Initially, neither Texas nor Arizona were covered jurisdictions, subject to Section 5 pre-clearance under the federal Voting Rights Act. Section 5 requires a small group of states -- mostly in the South -- to obtain pre-clearance from a federal court or from the U.S. Department of Justice before implementing any change to voting practices or procedures, including a redistricting map. Texas and Arizona were declared covered by Section 5 in 1975, in response to changes in federal law designed to cover linguistic minorities, such as native Spanish-speakers, to the act.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne filed suit against the federal government Aug. 25, stating that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. The facts as applied to Arizona are almost identical to the Texas situation.

This Sunday, LSR Managing Editor William Lutz appeared on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics. He had a message for Karl Rove and other former staffers of George W. Bush who want to take shots at Gov. Rick Perry: Shut Up! The program also features an interview with Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve. Lutz's commentary starts about 7:40 into the program. Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday at 9 on WFAA, Channel 8 in North Texas.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz goes on a RANT about Karl Rove's attacks on Rick Perry on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics Sunday, noting that Perry is more conservative than either Rove or George W. Bush. Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday at 9 am on Channel 8 in North Texas.

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has named John Sharp as the sole finalist as chancellor of the Texas A&M Univeristy System. After a 21 day waiting period mandated by law, the regents can name him as chancellor.Sharp served as comptroller of public accounts 1991-1998 and as a member of the Texas Senate, the Texas House of Representatives, and the Texas Railroad Commission. Most recently, Sharp led Gov. Rick Perry's tax reform task force, which developed the revisions to the state franchise tax that the Legislature largely adopted in 2006. He is an Aggie, Class of 1972. The official release from the A&M System can be viewed here.

We were looking forward to tomorrow's meeting of the House higher education committee and the resulting national media publicity surrounding Texas A&M's possible move to the Southeastern Conference. But alas, due to the SEC's decision not to extend a formal invitation to A&M, Chairman Dan Branch (R-Dallas) has cancelled the meeting. (That said, interest still appears high at A&M to an SEC move, as the Austin American-Statesman's sports columnist Kirk Bohls noted in today's paper.)

Branch issued the following statement today:

Gov. Rick Perry will join U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) as co-chairs of Americans United for Life's 40th Anniversary Gala. The event is scheduled for Nov. 2 in Washington, DC.

Of all the conservative issues out there, Perry's record on pro-life issues is about as rock-solid as it gets. Americans United for Life ranked Texas as the fifth most pro-life state in the nation in a March 2011 report, and that was before the accomplishments of the 2011 Texas Legislative session. The 2011 session of the Texas Legislature produced several key pro-life victories, including the following:

The House higher education committee is holding a hearing (the full posting is copied below) on intercollegiate athletics, and judging by the invited testimony list, it appears the topic for discussion is Texas A&M's rumored move to the Southeastern Conference.

Here's my question: the committee took a hands off approach with the University of Texas's Liberal Arts Dean Randy Diehl attacked Texas and American values by removing the words "American" and "Western" from the former Program in Western Civilization and American Institutions, replacing the mangement, and renaming it "The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Ideas." Will the committee take a similar hands off approach with intercollegiate athletics?

Anyway, here's the committee posting:

The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has struck down the individual mandate in the federal Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) as unconstitutional. Click here to read the opinion. The lawsuit pitted several states -- including Texas -- against the federal government, arguing that an individual mandate to buy health insurance violates the U.S. Constitution.

Attorney General Greg Abbott issued the following statement: “Obamacare is closer to an end. The federal court of appeals agrees that the federal health care law’s individual mandate violates the U.S. Constitution – and cannot be enforced against the American people...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R) wrote to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today expressing concern about recent enforcement strategies in Houston. In particular, congressional committees are examining an ATF program where agents allow suspicious persons to buy guns and then follow them. Some of the guns in question wound up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Click here to read Cornyn's letter. Channel 2 in Houston has covered the experience of one local gun dealer -- Carter's Country -- with ATF's enforcement strategy. Click here to view the story.

Sometimes, people focused on improving public policy forget how much has already been done ... In March 2011, Americans United for Life released a report, Defending Life 2011, that ranks each state based on its laws on the pro-life issue. Texas ranked Fifth. And that report was produced before the 2011 Legislative Session, which was great for pro-lifers ...Expect Gov. Rick Perry to talk about this report, and the pro-life record of Republicans in the Texas Legislature, on the presidential campaign trail.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz appeared on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics July 31 and blasted the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed new cross-state air pollution rules that the state's electric grid operator says will impair reliability. Lutz's RANT starts at about 7:30 into the program. Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday morning at 9 am on WFAA in North Texas.

So much for Williams versus Williams. Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams announced July 29 that he's switching from Arlington-Weatherford-based District 33 to District 25 -- an open seat that stretches from West Austin to Burleson. Williams's profile in both Austin and North Texas should come in useful in that district. Michael Williams's decision means former Secretary of State Roger Williams now has a clear shot at the open CD 33, instead of the Williams versus Williams matchup that has been taking shape the past few weeks.

Rep. Beverly Woolley (R-Houston) announced she is not seeking re-election next year. During her time in office, Woolley became one of the most influential members of the House Republican Caucus, serving as chair of the House Calendars Committee and later as Speaker Pro Tem. On a policy level, she is best known for her advocacy and involvement in efforts to protect private property rights and reform eminent domain.

House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) issued the following statement:

Now that the legislators have gone home. The LSR staff will be on vacation. Therefore comments to the blog will get approved on a much slower timetable than usual. We will return Mon. July 25. We are also working hard on our final subscription issue of LSR, which we hope to send to our subscribers soon. Have a great summer.

Earlier this week, I received a submission from a higher education expert who often publishes his work under the pseudonym Publius Audax. He disagrees with UT Liberal Arts Dean Randy Diehl’s recent report attacking the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Texas philanthropist Jeff Sandefer’s "7 Breakthrough Solutions." He also proposes a reform of his own – evaluating Texas universities using a double-blind exam similar to what is found at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. We post the piece below:

"Randy Diehl, dean of liberal arts at UT-Austin, and his "executive leadership team" have produced "A Response to the Seven ‘Breakthrough’ Solutions" (http://bit.ly/pSuWuI) proposed by Jeff Sandefer, the founder of the Acton Business School and a key leader of the higher education reform movement in Texas. Diehl’s response deserves close attention, if for no other reason than as a model of the use of confusion, misdirection and irrelevancy as propagandistic techniques.
 

Lots of campaign announcements have reached our desk in the last few days. Here are some of the highlights:

* Elizabeth Ames Jones announced that W.A. "Tex" Moncrief, Ed Whitacre, and George P. Mitchell will be co-chairs of her campaign.

* Seth McKinney is no longer running for the Texas House of Representatives. (LSR previously did a blog post on his announcement).

* Ted Cruz received endorsements from three former chairmen of the Republican Party of Texas: Tina Benkiser, Cathie Adams, and George Strake. Cruz has also been endorsed by George P. Bush.

* Conservative Republicans of Texas endorsed Barry Smitherman for the Texas Railroad Commission.

Secretary of State Hope Andrade announced the ballot order for the November constitutional amendment election. We post the proposed constitutional amendments and their proposition numbers below:

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Surfside Beach) announced he will not seek re-election today. Paul's announcement was made to The Facts today. LSR has received several statements and announcements from distinguisted Texans and potential candidates. We reprint below:

Comptroller Susan Combs announced last week that she has hired a Chief Privacy Officer and a Chief Information Security Officer to augment her staff. These new hires are another step in a series of actions Combs is taking to fix highly-publicized leaks of personnel information from state computer systems. These hires come shortly after some in the press raked Combs over the coals for hiring a policy advisor who had political experience.

A fixture in the Capitol Press Corps is joining the Texas Association of Business, effective Aug. 1. For the past 18 years, Robert Wood has covered the Capitol for radio, both for KLBJ-AM and for the Texas State Network. He is known and respected throughout the Capitol for the insightful questions he asks at news conferences.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz made an appearance on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics Sunday blasting both parties for the death of the Sanctuary Cities bill. Lutz notes that the bill codifies protections for law enforcement officers that already appear in federal law. Lutz's RANT starts at about 7:53 into the video clip below. The program also features an interview with House Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch (R-Dallas). Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday at 9 am on Channel 8 in North Texas.

OK. OK. We should have posted Texans for Fiscal Responsibility's legislative scorecard June 29 when it was released. We just got caught up in the end-of-session news rush. But in some ways, the Fourth of July is a much more appropriate date to post conservative legislative ratings anyway.

Texans for Fiscal Reponsibility and its president Michael Quinn Sullivan seemed to get more publicity this session than ever before. Democrats regularly mentioned TFR ratings from the floor, arguing they influenced the votes of Republicans. The organization produces a scorecard on fiscal issues before the Texas Legislature, rating the key votes.

Click here to read TFR's House ratings.

Click here to read TFR's Senate ratings.

It appears the open state house seat vacated by Rep. Fred Brown's (R-College Station) retirement from the House has several people interested in it. The Bryan College-Station Eagle reports that former Brazos County Tax Assessor-Collector Buddy Winn and businesswoman Rebecca Boenigk have expressed interest. Click here to read The Eagle's story.

LSR Managing Editor William Lutz will appear on WFAA's Inside Texas Politics Sunday. Lutz will be discussing the recent death of the bill banning Sanctuary Cities. Inside Texas Politics airs every Sunday morning at 9 am on Channel 8 in North Texas.

Right after Brown’s announcement, former Texas A&M and NFL football player Seth McKinney announced his candidacy for the open House seat.  “I know the value of hard work, have had to meet a payroll, and share the values of the Brazos Valley,” said McKinney. “I am excited about the prospect of fighting for a better future for our children. I bleed maroon and am conservative to the core. And I will not be outworked in this campaign,” said McKinney. He is the son of former Texas A&M University System Chancellor Mike McKinney.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Speaker Joe Straus, and Gov. Rick Perry have all issued statements on the end of the special legislative session. We post excerpts below:

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.