State Rep Orr Speaks to Golinda Seniors
Seniors in Golinda were joined by State Representative Angelia Orr on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at their first of two weekly Meals on Wheels luncheons at Golinda City Hall. As the District 13 State Representative, Orr represents counties including Bosque, Falls, Freestone, Hill, Leon, Limestone, and a portion of McLennan. She gave a brief overview of the recent legislative session and highlighted a couple of Constitutional Amendments that will be on the ballot in the Nov. 4 Constitutional Amendment Election.
More than a dozen seniors were in attendance on Tuesday for the luncheon that regularly draws 20-25 diners. Falls County Commissioner Nita Wuebker provided an introduction to Orr as seniors ate, then Orr summarized her contributions to the last legislative session.
“I had a really good, very busy session this year. The state budget is the only thing that we are required to do during that 140-day stint that we spend in Austin, and we are the eighth-largest economy in the world right now when you compare us to other countries. The state budget is about 338 billion dollars, and then they take that planning for the budget and they divide it into quarters, and they put some of us in charge of a section of the budget. For this session, I was the chairman for appropriations article two, which is health and human services, and deals with about 100 billion of our dollars and the funding that is sent out across the state. That is important to me as someone who lives in rural Texas. I’ve seen our hospitals closed, I’ve seen our hospitals be diminished in what they’re able to offer. A few years ago, it got really critical about people not being able to afford to keep an obstetrics unit open in rural Texas. We passed the bill last session that helped with the funding of Medicaid for births, so that some hospitals were able to keep offering that.”
Orr and her employee, Nick Cooper, passed out informational fliers that detailed the proposed Constitutional Amendments and their possible impact. Orr spoke on propositions 11 and 13, both related to the homestead exemption, saying if passed, the school property tax exemption for elderly or disabled homeowners would increase from $10,000 to $60,000, and for other homeowners from $100,000 to $140,000. She also spoke on proposition four.
“Proposition number four is the Texas water fund, and I think this is really important for cities, especially small towns like Itasca, Marlin, where our infrastructure is just aging. Right now there’s no provision in the state constitution to provide for water repairs. I talked to Hillsboro (administrators) and learned that between 40 and 50 percent of the water that comes into the City of Hillsboro is lost as it’s distributed to the houses because of all the holes in the line and the aging infrastructure. Number four is setting up a fund for the state of Texas so cities like ours can apply for funds when they need a new water tower, when they need to extend water lines out for subdivisions, and things like that. If we pass this one, it’s going to be a billion dollars a year into the Texas water fund for the next 20 years, and that gives us some assurance that we’re going to get some of these small towns’ and small communities’ situations dealt with.”
Following the meal and Orr’s comments, she fielded questions from the audience, getting inquiries about her new grandson, Owen, but none about policy or the upcoming election. CEO of Waco Meals on Wheels, Estrellita Doolin, asked Orr the spelling of her name, which is pronounced ‘Angela’.
“My dad honestly thought that was how Angela was spelled,” Orr said with a laugh. “(My parents) looked at Alicia and Amelia as possibilities, which end with the ‘uh’ sound, even though it has an ‘i-a’. It has been a challenge as a politician- I can always tell if somebody’s met me before because they call me ‘Angela,’ but if they haven’t, they call me ‘Angelia.’” Seniors rounded out their luncheon with bingo, as they do each Tuesday and Thursday. If you are a senior in the Golinda area, you are invited to join in Golinda Senior Activities, meeting at Golinda City Hall (7039 Golinda Dr.) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm. To reserve your lunch and get involved with Golinda seniors, contact Administrative Assistant Lisa Faulkner at 254881-7333 or 512-585-5741.
Thank you, uh commissioner. I I had this imitation for a while, but he kept getting called back to Austin, so, I’m happy to be with you today and I’m happy to be in your community and to see how much effort y’all put in to taking care of each other. This is this is really what it is about living the rural Texas.
I don’t want to get in the way of bingo, so I have my timer set and I’m gonna try to answer questions that I think you’re gonna have, and then I wanna talk to you a little bit about the upcoming Constitutional Amendment Election. We’ve got some handouts as well.
People ask me, how did you get into politics and I tell them I was really reluctant. I ran for schoolboard because I didn’t like some of the things I was seeing, and then the Republican party chair unbeknownst to me, sat across the aisle at church and and recruited me as an election judge and precinct chair in 2007 and 2008.
When I go to Austin and I talk about how great the people are that I represent, I have to tell them, you know, I’ve got seven commissioners courts that I have to communicate with. I have 41 public school districts, that’s 41 boards of trustees, and I have 51 municipalities, including Golinda. And so, that’s a lot of local government.
And you might be surprised to know that a lot of people get elected to the state house and they’ve never served in government at all. They’ve never been a school board member, they’ve never served on the city council. Most of definitely not been in a county wide elected. And so I think that gives me a really unique perspective of having served alongside local elected efficiency for years, and when I look at legislation coming across my d desk, the first thing I ask is, how does this get implemented by the local people? Because so many of the things that we do in Austin can be an unfunded mandate down to local governments. So, um, Rural hospital care is something that is very important to me; schools are very important to me; small businesses are important to me.
Orr stated that she is always campaigning and will be on the primary ballot in March 2026; the final decision will be made in the November 2026 election.
The other thing that I think is really important you fert a lot about the uh problem theissions that are. Well, they only if you both, and so those are gonna be on the ballot. It’s gonna raise our host exemption to 10040,000 unless you’re retired, uh, not retired. elderly or able, he is gonna raise up to two of the child. That is proposition number 11 and number 133. So those who can really together, when they put the propositions in now order, they do it just like they did when we went for office, we draw card, and that’s what they do over at the secretary of State’s office, so they’re not always in the order that you might think they should be. So number nine and number 13, if we pass those, if every one of the states, if the young majority, those will become long, and we will get those exceptions. things that some somewhat controversial number 14, uh, is an initiative to put $3 billion in dedicated state funding for theementia research. That’s when I listening, out the typ governor deals very strongly about and we’re gonna put it to the people and see if everybody feels that way or not. Right now there is a private entities trying to solve the problem. the state’s not been involved, but this puts uh rebu billion dollars at stake uh, for us. and let’s let’s see. The other one we read a lot about is proposition three, which is uh denial appeal from cals. usually that the local level of we just see a lot of people uh get out with a easy bond and so uh this is to decide if as a state, we want to make sure that cities and counties uh keep people convicted of felonies um there for their trial. So, those are the things that I want to talk about, that I’m happy to answer any questions and the remaining 51 seconds of life. His name is Owen, but my grand. you were gonna ask. been married for 33 years.. He’s uh nine months old. became early at Christmas time.. CSI so professional, my certified original finger color. Yeah, I I uh I got my license when I did the purse fingo for the advocacy Center in Waco and we hosted it Iask you. and I was in charge of it and I did I’ve been on I think my licenses expired, but I did take the classes and I did have my little certificate that I carried the mangoism. So I’m excited to see how y’all do it because they have all have a mano certificate?. Yes, ma. Oh, I didn’t make the time. That’s all right. I was wondering if there were any background two of study of the first name. Oh, that’s that is a good question. ask you sure answer answer. Yes, I spell is. My first name ised Angelina, and before my dad passed, he had a phone that was introduced the callers, you know, it was and one day he picked up and he said, he was laughing, and I said, why are you laughing? And he said, the phone said Angelia is called. And I said, well, dad, you put that on my birth for 50 years ago. And he said, well, I thought that’s how you spell the answer. They had Alicia and Amelia, you know, there is an an up, even though it has the IA. and so I think that he honestly thoughts, um that it has been a challenge as a politician, uh, I can always tell if somebody’s met me before, because they call me Angela, but if they haven’t and they call me Angelia, and I probably shouldn’t have changed it, but I respected my parents thank you. I did name my children Sam and Emma. and married playing being, I’m for and maybe playingo. But I’ll be happy to answer any questions if you come up with them after that, all right? Thank you.