Tag Archives: Joe Straus

House gavels in and out

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on House gavels in and out

Budget deal reached

Posted on May 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Another point of order delays Eissler’s school bill

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Parker and Emmett ask for redistricting reconsideration

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I’ll take that bet

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Budget debate resumes tomorrow

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

A little budgeters remorse?

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Just a little. Not much. As a vote looms on a bare-bones budget that would slash education and threaten nursing homes with closure, House GOP leaders softened their rhetoric on Tuesday to emphasize that it is a starting point and … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Who will ultimately draw the map?

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Via Juanita, I came across this TylerPaper.com story about how redistricting will affect East Texas. It’s a good read, which can be mostly summed up as “they’re gonna lose seats, which will present a challenge to Republicans since they hold … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Straus names committee chairs

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

A day earlier than expected, and with the Donna Howard situation still unresolved, but here they are. As the Quorum Report says, it’s definitely Straus’ House now. See here and here for more.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Straus names committee chairs

Is everything on the table or not?

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Some things are more on the table than others. Tax breaks that encouraged high-cost natural gas drilling in Texas cost state government $7.4 billion in lost revenue over six years and would cost the state billions more if continued, according … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tax expenditures

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

According to a legislative report prepared by the Ways and Means Committee, Texas is losing over $4 billion per biennium to various tax exemptions and expenditures. One of the largest carve-outs was for the natural gas tax, which totaled about … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A few thoughts from Opening Day

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Just a few random bits from today’s festivities… – In the end and despite the teabagger footstomping, the Speaker’s Race turned out to be a big nothingburger, which was what most rational people expected all along. There were a few … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Some people just can’t handle prosperity

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Infight away, y’all! House Republicans have launched open warfare against one another as they vent spleen and fight over whether Joe Straus should remain speaker. In open letters and news releases that came very close to being vitriolic, members on … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Some people just can’t handle prosperity

Do we or don’t we have a Speaker’s race?

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Depends on who you ask. I mean, it’s not a race if one person can legitimately claim to have already won, right? The speaker’s race in the Texas House is on, a challenger said today. The sitting speaker, however, said … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Do we or don’t we have a Speaker’s race?

Beyond today

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’m having a hard time right now thinking about anything past last night, but here’s a Trib story from Sunday that takes a look ahead to the legislative and other battles that will follow. I think you can take some … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Beyond today

Here comes the late money

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The 8 days out finance reports are in, and it’s about what you’d expect. Millions of dollars poured into Texas legislative campaigns during the past month as interest groups tried to maximize their influence and partisans readied for the upcoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Here comes the late money

The deficit debacle

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Think things are bad now? Just you wait. Texas faces a budget crisis of truly daunting proportions, with lawmakers likely to cut sacrosanct programs such as education for the first time in memory and to lay off hundreds if not … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Chisum running for Speaker

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

We may have ourselves another Speaker’s race this January. State Rep. Warren Chisum is delivering a letter to colleagues today saying he will run for House speaker next year, challenging Speaker Joe Straus, his fellow Republican. He says the speaker … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Retama Park

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s another story about another horse racing track – Retama Park, which is northeast of San Antonio in Selma – hoping to hit the jackpot (as it were) with slot machines. The bit that interests me is this: If slots … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Interview with State Rep. Sylvester Turner

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Sylvester Turner is one of the senior members of the Houston-area delegation, having served HD139 since he was first elected in 1988. He doesn’t have a campaign webpage, so let me refer you to his Texas Tribune biography … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Keep yapping, Leo

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Blah blah blah. State Rep. Leo Berman said House Speaker Joe Straus’ ascent to the position was a “sham” based on promises to House Democrats and vowed he would offer the opposing party no leeway if elected Speaker next session. … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Keep yapping, Leo

Berman to challenge Straus

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t say I’ve been thrilled with Joe Straus as Speaker of the House. He’s worlds better than Tom Craddick was, which still isn’t saying that much, but he hasn’t been all that friendly to his largely Democratic group of … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We will keep trying the same solutions until they work

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Speaker Straus says that all options are on the table for dealing with the budget shortfall, as long as we’re talking about spending cuts. The table isn’t big enough to accommodate any other kind of options. Straus, R-San Antonio, said … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dunnam wants Lege to study gambling now

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Jim Dunnam, the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, noting that Speaker Joe Straus has maintained his pledge to stay out of processes that involve gambling-related legislation because of possible conflicts on interest, sent a letter to three … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A redistricting compromise?

Posted on April 2, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know how realistic this is, but if an agreement on how to divvy up the new Congressional districts can be worked out before the start of the legislative session, it would at least allow for more attention to … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The hole keeps getting deeper

Posted on March 27, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve said multiple times that even if we survive the 2011 legislative session, the budget problems we’ll be dealing with next year aren’t going away. The reason for that is because we have a structural deficit, as the giant unaffordable … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

We’re not likely to have a Speaker’s race

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Jason Embry makes the case that the start of the next legislative session will be much calmer than the previous one, and it’s hard to argue. Republican Joe Straus finished his first session as speaker of the Texas House well-positioned … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

If we must cut the budget, let’s be smart about it

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib remembers the last time the state of Texas had a huge budget hole, and how it made things worse in its attempt to deal with it. For some, it’s not too early to fret that lawmakers will balance … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo, Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Speaker knows what we’re up against

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure House Speaker Joe Straus is looking ahead to the 2011 session and stockpiling the Maalox and Excedrin. Among the “interim charges” to 31 committees handed out by Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio – issues for lawmakers to study … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

State to grudgingly hire a few more food stamps workers

Posted on October 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t strain yourselves, fellas. State leaders announced late Friday that more employees will be hired to help process food stamp applications. […] “In these tough economic times, the state of Texas must do everything in its power to ensure Texas … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on State to grudgingly hire a few more food stamps workers

That’s a wrap for the special session

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know if it’s a record, but a little more than 30 hours after they gaveled in yesterday, both chambers adjourned sine die today, bringing the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it special session to a close. As noted yesterday, the two bills deemed … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Special session starts tomorrow

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Legislative wrapups

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Legislative wrapups

Special session speculation

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We all know that the Lege adjourned without finishing all its business. A lot of people are speculating there will need to be a special session to deal with it. At this time, Governor Perry is not one of those … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Special session speculation