You would think that once the Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act was constitutional that that would settle things, but then you would not be Steve Hotze. Steve Hotze, a Houston-area physician and major Republican campaign donor who has built his career around alternative medicine, says he is filing suit against the federal [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Constitution’
Abbott opines against domestic partnership benefits
This should not come as a surprise to anyone. The state Constitution prohibits government entities from recognizing domestic partnerships and offering insurance benefits to those couples, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote in an opinion on Monday. In the nonbinding opinion, Abbott determined that local jurisdictions that offer such benefits “have created and recognized something” [...]
Senate to tap that Rainy Day Fund
It is just sitting there, not doing any good if it’s unused. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, laid out an ambitious plan to spend $6 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund on Thursday morning while also setting the stage for a serious debate in the remaining weeks of the session on [...]
Getting on the same page on marriage equality
Harold Cook asks a darned good question. As SCOTUS hears arguments on marriage equality this week, it reminds me of when the Texas Legislature voted for the state constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage in Texas eight years ago. Texas voters subsequently approved the measure that November by a 3-to-1 margin. I wonder if any of [...]
SCOTUS same-sex marriage cases likely won’t affect Texas
Not yet, anyway. But it’s a matter of time. Charles “Rocky” Rhodes is a professor at South Texas College of Law. He says the case that involves the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, is narrowly focused. “The provision of DOMA that’s under challenge here is the aspect of DOMA that prohibits the federal government [...]
Repealing the Texas double secret illegal anti-gay marriage amendment
Some things you do because they’re the right thing to do. Reps. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, and Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, are seeking to reverse the state’s prohibition against gay marriage or same-sex civil unions. Their proposed constitutional amendments — HJR 77 and HJR 78 – would repeal a 2005 amendment passed by Texas voters that bans [...]
Wolverines!
This would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. While advocates of Texas secession may have stalled with their online petition efforts, state lawmakers have filed numerous bills objecting to major White House initiatives and suggesting the state doesn’t have to abide them. Newly elected Sen. Donna Campbell, R-San Antonio, has filed a constitutional amendment [...]
Another reason why spending caps are a bad idea
There are many reasons why, but this is one we haven’t encountered before. Several political observers well-versed in the state’s finances say that lawmakers could hit the state’s spending limit this session, complicating efforts to access the $11.8 billion in the state’s Rainy Day Fund. The Texas Constitution says the government can’t grow faster than [...]
Fix what’s broken first
What Texas Watch says. Imagine this scenario. Texans are facing a physician shortage. Under-served rural and poor communities struggle to attract doctors to serve their needs. Politicians scramble to find a solution to the crisis. That is where we were 10 years ago. Things aren’t so different today. Back then, the lobbyists and political spinmeisters promised [...]
Time once again to talk about expanded gambling
There’s a legislative session coming up, right? That can only mean one thing: A new effort to expand gambling in Texas. Track and gaming interests say voters should be allowed to decide whether to give Texas a shot at the benefits of $2.5 billion they say is wagered in surrounding states annually by Texans. “They [...]
Are two courts better than one?
Why exactly do we need two top courts in Texas? A proposal for the upcoming legislative session is resuscitating a debate that goes back to the writing of the Texas Constitution in 1876. The bill, authored by state Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, would abolish the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest court [...]
Are vouchers unconstitutional?
Attorney Kelly Frels makes the case that private school vouchers will not pass constitutional muster in Texas. State Sen. Dan Patrick has proposed that the state of Texas provide vouchers to help parents pay for private school tuition. Vouchers are bad public policy, and they are not permitted by the Texas Constitution. [...] From a [...]
Margins tax back before Supreme Court
Yet another challenge to that unloved tax. The Texas Supreme Court [Friday] accepted a case that will decide whether the state improperly administers its business tax. Nestle USA argues that the tax violates the Texas Constitution’s requirement that taxes be levied in an “equal and uniform” manner, as well as the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection [...]
Ames Jones resigns from the Railroad Commission
We have our answer about how confident she was in her defense of that lawsuit. Elizabeth Ames Jones resigned from the Texas Railroad Commission on Monday to devote herself full time to running for state Senate District 25, she said in a statement. State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, whom she is trying to unseat in the [...]
That’s hitting them where they live
Clever. Railroad Commission Chairman Elizabeth Ames Jones vacated her office when she moved from Austin to run for the state Senate, and she should not be continuing to collect her monthly salary, a lawsuit filed [last week] alleges. In the suit, Austin attorney and former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire alleges that Jones’ move of [...]
Supreme Court upholds margins tax
The days of the much-unloved business margins tax may be numbered, but it won’t be the Supreme Court that is responsible for its demise. The Texas Supreme Court turned back a challenge to the state’s primary business tax, saying it doesn’t violate a constitutional ban on personal income taxes. The Constitution allows personal income taxes [...]
Overview of the Constitutional amendments
The Chron gives an overview of the Constitutional amendments on this year’s ballot. College students, veterans’ widows and land owners who conserve water could be among the beneficiaries if voters approve 10 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution on Nov. 8. Proposition 1 would allow the surviving spouses of 100 percent disabled veterans to continue [...]
The Constitutional amendments
In addition to all of the local races that will be on your ballot next month, there are ten Constitutional amendments up for ratification. Unlike some previous years, and somewhat surprisingly given the divisive and ideological nature of the session, there are no particularly high profile or controversial measures on the ballot. (Proposition 2, which [...]
Lawsuit filed against business margins tax
Allstate Claims Service, L.P., which is based in Boerne, has filed a lawsuit alleging that the business margins tax is an illegally-passed income tax in Texas. Oh, boy. Nikki Laing, a CPA and third-year Baylor law student, studied the structure of the tax for a Baylor Law Review article titled “An Income Tax By Any [...]
Constitutional amendments for 2011
There will be ten constitutional amendments on the ballot this November. I may revise this opinion later, but my initial impression is that none of them are particularly controversial or momentous. No cancer bonds, no tort “reform”, no gambling – really, nothing that made me take notice. Sometimes, seemingly innocuous language can mask potentially pernicious [...]
Supreme Court rehears Open Beaches case
Not sure it’ll be any different this time around, but at least there’s a chance. The Texas Supreme Court appeared closely divided Tuesday during a second round of arguments in a turf battle over who controls the beach after a storm moves the vegetation line landward. The hearing came five months after the court ruled [...]
Costello opposes exempting the churches
From the inbox: Houston City Council Member Stephen Costello asks the Mayor and Council to exempt only state-mandated property from the drainage fee. Costello, the At Large Position 1 Council Member, offered an amendment Wednesday to the Municipal Drainage Utility ordinance that would limit exemptions to those under the state’s Local Government Code Section 552.053. [...]
From the “Things that are not considered legislative emergencies” department
That list would include removing Texas’ unconstitutional anti-sodomy law from the books. Although Texas’ so-called sodomy law cannot be enforced legally, civil rights advocates say it should be removed from the books because it creates a climate favorable to bullying, gay-bashing and hate crimes. “By leaving it on the books, you create the potential for [...]
Time for a corporate income tax?
Maybe, but don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen. Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said legislators should consider a constitutional amendment that would clarify that an income tax could be assessed on corporations but not individuals. The objective would be to use the corporate income tax to replace the current franchise tax [...]
Supreme Court will review Open Beaches ruling
This is encouraging. Faced with a tidal wave of legal protests, the Texas Supreme Court Friday agreed to reconsider a California woman’s lawsuit that ended in a controversial ruling last November that left public access to some beaches in question. The court’s decision to reopen the Carole Severance case — oral arguments will begin April [...]
Is it time for a statewide property tax?
Maybe. State Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, on Tuesday breathed some new life into a proposal to enact a statewide school property tax to address Texas’ persistent education funding woes. “We’ve never made a change in the school finance system without a gun to our head,” Duncan said at a Senate subcommittee hearing on public school [...]
Amicus briefs filed in Galveston beach case
Good for you, Vince Ryan. Harris County today joined other public agencies and activists in urging the Texas Supreme Court to reconsider a recent opinion that critics contend blocks public access to most beaches on Galveston island. County Attorney Vince Ryan filed a friend-of-the court brief on behalf of the county and the Texas Conference [...]
All eyes on the Senate
I have three things to say about this: Republicans hold a 19-12 majority in the Senate, but 21 senators need to agree to bring the bill to a vote, so Democrats have two members who can make a stand on the coming battles over the state budget, immigration, voter identification, redistricting and other hot-button issues. [...]
Patterson on the Open Beaches ruling
I must say, I enjoyed Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson’s op-ed on the recent Open Beaches ruling by the State Supreme Court. The man can bring the snark, I’ll give him that. Two points of interest besides that: Texans, you see, can be such a hard-headed lot. Most of us ignorantly thought passing the Texas Open [...]
State Supreme Court asked to reconsider open beaches verdict
Good luck with that. Galveston has joined key state agencies in pleading with the court to reconsider a ruling that favors private property rights over public access to Texas shores. “I think the Supreme Court really needs to understand the impact of its ruling. It’s not just a theoretical question — they just changed Galveston [...]
Is this the end for truly open beaches?
From last week: The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday the state cannot take private property for a public beach when a storm moves the vegetation line landward — a decision that may lead to restricted access along the coast. Texas law allows anyone to place a blanket on the beach, right up to the vegetation [...]
Where in the Constitution is that?
I’m reading this story about the just-passed federal legislation that would provide some $850 million in extra funds for public school districts in Texas to help prevent layoffs and whatnot, conditional on Texas agreeing to actually use the money on education and not general fund budget-balancing, and I have a question. [Governor Rick] Perry argues [...]
What is this “warning” of which you speak?
I’m glad to see that someone is asking questions about the warning that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct handed down to Sharon Keller. Seana Willing, the commission’s examiner, contends in an e-mail that the order is based on a rule that does not comport with the Texas Constitution. As examiner in judicial misconduct cases, [...]
Endorsement watch: Takings
The Chron endorses Prop 11, which is the constitutional amendment to limit eminent domain takings that were allowed by the Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo ruling. [It] would prohibit “the taking, damaging, or destroying of private property” for purposes of economic development. The Houston Chronicle urges a vote for Proposition 11. It was for good reason [...]