Rep. Gonzales to Host Border Security Hearing April 29

District 41 State Representative Veronica Gonzales has set a date for a border security hearing. Representative Gonzales will host it in McAllen on April 29, 2010.

Here's a press release from here office, from earlier this month:

McALLEN- State Representative Veronica Gonzales announced today that the security of Texas' international border and the state's ability to protect Texas residents from violence in Mexico will be studied in an upcoming joint hearing of the committee she chairs, the House Border & Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, and the House Public Safety Committee, chaired by Representative Tommy Merritt, as assigned by House Speaker Joe Straus.

"The growing violence occurring between the drug cartels in Mexico is extremely concerning and Speaker Joe Straus has specifically charged my committee, along with Chairman Merritt's Public Safety Committee, to study Texas' preparedness to address those drug- related crimes," Rep. Gonzales said. "We need to hear from our state law enforcement officers and other agencies on what is being done to keep our residents safe from the drug cartels fighting in Mexico."

Gonzales and Merritt have been planning to hold their joint interim hearing in McAllen since their joint charge was issued in November 2009, but the hearing has been pending due to the availability of committee members' schedules. A definitive date is forthcoming. Interim charges are given to House Committees to study so that they can make recommendations when the Texas Legislature meets again in 2011. Speaker Straus asked Gonzales's committee to join with the Public Safety Committee and "evaluate the effectiveness of state operations at controlling drug-related crimes and other violence along the Texas-Mexico border."

Other temporary committees charged by the Speaker to study separate issues also plan to overlap interim charges appointed to standing committees. After several Mexican journalists were kidnapped, State Rep. Aaron Pena said his Select Committee on Emergency Preparedness will also meet in McAllen on border security. Pena's committee is charged with looking at the state's preparedness level for natural disasters and terrorist activity, though the reported drug violence in Mexico has been financially motivated, and has not been classified as acts of terrorism against the state of Texas.

"I welcome the feedback of other lawmakers on the issues that the Speaker asked my committee to study, especially one as crucial and close to home as border security," Gonzales said.

For more information about the hearing, call (956) 686-5501