May
30
Written by:
Mark Lavergne
5/30/2011 10:41 AM
Gov. Rick Perry declined to go into specifics about which items he would place on the agenda if he called a special session. He merely indicated that he hopes the Senate gets the four-fifths vote necessary to suspend the rules on the last day of the session to pass SB 1811, the fiscal matters bill that has become the vehicle for school finance.
Perry observed that in the special session the rules are different, likely referring to the absence of the two-thirds rule to suspend the regular order of business in the special session. That means Republicans won’t need even two Democrats to sign on to a bill in order to bring it up on the Senate floor.
Perry said his goal at the start of the session was to balance the budget without raising taxes and without jeopardizing the job-friendly climate in the state.
“When the dust settles, we’ll have a no new taxes balanced budget,” he said. “You can bet on that. And we’ll be keeping appropriate dollars stored away for any additional emergencies that might face the state in the form of natural disasters over the next couple of years.”