Legislative Services

The National Association of Counties (NACo) held its annual legislative conference in our nation's capital Feb. 11-14. On hand to attend panel discussions and participate in regional discussions that help shape NACo's legislative priorities were Wise County Judge J.D. Clark, who serves as a NACo representative on the TAC Board of Directors, and TAC Executive Director Susan Redford, a former Ector County Judge.

Clark is running to be NACo's Second Vice President for 2023-24. With support from Redford and TAC staff in attendance, he manned a table promoting his candidacy, networked with other states' delegations and delivered remarks at a Texas reception and to a general audience. The election will be held in July in at NACo's Annual Conference in Travis County.

Also present were TAC Legislative Services Director Noe Barrios, federal outreach coordinator Megan Molleur, and liaison to the Texas Association of County Auditors Pete Winckler. Together, they met with 10 congressional offices from the Texas delegation:

• Sen. John Cornyn
• Rep. Keith Self (R-McKinney)
• Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Austin)
• Rep. Marcus Luttrell (R-Willis)
• Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell)
• Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Lubbock)
• Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Waxahachie)
• Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio)
• Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-El Paso)

They also met with senior staff from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Their core mission was to build relationships, emphasize TAC's availability as a resource and promote statewide stories of county successes and challenges. TAC's team shared counties' support for broadband expansion, beneficial programs funded by the American Rescue Plan Act and federal investments in transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure.

For more information about this article, please contact Megan Molleur or Pete Winckler.