being worked on. Violations of election laws that had been reduced to a misdemeanor were restored to a felony.

Border security was budgeted at $5.1 billion.

Personal vehicle inspection stickers will no longer be required to register vehicles, although drivers must still be responsible, he said, and can still receive a traffic ticket for violations of vehicle safety rules.

A large amount of funding was targeted at infrastructure, according to Hefner, including $1 billion for water and record funding for the Texas Dept. of Transportation (which included funding for the Wood County airport – see related story).

Surviving spouses will automatically receive any property tax exemptions without having to apply for them.

Another area targeted as illegal activity was drone voyeurism.

One area that was not addressed by the legislature but could be the subject of a special session is school vouchers.

Hefner said he will support whatever is best for kids.

“The public school works for 95% of the kids,” he said, adding that in this area, most will choose public schools.