+ − Contact Information
Phone: (512) 463-0536
Fax: (512) 463-1449
Office Address:
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
+ − Biography
Rep. Harvey Hilderbran was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1988 and was most recently re-elected in 2012 to serve the people of District 53.
In 2013, he was reappointed chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which deals will all legislation relating to the state’s tax code. As chairman of the committee, he authored and passed a three-part tax package that offers $710 million in tax relief to Texas businesses by making permanent an exemption for businesses that bring in less than $1 million annually and reducing the margins tax by 2.5 percent each of the next two years. In addition, Hilderbran passed legislation to extend the state’s most important economic development tool: the Texas Economic Development Act. This highly-successful program has brought 128 new projects to Texas totaling $62.4 billion in new investments and 6,700 new jobs. In the 82nd session, Hilderbran passed legislation that generated over $294 million for the state without raising taxes.
The chairman also sits on the Legislative Audit Committee and the Legislative Budget Board, the latter of which prepares the draft appropriations bill and budget estimates for each state agency. Additionally, Hilderbran serves as a member of the Redistricting Committee, the State Affairs Committee, and the Select Committee on Voter Identification and Voter Fraud.
During the 80th Legislative Session, he served as chairman of the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism. As chairman of the committee, he authored a comprehensive funding bill aimed at restoring excellence to the state park system and state historic sites. House Bill 12 provided “truth-in-taxation” by guaranteeing that revenue generated from the sporting goods tax would be used for much-needed park repairs and operations – just as the tax was originally designed to do.
Additionally, Hilderbran served as chairman of the Human Services Committee for three sessions. During that time he wrote and passed 1995’s landmark welfare reform legislation. In 1997, he was instrumental in passing the state’s most significant legislation protecting residents of Texas nursing homes.
Hilderbran also previously served as a member of the Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as it relates to the regulation of water resources, and the Texas Water Development Board. He served as co-chairman, along with Sen. Kip Averitt, of the legislative oversight committee for the Edwards Aquifer Authority.
In 2003, he created the Hilderbran Scholars Fund to award deserving high school graduates from District 53.
His first public policy assignment was service as a congressional legislative assistant for agriculture and small business issues in Washington D.C. in the mid-1980s. He later served as assistant director of state affairs for the Texas Farm Bureau, where he concentrated his efforts on property and water rights.
In the private sector, Rep. Hilderbran has worked in real estate, ranching, advertising and business management and marketing. Born in Uvalde in 1960, he is a 1983 graduate of Texas Tech University. He lives with his wife, Tracy, and their two daughters in Kerrville, where they are members of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church