With the help of our heroes today, Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) and Tracy King (D-Ulvalde) – we cut Rep. Lyle Larson off at the pass today. Larson was forced to pull down his amendment in attempt to slip Gridzilla through the House on Senate Bill 1301. But, hold on to your horses. Rep. Larson is looking for another vehicle to attach his bill to as early as THIS Sunday. So…what can you do? Call your State Representative and your State Senator’s offices in Austin on Saturday to urge them NOT to support any California-style water pipeline system that would drain rural Texas and help developers continue building in areas without their own local water supply. You can also ask your friends to do the same. Find Your State Rep and Senator here — now keep after him, y’all! We will have our regular Saturday conference call at 9 am tomorrow to update you on the status of all our work on legislation. If you need the number, please send an email to info@independentleaguetx.org or call us at 512-213-4511. Don’t let these deperados get away with it — our water, our wallets or our petition rights!

Friday, May 22: Friends — since the message below was posted last night, we won on this one round. Now, Rep. Larson is attempting to attach Gridzilla to another bill that could be voted on this weekend. Therefore, please keep your calls going to your State Representative — that you just want Gridzilla, to go away! This message went out on Thursday, May 21: Gridzilla (HB 3298/SB 1907) is back! Yes, that’s right. We told you yesterday that the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Lyle Larson (San Antonio) and Sen. Charles Perry (Lubbock), had taken some of our concerns and revamped Gridzilla. This was apparently a “prevarication” — a fancy word for lie.We just got this letter from enduring grassroots activist from Waller County, Martha Estes, to her State Representative, Cecil Bell: Dear TX Representative Bell:TODAY Representative Larson (R-San Antonio) used a BAIT and SWITCH tactic in “adding an amendment” to Senate Bill 1301, which transforms it into a study of a statewide water marketing and transfer system at a time when so many bills are being heard in the House facing an imminent deadline. It had been a simple bill to reduce the number of directors of the Texas Water Resources Finance Authority from 6 to 3. Apparently many representatives didn’t even realize what the amendment was, and it passed overwhelmingly!! My request of you, when this comes up for a final vote in the HOUSE tomorrow, is to refuse to approve it unless Representative Larson’s amendment is stripped out.As a body I believe that you should resent Rep. Larson’s attempt to “pull a fast one” on the TX House members and slip this by you.If he cannot do it in a forthright manner he should not resort to trickery! It represents an insult to the process of deliberating the serious mandates before the members of the Texas House.At my age, having observed many generations of Texas legislators at work, I have no respect for such actions when the results can impact generations to come.Honorable behavior matters! Hold him accountable to a higher standard. Cut him off at the pass!! Matha Estes, Hempstead, TX TAKE ACTION Y’ALL. Write your own letter or call your Rep & Senator tonight (you can leave a message anytime) or tomorrow before high noon! Find your State Representative and Senator here. Call your State Representative and your Senator to urge him or her to vote NO on SB 1301 unless the water marketing amendment is stripped out. If you prefer email to phone calls, you can email your legislators using this formula: Representative: Firstname.Lastname@house.state.tx.us Senator: Firstname.Lastname@senate.state.tx.us  If you use email, keep your subject line short and clear: “Oppose SB 1301’s water marketing amendment” Got questions? Call us. Don’t let them get away with it — and your water or your affordability, Texans! #CharlesPerry #LyleLarson

As we move into the final phase of the legislative session, with adjournment on June 1, here’s all we know and what you can do — please! Senate Bill 474, Sen. Lois Kolhorst & Rep. Cindy Burkett, Eminent Domain Reform — giving landowners attorney fee reimbursement when low-balled by condemning authorities by 20%. Though the bill passed the Senate, it’s been languishing for 6 weeks in Rep. Joe Deshotel’s House Committee — Land and Resource Management.  Deshotel’s hearing was an absolute travesty as a herd of lobbyists came to make scurrilous claims that the sky would fall if this bill passed. Deshotel demanded no evidence whatsoever in light of the fact that 25 states have similar laws. We are now officially on the warpath to get SB 474 out of the House Committee on Land and Resource Management. Please call Rep. Joe Deshotel at (512) 463-0662. Tell Joe to move the bill — no four letter words, please — but do tell him how you feel. House Bill 3298 : We have seen some good amendments of “Gridzilla”, Rep. Lyle Larson’s $2M study for conveyance and marketing of water to SA, Austin and DFW). BUT, we still have big objections to Gridzilla which does not yet include: Evaluation of conservation efforts by cities, industries and other users who will be getting water from the grid, to reduce their demand for water — we want to use conservation, first, to reduce demand. Evaluation of the long-term economic, environmental and social impacts of the communities whose water will used for the grid. Please call your Senator and tell her/him that we want Gridzilla amended to include conservation and impacts on so-called “donor” communities, or to slay Gridzilla! Find your Senator here . House Bill 2595 — Rep. Keffer & Sen. Fraser’s anti-petition rights bill . We brought together a rarely seen coalition of forces last minute to deep-six this horrible bill in the Senate Natural Resources & Economic Development Committee yesterday. If HB 2595 doesn’t die in committee, it’s pretty clear to us that there will be political consequences! Watch the testimony here, starting at 1:43:01 then here at the beginning . Keep after your Senators to bury HB 2595, just in case it comes out of committee. Find your Senators here . HOT OFF THE PRESS! We just received this request from our friends in Hays County: FRIENDS: IT IS TIME WE SEND A MESSAGE TO OUR STATE SENATORS AND I’VE MADE IT VERY EASY FOR YOU TO DO SO. We need to make sure OUR voices are heard and that our elected officials protect our LOCAL interests, not their special interests in other counties. Even though HB 3405 (as it was originally written) has an OVERWHELMING amount of support in Hays County, one Senator, from 350 miles away has attempted to amend this bill so that it no longer serves the purpose our representatives intended. This local bill was originally designed to protect private property owners rights and our groundwater using valid SCIENCE as opposed to fear mongering and emotion. Now, with Senator Perry’s amendments, it does no such thing. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE OUR VOICES ARE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR. We must ensure that ONE Senator from Lubbock does not undermine legislation which is WIDELY supported in OUR county. Please fill out this online petition, then share it far and wide… Just follow this link: http://goo.gl/forms/UQPO8xVUKq

Just after you received yesterday’s email, we found out that the anti-petitioln rights bill (HB 2595) is having a hearing on Tuesday, anytime after 9 am . This video clip has then Sen. Dan Patrick standing up for the “grassroots” right to petition in 2009. (Austin real estate developer and whistle blower, Brian Rodgers, talks so fast, he had the bill sponsor, Jeff Wentworth, reeling.) Our conference call today had folks from all corners — tea party, greens, libertarians and government reformers — agreeing to work together to protect our petition rights ( NO on HB 2595 ), and putting a stop to the water grabs ( NO on HB 3298 ) and emiment domain abuse ( YES on SB 474 ). DO THIS PLEASE: Contact the “top dog” of the Senate, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, anytime night or day, including this weekend at: LTGConstituent.Affairs@ltgov.state.tx.us or call his comment line at (512) 463-5342. Suggested message: “My name is ________ I live in _________. I’m asking you to kill House Bill 2595 to protect our petition rights, and to kill House Bill 3298 to protect our water rights. Conserve first, convey later.” Contact the Agriculture, Water & Rural Affairs Committee here to kill the water Gridzilla, HB 3298. Contact the Natural Resources Committee here to kill HB 2595 to protect your petition rights. Call your individual State Senator with the same message. They have voice mail at their individual offices in Austin. Find your State Senator here . Schedule for Monday and Tuesday at the CapitolCome join us, y’all! MONDAY: 10 am    Meet at the Capitol Grill, E1.1002. (Come in the main Capitol and ask for directions). We will get you fact sheets and update you, then set up teams to go visit legislators before these hearings begin. 2+ pm?  HB 3298 (Gridzilla) is on the Ag Committee Agenda but towards the end . Rm. E1.012. Come sign up against the bill at a kiosk or testify. We’ll help you. 2 pm – Support SB 474 for eminent domain reform. SB 474 Hearing notice . Rm. E2.016. Reach House members this committee and your own Texas house member. Come sign up for the bill at a kiosk or testify. We will help you. It’s already passed the Senate. TUESDAY: 9 am – Sign in against House Bill 2595 to protect your petition rights. Come testify! Rm. E1.012. Notice here. Spread the word — we may not agree on much, but on these things Texans are uniting! Got questions? Just ask. #HB2595 #HB3298

This legislative session ends on June 1. Until then, your land, water and even your right to petition, are up for grabs OR reform. Translation: It’s up to YOU, Texans! We need your help to set the bulldog loose on two bad bills (“Gridzilla” – HB 3298 & the anti-petition bill, HB 2595) & to PASS a GOOD bill on eminent domain – SB 474 by reaching the TOP DOG — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. More below. Here’s what you can do: Email or call Lt. Governor Dan Patrick by clicking here.   Note: Dan Patrick supports property and petition rights, just ask him to oppose HB 2595 (anti-petition rights), to oppose HB 3298 ( the statewide water “gridzilla” ) and to support SB 474 for eminent domain reform. Please, if at all possible, come to Austin on Monday before 2 pm hearings can begin on “Gridzilla” AND eminent domain reform.  Click these links for details on the bills & hearing info: for HB 3298 and here for SB 474. We will also visit Senate offices on HB 2595 to stop any notions of erasing our petition rights. Join the conference call tomorrow at 9 am sharp for one hour — here’s the number (530) 881-1000, PIN106940#. We will have new updates by then. If you can’t make the call email us, call us or send us or otherwise git along you little dogies and do some herding to get your friends and family to do the same. We were remiss in not congratulating Calvin Tillman on his election to the Aubrey City Council. Calvin is our most famous board member.! PS This is one of those rare, but historic moments, when all forces come together for the few things we agree on.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMAY 15, 2015 Contacts: Linda Curtis, Independent Texas, Info@independentleaguetx.org , 512.657.2089 Eleanor Bravo, Food & Water Watch, ebravo@fwwatch.org , 505.730.8474 Trans-Texas Water Grid (HB 3298) Forging Unlikely Coalitions Calling on Texas Senators to Reject Boondoggle Water Project Austin, TX — The Texas Senate is preparing to consider a bill on Monday that could pave the way for a boondoggle water conveyance project. House Bill 3298 drew refreshing bipartisan opposition in the House before its passage last week. A broad coalition urges Senators to stand with leaders like Republican Dennis Bonnen of Angleton and Democrat Rafael Anchia of Dallas to oppose the bill. House Bill 3298, which calls for a $2 million study on the development of a market and conveyance network for water in Texas – a water highway of sorts – appears to be stirring unconventional political alliances not seen since the populist uprising against the Trans-Texas Corridor that went down to defeat in the 2007 legislative session. “Back in 2003, only two House members voted against the enabling legislation for the Trans-Texas Corridor, Republican Terry Keel and Democrat Lon Burnam”, said Linda Curtis, a founder of the League of Independent Voters of Texas. “It took citizens four years to build a massive cross-partisan movement to stop the land grab with an independent voter revolt. Today, we have perhaps an even bigger fight to stop this water grab, but at least we’re starting with 32 House members who did the right thing on one or both of the votes supporting a state water grid.” Ken Kramer of the Lone Star Sierra Club said, “House Bill 3298’s companion bill, Senate Bill 1907, stalled earlier in the Senate thanks to an informal grassroots coalition of farmers, landowners, environmentalists and political independents. That same coalition is now mobilizing to fight HB 3298 in the Senate.” Kramer is a leader on conservation and water policy in Texas. “This issue unites people from both ends of the political spectrum because of a simple fact: water is a basic necessity,” said Judith McGeary, a farmer and founder of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance.  “If the Legislature uses water transfers to try to disguise unsustainable uses, they’re sacrificing agriculture, the environment, and our economic future.” “The right solution to water scarcity isn’t pumping water around Texas and creating new water markets,” adds Eleanor Bravo, Southwest Organizer for Food & Water Watch. “It’s ending the industrial misuse of water whether it’s in hydraulic fracturing or water intensive agriculture in areas with little water.” #### HB 3298 will be heard in the Senate Agriculture, Water and Rural Affairs Committee on Monday at 2 pm. Recorded HB 3298 on Third Reading can be viewed here . #TransTexasCorridor #TransTexasWaterHighway

Now it’s your petition rights, as they raid your water and your wallets. House Bill 2595 , the anti-petition bill, passed the Texas House on May 8th with no discussion after the author, Rep. Jim Keffer, called Texans’ right to petition “mob mentality”. If passed by the Senate, HB 2595 would shatter Texans’ the right to petition for a public vote, the most fundamental form of local control. ( See how they voted here .) These FACTS on HB 2595 make plain that this bill is a power grab by these Texas lobbies who are piling on to stop citizens from reigning in their city government on most any issue, going far beyond stopping frack bans” already passed (House Bill 40). Texans, we must not let the Texas Legislature erase 103-years of petition rights passed by Texas voters via a constitutional amendment for home rule in 1912. A hearing on HB 2595 MIGHT happen next Tuesday at 9 am. Please pencil that in and we’ll be back asap with more. We’ll talk about it on Saturday’s 9 am conference call – call us for details at 512-213-4511 or send us an email at: info@independentleaguetx.org Meanwhile, call your Senator to ask her or him to say no way to HB 2595 — and, if you haven’t yet — to “Gridzilla”, House Bill 3298/Senate Bill 1907 ( more here on the status of Gridzilla ). News coming on the water front real soon. #frackbans #homerule #petitionrights

Gridzilla ( House Bill 3298/Senate Bill 1907) is coming back to the Senate, having passed the House — with significant opposition, thanks to your calls. HB 3298/SB 1907 is a $2 million study to assis massive water transfers to developers who want to keep building in dry areas. This fits the California water model to a tee, and Texans are getting the message that it’s a disaster. We have a real shot to stop Gridzilla in the Senate but we need your help~! Step 1:  Donate here to help us reach 100,000 Texas voters by phone to ask them to call their State Senator. Step 2 : Get yourself and your friends and family on the phone to urge your State Senator to “just say no to Gridzilla, House Bill 3298/ Senate Bill 1907”. Find your Senator here or call the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630 and ask to be transferred to your Senator’s office. To send an email, your Senator’s email goes like this: senator’s first name dot last name @ senate.state.tx.us . Our latest fact sheet is here . Back soon on what happened to our petition rights under HB 2595.

Join us on the conference call tomorrow (Saturday) at 9 am to discuss the contents of this message. Reply for conference call instructions . Yesterday, 36 Texas House Members — from rural and urban Texas — voted NO to “Gridzilla” (House Bill 3298), the Calfornia water model for Texas. Though it passed the House, the map to the right shows you opposition to Gridzilla (in orange) came from all regions of the state, with E. Texas leading the way. These are the legislators who voted NO to Gridzilla — thank them! Rafael Anchia, Brent Ashby, Dennis Bonnen, Greg Bonnen, DeWayne Burns, Travis Clardy, John Cyrier, Pat Fallon, Dan Flynn, Bryan Hughes, Susan King, Tracy King, Matt Krause, Andrew Murr, Elliot Naishtat, Dade Phelan, Larry Phillips, John Raney, Matt Rinaldi, Eddie Rodriguez, Leighton Schubert, David Simpson, Jonathan Stickland, Stuart Springer, Tony Tinderholt, Scott Turner, James White and Bill Zedler. These legislators, we believe, changed their vote to YES to Gridzilla (though we would ask that you confirm this with your member on this list) :  Stephanie Klick, Brooks Landgraf, Jeff Leach, Will Metcalf, Morgan Meyer, Chris Paddie, Gary VanDeaver, Armando White and Molly White. Anyone not mentioned in the lists above, voted for Gridzilla except Dawnna Dukes, who has been ill. If you hear differently, we’re happy to be corrected as sometimes there are corrections after the vote is recorded. So, don’t accuse…but DO ask. On an infuriating note, the anti-citizen’s petition bill — HB 2595 ( see our fact sheet here ) –the dream of the corporate interest lobbies in Texas, just now passed out of the House. To be honest, this bill slipped by us and, to be fair, most legislators. The good news is that they must now hold a hearing in the Senate. The true salt of a politician is one that is willing to stand up for the people’s “check and balance” — that is what the right to petition is all about. Today, Rep. Keffer called it “mob rule.” We are not a mob, we ARE voters. We are going to need all hands on deck to put a stop to this monkey business in the Senate as both bills are on their way there next week. Step up to the plate and volunteer NOW! “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin #Californiawatermodel #petitionrights

Gridzilla (House Bill 3298/Senate Bill 1907), coming from California, hits the Texas House this Thursday March 7), after having hit the skids in the Texas Senate last week — thanks to thousands of ordinary citizens’ phone calls from rural and urban Texas. Make 1 phone call to your Texas House member before Thursday, May 7th. (Click on Gridzilla’s picture for a flier you can forward or use the share buttons at the end of this page.) HB 3298/SB 1907 is a $2 million study for the development of a market and conveyance network for water in the Texas. The California water crisis has already shown water conveyance before water conservation is a disaster. CALL YOUR TEXAS HOUSE MEMBER BEFORE THURSDAY~! Find your legislators here — make sure you call your Texas State Representative . Ask him or her to vote NO on HB 3298. Fact Sheet on HB 3298/ SB 1907. If you didn’t call your Texas State Senator last week, go ahead and do that too. Tell him or her you oppose Senate Bill 1907 — the Senate version of Gridzilla. You can share all of this from our website here or on Facebook here. What’s the alternative? Sign this petition letter, Conserve First! Get after it y’all — Gridzilla can’t wait to get to Texas, forcing rural Texas to pay with our water and urban Texas to pay with our wallets for the costs of growth. Thank you, Texas, keep up the great work!

Gridzilla (SB 1907 — the water grid bill) has hit another road block in the Senate, at least, for the moment. We’re pretty sure that’s because of your calls! Share this message (or click on the picture of Gridzilla and you’ll see a full flier) to keep sounding the alarm to your fellow Texans. Please now reach your Texas House member before Thursday, when the House version (HB 3298) is expected to reach the House floor. (You can also reach back to your Senator again with our coalition’s new fact sheet click here .) Find your legislators here. Your volunteerism is now critical.Join us for the conference call tomorrow! (Reply for details.) Too busy to be active? Donate some dough to help us warn 1,000s of Texans for pennies on the dollar. $10 will help reach 1000 people on Facebook or 1000 people with our phone calls. Donate here. (You can also mail us a check to PO Box 651, Bastrop, TX 78602.) We love you, Texans. Thanks for whatever efforts you’ve been able to make. #Gridzilla