Hunter Bonner/Contributing writer
Friday, March 10, 2023 was the deadline for legislators to file bills. Now that we are 60 days into the Legislative Session, constitutionally we are at the point that bills can actually be voted on. There is a Senate Bill filed that the Marion County Sheriff’s Office would benefit greatly if passed.
SB 22 – Relating to the establishment of grant programs to provide financial assistance to qualified sheriff’s departments, district attorney’s offices, and county attorney’s offices in rural counties.
This applies to counties with populations of 300,000 or less. In the case of Marion County, our county would qualify for a grant of $250,000. According to the bill’s language, this money can be used to provide minimum salaries for the Sheriff, Deputies, Jailers, and the like. This also can be used for salary increases for existing staff, and hiring of new staff, as well as equipment purchases.
This bill was filed on Friday, March 10, 2023 and has 17 authors. The authors are a mixture of Republicans and Democrats, so this truly is a piece of bi-partisan legislation. This would take effect on September 1, 2023.
The funding for all these grants would fall under the supervision of the Comptroller’s Office.
In conversations with Senator Hughes’ office, as well as Senator Huffman’s Office, both of whom serve on the Finance Committee, with Huffman being the chair, SB22 “has the legs” to become a law. There are two other bills, one in the house and senate that are similar, but do not have the mechanisms for funding that this bill provides.
Recently, Sheriff Capps spoke to the Marion County Republican Assembly and shared with us that in previous years, staffing in the MCSO has been challenging. Retaining trained LEOs becomes difficult if wages cannot compete with surrounding areas. While currently the department is near full staffing, the area of salaries and given budget limitations still exists.
Should SB22 become law, this would provide much needed assistance to our county. Having a fully funded and robust Sheriff’s Office that provides safety to the public, benefits everyone regardless of your political persuasion.
I would encourage everyone to contact our state representatives: State Senator Bryan Hughes – 903-223-795 and House Representative Jay Dean – 903-238-8452, and voice your support for SB22.
When you contact them, be sure to mention the bill number, your name, where you live, your phone number, and as always, be civil. These are logged by their staff and play a major part when a bill is on the floor of each chamber for a vote. They keep a record on how many constituents called in on a particular bill, what the overall direction was (for or against) and vote accordingly. That is how representative form of government works, and you the voter are a key player.
As citizens we can work together, along with the rest of our fellow Texans in the same boat as Marion County, to provide the much needed support financially to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Hunter Bonner is the President of the Marion County Republican Assembly and a grassroots activist. He can be reached at hunterbonner@outlook.com and on Twitter @HunterBonner. His views are his own.