The legislation to create a state water infrastructure fund, and the joint resolution that authorized tapping the Rainy Day Fund for up to $2 billion to seed it, had a rocky road in the legislature and wasn’t completed until the last weekend of the regular session. Now the task is to pass the constitutional amendment [...]
Posts Tagged ‘constitutional amendments’
We appear to have a budget
Took them long enough. After days of jockeying and one-upsmanship, the Texas House and Senate each approved measures Wednesday evening critical to passing their next two-year budget. “The results of these two bills together is a good conservative budget, and it’s something we can all be proud of,” said Senate Finance Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The [...]
The fight over domestic partnership benefits is just beginning
Stuff like this was inevitable. Leaders of two Christian groups want City Council to stop extending benefits to domestic partners of city employees, now that the state attorney general has called the benefits unconstitutional. City officials reject the demand, at least for now. Pastor Gerald Ripley of Voices for Marriage and Philip Sevilla of Texas [...]
Still no support for term limits
Fine by me. The full House, for the second time in eight years, drove a stake through the chance of imposing term limits on the governor and other statewide officeholders. The proposed constitutional amendment that would have gone to voters was defeated 80-61 on Wednesday. The Senate had passed the proposed amendment last month 27-4. [...]
Senate officially taps the Rainy Day Fund
Well done. Texas senators hammered out a sweeping deal to increase state funding for water and transportation projects and schools on Tuesday, tackling some of the thorniest issues of the legislative session all at once. The senators voted 31-0 for Senate Joint Resolution 1, which would ask Texas voters to approve taking $5.7 billion out [...]
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 [...]
More on the potential Coushatta casino
The Houston Press cover story from last week is about the Alabama-Coushatta tribe’s efforts to get a casino again. It covers a lot of the same ground as that Chron story I blogged about on Sunday, but it also reminds us of a very sordid aspect of the original casino and why it was closed. [...]
Senate to consider expanded gambling
I didn’t really take it seriously when I heard that Sen. John Carona had filed his own gambling expansion legislation, but it seems it’s got some traction. A proposal from Dallas Republican Sen. John Carona would establish a commission that licenses 21 casinos throughout the state, including three mega-resorts in Bexar, Dallas and Tarrant counties [...]
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 [...]
Term limits measure approved by the Senate
Coming to your ballot this fall, barring anything strange. Statewide elected officials would be limited to two consecutive terms under a proposed constitutional amendment approved 27-4 by the Texas Senate on Tuesday. Gov. Rick Perry, Texas’ longest serving governor, and other current officeholders would be “grandfathered” and allowed to seek two more terms if the [...]
Pushing back on Perry
I don’t really believe that Rick Perry is running for President again, and if he is I don’t expect he’ll be taken very seriously. I’m not even sure if he’s running for Governor again. But if he does run for something, or more than one something, in the future, I hope stories like this are [...]
The redistricting commission idea rides again
Jeff Wentworth is no longer in the Senate, but his signature idea for a bipartisan redistricting commission still lives, now in an expanded form. State Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) filed a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday that would move responsibility for both congressional and legislative redistricting in Texas to a 7-person, bipartisan commission. The proposed amendment [...]
Marriage equality bill filed
As I said before, some things you do because they’re the right thing to do. State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, filed a bill Thursday to permit same-sex couples to marry, calling it a “Valentine’s Day gift to all Texans.” His measure is one of several bills filed recently that deal with gay rights issues. [...]
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 [...]
One big happy pro-gambling expansion family
If the pro-gambling forces in the state all join hands and agree to work together, will this finally be the year that gambling expansion gets a vote? Maybe. John Montford, chairman of Let Texans Decide, a coalition of gaming companies, track operators, trade groups and others who want Texas to legalize casinos, has met with [...]
Sunsetting tax expenditures
Sens. John Carona and Rodney Ellis have the right idea. Over the past 18 months, many of our constituents told us they have trouble finding a reliable, accurate and up-to-date source of information on these tax breaks, exemptions and special treatments — often called tax preferences or loopholes. Unfortunately, so do we. The Legislature makes [...]
School Land Board votes to transfer $300 million to Available School Fund
From the Trib: The School Land Board voted Tuesday to release $300 million into the Available School Fund for public schools. The money will be released in two $150 million installments, one in February and the other on June. The funds had been caught in a standoff between the Legislature and the School Land Board, [...]
How long before marriage equality comes to Texas?
As is so often the case, the state of Texas will lag behind the rest of the country on the issue. If DOMA is struck down, questions will be raised about states that don’t recognize same-sex marriages and if it matters where a couple lives to receive federal benefits, [Ken Upton, a senior staff attorney [...]
Why gay marriage is inevitable
Professor Stephen Klineberg – you know, the fancy movie star – looks at 30 years worth of Houston Area Survey data and sees the future. The findings from the 31st year of the Kinder Houston Area Survey (1982-2012) will be released this month. The three-decade span of these annual studies offers a rare opportunity to [...]
Parker joins other mayors in push for marriage equality
Good for her. Good for all of them. Houston Mayor Annise Parker seized the vanguard of a drive by 78 mayors Friday to win the equal rights of marriage for gay couples, donning a national leadership role that contrasts sharply with her low-key demeanor back home. “This is an issue whose time has come,” Parker [...]
Election results elsewhere
Results of interest from elsewhere in Texas and the country… – Three of the ten Constitutional amendments were defeated, with Prop 4 losing by nearly 20 points. It drew strong opposition from anti-toll road activists, and I daresay that was the reason for the lopsided loss. The other two, Props 7 and 8, were pretty [...]
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 [...]
Endorsement watch: For Prop 2
The Chron recommends a Yes vote on another Constitutional amendment. If there were ever a summer to remind us of Texas’ water problems, this was it. During months of drought and earth-cracking heat, our reservoirs dipped, cities restricted water usage and elderly water mains burst, gushing precious water uselessly down storm drains. All that could [...]
Endorsement watch: For Prop 8
After two weeks of following a predictable path, the Chron veers off in an unclear direction. Proposition 8, on this year’s ballot, is easy for everyone to love. It’s supported by farmers and city dwellers. Republicans and Democrats (the supporting legislation passed unanimously in the Texas Legislature). Business interests (the Greater Houston Partnership, the Austin [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Some gambling advances in the House
It’s probably too little too late, but you never know. A Texas House committee surprised the casino lobby Friday night when it voted out legislation that would allow video lottery terminals — slot machines — at state racetracks and Indian reservations. The casinos were left behind. Casino interests wanted any legislation approved by the House [...]
House says it may be close to approving expanded gambling
This would be as far as they’ve gotten in recent sessions. Rep. Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton, R-Mauriceville, who chairs the Licensing and Administrative Procedures committee, said he is close to having enough votes to pass his ever-morphing gambling bill. As Hamilton seeks to gather a comfortable number of “aye” votes, he and his committee members have [...]
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 [...]
Horse racing folks feeling good about gambling’s chances this time
They always say that, but maybe this time they’re right. The chief executive officer at Retama Park expressed cautious optimism Thursday that the state could one day allow slot machines at horse racetracks, a move that has long been deemed as critical to the financial well-being of a struggling industry in Texas. Retama CEO Bryan [...]
What to do with the SBOE?
The Lege has many ideas about what to do with the state’s most embarrassing branch of government, some of which are better than others. State Rep. Roberto Alonzo (D-Dallas), wants the SBOE abolished under his House Bill 881 and all the board’s responsibilities directed to the Texas Education Agency and the commissioner of education. The [...]
Legislation to allow slot machines filed
Fresh from the inbox: BI-PARTISAN LEGISLATION FILED TO ALLOW STATEWIDE VOTE ON SLOTS AT TEXAS TRACKS, INDIAN RESERVATIONS AUSTIN, Texas — Texas State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) and Texas State Representative Beverly Woolley (R-Houston) filed legislation today to allow Texas voters to decide whether to allow slot machines at existing horse and greyhound tracks [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]