State Impact Texas tells us that there will be no sunset bill, and thus no reforms, for the Texas Railroad Commission this session. After a lengthy review of the agency, required by state law under the Sunset review process, the Railroad Commission will continue instead with the same name and without any reforms. So what happened? [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Railroad Commission’
Is this the end for the Railroad Commission?
For the name, I mean, not the Commission itself. After 40 minutes of discussion about a bill that would rename the Railroad Commission of Texas and make other significant changes to the agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, the Senate passed the measure Thursday with a 21-0 vote. Senate Bill 212, carried by [...]
Precinct analysis: Third parties revisited
Politico has a question. Is Austin’s Travis County the nation’s Libertarian Party stronghold? The co-founders of a Libertarian political action committee based there make that case, arguing that the Texas locale is the “most Libertarian large county in America.” Wes Benedict and Arthur DiBianca of Libertarian Booster PAC note that 31 Libertarian candidates were on [...]
You can have a say on how the Railroad Commission conducts its business
From Texas Sharon: STEPS TO CHANGE THE RRC. The Sunset Advisory Commission is the agency that regulates all Texas agencies.ONCE EVERY 12 YEARS, they examine the agencies and decide what needs to be changed and if the agencies should continue. This year it’s the RRC’s turn for examination. How to Participate. On Wednesday, December 19th, you can [...]
Perry gives another middle finger to public education
It’s a twofer, actually. Here’s one. Gov. Rick Perry named Michael Williams the new commissioner of the Texas Education Agency Monday. A fixture of Texas Republican politics — and a former general counsel to the Republican Party of Texas — Williams resigned from the Texas Railroad Commission in 2011 after serving more than a decade [...]
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 [...]
More redistricting lawsuits filed
And to think, we don’t even have a Congressional plan yet. A federal lawsuit filed Monday by some Texas House members blasts the use of “inaccurate” 2010 Census data in the remapping of state political jurisdictions. The lawsuit by the Mexican American Legislative Caucus against Gov. Rick Perry and top lawmakers alleges that the census [...]
Senate says “good-bye” to Railroad Commission
Something like this has been talked about for a long time, now we’ll see if it actually happens. The Senate approved a bill [Monday] that would change the name of the Railroad Commission to the Texas Oil and Gas Commission and reduce the size of the commission from three elected members to one elected commissioner. [...]
Ames Jones jumps in, Williams to follow
I don’t really think Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones has much of a chance in the race to replace KBH in the Senate. She was a fairly nondescript State Rep who got appointed to the RRC by Rick Perry then won a full term in the low-turnout 2006 election, and off the top of my [...]
Williams will step down from the RRC
Michael Williams makes it official. Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams says he has sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter telling him he will be leaving the commission on April 2 to concentrate on a race for the U.S. Senate. Williams described the campaign as a “long cycle and a long race” that will, perhaps, have [...]
RRC Commish Williams to leave his post
Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, a ten-year incumbent who has nonetheless managed to claim the mantel of “outsider/insurgent” in the race for the 2012 GOP Senate nomination, will reportedly resign his post so as to actually be an outsider of some kind. Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams likely will announced Wednesday that he will resign his [...]
Blast from the past, RRC edition
TPJ tells me something I didn’t know about Republican candidate for Railroad Commissioner David “My party is my qualification” Porter. Porter has been the treasurer of the Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (TRLCC) since 2006. That’s when school-voucher activist James Leininger used Porter’s PAC as a $2 million vehicle to attack the GOP incumbents who [...]
Overview of the Railroad Commission race
Here’s the Chron overview of the race for Railroad Commissioner between the highly qualified and universally endorsed Democrat Jeff Weems and the “I have an R by my name” Republican David Porter. Weems is a Houston oil and gas lawyer who worked on oil rigs to help finance college. “I’m a big fan of the [...]
Endorsement watch: Sweep
A clean sweep of the big five for Jeff Weems. Weems, 52, who has worked in the oil and gas industry onshore and offshore, is bright, aggressive and attentive, with a keen knowledge of the various aspects of the business as well as an in-depth and fresh understanding of the commission’s duties. It is hard [...]
Endorsement watch: Statesman and Express News for Weems
Three for three. Commission Chairman Victor Carrillo suffered a stunning upset in the March primaries, setting up a contest between candidates who represent the state’s two major parties but who are also unknowns: Republican David Porter, who wrested the nomination from Carrillo, and Jeff Weems, the Democratic nominee. Weems, 52, is the best choice in [...]
Interview with Jeff Weems
As we head into the last two weeks before the start of early voting, it’s time to turn attention to the statewide candidates. First up is Jeff Weems, the Democratic candidate for Railroad Commissioner. Weems is a Houston-based attorney whose practice is entirely focused on the energy industry. It’s hard to overstate how much better [...]
Endorsement watch: Chron for Weems
Score two for Jeff Weems. There is one race for a Railroad commissioner’s seat on this fall’s statewide ballot to fill the seat currently held by Victor Carrillo, who lost to a challenger in the Republican Party primary. We commend Houstonian Jeff Weems, the Democratic candidate, to fill this seat. Weems, the son of a [...]
Endorsement watch: DMN for Weems
The Dallas Morning News is almost always the first out of the chute with most election endorsements. This year is no exception, as they’ve already issued recommendations for most statewide offices. They’ve gone mostly Republican – Keith Hampton for CCA notwithstanding – but broke with that by giving a resounding thumbs up to Jeff Weems, [...]
Let’s call it what it is
I do not understand the resistance to renaming the Texas Railroad Commission to reflect what it actually does. The Railroad Commission is the state’s chief regulator of oil and gas production. The agency no longer deals with railroads yet still regularly receives calls from Texans about train schedules. In 2005, when its last shred of [...]
The Commissioners
Here’s a look at how the candidates in the three Commissioner races did across Texas. – In the Democratic primary for Land Commissioner, Bill Burton won a majority in an astonishing 193 counties; of those, he scored better than 70% in 123, and better than 60% in 161. So why isn’t he the nominee for [...]
Carrillo’s message to supporters
Ousted Railroad Commission Chair Victor Carrillo sent a sharply-worded email to his supporters about how he lost his race on Tuesday. Early polling showed that the typical GOP primary voter has very little info about the position of Railroad Commissioner, what we do, or who my opponent or I were. Given the choice between “Porter” [...]
January finance reports for statewide candidates
It almost seems a bit silly to look at the January campaign finance reports, since the 30 days out report is due in two weeks, but I’ve created a Google spreadsheet with summaries for the statewide candidates. A couple of observations: – We know Bill White did a fine job in the brief time he [...]
Hector Uribe files for Land Commish
We have one more contested statewide primary on the Democratic side as former State Sen. Hector Uribe has filed for Land Commissioner. (Bill Burton of Athens is already in.) Here’s Uribe’s press release: Former state Senator Hector Uribe filed to be a Democratic candidate for Texas Land Commissioner today. Uribe returns to state politics after [...]
Filing season opens for 2010
Today is the first day to file for the March 2010 primaries. BOR is following the action from Travis County. No surprises yet – those usually happen later in the period – so far it’s mostly incumbents filing for re-election. I’ve received a bunch of press releases related to that today. Of interest is one [...]
Legislative wrapups
With sine die in the rearview mirror, tis the season for legislative wrapups. Here are a couple I’ve come across. – First, from Bike Texas, which had the fairly easy task of just following one bill: The final version of the Safe Passing Bill, SB 488, was passed yesterday [Saturday] by the Texas House. Today, [...]