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 ‘Robert Nichols’
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 [...]
Still arguing about road funding
I still don’t quite get why the obvious solution is so blithely dismissed. With most of the work of developing a state budget behind them, lawmakers can now drill deeper into the state’s spending plan to find a way to fund billions of dollars in road maintenance, highway upgrades and other projects under the umbrella [...]
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 [...]
And they’re off
The special session gets started today, with the stated goal of being done by the weekend. House Speaker Joe Straus thinks his chamber can get everything done in three days, while Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is even more ambitious than that. “The Senate will get it done in less than three days,” Dewhurst said in [...]
Special session starts tomorrow
The special session everyone knew was coming to address the disposition of several state agencies begins tomorrow. So far, at least, the agenda hasn’t changed from the original call. Gov. Rick Perry is being pressed to add issues ranging from children’s health care to voter identification to the agenda of the special session that begins [...]
Safe Passing Act in the Senate
I’ve blogged before about SB488, the “Safe Passing Bill”. Via email from Jon Boyd of the CTC, I’m told that the bill will be heard by the Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security this week. Bike Texas has the details. What’s happening now. The 2009 Safe Passing Act, Senate Bill SB 488 will be [...]