Blogs

In early May, Ruben Villarreal, Mayor of Rio Grande City, channeled the frustration of many residents in Starr and Hidalgo counties, where a proposed 14-mile border fence is slated to be built through the middle of his community. “I think it’s going to happen but they have us in limbo,” he said. “The federal government needs to give us the facts so we can be prepared. So if it is coming we can make a plan.”

A fence was first proposed in 2008. As the federal government served condemnations to Rio Grande Valley residents up and down the border, some residents in Rio Grande City, Los Ebanos and Roma were also taken to court but told the fence wouldn’t be built any time soon. U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar told the McAllen Monitor at the time that it was due to “engineering and hydraulic” problems. “Realistically and practically, they’re basically passing this decision to the next administration,” he said. “Certainly, for my constituents, we have a victory.”

The “engineering and hydraulic problems” the Congressman alluded to was the vexing problem of reality – and how to ignore it so that the Department of Homeland Security can sign off on the construction of an 18-foot fence in the middle of a floodplain. Building a fence that costs an estimated $4.5 million a mile in a floodplain sounds like a joke. It would be funny, too, if we weren’t paying for it, and if it wasn’t common practice for DHS to defy common sense and build fences in washes, floodplains and riverbeds just to fulfill its border fence quota with Congress.

As I noted back in 2011, at least 40 feet of steel border fence washed away during a flash flood in the Arizona desert. Arizona park officials warned the Department of Homeland Security that the fence would be washed away during the summer monsoon season. Despite their warnings, Border Patrol issued an environmental assessment saying that the fence “would not impede the natural flow of water or cause flooding.”

Scott Nicol, chair of the Sierra Club Borderlands Team, has been following the issue closely since he saw mention of the fence in a 2010 government report. “I had thought they’d given up,” he told me back in 2011. “But apparently they were really pushing to get it done.”

After filing several FOIA requests, Nicol received several documents showing plans to move businesses and homes in the path of the fence. In Rio Grande City, the government’s proposed route would go right through a nursing home. Mayor Villarreal says there are only two nursing homes in the rural border county so it will be extremely difficult to find another facility for the displaced residents.

In September 2012, a representative from DHS and another from the International Boundary and Water Commission held a community meeting but failed to tell residents anything of substance, said Villarreal. The meeting was barely advertised, but even so, he said, at least 80 people showed up from the various small border towns that will be affected.

But the government meeting only created more confusion and frustration. “I would describe the meeting as the most shoddy, unorganized and insensitive meeting of that type that has ever been organized in my 13 years as a public official,” he said. “They were not forthcoming with information. They talked about hydrology studies in jargon nobody could understand and wouldn’t talk directly to the people about their concerns.”

Villarreal said after five years, city leaders and residents need the federal government to advise them on what they have planned for the communities. The Observer asked for an interview with Congressman Henry Cuellar about plans for the proposed fence. The Congressman sent a written response that he had spoken with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency within DHS, and they had “advised that due to the lack of funding in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, there will be no additional construction of a border fence at this time. CBP plans to execute the fencing project should funding become available at a later date.”

Congress has already proposed $1.5 billion for a “Southern Border Fencing Strategy” as part of its immigration reform bill, which is making its way through Congress. Conservatives have demanded more border fence as a contingency for any type of immigration reform. Villarreal is frustrated by how little Washington listens to people who actually live on the border. Increasing the number of Border Patrol agents would be much better than a fence in a floodplain, he said. “When we had a flood in 2010 my resources as a city were strained and Border Patrol helped us. People help solve problems in emergencies. An inanimate object like the fence just sits there.”

After yesterday’s budget mess, it looks like a deal has been reached.

On Thursday the Observer reported that the budget negotiations stalled after pressure from Gov. Rick Perry. The guv wanted to limit new funding for public education to $3.2 billion to avoid a vote in the Legislature on increasing the state’s spending cap.

Late Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported that Texas House Democratic leader Rep. Yvonne Davis declared lawmakers reached a deal which would fund water infrastructure at $2 billion, restore $3.4 billion to state public education and would have public schools contribute $530 million toward Texas’ Teacher Retirement System.

“We have a tentative commitment that we have a deal,” Davis told the Associated Press. “I think people are pleased. They’ve been working very hard to forge relationships and do some good for Texas.”

The agreement capped contentious on-again-off-again negotiations between Democrats, who wanted the Legislature to go further toward restoring $5.4 billion in cuts to public schools made last session, and Republicans, who didn’t want to take a vote on the spending cap.

The Lead:

Just 10 days remain in the legislative session, and negotiations over the budget—the one bill the Lege has to pass—seem at a critical point.

The negotiations unexpectedly imploded yesterday due to sudden pressure from Gov. Rick Perry over disagreements on $700 million for schools. Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston), vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said Democrats were united in supporting a budget agreement in which $2.5 of general revenue went to schools and as would $1.4 billion in new property taxes.

Democrats had even resigned to accept that Republicans would divert $500 million previously dedicated to schools for other needs. But Perry said that deal still left too much being spent on schools, Turner said, though Perry later deflected blame. Two meetings on the budget were also cancelled.

But after more late-night meetings on Thursday, a budget deal may again be close. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst told the AP that a budget agreement between House and Senate negotiators could be reached today. The AP reports the deal would bump new money for education back up to about $4 billion. That’s still short of restoring the $5.4 billion the Lege cut from schools in 2011, but it’s more money for schools than Perry was advocating. Stay tuned.

Yesterday’s Headlines:

1. The House passed a bill that will raise the cap on the number of charter schools from 215 to 275 in 2019, the Observer’s Patrick Michels writes.

2. Perry signed the Michael Morton Act that will make all evidence accessible to defense attorneys in order to avoid gross injustices like the 25 years Michael Morton served in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, as the Observer’s Olivia Messer reports.

3. The Observer‘s Emily Mathis examines why the proposal to implement term limits for statewide officials failed in the House on Wednesday. Many House members didn’t want to cross governor-for-life Rick Perry, who had made no secret of his opposition to the term-limit proposal.

Line of the Day:

““There’s just a sense that these things are being handed out relatively willy-nilly because the school districts don’t have to pay the costs. There hasn’t been any apparent close oversight coming out of the comptroller’s office on these projects.” —Texans for Public Justice Research Director Andrew Wheat on tax breaks approved by the comptroller’s office.

What We’re Watching Today:

1. The House Appropriations committee is supposed to meet at 8 a.m. to consider SJR 1, a vehicle that would devote rainy day fund money for water and transportation projects.

2. The House is dealing with an omnibus bill, SB 1458, that would rework benefits under the Teacher Retirement System. The bill currently includes a provision to raise the retirement age for full pension to 62.

3. A Senate bill authorizing the new combined university in South Texas will be up today in the House.

4. The House will also hear Senate Bill 198, which would prevent HOAs from restricting use of Xeriscaping or drought-resistant plants, which some geniuses at HOAs across Texas have tried to do.

Just two years ago, Michael Morton was still in prison for a crime he didn’t commit—the murder of his wife. He was finally exonerated in December 2011 after serving 25 years and has since worked tirelessly to ensure that others don’t suffer similar injustice.

Thursday afternoon, Gov. Perry ceremonially signed the Michael Morton Act—SB 1611—which was authored by Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston). “Michael’s story played a very central role in making sure that we’re here today. It was his vocal efforts and other Texans’ work to make sure that citizens of this state would never have to face an ordeal that he had to face,” said Perry during the bill signing.

The measure is intended to improve Texas’ criminal justice system by ensuring that defense attorneys have access to all relevant evidence. One of the reasons Morton was wrongly convicted is that prosecutors withheld key pieces of evidence from his attorneys.

Morton was wearing a navy jacket, blue jeans, cowboy boots and a big smile. His wife Cynthia May Chessman stood behind him. At their wedding in March, they asked the 200 guests to donate to the Innocence Project, the organization that helped prove Morton’s innocence through DNA testing.

Perry said he is proud of Texas for being a “tough on crime” state. “But that tradition, however, comes with a very powerful responsibility: to make sure our judicial process is transparent and it’s as open as humanly possible,” he said. “Senate Bill 1611 helped serve that case, making our system more fair, helping prevent wrongful convictions, and, for that matter, any penalties that are harsher than what is warranted by the facts.”

“This is a major victory for integrity and fairness in our judicial system,” Perry said.

Sen. Ellis called the bill’s passage a bipartisan effort.  “The road to justice is not something you can do in a millisecond. It’s generally not a jet plane ride. It’s a journey. And this bill is an important step on that journey,” he said.

When asked if he supports the creation of an “innocence” or “exoneration” commission, Perry evaded the question. “I’m always open to the concept: how do we make Texas a better place to live? Whether that’s through transparency, whether it’s about statutes that are already on the book that need some tweaking and we don’t have to meet all the time, as Texas has shown to be efficient. So, the process, I think, works well for us.”

The current exoneration bill HB 166 has passed the House, but Ellis was reluctant to say that it would achieve final passage this session. “I, I never give up. It’s been around for over a decade. You know, you never say never. I’d say it’s on life support, but this Michael Morton Act had to be resuscitated a number of times as well.”

HB 166 would establish the Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission to investigate allegations of wrongful conviction. (Tim Cole was the first man in Texas to be posthumously exonerated. He died in prison before his innocence was proven.)

Since Texas has the highest number of wrongful convictions (117 exonerations and counting), an innocence commission  seems like a good idea.

But on this day at least, Texas took another step toward reforming its criminal justice system.