State Sen. Robert Nichols (R–Jacksonville) is again breaking with conservatives — this time by championing Proposition 4, a constitutional amendment that would earmark $1 billion annually in state sales-tax revenue for water projects through 2047.

Nichols is urging Texans to vote “yes” on the measure, calling it a “smart investment in Texas’ future.” Critics say it’s another big-government earmark from a Republican who has made a career out of siding with Democrats and lobbyists over taxpayers.

A $20 Billion “Smart Investment”

Under the amendment Nichols helped draft, the Texas Water Fund would receive the first $1 billion in state sales-tax revenue exceeding $46.5 billion each fiscal year, beginning in 2027. The funding would continue until 2047, adding up to roughly $20 billion in new spending.

Nichols insists the measure will modernize aging infrastructure and expand supply through desalination, conservation, and reuse projects. “It’s not just about pipes and pumps — it’s about ensuring that the Texas economy continues to grow,” Nichols wrote in an October 17 op-ed.

But fiscal conservatives are sounding the alarm. Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Midlothian) blasted the plan after House leadership advanced it earlier this year.

 

Grassroots conservatives echo that frustration, saying Nichols’s so-called “smart investment” locks in a massive permanent spending stream with no structural reforms and no sunset.

No Reform, Just Spending

The amendment doesn’t address the Rule of Capture, the century-old doctrine that allows landowners to pump unlimited groundwater, nor does it fix how local Groundwater Conservation Districts regulate aquifer use. It also leaves untouched the taxpayer-funded lobbying network that critics say drives water policy in Austin — one Nichols has consistently defended.

For conservatives, Prop 4 is just another example of Nichols expanding government rather than restraining it.

“This is a classic RINO move,” said one East Texas GOP official who asked not to be named. “Throw billions of dollars at a problem the state hasn’t even defined and call it conservative leadership.”

Flip-Flopping On Water Policy

Nichols’s support for the spending plan comes just weeks after he faced backlash for stripping a two-year moratorium on commercial groundwater pumping from House Bill 27 — a measure designed to protect East Texas aquifers while the state conducted impact studies.

As The Dallas Express previously reported on September 20, 2025, Nichols admitted he “really hated” voting to remove the moratorium but did it anyway, claiming lobbyists had “days to work senators” and that the bill would die otherwise.

Critics called it a betrayal. Now, by backing Prop 4’s 20-year funding scheme, Nichols is again aligning with lobbyists and bureaucrats instead of rural voters.

Nichols’s RINO Record

Nichols’s Prop 4 campaign adds to a growing list of moves that conservatives say prove he’s a Republican in Name Only:

  • One of just two Senate Republicans to vote against Education Savings Accounts, a core GOP platform item.
  • Voted to convict Attorney General Ken Paxton during the Senate impeachment trial, siding with Democrats while most Republicans voted to acquit.
  • Opposed legislation to end taxpayer-funded lobbying, siding with bureaucracies and lobbyists over grassroots conservatives.
  • Stripped HB 27’s groundwater moratorium, betraying East Texas landowners.
  • Now, backing a $1 billion-a-year earmark that fiscal hawks say grows government for two decades.

The Bottom Line

Nichols calls Prop 4 a “smart investment.” Fiscal conservatives call it a $20 billion spending spree with no reform and no accountability.

After gutting HB 27’s moratorium and what critics label as betraying rural Texans, Nichols is now joining Democrats to push one of the largest permanent spending plans in Texas history — and he’s selling it as conservative leadership.

For his critics, that’s more proof that Robert Nichols is a Republican in Name Only.