TEXAS AFL-CIO

STATE LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE

2016 Elections

Name:

Candidate for the Position of:

Mailing Address for Contributions:

Phone: E-mail Address:____________________________

Website Address:

Telephone Contact Numbers: Campaign ______________ Personal _____________

On Facebook? On Twitter? Other? ______________

Return completed copy to your local central labor council(s) and mail one copy to:

Texas AFL-CIO
1106 Lavaca Street Suite 200
Austin, TX 78701
512.477.6195

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this questionnaire on issues that affect working people.
This questionnaire will be used by the appropriate central labor council(s) as one tool in the
endorsement process. If you have any questions, please contact René Lara at the Texas AFL-CIO.

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1. Public Employees’ Economic Freedom

Union membership for public employees in Texas is completely voluntary, as is the decision whether
to pay union dues through payroll deduction. Voluntary payroll deduction is available to public
employees for myriad reasons, ranging from insurance premiums to charities to advocacy
organizations the employee chooses to support. In the case of union dues, there is no cost to the
taxpayer, as by statute the public employer has the ability to recoup any expenses for making the
deduction from the organization receiving it. Despite this, in the 2015 legislative session, the Texas
Senate, after some delay, passed a bill (SB 1968) that would have taken away the ability of some
public employees to pay their organizational membership dues through their employers’ payroll
deduction system. While teachers and state employees were initially at risk of losing this secure
method of dues payment, later that same session, amendment language surfaced that would have
included firefighter and police unions to the payroll deduction ban.

Will you oppose all efforts to strip away public employees’ economic freedom to support the
organization of their choice through voluntary payroll deduction?

YES _____________ NO______________

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2. Pensions

Groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Texas Public Policy
Foundation (TPPF) and the Arnold Foundation seek the dismantling of the pension funds that public
employees rely on for survival in retirement. These groups seek to destroy traditional, defined-benefit
pension systems, such as the Teacher Retirement System (TRS), Employees Retirement System
(ERS) and pension funds for firefighters and other local government employees. They want to break
up the public pension funds into individual 401k/IRA-type of accounts that shift investment risk to
individual employees.

Public pension funds in Texas are sound and run efficiently with low administrative costs. They are
composed of the employees’ contributions along with a matching employer contribution, plus
investment returns.

If elected, will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing proposals that would convert defined-benefit
public pension systems into defined contribution plans, such as a 401k or similar plans?

YES NO

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Furthermore, do you support maintaining or raising, as necessary, the state contribution rates to the
public employee pension funds in order to enable employees’ to retire with dignity?

YES_____________ NO _______________

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3. Buy Texas/Buy American

In 2013, the Texas AFL-CIO supported legislation (HB 535) that required state agencies to give
preference to Texas and U.S-manufactured goods when the cost and quality of a product is of equal
value compared to foreign-made goods. That same year, House Bill 4, known as the Water Bill,
contained stronger Buy American requirements for water infrastructure projects. The preferences
would apply if the domestic products cost up to 20 percent more than the foreign manufactured
goods. Governor Rick Perry vetoed HB 535 but signed House Bill 4.

Will you support Buy Texas/American laws to the extent allowed under trade treaties?

YES NO

4. Equal Pay for Women

During the previous two legislative sessions, with Labor support, State Representative Senfronia
Thompson sponsored the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would allow lawsuits for unequal pay
discrimination to move forward. The U.S. Supreme Court had stopped such lawsuits based on a
technicality. The Lilly Ledbetter Act removes the technicality by allowing lawsuits within 180-days of
the last discriminatory paycheck instead of the first paycheck. While the federal government passed
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the Lilly Ledbetter Act as it applies to suits filed in federal court, we should do the same at the state
court level.

Will you support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?

YES NO

5. Privatization of Public Services

Privatization schemes offer the false hope of reducing government costs through greater innovation
and efficiency. In reality, they simply transfer public-sector jobs to the private-sector--but with
reduced wages and benefits. Shareholders of the private-sector company win--not the taxpayers. In
past years, Texas experienced disastrous results when it turned to private prisons. In 2005, the
privatization of public assistance programs resulted in no savings to the state, which discovered
embarrassing mismanagement in the delivery of aid, resulting in thousands of eligible Texans losing
services. More recently, another contract in the range of $110 million was issued to a private
company, 21CT, for a Medicaid fraud detection system. A criminal investigation and at least four
resignations resulted from the fiasco.

If elected, will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing efforts to privatize public services in Texas?

YES NO

6. Private School Vouchers

Private school voucher legislation would authorize the use of taxpayer dollars to send children to
private and religious schools. Tax tuition credits accomplish the same goal by giving corporations tax
relief in return for funding of private school scholarships. We think both proposals undermine the
ability of public schools to provide for a quality education for all children in Texas. Both mechanisms
drain money from an under-funded public school system.

If elected, will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing private school vouchers in any form, including
schemes like “opportunity scholarships,” and tuition tax credits that fund private school tuition?

YES NO

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7. Local Control for Living Wage and Other Municipal Ordinances

In previous sessions, legislation has been filed that would have effectively eliminated an Austin local
ordinance that guarantees construction workers a living wage and rest breaks. Most recently, the
jurisdictional authority of cities has been challenged so broadly that even pay day loan ordinances
were at-risk of state preemption.

Will you support protecting municipalities’ authority to adopt ordinances that raise wages, benefits,
and working conditions, and that protect workers as consumers, beyond what is provided in state
law?

YES NO

8. Voting Rights

In recent years, a number of states, including Texas, have enacted highly restrictive voting
requirements, such as the Photo ID law. . The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that
Texas law was discriminatory against minority voters. Unfortunately, we expect that this issue will
continue to come before the legislature as part of a trend around the country to restrict voting rights.

If elected, will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing efforts to restrict, limit or discourage
participation at the ballot box?

YES NO

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9. Human Trafficking

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Unfortunately, even in modern-day Texas too many people are still held in slave-like conditions and
different forms of forced labor. The Texas AFL-CIO has supported all efforts to crack down on
human traffickers and others who seek to exploit their fellow human beings for profit.

Will you join us in support of legislation that addresses the problem of human trafficking?

YES_________ NO__________

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10. Attacks on Union Political Activity

In 2011 legislation was filed that would have made it very difficult for public employee unions to raise
political funds; it would have placed onerous requirements on private-sector union PAC fundraising
and would have prohibited union dues funding of lobbying and issue advocacy. Another bill would
have created criminal misdemeanor penalties for companies and unions that did not show deductions
for political action committees on the employees’ pay stubs.

Will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing targeted efforts to prevent unions from voluntarily raising
and spending money for lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns?

YES NO

11. Unemployment Benefits

Texas ranks near the bottom of the 50 states in the percentage of unemployed workers who actually
receive benefits.

If elected, will you support legislation to modernize our unemployment system, including extending
eligibility to part-time workers and looking to the most recent wages for eligibility calculations?

YES NO

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In addition, will you support making benefits available to unemployed workers who are laid off
because of a labor dispute at another location in which they are not involved?

YES NO

12. Workers’ Compensation

Texas remains the ONLY state in the country that does not require employers to carry any form of
workers’ compensation or workplace injury insurance, thereby leaving workers without any real
recourse for workplace injuries. Taxpayers also suffer the financial consequences when injured
workers are left at the hospital emergency room doors without insurance to pay the bills.

Will you support legislation that would make it mandatory for all employers to carry workers’
compensation insurance for their employees?

YES NO

Despite the fact that a significant percentage of Texas employers lack workers’ compensation
insurance, the state does not even collect information concerning workers who are injured while
working for employers who decline to carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Will you support efforts to require all employers to at least report the total amount of benefits paid,
both in the nature of income and medical benefits so that the legislature in considering future reforms
can have accurate data from which to operate?

YES NO

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Will you support efforts to raise the benefits that injured workers receive?

YES NO

13. Public Employee Salaries

Pay for public employees in Texas has lagged for years, with either token raises or no raises at all in
legislative sessions during the last decade. This has resulted in higher levels of turnover in critical
areas.

If elected, will you support a substantial pay hike for state employees, teachers and other school
employees, correctional officers and college and university employees?

YES NO

14. Increase in the State Minimum Wage

President Obama has proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour from the
current rate of $7.25. Congress has failed to adopt this proposal into law. Various states and
municipalities have acted on their own authority to raise their minimum wage. The State of Texas has
the power to adopt a higher state minimum wage than the federal rate. Do you support raising the
state minimum wage to $10.10 or more?

YES NO

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15. State Employee Rights

In 2009, a bill had a provision that would have converted state employees’ employment positions into
“at-will” status. The Texas AFL-CIO believes that the statutory requirement for state agencies to
demonstrate “good cause” in dismissing an employee is an important right every public employee
ought to keep.

If elected, will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing proposals to take away state employee due
process protections?

YES NO

16. Attacks on Firefighters’ Collective Bargaining Rights

In 2013, proposed legislation would have raised the bar on firefighters and police to conduct an
election for an exclusive collective bargaining representative by requiring a majority of affirmative
votes to be cast from all employees affected, making the absent votes count as “no” votes.

Will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing any efforts to weaken firefighters’ and any other public
employees’ collective bargaining rights by inserting anti-democratic changes into union election
rules?

YES NO

17. Expanding Collective Bargaining for Public Employees

We believe that all employees, public and private, should have the right to engage in collective
bargaining with their employer. Under current law, the vast majority of public employees in Texas do
not have that right.

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Will you support efforts to extend collective bargaining rights to all public employees in Texas?

YES NO

Will you support legislation that gives public safety officers (firefighters, EMS, police officers,
correctional officers, and sheriff’s deputies) in all jurisdictions over 5,000 population the right to form
and join a union or association of their choosing, and, if they wish; the right to bargain over wages,
hours, and working conditions, while prohibiting strikes and lockouts?

YES NO

Will you support efforts to extend collective bargaining to employees of a particular political
subdivision, such as school districts, if both the employer and the employees supported the effort?

YES NO

18. Prevailing Wage

Texas’ prevailing wage law assures local contractors who uphold prevailing rates of pay in a
geographic area a fair chance to compete for government projects without being undercut by firms
using cut-rate labor. In recent years there has been an erosion of use of the prevailing wage concept
on major projects within the state and there has been little or no effort to survey job markets to keep
the wage rate current. In addition, enforcement of these laws is extremely lax, effectively giving a
wink and a nod to those who fail to comply with the law.

If elected, will you support legislation that strengthens the enforcement of the state’s prevailing wage
law?

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YES NO

Will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing efforts to weaken or repeal the state’s prevailing wage
laws?

YES NO

19. Licensing

Over the years, our Building Trades affiliates have supported legislative efforts to establish licensing
requirements for various trades to obtain a high level of quality workmanship and public safety in
various construction industries.

If elected, will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposing efforts to weaken licensing and regulation in
construction trades in general?

YES NO

20. Misclassification of Workers as Independent Contractors

Some employers in various industries misclassify their employees as independent contractors to

avoid paying taxes and benefits such as federal payroll taxes and unemployment insurance for their
workers. The problem is especially egregious in the construction industry where home builders who
misclassify their employees gain an unfair competitive advantage over employers who follow the law.
In years past, legislation has been filed to crack down on employee misclassification on government-
funded construction projects.

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If elected, will you support strengthening the penalties on employers who misclassify their employees
and independent contractors.

YES NO

21. In-State Tuition for Immigrant Students

In the last legislative session, a bill was introduced to eliminate the ability of otherwise-qualified
immigrant students to pay in-state tuition despite the fact that these students had grown up in the
United States and came here illegally through no fault of their own. The Texas AFL-CIO and the
Texas Association of Business testified jointly in opposition to the legislation.

Will you join the Texas AFL-CIO in opposition to legislation that removes in-state tuition for
undocumented immigrant students?

YES______ NO_________

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