By Matt Johnson, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter
Matt Johnson coordinates the Chapter’s legislative advocacy efforts and manages the state political program.
Texas politicians like to talk about acting in the best interests of their constituents – but the numbers often tell a different story. Recently, the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter released their biennial Texas Legislative Scorecard, which measures how Texas legislators performed on key environmental, energy, and water issues. With average scores of 50% for state representatives and 44% for state senators, the Legislature is falling short of protecting the people, communities, and natural resources Texans depend on.
In fact, only five state representatives and one state senator earned a perfect 100%.
The scores are not symbolic. They are based on real votes, real bills, and real decisions. A high score reflects a legislator who consistently chose to prioritize Texans’ health, affordability, and future. A low score indicates they likely caved to polluters, corporate interests, or political pressure. Middling scores often reveal the most frustrating reality of all – leaders who talk about environmental values, but don’t reliably vote for them.
The scorecard also shows there were some glimmers of hope last session. Texans from across zip codes, industries, and ideologies spoke out to protect clean energy, and a resolute bloc of Republicans and Democrats banded together to defeat anti-renewable legislation that would have driven utility bills higher and jeopardized thousands of jobs.
But there are still too few environmental champions at the Texas Capitol. Many Democrats say the right things about climate change and the environment, but when big polluting industries call, they pick up the phone. Republicans talk a good game when it comes to protecting our precious water resources, but too often they’re talking about big industry’s need for water – not Texas communities. Texans know good intentions and sound bytes don’t clean the air, protect water, or lower our energy bills.
So how can someone cut through the noise and find out if their elected official did the right thing?
Case in point, House Bill 49 was a bill to limit the liability of oil and gas companies with regard to the disposal of oil and gas wastewater. Most folks believe in the old mantra, “if you made the mess, you clean it up.” Sadly, the bill passed the House 109-21, and the Senate 29-2. More than a few legislators who claimed to be pro-environment voted for that bill.
We hear a common refrain from Texans across the state when we talk to them about contacting their elected officials. They tell us they feel unheard by leaders who campaign as champions of Texas values, but govern as if corporate donors, big industry, and Wall Street oligarchs come first. When legislators talk to the media, they provide canned answers that sound genuine, but are followed by silence, inaction, or even the opposite of their constituents best interests during the legislative session.
It’s no wonder Texans are losing trust in our government.
That frustration comes from awareness. Texans are paying attention – and asking an increasingly important question: If legislators don’t answer to Texans, who are they really accountable to?
Elections matter, and always will. But elections are only one moment in a much longer process. The decisions that shape our daily lives don’t just happen on Election Day – they happen in committee rooms, on late-night floor votes, and through amendments quietly slipped into bills when most Texans are asleep or working two jobs to make ends meet.
The Texas Legislative Scorecard is built on those consequential moments when our legislators make their choice. The Sierra Club was there in late night committee hearings. They were watching when a good amendment was voted down, and when, in rare instances, someone used their political capital to fight for good bills. Accountability starts with paying attention – and refusing to forget. It means tracking what legislators do, not what they say. That’s why receipts matter. You don’t get credit for values you don’t follow through on.
Awareness, however, must be followed by action. To fight for what Texans believe in, we need to bring the environment and our values into town halls, backyard barbecues, and sidewalk chats with neighbors – not as a niche issue, but as a reckoning of who is actually working for the good of our state.
We can’t afford to look away. We can’t rely on Washington to save us. Change in Texas has always come from Texans looking out for each other, demanding better, and refusing to accept less than the best from our leaders. The future we deserve won’t be handed to us. We have to claim it. To fight for it.
Read the Texas Legislative Scorecard. Use it. Share it. Ask your legislators about it. Bring the environment into every conversation.
And if you’re ready to turn accountability into action, get involved with the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter – because the stakes are too high to sit this one out.