Austin –State Representative Dianne White Delisi reacted to the news of her appointment to serve as the chairman of the Committee of Public Health and as a member of the Committee on Public Education with gratitude and a pledge to immediately get to work.

"Speaker Tom Craddick has entrusted me with a chance to work on the two single most important issues facing Texas this session," Delisi stated. "I am grateful for the opportunity and ready to get to work. Let's roll!"

Education and health care occupy the number one and number two slots regarding the size of their allocations within the State of Texas' budget, Delisi noted. Both topics must be addressed in order to obtain better results for these multi-billion dollar expenditures in the 79th Session for lawmakers to call it a success.

Delisi said the first priority has to be coming together on a plan for reforming Texas' school funding system and improving student performance. This issue has been declared a legislative emergency by Gov. Rick Perry and the state is under a court-ordered deadline to have a replacement system by next fall.

"We have been working on this issue almost non-stop for two years now and I am ready to start moving a bill through the process," Delisi stated. "I think that there is a mood around the Capitol that we can actually fix this problem and that 2005 offers us an historic chance to do it."

Delisi says she is open to examining several possible revenue options, ranging from increased tobacco taxes to a broad-based business tax. However, she is also clear that she will demand that new money must be linked to performance improvements.

"I have to be able to tell the owner of the mom and pop gas station that if they end up paying more – then they got real value for it," Delisi said. "People are very willing to pay for their children's education, but they deserve to get their money's worth."