Texas State Rep. Cody Vasut said that while the government can be a threat to individual liberty if it becomes too large, underfunding it, particularly in judicial pay, can also endanger liberty by affecting the quality and number of judges. Vasut was a guest on a recent episode of the Texas Talks Podcast.

“Things that we would look at for the judiciary—judicial pay is a big issue," said Vasut on a recent edition of the Texas Talks Podcast. “Sometimes we approach this issue and think about increasing anything, and we maybe get a little bit of a visceral reaction. I would say that you can have government be too big and be a threat to individual liberty, which is what I'm primarily focused on: protecting individual liberty. But we can also have the government be so underfunded that it can be a threat to individual liberty.”

“We haven't had a judicial pay raise in this state in a very, very long time, particularly for entry-level judges," said Vasut. “At some point, the lack of pay for our judges is going to affect who fills those roles, either the quality of the candidate or the number of candidates and the competition that comes with it. If you don't have a good judge, we can have a bad judge who can take away your individual liberty.”

Vasut, representing House District 25 in southern and western Brazoria County, serves as Vice Chair of the Business & Industry Committee and is a member of the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committees. He has a background in law and local governance.

Texas Talks podcast is hosted by Brad Swail. The weekly show is focused on public policy in the state of Texas, with insights from the people and organizations that influence it.

The podcast is available on Simple Cast and YouTube.