For Carona, it's not business, it's personal

I can't promise that will be my only backwards reference to The Godfather, but I'll try to refrain.

After a flurry of rumors and nail-biting yesterday, the conference committee stripped out the tax provisions of TLOTA from the TXDOT sunset bill, HB 300. Senator Carona, the champion of tax-and-spend local entities and the Capo dei capi of tax-and-spend Republicans in the Legislature, has decided that since he didn't get his way, he's going to filibuster the bill in the Senate when it comes up today.

The text of his letter explaining his intentions can be found here.

I feel like I've beaten this thing to death, but there is one last thing I'd like to address from Sen. Carona's letter. Specifically this part:

I will address the knee-jerk, self-professed tax watchdogs whose outcry on the local option transportation act betrays either ignorance of the session or a callous use of LOTA as a straw man to garner headlines and addresses for their mailing lists.

Oh, really?

I think it's appropriate to turn this on it's head. Senator Carona has behaved, especially when concerning his TLOTA legislation, like a knee-jerk, self-professed savior of the stressed DFW commuter class. His behavior betrays either ignorance of proven studies regarding transportation solutions, or the callous use of his TLOTA legislation as a way to court favor in the circles of big spenders and bigger debtors pretending to represent constiuent interests - or to court favor among the big-dollar contractors salivating over the rail projects these taxes would go to pay for (read: campaign donations).

To address his accusation directly, it does show a very poor understanding of what taxpayer watchdogs do - either that, or a violent dislike for the persons and organizations who stood up to him this session (Carona may be a "bill-passing" machine with many acolytes and fearful subservient legislators who don't dare question him at the Capitol, but outside, it's easier to see the forest for the trees - that is, the tax hike in the "local option"). Also, there is little to be gained by going up against the local taxing entities, aside from the moral satisfaction of doing what is right.

Interesting end to the session, don't you think? Democrats chubbing in the House to kill legislation instead of having a proper debate over issues, and a "Republican" speaking ill of the taxpayers (voters) who are speaking out against his initiatives.

Aren't you glad we only do this every two years?

Record vote on HCR 50, the 10th amendment resolution

Finally!  It passed the TX House!

--

Legislative Session: 81(R) Unofficial
Bill: HCR 50
Disclaimer:This vote has not been certified by the House Journal Clerk. It is provided for informational purposes only. Once the vote is certified, it will be recorded in the journal according to Rule 5 of the House Rules and made available on this web site.

RV# 1544 — Unofficial Totals: 99 Yeas, 36 Nays, 4 Present, not voting

Yeas - Anderson; Aycock; Berman; Bohac; Bonnen; Branch; Brown, B.; Brown, F.; Button; Callegari; Chisum; Christian; Cohen; Cook; Crabb; Craddick; Creighton; Crownover; Darby; Davis, J.; Dunnam; Edwards; Eissler; Elkins; Fletcher; Flynn; Frost; Gallego; Gattis; Geren; Guillen; Gutierrez; Hamilton; Hancock; Hardcastle; Harless; Harper-Brown; Hartnett; Hilderbran; Homer; Hopson; Howard, C.; Hughes; Hunter; Isett; Jackson; Jones; Keffer(C); King, P.; King, S.; King, T.; Kleinschmidt; Kolkhorst; Laubenberg; Legler; Lewis; Lucio; Madden; Maldonado; Martinez; McCall; McReynolds; Merritt; Miklos; Miller, D.; Miller, S.; Moody; Morrison; Oliveira; Orr; Ortiz; Otto; Parker; Patrick; Paxton; Peña; Phillips; Pickett; Pitts; Quintanilla; Riddle; Rios Ybarra; Ritter; Rose; Sheffield; Shelton; Smith, T.; Smith, W.; Smithee; Solomons; Swinford; Taylor; Thibaut; Truitt; Turner, C.; Vaught; Weber; Woolley; Zerwas

Nays - Allen; Alonzo; Anchia; Burnam; Castro; Chavez; Coleman; Davis, Y.; Deshotel; Dukes; Dutton; Eiland; Farias; Farrar; Flores; Gonzales; Gonzalez Toureilles; Hernandez; Herrero; Hodge; Leibowitz; Mallory Caraway; Marquez; Martinez Fischer; McClendon; Menendez; Naishtat; Olivo; Raymond; Rodriguez; Thompson; Turner, S.; Veasey; Villarreal; Vo; Walle

Present, not voting - Mr. Speaker; Bolton; Howard, D.; Strama

Absent, Excused - Alvarado; Driver; Farabee; Giddings; Kent; Kuempel

Absent, Excused, Committee Meeting - Corte

Absent - England; Heflin; Hochberg; Pierson

TLOTA: No option at all

A couple of people have asked me offline, why would conservatives oppose a "local option" tax that needs the approval of voters before it can go into effect?

First, I have to tell you, I oppose the creation of new taxes at all stages. There are sometimes good policy reasons to accept new taxes or tax increases, and I'm willing to listen to the proponents, but as a general rule I'm against such things. In this particular case, I don't think there are good policy reasons to support the TLOTA*. I think the proponents of it, namely Sen. Carona and Rep. Truitt, are disingenuous for saying that opponents haven't considered or presented solutions to the problems faced by traffic-congested communities (clearly they haven't read the volumes of information being put forward by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, for instance).

Since the authority for these tax hikes and new taxes/fees lies first with the Legislature, I believe this is the best and most logical place to stop the TLOTA. We've elected these officials to serve in Austin and handle agencies like TXDOT and the budget. Foisting the solution for transportation problems off on local entities is extremely troubling, especially in a tightening economy, and given the enormous debt load Texas' local entities carry.

The local entities involved in this (the cities of Fort Worth, Dallas, Denton, Burleson, and many more) have also been disingenuous, using taxpayer money to pay for lobbyists to come to Austin and beg for TLOTA and higher taxes. HillCo Partners' lobbyists (who do have many clients and fight on many issues, but who have been especially vocal and active on this particular issue and for these particular clients this session) helped out at the "rally" supporting the TLOTA at the Capitol on Friday, a sham of an event staged and orchestrated to the last professionally printed sign. It's another issue entirely, but it's clear that the issue of taxpayer-funded lobbying needs to be addressed in a very serious way in the 82nd Legislature in 2011.

Frankly, any time someone says that the only way to fix a problem is to raise taxes and fees, a warning siren should go off for us all. This is not a partisan issue (clearly). More than $1 billion in revenue from the existing streams is diverted to pay for things other than transportation. End the diversion, find a pile of cash. According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, more than $300 million per year available just in DFW if cities made transportation a priority with their existing sales tax, as some cities have already done. Also from TPPF: "As uncovered by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week, one of the most vocal supporters of this tax increase – the City of Arlington – shelved plans to use existing sales tax capacity for transportation, and is instead waiting to see if the legislature raises taxes."

IT BOGGLES THE MIND.

Rep. Truitt is attempting to assert that the votes exist in the House to pass the TXDOT sunset bill with the TLOTA language intact. Rep. Pickett (a DEMOCRAT!!) is saying there's no way, and until he sees a petition with those signatures, he will not concede. There was an attempt by HillCo lobbyists to get a petition yesterday, but according to a memo by Pickett to House members, it was a sham - members were misled on the intention of the petition (it was to "keep debate going," something that is not an option anymore - the conference committee report will come back with a final House version with or without TLOTA, the end). Pickett was reportedly quite livid over these attempts.

The TLOTA is not transparent, accountable to taxpayers, nor is it, as Rep. Truitt tried to claim yesterday, fiscally conservative or responsible. It is, in fact, one enormous tax-and-spend boondoggle that most taxpayers won't even see coming, that has been pushed and supported by taxpayer-funded lobbyists from the very beginning. It was Fort Worth, the smaller Tarrant County cities and towns, and the city of Dallas that wanted this. Taxpayers? They were busy earning money to afford the taxes to pay down the debts and pay for ever more frivolous budget items.

(* Texas Local Option Transportation Act)

Behind-the-scenes: Sen. Patrick on the process

Senator Dan Patrick has kept his supporters informed about the issues facing the Texas Senate through his Facebook account all session long. Today he wrote a note discussing the behind-the-scenes process, very useful information for the non-junkies who have a vested interest in what happens down in Austin (read: regular Joe Six-Pack voters).

The post can be found here and includes such gems as:

1. Each day when I start I have a bill book that may contain up to 200
bills. Each bill was written by the legal department, reviewed for how much the
bill will cost, if any, and then reviewed by analyst to explain what the bill
does in a summary page.(This was done for almost 7000 bills-some a few hundred
pages)

2. These bills are delivered each morning to my staff who goes through each
bill and makes a recommendation to me. We have a system of green, yellow and red
tags. Green good to vote for, yellow not sure-need to listen to debate and talk
with others about the bill-red to vote no.

3. I have only 5 staffers to review a few hundred bills each day. They come
in early and leave late. A typical day for them in the last few weeks is 8 am
until 3 am-sometimes later.(these staffers also meet with lobbyists who come by
to support or oppose a bill, constituents who do the same, and take calls from
people asking about bills.

Very good stuff. Senator Patrick doesn't go so in-depth that it would boggle the average reader, and he goes in-depth enough to enlighten even us seasoned political junkies. I highly recommend taking a look.

Gas taxes and new fees alive on TXDOT sunset

SB 855 fell victim to the "chubbing" (unofficial filibuster) perpetrated by House Democrats over the course of Memorial Day weekend. A prescient move by Senator Carona has, however, saved the "local option" gas tax - he had it put on to HB 300, the TXDOT (Texas Dept. of Transportation) sunset bill that was debated in the Senate earlier this week. The amendment with Carona's language stayed on despite vocal opposition from conservatives. The bill is now in conference committee - where a bill is sent when the Senate and House disagree on some provisions of the bill.

Today, Rep. Vicki Truitt organized a couple of busloads of supporters of the tax to come down to the Capitol to rally in favor of it, and participate in a press conference led by elected officials. In addition to that, several contractors who reportedly work with TXDOT sent their employees over to the Capitol from downtown Austin offices. Professionally printed signs were provided (and returned after the rally to the same building where HillCo Partners offices; HillCo Partners lobbyists have been well-compensated by local taxing entities for their efforts).

I've got pictures from the rally that I will share later this evening. The jist of the rally, which to my knowledge was the first-ever rally in favor of tax increases in the state of Texas, was to urge support in the Texas House for the tax provisions to remain in HB 300. Lobbyists have been standing outside the House chamber in the "lobby pit" for the past couple of days attempting to persuade legislators to support this legislation. And it needs to be said - these are lobbyists contracted by local taxing entities such as the City of Fort Worth to be down here in Austin convincing legislators to support these tax hikes. You may have guessed what I'm driving at - these are taxpayer-funded lobbyists. (Yes, I saw former rep. Fred Hill at the rally today)

A small band of intrepid conservatives did show up with handmade signs to attempt to show the other side of this issue, and petitions have been delivered to legislators from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility showing that everyday citizens are opposed to these new taxes. But we were far outnumbered, not having the multi-million dollar contracts to spend our days shilling at the Capitol.

Courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Aman Batheja, here is a list of officials and lobbyists who were scheduled to attend today's rally (I have photos showing Rep. Mike Villareal [D-San Antonio], Sen. Kirk Watson [D-Austin], Sen. Eliot Shapleigh [D-El Paso] and Sen. Royce West [D-Dallas] at the rally - Shapleigh and West also spoke in favor of the taxes):

State Senator John Carona (R – Dallas)
State Representative Vicki Truitt (R – Keller)
Mayor Tom Leppert (Dallas)
Mayor Mark Burroughs (Denton)
Mayor Ken Shetter (City of Burleson)
Judge Glen Whitley (Tarrant County)
Councilman John Clamp (San Antonio)
Councilwoman Sheila McNeil (San Antonio)
Councilwoman Kathryn Wilemon (Arlington)
Judge Sam Briscoe (Travis County)
Commissioner Mike Cantrell (Dallas County)
Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt (Travis County)
Phil Ritter, DFW Airport
Bill Hammond, President of Texas Association of Business
Bill Thornton, President of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce
Jim Oberwetter, President of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce
Richard Perez, President of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce
Craig Douglas, President of the Real Estate Council of Austin

Joe Pickett....or Conway Twitty? You be the judge

Merritt, the "caucus of one"

Courtesy of Jason Embry with the Statesman, a video of Rep. Merritt taking heat about his determination to buck the Republican caucus.

Temporary break in chubbing as House breaks for caucusing

Well, that was almost a relief.

The chubbing has stopped for the moment.  It appears to be an agreement to keep the pace at 10 minutes per bill when the House reconvenes in an hour.

In the meantime, both the Republicans and Democrats are caucusing.

Reaching a deal, or plotting further shenanigans?

Stay tuned....

House Democrats are just hurting themselves

Some on the left would have you believe that what is happening in the Texas House right now is good government, that it is good for everyone in the state if there are ten minutes of comments and questions on each and every bill (correction: every bill by a Republican who isn't Ed Kuempel) on the Local and Consent Calendar.  

But what is happening in the Texas House right now is not intentionally good government, even if it does have the supposedly pleasant side effect of delaying rafter-shaking debate on controversial legislation.  The Democrats are standing at the back mic, talking points in hand to try and fluster the likes of Rep. Myra Crownover while she moves passage of SB 909, designating the first week of October as Monarch Butterfly Week (for example).  They're doing this to push the Major State Calendar, the bills that the House Calendars committee has set as a priority for debate and a vote in the House, to the last possible minute and ideally, for them, kill some of that legislation before it ever comes to the floor to be heard.  

They're doing this because they know they do not have the votes to defeat voter identification legislation. 

What they seem to have missed is that some of the legislation on the Major State Calendar directly affects a major initiative of their own.  SB 2567 by Duncan is the legislation that creates the fund in the State Comptroller's office to house all the money from the federal stimulus package.  Without this legislation, Texas literally could not accept the federal stimulus money because it would have no legal, transparent place to put it (REQUIRED under the federal law).

Not that I'm complaining about that - the Democrats are more than welcome to push that bill off the calendar.  

I just wonder what other collateral damage this activity is going to cause to their agenda.  And I also wonder, if they're so sure they've got the votes to kill voter i.d. legislation, why are they bothering with this?

Public opinion, incidentally, will not fall on the Democrats favorably.  There is no way this could be painted as anything other than a waste of time, while important legislation waits for a legitimate debate in the chamber of the legislature closest to the people.  And we have a governor who will not stand for shenanigans when the state needs windstorm insurance reform, for instance.  

This "chubbing" (oy, I hate that word) may be amusing in some quarters, and it's frustrating in others, but it is not the Republicans who can be blamed for it.  Instead it is fearful Democrats attempting to avoid having a legitimate debate on controversial but popular legislation.  Keep that in mind as the effort wears on.

Carona tacks SB 855 onto TXDOT sunset

So much for trying to kill this awful legislation in the House.

The language for SB 855 was crafted into an amendment to the TXDOT sunset bill being heard in the Senate.

Did you ever play chess, and lose, and realize when it was over that you should have seen that move coming?

UGH.

Now it all hangs on the conference committee, and who Speaker Straus appoints.

SB 855 scheduled for House vote TOMORROW - ACTION NEEDED

Okay, folks, we're down to the wire. Do you really want a 125% gas tax hike, during this economy?

SB 855 got through the Texas Senate, and now has to go before the Texas House.

Call your House Representative RIGHT NOW and tell him/her to VOTE NO on SB 855. Call them all. If you call a Republican, and you are one too, tell them that. The SREC passed a resolution earlier this session opposing SB 855. Remind them of this fact!

Also, SIGN THIS PETITION opposing SB 855.

I know you're getting a lot of last-minute action alerts and it seems like you can't get ahead on any of it. A quick phone call to your state rep. is all I'm asking.

Here's a list, GO FOR IT: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/Members/Members.aspx?Chamber=H

Concealed carry on campus one step closer to passage

The House bill died, but SB 1164 by Sen. Wentworth allowing for concealed carry of handguns on college campuses passed on 2nd reading in the Senate today, 20-10.

Of course, the caterwauling began immediately from the anti-2nd Amendment crowd, with the usual mischaracterizations (for the record, concealed carry law in Texas requires the applicant to be at least 21 years of age; extending that law to college campuses does not open it up to those younger than 21) and accusations of far-right influence in the Legislature. The support for this legislation should prove that it's not a far-right issue at all (one could hardly classify Sen. Wentworth as "far right").

A bit closer to having at least one victory for freedom this session.

ETA on Wedsnesday: The Senate passed SB 1164 out today 20-11. It is now headed to the House where it faces extreme opposition. Please take action immediately and call your state rep.; urge him/her to support the 2nd amendment rights of college students and vote FOR SB 1164!

Top 10% bill up on Wednesday

Sen. Shapiro's bill to revise the top 10% admissions law in Texas is up on the major state calendar in the House on Wednesday.  Major state, for those keeping track, is the part of the calendar that WILL and MUST be heard in the course of the day.  These are the first bills heard on a given day.

We've gotten little traction on higher education issues this session (unless, of course, we're talking about initiatives to charge more for higher education or create more unwieldy and expensive institutions of post-graduate learning), so it will be interesting to see how debate on SB 175 goes in the House.  Plenty could be considered germane - what about making a cap on number of students admitted under top 10% contingent upon the overturning of tuition deregulation, for instance?

The unspoken rule of this session has been, if it gets to the House floor, it passes.  Revising top 10% may have the bipartisan flavor necessary for passage, despite a straight Republican author/sponsor list.  However, this particular bill had overwhelming opposition from Latino and Hispanic groups in committee - think of it as LULAC versus the UT lobby.  What they're concerned about, I don't know.  Without top 10% as an admissions rule, UT is gunning for affirmative action, and you can bet that the students admitted after the top 10% cap is met will be vetted not for their merit, but their value in making UT look as "diverse" as possible.

(I should note - SB 175 is just a cap on the number of students admitted under top 10%, and earlier this session I talked about legislation that would have eliminated the rule altogther.  That legislation was left pending in committee, and SB 175 was actually left languishing in calendars for quite some time)

Perry will have final say on unemployment insurance stim. funds

There is no shot for the Legislature to override a likely veto from Governor Perry on the initiative to force the state to change its laws to comply with federal requirements to take the unemployment insurance stimulus funds. At least, according to one of the legislators that sponsored the bill in the Texas House, which will have a chance to debate the bill on the floor Wednesday.

To paraphrase a commenter on the Houston Chronicle's Trailblazers blog post about this, it's nice to have something good to take out of this legislative session. Seems likely that Perry will veto SB 1569, and my state rep. (Mark Strama) feels like it would take a miracle for events to unfold any other way.

Even though there will likely be a veto, it's a shame it got this far. Republicans could have stopped this bill long before it got to this point. Another perfectly good example of the awful session this was for Republicans, and for conservatives in particular. After all, what good is a majority, no matter how slim, if you aren't using it?

The week ahead in the TX legislature

What you need to know about this week in the Texas Legislature rules-wise:

1 - Senate bills are being heard on 2nd reading this week in the House. These are Senate-originating bills that have cleared the Senate floor and the appropriate House committees.

2 - House bills are being vetted in Senate committees. These are House-originating bills that passed on third reading in the House up through last Friday.

Things to look out for:

1 - The Senate Education committee will hear HB 4294 at Tuesday's meeting. There is an excellent analysis of HB 4294 on Will Lutz's LSR blog here. This is Rep. Branch's bill that allows textbook funds to be used to purchase laptops, if I'm reading things correctly.

2 - Voter I.D., in the form of SB 362, will likely hit the House floor this week. Calendaars Chairman McCall is saying so, at any rate. Look for a huge debate that could dwarf the Senate's initial debate on this.

3 - SB 855, what opponents are referring to as the "gas tax bill" and what I have referred to several times as the transportaxation bill, has been referred to Calendars. The earliest it could come up on the House floor is Thursday or Friday.

4 - HCR 50, relating to Texas sovereignty under the 10th Amendment, is on the House supplemental calendar for today. Whether they'll get to it is another matter entirely.

You can get daily House calendars here, and daily Senate calendars here. If you wish to get information on a specific Senate committee meeting, you can check those here. House committee meetings are listed here. Not all of the meetings at this point will be public hearings - in many cases, bills have been heard, just not voted on.

TX House votes 71-63 to limit political speech

In what amounted to a petulant defense of his ill-vetted Dem special interest bill, Rep. Todd Smith revealed that he couldn't actually defend or define some of the language in his bill ("The committee voted for it!" he exclaimed, to which Rep. Ken Paxton responded "Yes, but I was not on that committee," during Paxton's queries concerning the term 'membership organizations' in the bill).

Luckily, it wasn't drawn out too long, but the bill did pass on third reading, 71-63.

The question is now - What Will the Senate Do?

*cue ominous Twilight Zone music*

The passing of blue collar America

Hey, someone has to say it:  higher education is the biggest scam going.

More here from John Derbyshire.

And the Red Tape post that started the discussion here.

Makes me anxious to read Charles Murray's new book, really, though all of this is preaching to the choir in my case.  We do have too many people going to college.  We have too much emphasis in our society on earning a degree in fields that have little practical application (I was a history major, to give you an example - I should have majored in economics and public adminstration, for what I ended up doing for a living).  The big debt in this country is not credit card debt, but school loan debt, to the point where the system is creaking and one day may implode not unlike the housing loan market.  I've lost count of the number of acquaintances I have who, unsuccessful in the job market following acquisition of their undergraduate degrees, return for law school or grad school only to find the same problem upon the end of that cycle as well.  

Are there jobs Americans won't do?  Or should we say it's more like there are jobs Americans are taught they shouldn't do?

Is the deep South solid red? Think again....

Interesting post up at Greg's Opinion, showing a red/blue map of state legislative districts in the the south.  

I'll be honest, I was taken aback looking at some of this - Mississippi, for instance.  The map looks more like something you would have seen just after Reconstruction. 

And I think it's worth noting, looking at this map, the economic health of the states in question.  Texas is one of the healthiest states, from an economic standpoint, in the Union, not just the South.  And it is the "reddest" state, with all the statewides, and majorities in both legislative chambers, being Republican.  

We report, you decide, so to speak.

Excise tax resurrection

Phil Kerpen, policy director at Americans for Prosperity, has a great piece up on National Review Online today about excise taxes and the latest attempt in the federal gov't to tax soda pop ("coke" to you Texans out there).  

Kerpen tackles the historical precendent, Hoover's Revenue Act of 1932, and the eerie resemblence of certain manuevers in Congress to Hoover's tax hikes.

A sample:

The parallels between the tax policies of 1932 and today even extend beyond excise taxes. The income-tax hikes in 1932 were big — the top rate went from 25 percent to 63 percent, producing a revenue estimate of 0.3 percent of gross domestic product. The Obama administration has proposed a similar tax hike on the rich, although it would only push the top rate up to 39.6 percent, which is lower than the 50 percent top rate that was in effect before the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Even so, the Obama proposal amounts to $615 billion by White House estimates, which is, coincidentally, about 0.3 percent of GDP.

Free speech attacked - with no record vote

Back when bill filing began, I called Rep. Strama's HB 105 one of the worst bills of the session.  The good news is, HB 105 was one of the bills that died when "Taps" was sounded at midnight in the House last night.  The bad news is, another equally rotten piece of legislation on the same issue (campaign finance) is going to 3rd reading in the House.

The session is not over yet, and so much junk got through the gates before they shut that even the most stalwart of warriors would be discouraged.  HB 2511, by (of all people) Rep. Todd Smith and joint authored by Reps. Anchia, Merritt, McCall, and Strama, basically takes the most odious portions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law and attempts to graft them onto Texas election law.  From one action alert I saw this morning:

[HB 2511] would introduce into Texas law several provisions litigated recently before the US Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC and Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC. This bill, which is being pushed by several liberal front groups, is designed to suppress the free speech rights of conservative membership organizations and prohibit them from highlighting liberal elected officials and their bad votes on legislation affecting all Texans.

HB 2511 is definitely a terrible piece of legislation, strangling political free speech and targeting specific groups.   The comparison to McCain-Feingold should be the big warning sign, as that legislation created the tax structure that daunts many who would speak out and causes those who do to fumble and tread lightly where they should never have to in a free country.  

The worst part of this?  HB 2511 was given a shot at life late last night, with no record vote.

Now, it was fairly smart to let there be just a voice vote - before you get mad at me, let me explain why.  At best, last night, there were only 25 solid "no" votes.  It would have been an embarassment to let it pass out with those kinds of odds.  Today, on 3rd reading, there is a more solid opportunity to kill the bill.  The opposition has had time to think, to gather talking points, and strategize.  This is the way things have to be played sometimes.  So much junk was out on the floor this week, it's easy to see how preparing to defeat HB 2511 would have been difficult.

The rules of the legislature do require that House-originating bills that have passed on second reading must pass on third reading by the end of today, or they're dead.  Senate-originating bills must pass on third reading in the House by May 26 (and vice versa).  There is a window for defeating HB 2511 and the best opportunity to do so is while it is in the House.  For every step up the ladder a bill goes, the window and chance to kill it gets smaller and more treacherous.  Yes, the best thing would be for HB 2511 to have died in committee.  But let's be honest - when it came to the Elections Committee this session, everyone was focused on voter i.d., and everything else came second.  Play nice, let the chairman (Smith) have this one small victory, and let's focus on getting voter i.d. out.

Calls to legislators on HB 2511 are helpful, but please keep in mind that you win nothing if you are rude.  And calls to the joint authors are probably useless (after all, they have a vested interest in passage).  

I will breathe a heavy sigh of relief when today is over, I must say.  This session has been a brutal one for Republicans and conservatives in general.  Going into the home stretch in the next few weeks will be no less gruesome, but it will be less dense.  

IRCOT launches radio ad in DFW to target Ft Worth senators on immigration

I found out recently that legislative staffers are confused about IRCOT (not ERCOT, the energy agency). IRCOT stands for Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas. So when you get someone calling your office saying they're with IRCOT and they want to see ____ immigration bill pass, they aren't confused about who they're with, they're just using an acronym you're not as familiar with.

Okay, that out of the way, let's get to the meat.

IRCOT announced today that they will be putting an ad out in the DFW radio market (specifically 570 KLIF, home to the Glenn Beck radio program there among others) aimed at Democrat senators urging them to support SB 358 by Sen Dan Patrick. SB 358, for those playing along at home, is the bill that if passed would end sanctuary city policies in Texas.

SB 358 has the support of 19 senators PLUS Lt Gov David Dewhurst, but needs one more supporter to get on the Senate floor and passed so the Texas House can address it. The deadline, as previously noted, looms large.

IRCOT also released the following information in today's press release:

Early in session, IRCOT learned that the newly elected Texas House Speaker, Joe
Straus - (R) San Antonio, made a deal with the Democrats for support during his
bid for the position. From VERY reliable sources within the Capitol, we learned
that Speaker Straus agreed not to allow any immigration reform legislation out
of the House this session. From the committee assignments, leadership
appointments, bill committee assignments, and the foot-dragging of key committee chairmen -- we are 99.9% certain that the rumors were TRUE!

It certainly feels that way - immigration legislation has gone nowhere this session, and it seems like there are forces at work that the grassroots have every reason to believe are conspiring to keep it that way. Whether the rumor above is true or not, the fact remains that immigration legislation has lingered and withered under the current Republican majority - a fact that could haunt legislators in the primaries and beyond. What Speaker Straus may or may not have promised people almost doesn't matter. The perception is there, and groups like IRCOT (with huge bipartisan grassroots support) will shape the primary season.

SB 358 is important legislation that clearly needs a push. Regardless of party, the state senators to whom IRCOT is aiming this message should realize that this groundswell is coming from their constituents. There's a reason the bill was filed and a reason a grassroots group like IRCOT is taking this seriously even as the eleventh hour is upon us.

What's dead, and what's got life yet, in the Legislature

Action alerts are flying around right now, and many are still viable and worth taking action from. The trouble is, there was an inordinate amount of good legislation left lingering in the "calendars limbo," and some action alerts do not take into account the rules of the legislature, or the reality of the situation at the Capitol right now.

Right now, the House is debating legislation. They are still debating bills that were on last Friday's calendar - that's how behind they are. House-originating legislation that has yet to be heard on second reading (meaning it has come out of House committee, but has not been given to the House for a floor vote) has to be heard by Thursday at midnight or it is effectively dead.

If a House-originating bill is not on the calendar for this week already (you can check here), it is not going to be heard and voted on. The Calendars committee has locked up a lot of legislation that way, but it's not entirely their fault, since legislation was being heard in committees last week and passed there and could have been expedited through Calendars.

Meanwhile, Senate-originating legislation can still be heard in the House. A great example is SB 362, voter i.d. It could very likely be heard next week - depends on the Calendars committee in the House. The deadline for Senate bills to be heard in the House is May 26 at midnight.

There are groups paying close attention to what happens in Austin, and you should be looking to them for action alerts if you are unsure about the Legislature's rules that govern this kind of thing (Americans for Prosperity, Empower Texans, and Texas Eagle Forum are great places to go). We're down to the wire on important things, and grassroots efforts need to be concentrated. If your pet piece of legislation is one of the bills in the "dead zone" I've described, keep a copy of it for next time and focus either on legislation that has a chance or on the upcoming election cycle (recruitment begins NOW!).

I'm really thrilled to see so much enthusiasm from the grassroots, I really really am. Y'all rock. Now let's see what we can do about things like the 125% gas tax increase the Legislature is threatening us with....

(PS - if you'd like to know more about the rules in the TX House, go here. TX Senate rules are here.)

Taxes to the left of me, taxes to the....right of me???

So the Texas Legislature wants to tax chewing tobacco, strippers, and raise the gas tax by 125% (and honestly, I think that's only the beginning, if HB 9/ SB 855 keep going anywhere).

And the federal government is contemplating a special tax on soda (what one blogger is calling "The Return of the Sugar Act").

I've seen nothing at any level of government to suggest reigning in spending as a solution to our money woes.

Unlike what one headline read today, though, I'm not at all surprised by this. The federal gov't most especially, but yes, also the TX Legislature. Republican majority doesn't mean responsible majority, unfortunately, and it has been clear all session long that majority or not, Republicans (esp. conservatives) are not ruling the day.

McCracken out - Leffingwell is new Austin mayor

Apparently this all went down yesterday, but it was on the Statesman's front page this morning.

McCracken looked at the numbers and realized there was no way he could win, that it would be an expensive month, and he gave in. Lee Leffingwell is Austin's new mayor.

I think, in the wake of the Austin municipal election, it is worth reminding people about how citizens end up with the government they deserve.

I would like to think Austin is better than that, but I've seen what happens when TPTB try to make bond packages favor actual city necessities, like police and fire, over parks and bike lanes.

Leffingwell, in this case, may be exactly what Austin deserves.

U of H tuition $$ used for nefarious purposes

I admit, I just wanted to use "nefarious" in a sentence today.

But that doesn't mean the University of Houston hasn't been spending tuition dollars in ways that defy everything logical. A Houston investigative journalist did a series this week exposing the ways UofH officials have been using tuition money to pay for booze, business class travel, a million-dollar home.

In the wake of this exposure, UofH has banned the use of tuition money for booze and business class travel. Too little too late, really, but it's nice to see that once exposed, public university officials will attempt to clamp down on the ridiculous habits among their staff. Imagine what real accountability would do, if we opened up university checkbooks to online scrutiny and university systems to the sunset process and create an electoral system for boards of regents??

AND, if we return oversight for tuition increases back over to the Legislature?!

I know, I know. I'm getting carried away.

This shouldn't really come as a surprise, when you consider what universities are willing to shell out for their presidents and other officials (remember Gretchen Bataille at the University of North Texas, and her $96k in bonuses last year?). And with tuition costs rising at astronomical rates, UofH and UNT are standing out as poster children for why we need to reign in tuition and impose accountability on our public university system in Texas. (I wrote more on university president salaries last November).

This reminds me, too - the University of North Texas student population last fall approved an increase in the athletics fee to help pay for a new football stadium, and the necessary legislation was on today's Local and Consent Calendar. Thank you, Myra Crownover, for supporting unnecessary and expensive university projects. Gag.

Hat tip on the UofH info - Will Lutz, Lone Star Report.

Local election results coming in

Leffingwell and McCracken look to be headed to the run-off (seems too many people couldn't get over Strayhorn's history, and Austin is stuck with another far-left liberal mayor no matter the outcome).  Strayhorn has conceded, having received only 21% of the vote.

In Leander ISD, rock star liberty-minded candidate Lisa Mallory appears to have won her bid for school district trustee in place 1.  With 85% of precincts reporting, Mallory was leading the three-way race with 51% of the vote.  

It's with a heavy heart that I report Sam Osemene has lost his bid for Austin City Council, place 6, with less than 20% of the vote.  Erica Grignon, running for Pflugerville City Council, also lost her bid.

In other races I was watching, there wasn't really any good news.  Mike Pearce and Dan Jaworski lost bids for Killeen and Little Elm ISD places, respectively.  Justin Epker, Greg Myer, and Nate Lambert, running for Dallas, Plano, and Tyler city councils respectively, all lost their races as well.  

It's been a brutal night for the young people, and for liberty and conservatism.  The shining light is in Leander ISD tonight, and it's hard to say now whether that race is the exception to the rule or a beacon example.  

Politicized Jeopardy co-opts history

Mark Hemingway at NRO pointed this out.  I wish I could say I was surprised.  Apparently, during Jeopardy's College Tournament (seriously, how perfect), the following clue came up in a category about a PBS documentary (again, how perfect) on Geronimo (bold mine):

 

Late in life, Geronimo got co-opted by the white power structure, even riding in this president's 1905 inaugural parade.

Riiiight.  Because that's what happened.  It wasn't like Geronimo was proud of that opportunity or anything.  Hemingway points out that Geronimo actually dedicated his autobiography to Teddy Roosevelt (the answer to the above clue, by the way), calling him "fair-minded" and a "chief of a great people."

I'm not making an argument that Geronimo's people didn't suffer.  I'm not making an argument that his culture has not been trampled upon or ignored over the centuries.  But I think an argument has to be made that Geronimo was responsible for his own opinions - they were not given to him by the "white power structure."  

I say this is appropriate for the College Tournament, however, because this is the way they are teaching young people to think, and it's been happening for decades.  The system is set up in such a way that nearly everyone comes into contact with this line of thinking, in college or even in high school or before.  And now, you'll come into contact with it just by turning on a popular television game show.  What a sorry state of affairs.

More on campus indoctrination can be found here (among many other places). There is yet no source for indoctrination through television game show.

Could this be the end of McCain-Feingold?

Gosh, I hope so.

In his post at TNR, The Future of Free Political Speech, Chris Moody gives a brief synopsis of a case before the Supreme Court that may toll the bell for McCain-Feingold, the noxious campaign finance law that has hamstrung free speech in the United States.  The case, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, concerns the FEC's banning of Hillary: The Movie during last year's election cycle.  Under McCain-Feingold, this type of censorship is the tip of the iceberg.

If the Supreme Court rules against the FEC, McCain-Feingold could become a bad memory.  Let's hope that's the case.  The regulation of political free speech is directly contradictory to the First Amendment, and I think we have enough in the way of constitutional violations these days, don't you?

Travis County Republicans vote to oppose sobriety checkpoints, blood draw policy

Last week, the Travis County Republican Executive Committee held their quarterly meeting.  The committee is made up of all the active Republican precinct chairmen, and the officers of the party.  Frequently, the group will vote on resolutions concerning various issues, and last week, those issues included the controversial sobriety checkpoints being debated in the Legislature, and the blood draw policy being debated in Austin.

All in all, the TCRP voted in favor of the following resolutions:

• Call for the Texas State Legislature to reject SB 690 and HB3458 and any other attempt to increase the difficulty of the current procedure for charter amendments
  
• Call for the Austin City County Council to oppose the proposal of Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo to take blood samples from citizens suspected of driving under the influence. The body also called for Acevedo to withdraw his proposal.
  
• Call for the Texas State Legislature to reject SB 298 and HB 169 that calls for mandatory DUI checkpoints.
  
• Call for Travis County delegates to the U.S. Congress support passage of HCR76, a bill that describes the abuses of the federal government with regard to states rights as noted in the 9th and 10th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
  
• Call for Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security to withdraw its recent assessment titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” which singles out and profiles returning veterans as potential terrorists and makes other dubious assessments. The Travis County Republicans called for an apology to the United States armed services as well.
  

SB 298 is being debated in House committee this evening.  

SBOE damage bill, HB 710, dies on third reading

Never underestimate the power of calling your legislators.

Eissler and McCall voted for HB 710 on 2nd reading, but against it on 3rd reading. Email action alerts hit inboxes late last night and early this morning asking people to call Eissler, McCall, and Merritt.

The bill went down on 3rd reading 73-71. Some Dems were absent.

This is the bill that garnered some attention yesterday because of suspicious activity with regards to the voting machines that legislators use in the House.

More info on HB 710 for those interested:

HB 710 by Rep. Patrick Rose (D-Dripping Springs) subjects the State Board of
Education to the Sunset Advisory Commission review process at the same time as
the Texas Education Agency. Unlike the Agency, the Board would not be abolished;
but its powers could be modified as part of that process. Under the bill, the
Sunset Advisory Commission would review the Board and its powers.

If HB
710 had passed, the SBOE would be the only elected body in Texas (except for the
Texas Railroad Commission) that would be subject to Sunset Review.

Austin municipal elections - early voting over!

Early voting is over for Travis County elections.  The polls will open again at 7 on Saturday morning, and close at 7pm.

The Elections Office is planning for a run-off in our five-way mayoral race (the date will be in June).  Other races, some uncontested, will be decided much sooner.  

Many people have been asking, how should conservatives/Republicans/right-leaning independents vote in this election?  While the Travis County Republican Party took no official position on any of the races, given the non-partisan nature, there are some clear choices on the ballot.  Since I am not eligible to vote in these races based on my address, I can safely say I have nothing to gain by endorsing or supporting any candidate in these races.  I am making recommendations purely from my own standpoint, and do not speak for any political entity in stating these things.

Mayor, City of Austin - Two candidates stand out for the center-right crowd in Austin:  Carole Keeton Strayhorn and David Buttross.  Buttross was present at the Tea Party events on April 15, and while less well-known than the other candidates, he has a clear understanding of the appropriate role of government.  He's the anti tax-and-spend candidate if there ever was one.  The only trouble is that he has polled in the single digits, has gotten virtually no coverage from any of the major Austin news outlets, and in a five-way race is highly unlikely to make the run-off.  Strayhorn - we all know about Strayhorn.  She's likely to make the run-off due to her high name recognition across the political spectrum, and she's a decided alternative to the green-focused progressives on the ballot.  Her experience previously as Austin mayor and also as state comptroller is attractive, and from her rhetoric it seems she is willing to be fully honest with Austin taxpayers concerning the financial health of the city.

So moderates and conservatives really must ask themselves if they want to cast what amounts to a protest vote for a strong member of their community, or a practical vote for someone with a checkered history on our side of the spectrum

The only other race on the ballot where I can safely recommend a candidate is Austin City Council, Place 6.  Sam Osemene (on the ballot as Osemene Sam) is a conservative activist and part of the center-right community in Austin.  Unlike his opponent, his grasp of the fiscal issues from a taxpayer-advocacy standpoint will lend a much-needed voice to the City Council.  

All of the other candidates, in all the Austin municipal races, are supported by various leftist and progressive organizations.  The best you can do as a center-right voter would be to cast protest votes against incumbents - not that it helps you much, since the alternatives are in almost every case just as bad as the incumbents.

CDC backs off school closure recommendation; panic costly to taxpayers

Yeah, I think we've all figured this one out by now.

The CDC is backing off their initial recommendation that schools close when swine flu cases emerge, according to this article in the Houston Chronicle. Their new reasoning? Seems like the H1N1 outbreak isn't as serious as they thought.

There have been reports indicating that, based on previous flu outbreaks, the mild outbreak we're experiencing could be the calm before the storm. History shows that flu outbreaks of this type start mildly in the spring and erupt in the fall. The idea here is that we now have time to develop vaccinations and prepare for an actual pandemic - or at least a serious wave.

My point from the other day stands, though. How much has the panic cost the state? Joe Smith at Texas ISD mentions the possible collateral damage here. The TEA has a comprehensive list of current school closings due to H1N1/swine flu in Texas here.

Also, it appears school districts could be penalized for these closings and lose some of their state funding (a deficit districts will no doubt attempt to make up with tax rate changes or bond packages, harming taxpayers in the process). Rep. Doug Miller (R-New Braunfels) filed a resolution to waive the 180 day requirement. The Herald-Zeitung reports:

Section 25.081 of the Education Code requires that “for each school year each
school district must operate so that the district provides for at least 180 days
of instruction for students.” The education subsection allows for the state
education commissioner to waive the requirement in the cases of natural
disaster, floods, extreme weather, fuel shortage or other catastrophes. Miller’s
resolution states that the House believes that swine flu should be considered a
“castrophe.” Miller said waiving the unattended days would prevent school
districts from being penalized financially.

Again, as I stated the other day, the lost days are going to cost us something, somewhere down the line. Whether Comal County ISD alone loses $1.7 million in state funding and chooses to make up for it through taxation, or if the school districts choose to make up lost days by extending school into June and spending more on energy costs, it's a direct hit on taxpayers. The swine flu hysteria promoted by the federal administration is one more attack on our financial well-being as a nation.

This is unacceptable. While I think we can all appreciate caution, panic was the default position of the White House and the administration. Caution might have resulted in isolating known cases of the flu - panic caused whole districts to close on the presumption, not confirmation, of swine flu cases. It is regrettable that by playing off people's natural fear of communicable deadly disease the government has found another way to fail us and damage the economy.

How long will taxpayers be paying this off remains to be seen, since we don't yet know the total cost. We know that many people took direct hits to their pocketbooks, when having to scramble to find child care or take valuable time off work. This situation is shameful - I sincerely hope the legislature, cloistered and busy with other things, takes the time to evaluate the state's response to this and determine what the cost was overall. We need, and deserve, to know the answers to these questions.

Swine flu school closings

Texas ISD is a very useful website for anyone following what's happening with Texas' schools, though you may find the politics occasionally counter to yours.  I highly recommend it, however.

Click here and at the top of the page you'll find an updated (as of 9:30pm on Sunday May 3) list of ISD and individual school closings due to the swine flu/H1N1 virus.  

A sampling (the whole list is rather long):

Anderson-Shiro ISD
Austin ISD (Lucy Read PreK)
Brownsville
Chico ISD
Cleburne ISD
Comal ISD
Dallas ISD (Daniel Webster Elem)
Denton (Lee Elementary & Navo Middle School)
Fort Worth ISD
Houston ISD (4 campuses)
IRRA Inc.,
Katy ISD (Beckedorff Jr. High)
Klein ISD (Kuehnle Elementary) Link
Lamar CISD (Lamar Jr High) Link
Lewisville ISD (one campus)
Marion ISD
Merkel ISD
Navasota ISD
Navarro ISD
New Braunfels ISD
Northwest ISD (2 campuses)
Schertz Cibolo (all campuses)

ISD Superintendents make how much?!

We were watching KVUE News earlier, to catch the weather forecast for the week (humid, increasing clouds, increasing temperature - spring in Austin!).  There was this commercial that had both my husband and I laughing mirthlessly - a KVUE reporter doing "man on the street" questions to random Austinites.

How much do think school superintendents make/should make, says the reporter.

Answers vary, no one says more than $150,000.

Shocker - ISD superintendents make WAY more than that (you can look them up here), and one gentleman interviewed says "no wonder taxes are so high."

Well, yeah.  No wonder.  Of course, the constant voter affirmation of outrageous school bond packages plays into that as well, but sure, overpaid superintendents are part of the problem.

Just a glimpse into some of the more outrageous 2007-2008 salaries of some Travis County and Williamson County area ISD superintendents:

Austin ISD: $276,276

Eanes ISD: $208,421

Round Rock ISD: $221,991

Lake Travis ISD: $228,015

Leander ISD: $188,829

How much is the swine flu panic costing Texas taxpayers?

I wish I had an answer to this question, but so far I'm drawing a blank.  I think some enterprising legislator needs to try for an interim study on this question when session is over (and hopefully, the false panic over the swine flu/H1N1 is over).  

They closed down the entire Fort Worth school district, you know.  Nearly 80,000 kids out of school (over 130,000 kids statewide), unexpectedly, for two weeks, because of ONE CASE of the flu. During TAKS time (our standardized test system), which the Texas Education Agency has said can be postponed, and AP testing time. In Fort Worth, many of the parents are hourly workers who can't get extra sick time or afford to take unpaid vacations, or afford unexpected childcare. The Fort Worth superintendent's response? A too-sweet smile at the camera and "We are hoping the businesses in our community will work with us during this time."

(DMN article with some details)

This amount of time is way over the state mandated time that schools could be closed without having to take make-up days, so guess which schoolchildren are going to end up going to school in the Texas June heat? Imagine the energy costs.

I'm not getting into San Antonio and Comal County, where the situation is even more ridiculous. So far only two schools in Austin have shut down, both private schools (in those cases, my reaction as a parent would be tuition refund, esp. if the school time missed won't be made up somehow).  The Austin schools and Lewisville ISD, which closed one elementary school because of 3 possible cases, are at least reacting in a measured way, though with no good information on whether this is really a more deadly strain of the flu than what usually makes the rounds remains to be seen.  (Remember, the CDC estimates that the regular ol' influenza we see all the time kills about 36,000 in the U.S. every year - we're nowhere near that number or pace, and this isn't an airborne virus).

I want to know what this is costing the state - and okay, the federal gov't, since this is all but a declared national emergency at this point, and Governor Perry did issue a disaster declaration and has asked for federal assistance in Texas.  But I'm mostly concerned with the hit Texas is taking financially.