By William Lutz on
6/27/2011 8:08 PM
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:
|
By William Lutz on
6/26/2011 9:56 PM
History has a way of repeating itself. And sometimes it seems the GOP never learns from its mistakes.
Both of those adages are on display right now in Senate Bill 6. The elected State Board of Education exists for a good reason, and every time Republicans take authority away from it, bad things happen.
|
By William Lutz on
6/26/2011 3:10 PM
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.
|
By William Lutz on
6/22/2011 3:22 PM
Texas courts would be prohibited from applying foreign laws – such as Islamic Sharia law – when they conflict with the rights guaranteed by the U.S. and Texas constitutions, if Reps. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) and Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) have their way.
The House approved a Berman amendment Tuesday to an omnibus courts bill (HB 79) that prohibits Texas courts from applying foreign laws in family cases, when they conflict with constitutional rights. Berman’s amendment was filed during the regular session as HB 911. It passed the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee unanimously, but died in the House Calendars Committee.
“We have a constitution of the United States and laws of the United States. We have a constitution and laws of Texas,” said Berman, noting that legislators take an oath to the U.S. and Texas constitutions upon taking office, not foreign jurisdictions. “I thought that doing this – prohibiting Texas courts from using any international law, culture, rules, or regulations – would be one way to protect Texas residents from Sharia law.”
|
By William Lutz on
6/22/2011 9:01 AM
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.
|
By William Lutz on
6/20/2011 4:09 PM
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.
|
By William Lutz on
6/20/2011 11:28 AM
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.
|
By William Lutz on
6/17/2011 6:40 PM
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.
|
By William Lutz on
6/14/2011 4:44 PM
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.
|
By William Lutz on
6/14/2011 3:24 PM
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.
|