By Mark Lavergne on 7/2/2009 6:37 PM

Gov. Rick Perry issued the following statement on the special legislative session:

"I am pleased that lawmakers passed legislation to continue the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Department of Insurance and three other state agencies, and authorized the issuance of $2 billion in transportation bonds that were approved by Texas voters in 2007.
 
"With more than 1,000 people moving to Texas each day and a growing economy, improving transportation in our state continues to be a top priority of mine. I had hoped to reduce uncertainty regarding several major transportation projects across the state by extending the comprehensive development agreement authority for local and state transportation agencies. Although the CDA bill did not pass, we will continue to work with legislators and local officials to find transportation solutions for our state."

And on the other side of the aisle, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie said the session was a case of "the good, the bad and the ugly." The good -- "the Republican politicians who control the legislature are getting out of town before they do any further damage to our state." The bad -- "this special session offered more of the same misplaced priorities from do-nothing Governor Perry and his fellow Republicans, who once again failed to address skyrocketing insurance rates, traffic congestion and children's health insurance. In fact, a special session could have been avoided had the Republican legislative majority been willing to work with Democrats to address these important issues in a timely manner during the regular session instead of placing a higher priority on a divisive partisan agenda." And the ugly -- "Governor Rick Perry’s decision to add only one additional issue – expansion of private toll road contracts – to the special session. While more Texas kids remain uninsured than in any other state, families continue paying the highest insurance rates in the nation and traffic congestion continues to get worse, the Governor is still trying to reward the toll road profiteers who contribute to his campaign."

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By William Lutz on 7/2/2009 11:23 AM

The Texas House of Representatives has finally passed SB 2 -- the sunset scheduling bill -- with little debate and no amenmdents. The bill continues five agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Insurnace, whose sunset bills did not pass. It also moves most of the energy and environmental agencies for sunset review in 2011 and the health and human services agencies in 2013. Once the printing and signing formalities are complete, the bill heads to the governor's desk.

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By William Lutz on 7/2/2009 11:15 AM

The Texas House of Representatives passed on second and third readings HB 1. The bill provides legislative authorization to issue $2 billion in bonds authorized by the Texas Constitution to build roads. The House made major changes to the bill that left committee.

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By Mark Lavergne on 7/1/2009 4:30 PM

At the end of the House Transportation Committee hearing today, Chairman Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) left the CDA renewal bill HB 3 pending -- a routine matter under normal circumstances, but when the governor wants the lawmakers in and out in three days, it means the bill is on life support.

Following the hearing -- during which lawmakers bombarded Texas Department of Transportation assistant executive director Bill Russell with questions about HB 3 -- Pickett said that he liked the bill but did not perceive much support for it among his colleagues in the House.

He said he would continue to work with the committee members in the House and the Senate, as well as the leadership, on the bill, but did not appear to be in any hurry to move the legislation to the floor by Friday as long as his colleagues had serious problems with it.

“We have up to 30 days,” he said.

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By William Lutz on 7/1/2009 3:19 PM

Since our last post, the Legislature has taken several additional actions. Here are the major ones:

* The Texas Senate Finance Committee passed SB 2 (the sunset scheduling bill that extends the life of five agencies set to expire).

* The full Senate passed SB 2 this afternoon.

* HB 3 (Comprehensive Development Agreements) was left pending before the House Transportation Committee.

* The House set a calendar for tomorrow containing House Bill 1 (Proposition 12 road bonds) and House Bill 2 (Sunset Safety Net Bill).

 

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By William Lutz on 7/1/2009 12:49 PM

As of 1:45 pm today, we have three major bills on the call. Two of them progressed today but one is running into problems. Here's where we stand:

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By Mark Lavergne on 6/30/2009 4:42 PM

Lawmakers and Texas Department of Transportation officials held an hour-long staff-briefing in the capitol auditorium today to go over the three major pieces of legislation on the call for the special session, which starts tomorrow at 10 a.m.

They first looked at HB1-SB1, which looks to allow the Texas Transportation Commission to finally issue $5 billion in bonds under Proposition 12, passed in November 2007.

It also creates the Texas Transportation Revolving Fund, from which loans can be paid to other transportation entities for other projects, which would be paid back in interest. Counties could receive such funds for example. This way money could be "continually recycled" for transportation funding, passing back and forth from one entity to another. Up to $1 billion in Prop 12 bonds could be deposited into the new fund. One of the issues raised at the briefing was whether money from the revolving fund could be doled out to private entities to build toll roads. TxDOT Chief Financial Officer James Bass pointed to page 8 line 21 of the bill indicating that private entities cannot receive money from the revolving fund.

Also, Bass said, depositing Prop 12 bonds into the revolving fund does not free those bonds from the limits placed on them under Prop 12.

House Transportation Chairman Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) suggested that some of the money from Fund 6 could be appropriated into the revolving fund. "In Fund 6, we're just spending," Pickett said. "We're just cutting a check, and giving you the money. If we put some of the fund 6 money into the revolving fund, we're lending the money out, so it's coming back to us plus interest."

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By Andy Hogue on 6/30/2009 2:13 PM

Gov. Rick Perry announced the members of his finance committee yesterday.

 

Major statewide fundraisers include Roy W. Bailey, Jim Lee, and Gene Powell. Regional finance chairs include Rick L. Campbell (East Texas), Joe Colonnetta (North Texas), Ted Houghton (West Texas), Margaret Martin (South Texas), Vance C. Miller (North Texas), Mica Mosbacher (Southeast Texas), John T. Steen, Jr. (Central Texas).

Perry’s primary opponent – U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison – released her finance list in Jan., and it was the talk of the Capitol, as several key GOP donors and holders of some major Perry appointments signed on with Hutchison. That said, Perry’s list is at least an equally impressive collection of Republican heavy-hitters.

 

“I am honored to play some role in keeping principled leadership at the helm of our state,” said one of Perry's finance chairmen, Roy Bailey. “I truly believe that Gov. Perry’s leadership has played the central role in Texas taking its rightful place at the head of our nation’s economy. I am confident he will keep Texas on the right track.”

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By Andy Hogue on 6/26/2009 2:40 PM

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, in a letter to senators dated June 25, outlined his agenda for the special session, set to begin July 1. The plan, Dewhurst said, is to come into session at 10 a.m. the first day of the special and immediately refer three bills to Senate Finance Committee "for the sake of efficiency."

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By Mark Lavergne on 6/25/2009 11:28 AM

Gov. Rick Perry today announced he will be calling a special legislative session to begin Wednesday July 1 at 10 a.m. On the call will be:

*Continuing the five state agencies whose sunset bills did not pass the Legislature in the regular session and face abolition. The agencies are: the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Department of Insurance, Texas Racing Commission, Office of Public Insurance Counsel and Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation. Also, Perry wants the legislators to change the review schedule for certain state agencies to balance the Sunset Advisory Commission’s workload, which would be all but unmanageable in 2010 otherwise;

*Allowing TxDOT to issue general obligation bonds, which the voters approved in Proposition 12, for highway improvement projects, and for the creation, administration, financing and use of a Texas Transportation Revolving Fund to provide financial assistance for transportation projects; and

*Continuing comprehensive development agreements by TxDOT and regional mobility authorities, to design, finance, build and maintain transportation infrastructure. This will probably turn out to be the most controversial item on the call.

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