Overreach

Two proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution intend to charge state taxpayers in order to provide gifts to the federal government. Unfortunately, one is promoted as a boon for the Rio Grande Valley.

These are inappropriate reasons to take money out of state taxpayers’ pockets, especially because these proposals are, in effect, efforts to bribe federal officials.

Proposition 1 would let cities and counties raise property tax rates in order to buy property around federal military installations and build infrastructure "to protect or promote the mission" of the installations.

According to information from the state Secretary of State’s Office and the Texas Legislative Council, the intent is to convince the Pentagon to keep open military bases that the government might otherwise close. "Ensuring the viability of military installations is a worthy investment in the economic stability and security of many local communities and the state," a supporting argument on the TLC Web site states.

Officials hope that providing property would enable a base to expand, and prevent space restrictions that might limit its operations in the future, causing its closure.

Military installations are for one purpose only: to prepare and equip our fighting forces for any mission to which they are deployed. Any decisions regarding an installation’s operations or land requirements, or even about whether or not it should remain open, are to be made by military officials. Local governments aren’t likely to weigh heavily in those decisions, and they shouldn’t.

It’s true that the bases, and the people working on them, add to the economy of the surrounding area, but that benefit is incidental and should not be seen as a goal local officials should pursue.

Besides, those people probably would contribute more to their communities if they worked in peaceful, constructive and private businesses, rather than preparing for a war most of us hope they never have to fight.

Something is very wrong when officials begin to see the nation’s military as an economic asset, rather than an unfortunate necessity.

Proposition 8 calls for state to use our taxes "to contribute money, property, and other resources" to build, maintain and operate hospitals for veterans.

This is the latest chapter in efforts to build such a facility in the Valley. The closest inpatient veterans hospital is in San Antonio, more than 300 miles away.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded clinics in the area and established a voucher system so veterans can go to local private hospitals, but has expressed no intentions to create an inpatient hospital in the area.

A VA official in Washington said Friday that to her knowledge, the VA had not considered the amendment, and there could be no assurances that it would staff and operate such a hospital, even if state taxpayers paid for it.

A representative with the Texas Veterans Commission said any such hospital would be operated by the VA.

While the building is a major cost, staffing, supplying and maintaining it also are significant expenses that the VA might not be able to, or wish to, incur.

It’s worth noting that while Legislature this year authorized creation of a medical school in the Valley, the legislation prohibits the construction of a teaching hospital to support it. If the state were to build a hospital in the area, it would seem that a university medical center is more appropriate than a hospital that the VA might not wish to operate.

Like its big brother in Washington, Texas government has expanded its scope and reach into matters where it doesn’t belong. The reach represented in these two propositions in particular are hard to justify.