League of Women Voters election survey: Melvin Willms, candidate for Texas State Sen. - District 9

by Staff of League of Women Voters

The League of Women Voters of Dallas sent a questionnaire to every candidate running for public office in Dallas County. The election on November 4th features a number of local races to decide state and national Senate and House of Representatives seats.

The responses of Melvin Willms (D), who is running for the Texas State Senate - District 23 seat, appear below. Willms is running against incumbent Chris Harris (R) and Carl Nulsen (L).

LWV: Please describe the training and experience that qualify you for this office.

Willms: I have a lot of experience from farming to international business. I have spent the past ten years experiencing the so-called Texas justice system. Defendants and judges have taken money from my wife and myself without due process of the laws of the land. I have never seen such ignorance.

LWV: The Texas Legislature in 2007 overhauled business taxes to provide property tax relief for homeowners, but many small business owners in Texas now claim that their property tax decrease was far less than their business tax increase. What measures should be taken to maintain adequate state tax revenues without unduly burdening individual taxpayers or small business?

Willms: I believe that the mistake in that legislation was that the tax was on the gross revenue. Grocery stores generally operate on a one percent profit margin. If the tax required grocery stores to pay one percent of their revenues, it wiped out their profit. I was once in the nightclub business. At that time I had to give the people of Texas ten percent of my gross. There was a recession in December and

LWV: Texas deregulated electricity rates with the promise that competition between suppliers would lower consumers’ electric rates, yet rates in Texas remain well above the national average. What measures should be taken to ensure electric power reliability and affordability in Texas?

Willms: A company with a monopoly should be able to sell electricity for less, but that does not seem to happen. I was a young man on the farm when the electricity company promised to reduce the rates after they got the poles and wires paid for. I don’t believe it happened. I believe we are still in the testing stages of deregulated electric rates. We need to let T. Boone Pickens get the wind generators.

LWV: According to the most recent published data of the Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel, insurance industry losses in Texas have decreased by 85%, yet homeowners’ rates have fallen by only 4%. What reforms would you support to lower homeowners’ rates in Texas?

Willms: The insurance industry needs to be deregulated. It should be regulated to the extent that the insurance company cannot pick and choose the type of damage they will cover. A house should be insured for all losses: fire, tornado, flood, mudslide, etcetera. Right now, buying homeowners’ insurance is worse than playing the Texas lottery. I think the Texas lottery pays out 45 percent of its gross in winnings and insurance companies pay out 40 percent.

LWV: The Texas legislature has not increased the gas tax since 1991, and also diverts millions of dollars of transportation funds to other areas of the state budget such as education and the Department of Public Safety. The public has voiced much disapproval of toll roads and public/private partnerships to build new roads. How would you fund construction of new roads and maintenance of existing roads and bridges?

Willms: Gas taxes should be collected by zip code and disbursed by zip code. Gas taxes should not be used for anything but roads, bridges and repair of them.

LWV: If diversions from the State’s transportation fund are stopped, how would you pay for those items that are currently funded by gas tax monies?

Willms: The citizens who benefit from them should as closely as possible, pay taxes.

LWV: Currently, sales prices of most residential property are disclosed while those of commercial property are not. Do you support public disclosure of commercial real estate sales prices so as to ensure fair and accurate appraisals?

Willms: Appraisals of buildings, commercial and residential, should be made on the basis of square feet and type of construction. Costs of construction can usually be found by viewing construction bids. Of course there are always going to be exceptions; such as the Hunt house on Lawther Drive. The value of something can be determined by the price that a willing seller and willing buyer agree to. We bought a new house five years ago.