Rep. Sylvester Turner takes aim at one of Perry’s vetoes.
State Rep. Sylvester Turner
Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, said he would propose a House Concurrent Resolution advocating restoration of funding for the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County district attorney’s office, which was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry last week.
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This morning on the floor of the Texas House, Turner raised what options lawmakers have in responding to the veto. Afterwards he told reporters he would seek the resolution for restoring the funding.
“Over the last 10 years, there have been attempts to eliminate, weaken, move the public integrity unit from Travis County to the AG’s (attorney general’s) office and over the last 10 years the Legislature has said no,” Turner noted. “We are entitled to know where the funding will come from or what the plan is. Is it the intent of the state to say no to the Public Integrity Unit, to significantly weaken it?”
Turner questioned Perry’s use of his veto power to influence who holds a particular office.
“I am just not comfortable with vetoing funding because some people here have problems with one person,” he said
A concurrent resolution is basically just a “sense of the chamber” vote, so even if such a thing passed (which I doubt) it wouldn’t compel anyone to do anything. This is about sending a message. The politics of this situation are increasingly complex, but there’s a good case to be made that whatever you think of Rosemary Lehmberg and her sins, it’s not up to Rick Perry to force the issue. There’s a process in place that is already in motion, and Perry’s involvement is a conflict of interest.
More on this in the Statesman:
From the back microphone of the Texas House, Turner asked Speaker Joe Straus if any options exist to fund the unit.
Straus said after Monday’s meeting of the House that his office would do some research for Turner.
“With the questions from Mr. Turner and others, it’s certainly something that we should explore with the governor and with the Public Integrity Unit personnel. I’m assuming that the governor’s office has considered this,” Straus said in an interview. “We just have to assess where we are, and what the implications are as we go forward.”
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Also Monday, state Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, asked from the House floor if funding could be revived if Lehmberg resigns.
House leaders didn’t have an immediate response.
But Dale Craymer, president of Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, had a thought. The former top budget official for Govs. Ann Richards and George W. Bush said it is possible to restore funding through budget execution action, which involves the governor and the Legislative Budget Board agreeing on moving money from other parts of the budget.
I can’t claim to be optimistic about anything happening to counter Perry’s veto, but clearly we are in uncharted territory. Rep. Turner in particular got a lot done in the budget deal, so I would not discount his efforts.
On a related note, Travis County Commissioners Court is exploring its options as well.
Travis County commissioners will discuss the legislation and the governor’s actions on their agenda around 11 a.m. Tuesday.
“We likely will not take action tomorrow, rather just discuss this issue,” County Judge Sam Biscoe told KVUE. “There are a lot of unanswered questions. I have sent a list of questions to the county attorney to understand our authority and limitations on this matter. I also want to know whether the governor’s decision can be reversed by himself or the Legislature before September 1, 2013.”
Biscoe says the commissioners will address the item and then go into executive session. They will likely take action on June 25.
“From my understanding, the revenue from that unit goes to residents of Texas as well as the state and federal government. I personally don’t see the benefit of fully funding the unit if the money goes to outside agencies. We will explore the issue,” said Biscoe.
The main thing I’d be concerned about is that if Commissioners Court picks up the slack, what incentive does the Lege have to fund the PIU in a future session, post-Lehmberg? This is the same dilemma school districts that had room to raise their tax rates faced after the massive cuts to public education in 2011. A one-time fix can quickly be seen as the new normal.
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