Harvey Hilderbran  Harvey Ray Hilderbran (born February 9, 1960) is an American politician and member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 53, which includes fifteen counties in central Texas. Hilderbran resides in Kerrville west of San Antonio. Hilderbran was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1988 and was re-elected to his last term in 2012. In 2011, he was appointed by Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Joe Straus, as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which deals will legislation relating to the state’s tax code. As chairman of the committee, Hilderbran sits on the Legislative Audit Committee and the Legislative Budget Board. The board prepares the draft appropriations bill along with budget estimates for each state agency. Hilderban also served as a member of the Redistricting Committee, State Affairs Committee, and the Select Committee on Voter Identification and Voter Fraud. From 2003–2008, he served as chairman of the House Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism. As chairman of the committee, Hilderbran oversaw the regulation and control of hunting and fishing, the preservation of wildlife and fish, the operation and control of state parks, the development and regulation of the state's cultural and historical resources, and the promotion of international and interstate tourism. The committee has jurisdiction over the Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Historical Commission, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. During his tenure with the House of Representatives, Hilderbran served for three sessions as the chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. In 1995, he wrote and passed landmark welfare reform. In 1997, he was instrumental in passing the state's most significant legislation protecting residents of Texas nursing homes. Hilderbran 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 former State Senator Kip Averitt, of the legislative oversight committee for the Edwards Aquifer Authority. In 2008, the Texas Deer Association awarded Hilderbran the "Frank Madla Award for Representative of the Year", named for the late State Senator Frank L. Madla of San Antonio. Hilderbran was also named "Legislator of the Year" in 2007 by the Texas Municipal League, and was the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Legislator Award by the Texas Recreation and Parks Society.