Tag Archives: Warren Chisum

Abbott opines against domestic partnership benefits

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. The state Constitution prohibits government entities from recognizing domestic partnerships and offering insurance benefits to those couples, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote in an opinion on Monday. In the nonbinding … Continue reading →

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Marriage equality bill filed

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

As I said before, some things you do because they’re the right thing to do. State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, filed a bill Thursday to permit same-sex couples to marry, calling it a “Valentine’s Day gift to all Texans.” … Continue reading →

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2012 Republican primary runoffs

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

All the results are here. In the end, Ted Cruz won a pretty solid victory. I’ll note that in the last two publicly released polls, PPP had Cruz up by 10, whereas Baselice & Associates claimed Dewhurst was up by … Continue reading →

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RIP, Department of Rural Affairs

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

People say they want to shrink government, except when it happens to them. The Texas Department of Rural Affairs, the office that helps keep rural Texas communities afloat, is scheduled to close in October, and the lawmaker who wrote the … Continue reading →

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Corporal punishment

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Fascinating story in the Statesman from last week about the debate over the use of corporal punishment in schools. People who are not educators can be confused about the meaning of corporal punishment. It is not a teacher shoving a … Continue reading →

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TV recycling redux

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Back in 2009, the Lege passed a bill that would have required television manufacturers that sell TVs in Texas to set up a recycling program for old sets. This was modeled after similar legislation passed in 2007 for computers and … Continue reading →

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Senate says “good-bye” to Railroad Commission

Posted on April 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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Population growth by legislative district

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Some nice work by the Trib here. Our new interactive map visualizes population changes by district for the total population and residents who are of Hispanic origin. These totals are especially important now given that lawmakers are preparing to redraw these … Continue reading →

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Rural hospitals fear Medicaid cuts

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

As well they should. Childress is about 110 miles southeast of Amarillo and 225 miles northwest of Fort Worth on U.S. 287. The obstetrics division at the Childress hospital wouldn’t be the only one affected if the Medicaid cuts are … Continue reading →

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The California view of Texas’ budget situation

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I figure the folks at the LA Times enjoyed themselves writing this story. Texas Gov. Rick Perry delights in telling tales of his California “hunting trips” — hunting for businesses ready to flee the Golden State. But the latest budget … Continue reading →

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This is your government on dogma

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We won’t get Jim Pitts’ bare bones budget outline till late tonight, so as not to be a buzzkill on the Perry coronation inauguration. We did, however, get an opening bid from the ideological purists, and while it’s not worth … Continue reading →

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The marriage tax is working

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Back in 2007, the Lege passed a bill authored by Speaker-wannabe Rep. Warren Chisum that doubled the cost of a marriage license for any couple that did not take a state-approved marriage class. The idea, according to Chisum, was that … Continue reading →

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More pushback from the medical community on Medicaid

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Doctors and medical associations had a big effect on public opinion during the fight over the Affordable Care Act. We’ll see whether that is true during the fight over Medicaid. “Unless our state leaders can come up with a financing … Continue reading →

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Medicaid: Ideologues versus experts

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The fascinating thing in this story about the Republican plan to kill Medicaid is just how half-baked the idea is. GOP Gov. Rick Perry, fresh off a big re-election win and touting his new book on states’ rights, is among … Continue reading →

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Who’s your nanny?

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Everything you need to know about the potential Republican effort to opt out of Medicaid can be taken from this quote: “If people are in superbad poverty, that’s one thing,” says state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, the state’s most vocal … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Who needs Medicaid?

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s an early peek at what we have to look forward to next year. Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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Two legislator stories

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a nice profile of State Rep. Kristi Thibaut, who had a very busy year last year. Thibaut first ran for the Legislature in 2006. She had been a state Senate messenger and a government major while in … Continue reading →

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Statewide smoking ban update

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Earlier in this session, I thought the odds of a statewide smoking ban getting passed were pretty good. As of this point, however, it appears to be a dicier proposition. The chairman of the House committee considering a proposed statewide … Continue reading →

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House passes budget, slaps Perry

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Chris Turner, on Twitter: At 3:56 am, the House unanimously passed the budget. Believe it or not, that was earlier than was originally anticipated. The pregame chatter was that the House would have to reconvene today to finish … Continue reading →

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Son of Speaker complaining

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So yes, even in the post-Craddick era, there are still complaints about the Speaker by Democrats. Some of this is to be expected: You can’t satisfy everyone. Some of it is probably the result of over-inflated expectations. And some of … Continue reading →

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