Ashley Bean Thornton para el Distrito 56 de la Cámara de Representantes de Texas

Investing in Texas - Props 1, 4, & 14

(Early Voting for the November 4 election starts Monday (October 20,2025). This will be our opportunity to vote on 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. That’s a lot of propositions!

 I am working through the list a few at a time and sharing how I plan to vote. 

Here are links to the ones I have done so far: 

 

You are not allowed to take your phone with you into the polls, but you are allowed to take a piece of paper with notes.  For what it’s worth, here’s a printable version of what I have figured out so far. I will update it every time I post till it is finished.: Propositions and How ABT is voting. Thank you! – ABT)

 

How I Plan to vote and why:

There are three propositions on the ballot that have to do with making significant investments. None of them involve raising taxes to make these investments. I plan to vote YES on all three of these.

 

Prop 1: Permanent Endowment for TSTC

I’ll be voting YES on this because I believe TSTC’s mission is crucial for Texas, and I think having a permanent source of funding helps them to manage capital expenses wisely. This will enable TSTC leadership to look ahead and plan, knowing that the money will be available, instead of hoping for the best each go round and then having to make last- minute adjustments if they don’t get what they need.  Being able to do better long-term planning seems smart to me, especially when it comes to capital investments.

 

Prop 4: Texas Water Fund

This bill would put $1 Billion a year for the next 40 years (until 2047) into the Texas Water Fund to finance long-term water supply and infrastructure projects. That’s a lot of money, probably not all we will end up needing, but a good start. I don’t think I have to make the case here that managing our water wisely is crucial for our future – it has become obvious to everyone. Our current system is too piecemeal and pits us against each other instead of encouraging us to work together. Also, our current system relies on the session-to-session whims of the legislature for funding water projects. Wise water planning requires looking decades into the future and planning accordingly. It is smart to secure at least some of the funding we need ahead of time so that we can do more of this long-term planning.

 

Proposition 14: Dementia Prevention and Research

I was skeptical about this at first. I know dementia is a terrible, gut-wrenching problem. It seems like there are so many terrible problems though, we can’t invest our state funds in research for all of them, can we? But after reading a little more, I changed my mind. This proposition would direct $3 Billion toward establishing a Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and establishing a Dementia Prevention and Research Fund. The proposition stipulates that the fund would be used only to support research done by Texas-based entities.  We have already had good success with a similar model. Texas established a similar Institute in 2007 focused on making us a leader in cancer research. That investment has generated thousands of jobs and brought in millions of additional research dollars and related business investment. This is the kind of work that would be good for Texas and Texans. So, I am setting my reservations aside and voting YES. 

 

Resources: