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TYLER, Texas (KETK) — East Texas lawmakers held a town hall meeting on Thursday to answer voters’ questions about the latest legislative session.

State Senator Bryan Hughes and State Representative Daniel Alders gave a recap of the progress they made down in Austin. They covered hot topics like the addition of the 10 commandments in the classroom, protection against election fraud, and the tragic Hill County flooding. 

“There’s no doubt that the responsibility of the state government is to primarily ensure that Texans are safe, and so we need to make sure that our communities have the communication systems in place,” Alders said. 

Attendees also heard from the other side of the aisle when members of the political group, Smith County Young Democrats, questioned both lawmakers about Senate Bill 31 and infant and maternal mortality rates in Texas. 

“We want answers as to why we are continuing to legislate health care instead of letting doctors do their jobs, that conversation should be between a family and a doctor, not our legislators, not our governor, not the us government,” Smith County Young Democrats member, Kristen Hardin-Zigler said. 

The group also asked about the addition of the Ten Commandments to all classrooms in the state.

“The ten commandments are the foundation of civil law, moral law in Western civilization,” Hughes said. “That’s god’s message to us, but even folks who don’t know that or don’t believe that the ten commandments matter, how can you argue with students being shown in the classroom? Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t kill.”

Both Alders and Hughes also took time going over the agenda items listed for the upcoming special session, which takes a major focus on the catastrophic flooding in the Hill Country.

“We have to make sure that we’re getting people warned in a timely way, that may mean maybe more sirens, it may mean placing them in different places, maybe another technology,” Hughes said.

At the end of the night, both lawmakers said they are most proud of Senate Bill 31 this session and are eager to get back to work later this month.

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