“I can assure you that we definitely need Phil King back in Austin, Texas,” Abbott said in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Doss Heritage and Culture Center.

State Rep. Phil King of Weatherford sparked a debate that promises to produce fireworks all across Texas when he revealed that he and about 30 other state legislators had been working on a plan to replace property taxes with consumption taxes as the chief source of public school funding.

“I am absolutely convinced that my constituents, and frankly, the voters across Texas would rather pay a sales tax when they purchase something than a property tax for the rest of their life,” King said speaking by phone Wednesday.

“I have 6,500 names of people who are on the voter registration rolls and should not be,” King said. “We know there are tens of thousands in the state.”

State Rep. Phil King, chairman of the House Regulated Industries Committee, spoke briefly at the press conference, emphasizing the benefits of high-speed Internet. He noted school curriculums are increasingly reliant on the Internet, and pointed out the importance of sending kids off to college Internet-proficient.

Representative Phil King of Weatherford authored a bill that would have allowed the Secretary of State to verify citizenship using information in a data base like birth records and social security numbers.

Texas Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, is considering offering financial incentives for companies to build low-polluting coal-fired power plants in Texas.

The [fire safe cigarette] Bill, written by Representative Phil King and his staff, will make “safe cigarettes” mandatory within a little more than two years.

If you haven't checked electricity rates recently, now is the time. The cost of power has finally turned downward in favor of consumers, and rates are the lowest they've been in a long time.

But people who heat their homes with electricity will get a break this year, as some retail electricity companies have dropped their rates to compete for customers. Plus, the mild summer helped to rein in demand for electricity in Texas, keeping wholesale power prices in check.