Texas Wildlife Association would like to encourage your participation in the upcoming Boots on the Ground event in Austin on February 14-15. 

The Texas Wildlife Association was prominently mentioned by Governor Rick Perry, and TWA representatives were interviewed extensively by San Antonio media outlets at the June 15 bill signing ceremony for HJR 14, the state constitutional amendment to help protect private property owners from eminent domain abuse.   

TWA supports SB 801 by Sen. Glenn Hegar that provides an extension of the current property tax law for Wildlife Management Valuation to timber land. Sen. Hegar noted this is a logical step in giving landowners of timber land the same the opportunity as other landowners who have open space lands in agriculture to use wildlife management as their practice to maintain the open space valuation at the same level without affecting the tax base. The bill has no fiscal impact.

Texas Wildlife Association representatives were busy in Austin this week reviewing the record 7300-plus bills filed this session, presenting testimony at committee hearings, and preparing for next week's hearings on key issues such as eminent domain reform.

State legislators have filed over 6500 bills this session, an increase of over 25 percent from last session, and as many as 800 more bills are expected to be filed today in advance of this evening's filing deadline in Austin.

The House and Senate are moving rapidly to layout various legislative priorities, and TWA is staying on top of key major issues affecting landowners, hunters and conservationists.

The largest grassroots advocacy turnout of TWA members and supporters in Austin in TWA history converged on the capital city this week for a "Boots on the Ground" event that included activities taking aim at both sporting clays and important policy issues facing state lawmakers.