Lone Star Report Recent Blog Posts

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.

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.

Thanks in part to the extension of time brought by an impasse over SB 1 and the anti-TSA-groping bill, the House met this morning and passed the courts reform bill.

The House concurred with the Senate's changes to HB 79 by a vote of 94-44.

The Senate adjourned sine die yesterday (June 28). ...

The Senate and House approved the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association reform bill conference committee reports this afternoon, shortly before an impasse on the state budget.

TWIA reform passed in the Senate 18-11 and in the House 98-44. It now heads to the Governor's desk. Shortly after the TWIA vote, the Senate adjourned sine die. But the House still had some business to kick out, including the anti-TSA-groping bill and SB 1. However, as a surprise to many members from both parties, SB 1 failed on a 64-79 vote. ...

(UPDATED at 5:47 pm to include a statement from Sen. Dan Patrick.)

It flew through the House with nary a word against it in the regular session.

But today Speaker Joe Straus called the anti-TSA-groping bill "ill-advised" and a "not well-researched" publicity stunt, after quickly gaveling in and out a five-minute floor session this morning.

The possible lack of quorum may have been the official reason that bill did not get a floor debate this morning (see footnote below). But behind the scenes there was a debate over the legality of Rep. David Simpson's (R-Longview) HB 41, which criminalizes the touching of certain body parts by Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) workers. ...

Any conference committee on the TWIA reform bill can "expect one hell of a fight," Senate Business and Commerce Committee Chairman John Carona (R-Dallas) said this morning.

The committee tentatively approved a committee substitute of HB 3, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association restructuring bill. The tally was 7-1, though the vote was left open as Sen. Mike Jackson (R-La Porte), one of three coastal area legislators on the committee, was en route. The Senate is expected to take up TWIA this afternoon.

"I'm going to do everything I can to defend this bill in the process. We're not going to be rolled over," Carona said, adding that he would not send the House bill to the Senate floor. ...

While the Governor hasn't placed a bill to criminalize TSA's "advanced pat-down" procedures on the special session's agenda, much progress is being made by supporters.

On Tuesday, HB 41, authored by Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview), was passed unanimously out of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. There are at least 111 supporters in the House, and Senate sponsor Dan Patrick (R-Houston) announced this week he had enough votes to secure a victory there.

Also this week, the chairman of a major state agency condemned the TSA's groping procedure. Barry Smitherman, chair of the Public Utility Commission, told KTBC-TV, "FOX 7," that he was pulled out of the line to a standard metal detector to instead go through a full-body scanning machine.




 

House Republicans gathered for a press conference just after sine die around 5:30 p.m. Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) said despite the the "hard work" done by his colleagues, "the work of this legislature is not complete."

Straus referenced the specter of a special session, which he just confirmed via a phone call before gaveling in the end of the 82nd Texas Legislative Session. Rep. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) said he plans to roll in to the Capitol around 10 or 11 a.m. Tuesday, though did not know when Gov. Rick Perry would order the special session to begin.

The call, Taylor said, could contain any number of issues -- most importantly, the filibustered fiscal matters bill SB 1811. Other bills on the special session call could include: the Sanctuary Cities bill (killed at the last minute in the Senate); HB 6, a public ed textbook funding bill; and SBs 8 and 23, health care system efficiency bills. [Note: See related blog post for a list of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's preferred special session items, including the surprise addition of HB 1937, the anti-TSA-groping bill.]

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.

Shortly before the Senate approved the budget bill 20-11, House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) laid out the case for the fiscal course of the next biennium.

"I think what you have before you is a better budget," Pitts said, before laying out the highlights of the document that has been worked on since October.

The budget, Pitts said, represents a "non-partisan" approach that encapsulates "the will of this chamber across the board." And much was added from the original, bare-bones draft, he said.

The Texas House last week passed a key piece of tort reform legislation, the "Loser-Pays" bill. Currently left in the Senate State Affairs Committee, HB 274 is drawing some outside attention by a national advocacy group with a rather notorious reputation.

Americans for Job Security is a business association that is often associated with Gov. Rick Perry's political consultant Dave Carney. It ran ads against Rep. Tommy Merritt (R-Longview) when he ran for the Texas Senate. But it has also attacked and targeted conservatives. The PAC targeted State Board of Education member Bob Offutt (R-San Antonio) with accusations about his policies that were -- at best -- misleading. Offutt had campaigned against Gov. George W. Bush and on behalf of Steve Forbes in New Hampshire in 2000, and the mailers were widely viewed as retalliation for Offutt's Forbes endorsement.

Now they're gunning for tort reform in Texas via radio ads.

The Senate Redistricting Committee sent the state House and state Senate maps (HB 150 and SB 31) to the full Senate.

The Senate's map passed 13-1. Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) cast the lone nay vote. Several Democrats voted for the Senate map but only after reading statements opposing the changes to Senate District 10 (currently held by Democrat Wendy Davis of Fort Worth) and expressing the belief that they violate the federal Voting Rights Act. If those Democrats vote for the map on the floor, there would be sufficient votes to suspend the Senate's regular order of business and pass the map.

The state House map also passed 10-2, with 2 abstentions. Both maps are placed on the intent calendar for May 16 and would be eligible May 17. The Senate map passed out of committee with only minor changes to the map unveiled in committee May 12 and profiled in this week's LSR.

The House Appropriations Committee just voted out committee substitutes to Senate fiscal matters bills -- legislation necessary to "fill the holes" left by HB/SB 1 (the primary state budget bill).

According to Curt Olson of Texas Public Policy Foundation's Texas Budget Source, the committee approved SBs 23, 73, 1579 (regarding various commissions and boards), 1581 (education), 1582 (pertaining to courts), and SB 1584 (environmental services).

LSR reported in today's subscription edition that the House postponed several of its own fiscal matters bills until the clock ran out on new, second reading bills on Thursday. Those now-deceased bills include: HB 3790, the leading bill, as well as defining bills HB 3640 (on various fines and fees), HB 3665 (on state facilities) HB 3639 (on education), HB 3648 (on criminal justice) and HB 3418 (on environmental quality).

House Speaker Joe Straus named the following five representatives to the conference committee on the budget (HB 1): Reps. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) [chair], Sylvester Turner (D-Houston), John Zerwas (R-Simonton), John Otto (R-Dayton), and Myra Crownover (R-Denton).

Three bills are now on their way to the Governor's desk this afternoon -- two of which were designated as emergency items by Gov. Rick Perry earlier this year.

A conference committee report for eminent domain reform (SB 18) was approved by the House by 145 votes. The House concurred on the Senate's amendments to the Sonogram Bill (HB 15). Both are emergency items ... with three weeks left to go this session. A redistricting map for the State Board of Education (HB 600) was also approved.

A motion from Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) pushes the big House floor redistricting debate ahead a day from what was originally suggested -- from Tuesday to Wednesday. The deadline for amendments to be filed is 5 p.m. Monday.

Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) was concerned that by having some amendments filed hours prior to debate, those traveling back from Easter obligations may be at a disadvantage. "You're limiting the ability of certain members to participate," Dutton said, noting that on Monday several Christian members of the House would likely be headed back from family and religious activities in their district.

Today, the House Redistricting Committee approved a Texas House map (sending CSHB 150 to calendars) but made major changes to it along the way. All redistricting maps and proposed amendments can be viewed at the Texas Legislative Council's DistrictViewer web site. In this blog post, we will refer to the plan numbers on that web site.

Chairman Burt Solomons' (R-Carrollton) most recent substitute (and the starting point for today's discussion) was plan H134. The adopted amendments were all to that plan. Solomons said his amendment redrew Tarrant and Harris Counties to improve minority representation. He also evened out the population of districts in Bexar and Hidalgo Counties.

The following amendments to plan H134 were adopted:

The House redistricting committee passed a new map for state House districts today. The vote was 16-5. All Democrats voted no, as did Rep. Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville). (Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, was absent, which the chairman explained was due to surgery.)

Hilderbran said he voted against the map because of concerns over compactness and how the map treats West and Central Texas. He also believes it does not reflect the voting trends of the state and should be more Republican.

Flying the American flag on a flagpole. You'd think that any American (or Texan for that matter) who owns property could do that without fear of repression, right?

Apparently not, according to a bill sponsored by Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston), addressing the practice of some home owners' associations (HOAs) in regulating how the flag ought to be flown. The legislative remedy sounds simple enough, as the bill (HB 2779) passed the House Business and Industry Committee unanimously on April 4. It is eligible to be debated on the House floor as early as tomorrow.

It's not often we hear House Democrats quoting the Bible, let alone the King James Version. Especially when it's cited within the pages of legislation.

Prior to passage of HCR 18 (115-17), one of Gov. Rick Perry's emergency items which calls for a federal balanced budget, an unsuccessful amendment to HCR 18 cited an abridged verse from the Old Testament Book of Daniel (Daniel 5:26-27). In context, the amendment accuses Texas Republican leaders of not having their own statewide house in order before asking the federal government to balance its budget.

The House is taking a lunch break following a morning of debate over SB 18 -- the long-awaited eminent domain reform bill.

So far it's been mostly discussion on easement rights and how to avoid potential legal trapdoors. But one amendment by Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) has property rights advocates and many House conservatives cheering.

The Texas House of Representatives basically completed debate on Articles I, II, and III of the budget today. It adjourned shortly after midnight until Sunday April 3 at 4 pm. When the House reconvenes, it will resume second reading of HB 1 -- the 2012-13 General Approprations Act. There were a couple of pending amendments on the first three articles that the House has yet to dispose of. Also, there were a handful of amendments with unresolved points of order. Then the House will move on to Article IV. The bulk of the work on the budget has been completed, and many pending amendments were pulled down before the House adjourned.

Most of the amendments went down on party-line votes, and it appears house leaders have the votes to do what they want on the budget.

Around 6 p.m. the Texas House began debate on a slew of education-related budget amendments.

Among the firsties was Rep. Dennis Bonnen's (R-Angleton) amendment responding to Gov. Rick Perry's call for a $10,000 four-year degree.

In today's subscription edition, we reported on the passage of the Voter ID bill in the House, 101-48.

Such momentum for election reform bodes well for other bills attempting to reform the process -- some filed by Hispanic House Republicans to further address Voter ID (among other issues), and others filed in wake of the HD 48 election contest where mail-in ballot procedures have been called into question.

After about 11 hours of amendments and parliamentary stalling tactics, the Texas House approved the Voter ID bill along party lines.

The vote, which came shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, was 101-48. SB 14 hit the floor on Monday, before Rep. Mando Martinez (D-Weslaco) raised a point of order kicking the bill back to committee.

We'll have more on this development -- and what it may mean for future legislation -- in our subscription edition on Friday. 

Like a certain episode of "Tom and Jerry" in which the famed cat and mouse duo teamed up to fight a bulldog, two unlikely allies are defending a House bill in committee today.

Reps. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) and Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) have sponsored a bill to repeal the Driver Responsibility Program (DRP), which charges dangerous drivers additional fees for certain convictions based on a "points system."

A point of order raised by Democrats postponed what was expected to be a long day of debate over the Voter ID bill.

Rep. Patricia Harless (R-Spring) said Wednesday is the likely day for continuing debate on SB 14. [...]

Republican Dan Neil dropped his election contest against Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) today. This comes after the House special election contest committee upheld Master of Discovery Rep. Will Hartnett's (R-Dallas) prior findings that Howard was ahead by four votes. Below is Neil's statement:

While laying out his texting-while-driving bill this morning, Rep. Tom Craddick (R-Midland) collapsed, apparently having fainted.

EMS workers took the former Speaker out to a stretcher before 8:30 a.m. Shortly afterward EMS workers were conversing with Craddick in a nearby room -- and laughing. Craddick was later taken to an ambulance and transported to nearby Brackenridge Hospital, an EMS worker noted. He was seated upright on the stretcher, several witnesses said.

Rep. Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) said the committee will postpone its meeting until late this afternoon -- possibly around 4 p.m. Craddick's office issued the following statement:

The Texas House approved its version of the Sonogram Bill on third and final reading this afternoon -- 100-45. No opponents were waiting at the back mic this time around -- unlike last week when debate lasted through the evening and voting postponed on a point of order.

Even though the Texas Senate passed a Sonogram Bill last month with 21 Senators in support, the deal isn't done yet.

The House Select Committee Voter Identification and Voter Fraud approved SB 14 without the extended debate we saw on March 1 when testimony took the better part of the day.

According to committee staff, the vote was 5-2.

Voter ID was deemed an emergency item by Gov. Rick Perry, and may be placed on the House calendar soon. The Senate approved SB 14 19-11 on Jan. 26.

A freshman Representative filed a bill to penalize airport body scanner operators: Including TSA agents.

Can they do that to a federal agent? Bill author Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) thinks so. And he's not alone, with 18 co-sponsors from both parties (see list below) and a few organizations.

The bill, HB 1938, makes it a civil penalty for anyone working in a locally owned airport to install or operate whole-body imaging equipment -- "including a device that uses backscatter x-rays or millimeter waves, that creates a visual image of a person's unclothed body and is intended to detect concealed objects," the bill read.

After four hours of public testimony and debate, the House State Affairs committee sent an ultrasound bill to the floor, 9-3.

Of the two bills heard in committee today, HB 15 by Rep. Sid Miller (R-New Braunfels) was selected, with some modifications inlcuding removing penalties for abortion providers who do not comply.

Rep. Geanie Morrison's (R-Victoria) HB 201 was discussed but not sent to the floor. ... The committee substitute, according to Miller, makes an exception for medical emergencies.

In another sign that the U.S. House of Representatives is under new management, the House voted today to repeal U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett's (D-Austin) restriction on funding Texas schools. The Doggett amendment prevents the U.S. Department of Education from awarding $800 million in education stimulus money to Texas unless Gov. Rick Perry makes promises about future education funding that Perry has said would violate the Texas constitution. Perry praised the House vote.

Two bills proposed by Senate leaders this week aim to distinguish preventation-based health care from the current state of "sick care."
 
Years in the making -- but now expedited due to federal health care reform -- are two bills, SB 7 and 8. Two similar bills were proposed in the 81st session. The goal is "to cut waste, fraud, and abuse" and "reward providers who are efficient and who are achieving healthy outcomes for their patients," said Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) in a press conference Feb. 16.

We look at what the bills set out to do below. ...

House Speaker Joe Straus released his list of committee assignments for the 82nd Legislature a few minutes ago. Straus said he took into consideration seniority, geography and demographic diversity.

"As you know this process is not an exact science," Straus said, before having the House clerk read the list. "... Like you, I am eager for committees to begin work ..."

Staus also created the Select Committee on Voter Identification and Voter Fraud, the Joint Committee on Oversight and HHS Eligibility, and Select Committee on State Sovereignty, as well as continuing the Election Contest Committee. Below is a list of the committee chairmen, followed by a link to a full list of committee members.

Closing arguments wrapped up in the HD 48 election contest hearing.

Master of Discovery Will Hartnett (R-Dallas) is expected to within the next few days give a report to the full House of Representatives regarding his findings. The matter now goes to a special committee for another hearing and a review of Hartnett's rulings.

Over the week, all but two of 34 contested voters in the HD 48 contest gave their testimony. With today's hearing now wrapped up, legal counsel for Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) and her Republican opponent Dan Neil said they hope to bring in the remaining two witnesses on Monday and then begin closing arguments.

The last day of the sporadic hearing will begin 1:30 p.m. Monday, according to Master of Discovery Rep. Will Hartnett (R-Dallas).

Rep. Beverly Woolley (R-Houston) announced her support for Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) today, bringing Straus' level of support up to 121 House members by LSR's count.

In the three-way race for Speaker Rep. Ken Paxton (R-McKinney) maintains 17 public supporters, and Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) is opposing the use of pledge cards in the Speaker's race, calling instead for a GOP caucus to select the next leader of the House.

With the canvass of the general election signed by Gov. Rick Perry this week, election recounts may now be requested. And with 15 votes separating the incumbent from the challenger in HD 48, observers have speculated that this race might be ripe for a recount.

Travis County GOP chair Rosemary Edwards said while Republican Dan Neil has not yet conceded his race against incumbent Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin), and a recount has not been officially called, the groundwork for a recount is being laid. "Officially, we're not in the recount yet," she told LSR. "We're still in the process of gathering evidence."

UPDATE (6 p.m.): The Austin American-Statesman is reporting Neil has filed the paperwork for a recount.

Rep. Bryan Hughes' mystery man was apparently a close House colleague.

After about six hours in closed-door executive session, the House General Investigating and Ethics Committee took pubic testimony from Hughes (R-Mineola), who named Rep. Larry Phillips (R-Sherman) as the person whom he said used the possibility of redistricting retribution as a ploy to steer Hughes toward supporting incumbent Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio).

In a Nov. 10 press release, Hughes said a then-unnamed person "brought up the subject of redistricting and explained to me how that process would be used to punish those members not on Speaker Straus's list of supporters." Phillips denied that he made any threats to Hughes, but that they did discuss the political realities of redistricting as friendly colleagues.

Today, the Joe Straus campaign released a letter from the Speaker's GOP committee chairmen calling Joe Straus a "staunch fiscal conservative in the model of President Reagan." The letter promises that Voter ID will be brought back for a vote and that sanctuary cities will end. We reprint the entire letter below. (Again, like other Speaker race posts, we are posting the letter because of its news value not support or opposition to its contents.)

[...] As House chairs appointed in 2009, we write to you today to express our support for Speaker Straus and advancing the conservative agenda on several critical public policy fronts.

As you know, last session Democrats were successful in shutting down the business of the House for five critical days because of their opposition to a new law requiring a photo ID in order to vote. We are committed to bringing this issue back to the floor, and passing a photo ID requirement as a protection against voter fraud. ...

We received the following statement and list of pledges from the Joe Straus campaign. We print in full below. (On the list of pledges, we offer no warranty, we are simply cutting and pasting what we have received from the Straus campaign in regard to his run for House Speaker):

"... As Speaker, I congratulate every House candidate elected tonight, and I look forward to working with each member for the good of our state.  I will continue to lead the Texas House in a fair and respectful way as Speaker, and at this early hour, I'm grateful to have 122 colleagues support me for Speaker, including 76 Republicans and 46 Democrats, and I look forward to visiting with more members in the coming days."

Confirmed List of Pledges for Republican Texas House Speaker Joe Straus
UPDATED:  November 3, 2010 12:00 a.m. [...]

LSR's final count of the night shows that -- come January -- Republicans will control at least 95 seats in the Texas House of Representatives, and possibly as many as 100 or 101. Posted below is our list of the new Republican House members along with the incumbent Democrat they defeated:

Sunday, the El Paso Times published a poll showing Republican Dee Margo leading Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso) 42.5 percent to 37.4 percent with a surprising 20.1 percent undecided. The margin of error for the poll is 4.4 percent, meaning that there is a 95 percent probability that the actual number is within 4.4 percent of that measured in the poll.

What this poll tells us is this race is clearly in play. (The district used to be represented by Republican Pat Haggerty.) The high undecided total makes it clear, however, that either candidate can win. In any case, this race is worth watching.

One more caveat: most people who know me realize I am very hesitant to write "poll stories." Here's why I made an exception here: