For the first time, someone says out loud the rumor of a special session on redistricting. Attorney General Greg Abbott let House members know in the Republican caucus meeting on Tuesday that he expects and is hoping for a special session on redistricting — sooner than later. Several lawmakers in the meeting confirmed that Abbott [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Joe Straus’
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 [...]
Patrick files his own voucher bill
I guess if you want something done right, you do it yourself. Ending speculation over when — or whether — his widely promoted school choice legislation would emerge, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has filed a bill creating a business tax scholarship for students to attend private schools. The Equal Opportunity Scholarship Program, or Senate [...]
Straus wants someone to do something on Medicaid
Don’t we all, Joe. Don’t we all. Seeking to light a fire under fellow Republicans to provide health care to more uninsured Texans, House Speaker Joe Straus said Wednesday that it is time to “get our heads out of the sand” and find an alternative to Medicaid expansion that would bring billions of federal dollars [...]
Here come the voucher bills
The Observer reports from the Senate, where two voucher bills were on display. In fact, the business-tax-credit-totally-not-vouchers bill had already been filed Monday, by McKinney Republican Ken Paxton. So ends the great mystery, begun in a little Catholic schoolroom last December, of who would carry Sen. Dan Patrick’s voucher bill. That leaves two school voucher proposals—defined [...]
School districts are still a long way from getting relief
School districts may have gotten a favorable ruling in the latest school finance lawsuit, and if it survives appeal it could have far-reaching effects on the current system, but that doesn’t mean that things will get better for them now. If anything, they’re likely to get worse first. “It’s pretty bleak for next year,” said [...]
Here come the STAAR reform bills
Fire one: State Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, the newly appointed chairman of the House Public Education Committee, filed legislation Wednesday that would restructure the state’s high school graduation and student testing requirements. Aycock’s proposal, House Bill 5, would move public schools to an accountability system with grades of A through F, a concept that [...]
Committee time
Now the real work gets started. House Speaker Joe Straus announced committee assignments for the Legislature’s lower chamber on Thursday, ending speculation over key chairmanships and giving lawmakers the go-ahead to start considering bills. Here’s his list. Of the standing committees, 32 are chaired by men, six by women. That’s one more female chair than [...]
Point of disorder
New House, new rule. The Texas House’s Democratic minority was dealt a blow Monday when the House passed an amendment to the chamber’s rules to limit legislators’ ability to derail a bill based on clerical errors. Calling “points of order” on such errors is a strategy lawmakers have often used to block measures they oppose. [...]
Day One of the Lege
What do we know so far? Same old Rick Perry. Gov. Rick Perry called for tax relief and a lean approach to budgeting as he addressed the Senate, even as the state faces a lawsuit from school districts over funding and concerns over the effects of budget cuts approved two years ago. [...] Perry said [...]
Finally a focus on water
The good news is that the 2013 Lege does seem to be serious about water issues. House Speaker Joe Straus recently said Texas’ water needs will be a high priority, while Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate, proposed tapping the Rainy Day Fund for $1 billion to finance new infrastructure identified in [...]
The payday lenders won’t go without a fight
Where there’s a fight, there’s sure to be lots of money. Payday lenders were big spenders in the most recent Texas political campaigns – contributing more than $1.6 million to state races in the 2012 election cycle and giving most generously to Republican committee members who soon will be reviewing proposed reforms for their industry. [...]
When is a surplus not a surplus?
When any extra money you might have is already accounted for, due to unaddressed needs, accounting shenanigans, and shortsighted cuts. Some lawmakers and budget experts expect to have as much as $8 billion to $9 billion more in general revenue in this fiscal period, which ends Aug. 31. Some are guessing lower. Combs will give [...]
Dude, I’m serious!
House Speaker Joe Straus is ready to have a “serious” legislative session. You know, totally unlike the last one. Despite organized efforts to unseat him, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Wednesday he is confident his colleagues will re-elect him to the post so he can focus the 2013 legislative session on “serious issues” for [...]
Two minus five is still less than zero
It’s nice that Speaker Joe Straus wants to restore public education funding, but let’s be clear about what that means. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday he’s committed to pumping billions of dollars back into the state’s public schools, even though the Legislature approved historically deep cuts just last year. In an interview with [...]
Simpson in, Hughes out to challenge Straus for Speaker
It started with an announcement that Rep. David Simpson would make the Speaker’s race a three-way, which I assure you sounds dirtier than it actually is. Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, filed papers to run for Speaker of the House, he said in a letter to colleagues Monday morning. He joins Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, in [...]
It’s all about 2014
This is very easy to understand. Signaling austerity despite improving state revenues and a push by some to undo cuts to key programs, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and leading GOP senators said they plan to write a budget for the next two years that is smaller than allowed under a spending cap adopted Thursday. The [...]
Time for another Speaker’s race
It’s like a rite of spring, except it happens in alternate Januaries. House Speaker Joe Straus’ bid for a third term as leader of the 150-member state House may not come as quickly or as easily as he had anticipated. The San Antonio Republican finds himself caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place: [...]
The Lege is going to have to spend some money
Whether they want to or not, there are a lot of issues that will be demanding attention and money from the Legislature when they convene in January. For example, there’s water. House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday the state’s water supply will be among his priorities after years of inaction by lawmakers. In the previous [...]
It must be time for another Speaker’s Race
Those fun-loving chuckleheads at FreedomWorks are at it again. FreedomWorks, which helped insurgent Ted Cruz snatch the GOP nod for U.S. Senate from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, said Monday it will put its muscle behind toppling Texas House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio from his leadership post. The group is backing Rep. Bryan Hughes, [...]
More on Texas proving the need for the Voting Rights Act
From the DMN: “There have been growing arguments that the Voting Rights Act is obsolete and should be struck down,” says University of Michigan law professor Ellen Katz, a nationally recognized expert on the Voting Rights Act. “But [Gov.] Rick Perry and the state of Texas, through their overreach in these cases, may have just [...]
Revenues rise, but reality recognition doesn’t
Good news and bad news, because we can’t have one without the other. The latest bit of positive fiscal news came Tuesday when the state comptroller released numbers showing that business tax collections in Texas had exceeded projections. Comptroller Susan Combs had estimated that the franchise tax paid by businesses would bring in about $4 [...]
Just keep cutting till we tell you to stop
I have two things to say about this. Looking to get an early start on shaping budget discussions for the 2013 legislative session, the Texans for a Conservative Budget Coalition recommended Tuesday that lawmakers plan to reduce welfare spending, increase local control for public school districts, and consolidate or eliminate general revenue spending for several [...]
Do over!
This should come as a surprise to no one. Steve Munisteri, chair of the Republican Party of Texas, told party members last week that, if the court-drawn interim maps stand, he would seek to have Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature pledge to take up redistricting again in the 2013 legislative session. He also said [...]
More map feedback
In addition to AG Abbott’s pitiful whining, a few other parties have been heard from regarding the interim legislative map. First, Speaker Joe Straus performs his duty as a Republican. Here’s his statement: “As the panel of three federal judges prepares to issue its ruling on district lines for the Texas House of Representatives, I [...]
Tax reform on the menu
The Lege, which was too busy slashing public school funding to address the structural deficit caused by the underperforming business tax and the too-big property tax cut, will try to address the issue in 2013. “I believe that next session there will be substantial tax reform and a broad review of tax policy,” House Ways [...]
How much time will the Lege waste this week on a stunt?
House Speaker Joe Straus got a little frustrated on Friday. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus unleashed a rare verbal assault Friday on an effort to criminalize invasive searches at airports, assailing legislation supported by Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and most of the House. “The bill — without some serious revisions — appears [...]
Hey, remember Perry’s Emerging Technology Fund?
It’s still a mess, and a cookie jar for his cronies. The founders of Convergen LifeSciences Inc. had invested only $1,000 of their own money when they asked the State of Texas in 2009 to give them $4.5 million to help develop a new lung cancer-fighting drug using nanotechnology, according to documents the Austin American-Statesman [...]
House gavels in and out
That was quick. The House gaveled in shortly after 10 a.m. today and adjourned about 10 minutes later after Speaker Joe Straus announced that he’ll have a better idea about the special session’s schedule when the body reconvenes at 10 a.m. Wednesday. So far, only one bill has been filed in the House, and Straus [...]
Budget deal reached
One less reason for a special session. Assuming nothing else goes wrong, and Rick Perry doesn’t veto it out of whatever sense of grandeur and vanity drives him. House Speaker Joe Straus indicated legislative negotiators have reached an agreement on the state budget, and the House soon today will consider the much-delayed revenue-generating bill crucial [...]
Another point of order delays Eissler’s school bill
HB400, the bill by Rep. Rob Eissler that among other things raises the 22:1 student:teacher limit in grades K-4, came up for debate last night after the “sanctuary cities” bill got sidetracked by a point of order. Here was the original AP story about this bill going into the debate. Districts could increase class sizes, [...]
Parker and Emmett ask for redistricting reconsideration
Mayor Annise Parker and County Judge Ed Emmett have written a letter to House Speaker Joe Straus asking for reconsideration of the Solomons map that reduces Harris County’s delegation to 25 members. You can see the letter on Rep. Garnet Coleman’s website. The map will be voted on by the full House this week – [...]
I’ll take that bet
Jason Embry sums it up. Nearly every Republican in the Texas House placed a bet Sunday night that the residents of their district will support taking billions of dollars out of the public school system. In voting for the House’s proposed state budget, 98 of the chamber’s 101 Republicans supported a plan giving school districts [...]
Budget debate resumes tomorrow
Postcards: The Texas House [has called] it a night. They finished up the section of the budget bill that deals with public and higher education around 12:40 a.m. then adjourned until Sunday. Some members were planning to attend a Saturday morning funeral in Houston for the late husband of Democratic state Rep. Alma Allen. There [...]