Despite coming off a week where very little progress got made, legislators still appear on-track to finish the session by Wednesday and complete all the major work on key bills. The only bills on the Governor's call in danger of failing are the anti-groping bill and a sanctuary cities ban.

To help make sense of all this, here are where the key bills of the special session are right now:

As expected, the conference report for Senate Bill 6 violates the Republican Party of Texas Platform. The main platform violation is a provision that allows groups of college faculty to produce instructional materials (i.e. textbooks) for school classrooms without any oversight or approval by the elected State Board of Education. The underlying bill is an effort to encourage school districts to use electronic substitutes in lieu of printed textbooks.

KXAN reporter Nanci Wilson broadcast a story yesterday that Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) has not filed a personal financial statement, nor paid fines due to the Texas Ethics Commission. Click here to read story on KXAN website. Reynolds defeated long-term Rep. Dora Olivo (D-Rosenburg) in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Deal or no deal?

Earlier today we posted a link to an Austin American-Statesman blog post discussing a proposal where amazon would get a 4.5 year exemption from Texas sales tax in exchange for creating at least 5,000 new Texas jobs. But it appears this proposal is exactly that -- a proposal. When LSR asked Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton) about the status of negotiations over the sales tax nexus provision on SB 1, he replied that no one was negotiating with him.

And now -- the Alliance for Main Street Fairness (whose membership includes traditional Texas brick-and-morter retailers) -- has issued a statement blasting the proposal.  “Attempts by Amazon.com to get special treatment from Texas lawmakers should have every business owner and taxpayer outraged," said the organization's spokesman Eric Bearse.

Barry Harrell reported on the Austin American-Statesman's blog today that a draft conference report on SB 1 is being circulated that grants amazon.com a 4.5 year exemption from collecting sales tax in exchange for creating 5,000 new jobs in the state. Click here to read the blog post.

Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill by Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton) to clarify what constitutes "taxable nexus" for purposes of having the physical presence in the state necessary for the state to require collection of state sales tax. The Otto bill then showed up on SB 1, and the House overwhelmingly voted to keep it there. Amazon is currently in litigation with Comptroller Susan Combs about whether it has nexus in Texas. The Otto bill would not directly affect the amazon case, but it would clarify the law for similar situations in the future.

Gov. Rick Perry announced his vetoes for the 82nd Texas Legislature, Regular Session. You can read the list of vetoes here. And the item vetoes on the budget can be found here. The item vetoes on the budget consist only of riders for vetoed bills or bills that did not pass. Here is the list of bills filed without the governor's signature.

Among other items, Perry vetoed sunset bills for the Department of Information Technology and the Department of Housing and Community Affairs. While some vetoes will always be controversial, like in 2009, Perry erred on the side of caution with his veto pen this session and there are fewer controversial vetoes.

We'll have more commentary on the vetoes in next week's subscription edition of LSR.

What were the hallmarks of President Barack Obama’s stimulus bills? Going into debt spending our grandchildren’s money on big, earmarked public works projects. Sadly, some want the Texas Legislature to adopt a stimulus plan of its own.

Guess what just happened on the omnibus fiscal matters bill in the House Thursday night? The University of Texas lobby succeeded in adding a provision that authorizes new earmarked debt for Obama-style public works projects at state universities.

One of the fascinating subplots of this session that the press isn't writing about is the way that the Democrats are alienating the moderate Republicans with their refusal to compromise and non-stop playing of the race card. Nowhere is this more apparant than the spat over the bill that bans sanctuary cities -- a bill that moderate Republicans need to get re-elected. This isn't the Arizona bill -- not even close. In fact, what the bill really does is ban something that's already illegal under federal law and creates a uniform standard of penalties and enforcement.

Of course, that doesn't prevent the Democrats from going on and on about alleged-racial profiling and the like. Rather than make further comment on this issue, we'll just post the federal law banning sancturary cities (8 USC 1373) and let people decide for themselves.

The Texas Senate passed a congressional redistricting map 18-12 today along party lines. The map was proposed by the Legislature’s Republican majority and allocates two of the new congressional districts to Republicans, leaving the other two to Democrats.

Gov. Rick Perry has added congressional redistricting to the call for the special session that convened today.  The two committee chairmen, Rep. Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton) and Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) presented a map they both can endorse. To look at it, go to http://gis1.tlc.state.tx.us and click on plan C125.

Gov. Rick Perry issued the following call for the special session yesterday evening:

• Legislation relating to fiscal matters necessary for the implementation of House Bill No. 1 as passed by the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, including measures that will allow school districts to operate more efficiently. 
• Legislation relating to healthcare cost containment, access to services through managed care, and the creation of economic and structural incentives to improve the quality of Medicaid services. 

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced that he will not use the two-thirds rule in the upcoming special session. Bills will pass the senate on the regular order of business via majority vote. He made this announcement in a letter to Gov. Rick Perry issued today announcing what bills he'd like to see on the call for a special session.

"As you know, certain Senate procedures – such as the two-thirds tradition – exist to bring Democrats and Republicans together, encouraging Members to work in good faith in order to achieve positive outcomes for the people of Texas," Dewhurst wrote. "Given that a small number of Senate Democrats have demonstrated their unwillingness to find consensus on these important legislative items, I can see no other alternative than to operate under a simple majority vote in the Special Session."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst wrote a letter to Gov. Rick Perry with a list of bills he would like on the call for the special session. Some -- such as Dewhurst's health care compact and reform bills -- are not a surprise.

But he has also requested for the special session call both congressional redistricting and the bill by Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) to make groping without probable cause by Transportation Security Administration workers a felony. The Simpson bill died in the waning days of the regular session after senators received a letter from the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas threatening to challenge the bill in court and shut down Texas airports if the bill passes. We post the entire text of the Dewhurst letter below:

The regular session of the Texas Legislature has adjourned sine die. While Gov. Rick Perry has not yet issued a call for a special session, the leaders of both chambers confirmed that the governor will call one starting tomorrow at 8 am. No deals or action on any bills occurred today other than the usual technical correction resolutions. Any bill not adopted yesterday is now dead. Enjoy the sine die party. See all of you tomorrow.

Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) filibustered the fiscal matters bill -- SB 1811 -- tonight arguing that it does not provide sufficient funding for education. Senators may attempt to suspend the rules tomorrow to take up the bill. If the suspension motion fails, the bill dies, forcing a special session.

"I'm personally very disappointed. We put a lot of effort into SB 1811, and the school finance bill is something we worked on all session," said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. "I hope that Sen. Davis's actions don't result in less funding for our schools. I hope this doesn't get reopened in the House." Dewhurst added that "this puts the budget in a crisis."

"Those in charge have asked us to make irresponsible choices, in allowing special interests to preserve taxpayer-funded loopholes while telling educators, students, and working families that we just can't afford to educate Texans," Davis said. "... Cutting $4 billion in state funding for public education will result in thousands of educator job losses, overcrowded classrooms, and it will put an end toour state-funded pre-kindergarten programs."

One of the defining figures of 20th Century Texas Republican politics died today. Former Gov. William P. Clements, Jr. was the first Republican governor elected since reconstruction and served two non-consecutive terms -- 1979-1983 and 1987-1991. Gov. Rick Perry issued the following statement:

Mark Miner, director of Communications for Gov. Rick Perry, issued the following statement on the death of the windstorm insurance bill:

“The death of the windstorm insurance bill is bad for Texas taxpayers, insurance customers and coastal residents. By undermining negotiations on important legislation to fix TWIA, the Texas trial lawyers, Steve Mostyn and their allies in the Capitol have put personal enrichment ahead of coastal homeowners and Texas taxpayers.” 

The Texas Senate has adopted the budget (HB 1), 20-11. Several Democratic Senators attacked the budget, while Sens. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) and Dan Patrick (R-Houston) defended it.

"This budget lives within our means and does not raise taxes," Patrick said in announcing his decision to vote for the budget.

"When we started this process, liberal interest groups were clamoring for a $10 billion increase in spending," said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. "The Texas budget shows Washington and the other 49 states that it's possible to make government live within its means without raising taxes.  This budget makes a historic $15 billion cut from current spending, while still providing ample funding for our good teachers, our school children and our seniors."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), Rep. Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands) and several other legislators told the Capitol press corps a few hours ago that they have reached an agreement in principle on the budget and school finance. The details of the agreement have not yet been released publicly while the leaders share it with their respective chambers, but Shapiro and Dewhurst gave reporters a brief outline.

After 15 years of publication, The Lone Star Report will publish its last issue July 1. This blog will continue until Sept. 30. Our subscribers to LSR were sent a letter a few days ago about this change. Below are the relevant parts of that letter:

Thank you for your readership and interest in The Lone Star Report over the years. We appreciate your patronage, and it has been our pleasure to bring you what we hope was a thoughtful and insightful look at Texas politics and government. Due to the economic downturn, The Lone Star Report will cease publishing a weekly issue at the end of June. Your last issue will be transmitted Friday, July 1 ... On behalf of myself and our staff, thank you for your readership, subscription, and your help over the years with the articles we have written and the work we have done at the Lone Star Foundation. I have been asked to remain on staff through Sept. 30, and will continue blogging at www.lonestarreport.org as long as I am on staff ...

Sincerely,

William Lutz

Managing Editor

Yesterday, Rep. Senfronia Thompson gave a personal privilege speech over a flyer prepared by staff of the Texas Civil Justice League graphically depicting a mother nursing a baby (the flyer was about an indemnity provision of an insurance bill). The group Texas Impact has placed Thomspon's speech on youtube and we post a link below:

In reaction to Thompson's concerns, the Civil Justice League has suspended President/General Counsel Lee Parsley and Communications Director Cary Roberts, pending an investigation.

At today's signing of the voter ID bill, Gov. Rick Perry was asked the obvious question: are you running for president. In the past, he denied it. Today, he said, "I'm going to think about it. I think about a lot of things."

Perry then said his focus right now is on the important work of the legislative session, and that he would address other issues afterword. Remember, Perry sometimes likes to have a little fun with the press corps.

Republicans are delighted as Gov. Rick Perry signed voter identification legislation today. Perhaps nothing exemplifies the failed 2009 Democratic strategy on this bill than newly-elected Rep. Marva Beck (R-Centerville) standing behind Perry as he signed the voter identification bill. Beck defeated Democratic leader Jim Dunnam of Waco in the 2010 election.

Democrats blew up the entire 2009 session to kill a simple ballot integrity bill, and they paid for it at the polls. In addition to killing voter ID, they also killed lots of measures such as the Department of Insurance Sunset bill that would have caused Republicans to cast controversial votes on pocketbook issues. And now, a much stronger voter ID law is headed onto the statute books.

This evening, Rep. Yvonne Davis (D-Dallas) called a successful point of order against SB 1581, the omnibus fiscal matters bill for schools. This bill contained the Senate's school finance proposal, SB 22. The bill's demise complicates the House-Senate budget deal and introduces an element of uncertainty into the session's final days.

While House members appreciated the work that bill sponsor Jimmie Don Aycock (R-Killeen) did on the bill, many were relieved that it died. House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands) told reporters he'd prefer to do a temporary proportional reduction in school district funding (caled proration) and then work on school finance more comprehensively in two years.

The Senate, however is greatly concerned. [...] "The members [of the Senate] weren't kidding when they made in writing an offer on the budget that included a number of must-pass bills, including SB 22 [the Senate's school finance plan, which was later grafted onto SB 1581]," said Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

The conference committee on the State Budget met today and adopted decisions on education funding. In general, the conference decisions look closer to the Senate budget than that of the House (in other words, conferees added money). But K-12 public education fared significantly better than higher education. Here's a quick run-down of the key education budget decisions:

This week, the Queen of the United Kingdom visited the Republic of Ireland for the first time in decades, and Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association have both found language in tort reform bill they can agree to.

The Senate State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to approve the new committee substitute to this session's omnibus tort reform bill, HB 274,today  and representatives of the key parties told the committee they can support the compromise. The Senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) responded to a question from Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) about what she would do in the event the House wanted to make changes in conference by saying, "I will not present a bill to the Senate Floor that is not exactly this language," Huffman said. ...

As we mentioned yesterday, Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst issued a statement announcing a deal on the state budget. What we don't know exactly what the contours of that deal will contain. What we do know is that the key fiscal bills -- bills that make statutory changes required for the budget to balance -- are moving again in the House. The likelihood of avoiding a special session has increased.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz will appear on 92.5 FM the Patriot in San Antonio. He will appear on "the Boiling Point" to discuss the current situation with the State Budget at 10:30 Saturday Morning. In addition to the radio frequency in San Antonio, the show can be heard on the Internet at http://www.925thepatriot.com

The Texas Senate passed HB 1951, the Texas Department of Insurance Sunset Bill. Sen. Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) sponsored the bill and was able to keep it intact throughout the Legislative process. The bill has now passed both houses of the Legislature.

Today after the education fiscal bill passed the Senate, Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) tried to resurrect the concealed carry on campus bill. Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) threatened a filibuster to try and slow the bill down. Ellis threatened to talk until midnight, which would make House passage more difficult. When Senators heard Ellis's filibuster threat, the motion to suspend the senate's regular order of business failed 19-11 (requiring a two-thirds vote).

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Joe Straus have announced a budget deal of $80.6 billion in general revenue. They have issued a joint statement.

We'll post more details when we get them.

RedState, one of the most popular conservative blogs nationwide, has never been a fan of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

The blog's editor, Erick Erickson regularly compares Dewhurst to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, and that's not a compliment in conservative circles. But the blog took its attack on Dewhurst to a new level Wednesday in a blog post lambasting Dewhurst for setting up a stacked Senate committee to attack Gov. Rick Perry's higher education reforms and his appointees to the University of Texas system Board of Regents.

Dewhurst has sometimes come under attack in conservative circles, and I will admit that I have been one of the ones who has come to his defense over the years.

Comptroller Susan Combs announced today that she is adding $1.2 billion to the revenue estimate. Click here to read her letter to lawmakers. Specifically, Combs is increasing the estimated sales tax revenue by $1 billion and the motor vehicle sales tax estimate by $100 million. She estimates an additional $400 million in oil severence tax revenues will come from higher oil prices, of that $300 million would be dedicated to the Rainy Day Fund and $100 million would be available for general spending -- resulting in the $1.2 billion total.

Gov. Rick Perry used the occasion to warn legislators that he expects fiscal discipline and will not allow a partial budget to become law.

Unfortunately, Texans have come to expect this kind of nonsense from my alma matter (the University of Texas at Austin), but showing gay propaganda at Texas A&M? Obviously, some former students must be asleep at the wheel.

Also unfortunately, the A&M administration created the the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center in 2007. (Your student fees at work, Aggies!) And that center recently showed a video that Aggie conservatives consider pornographic. KHOU television in Houston has the story on this one, and we post a link below.

But we also note that Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center) has proposed a solution to these kinds of problems, and one that is fully consistent with everyone’s First Amendment Rights. It simply states that universities that have gender and sexuality centers like the one at Texas A&M also need to spend the same amount of money promoting Traditional Family Values. The Christian amendment was added to the state budget in the House.

The Texas House adopted the conference reporton voter ID today, 98-46. The voter ID bill is now on its way to the governor. Bill sponsor Patricia Harless (R-Houston) fielded the usual questions from Democrats about alleged voter suppresion and the costs of giving free IDs under the bill.