Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to my local WalMart Sporting Goods Counter, here in Georgetown. I told the man behind the counter that I wanted to buy a Commercial Exotic Snake permit. He surprised me by saying, "yea I know about it". As he was processing the paperwork he asked me if I knew why the permit came about? I said, "I sure do!" He responded by saying, "It's all because of the problem in South Florida and that's not going to happen here!" And this guy wasn't even a herper! Made me feel good that a non-herper can even see the BS in all of this. He said the same thing that I have been saying all along, that this is just a fund raiser for TP&W and has nothing to due with safety concerns.
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Tim Cole
www.Designeratrox.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
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Conservation through Education

look at the bright side of this. The more permits TPW sells to herpers, the more input we will have and the more incentive for them to continue/expand that income stream.

And the LESS likely Texas will end up as another Georgia.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

Here is the bio of the author and sponsor of the legislation in question. I copied it from the Texas State House website.
They have somewhat toned down the earlier version with his stated intention to raise fees for the purpose of raising revenue for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, but there is mention of it in a general way, acknowledging his legislative accomplishments in the 80th Session.

House Membership
Representative Harvey Hilderbran

Biographical Information
Rep. Harvey Hilderbran was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1988 and was most recently re-elected in 2006 to serve the people of District 53.

Since January 2003, he has served as chairman of the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism. As chairman of the committee, Hilderbran oversees the regulation and control of hunting and fishing, the preservation of wildlife and fish, operation and control of state parks, development and regulation of the state's cultural and historical resources, and the promotion of international and interstate tourism. The committee has jurisdiction over the Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Historical Commission, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Rep. Hilderbran is dedicated to restoring excellence to the Texas park system. During the 80th Legislative Session, he authored a comprehensive funding bill aimed at restoring excellence to the state park system, as well as our state's historic sites. H.B. 12 will provide approximately $182 million in additional funding in the 2008-2009 biennium for state and local parks. The substantial increase in funding is a huge step in the much-needed improvements in park repairs and operations.

Rep. Hilderbran was named "Legislator of the Year" this year by the Texas Municipal League. He was also the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Legislator Award by the Texas Recreation and Parks Society.

As a member of the Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Hilderbran is actively engaged in legislation regarding the conservation of the natural resources of Texas, the control and development of land and water, and the creation and regulation of water supply districts. The committee also oversees the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as it relates to the regulation of water resources, and the Texas Water Development Board.

He also serves as co-chairman, along with Sen. Kip Averitt, of the legislative oversight committee for the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

During his tenure with the House of Representatives, Rep. Hilderbran served as chairman of the Human Services Committee for three sessions. During that time he wrote and passed 1995's landmark welfare reform legislation. In 1997, he was instrumental in passing the state's most significant legislation protecting residents of Texas nursing homes.

Rep. Hilderbran was the 1999 recipient of the Bob Bullock Award for Outstanding Public Stewardship and the 2004 recipient of the Vietnam Veterans of America Texas State Council's Legislator of the Year Award. He was named Freshman of the Year by the Young Conservatives of Texas, and also won the Legislative Courage Award for his involvement in school finance reform. In 2001, he was named Legislator of the Year by Texas Young Republicans. In 2003, he created the Hilderbran Scholars Fund.

His first public policy assignment was service as a congressional legislative assistant for agriculture and small business issues in Washington D.C. in the mid-1980s. He later served as assistant director of state affairs for the Texas Farm Bureau, where he concentrated his efforts on property and water rights.

In the private sector, Rep. Hilderbran has worked in real estate, ranching, advertising and business management. He currently serves as vice-president of marketing for an engineering firm in Kerrville. Born in Uvalde in 1960, he is a 1983 graduate of Texas Tech University. He lives with his wife, Tracy, and their two daughters in Kerrville, where they are members of St. Peter's Church.

last updated on 10/03/2007

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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer