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Day 102 of the 82nd Texas Legislature

LINE OF THE DAY
“I picked up more support. He may think he won, but he’s lost.”
State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, on Rep. David Simpson’s derailing of her so-called “puppy mill bill” yesterday

OBSERVED
Yesterday a Senate panel passed its version of the budget, which spends nearly $12 billion more than the House plan. Still, while it restores some funding to public education, health and human services and public safety, Alexa Garcia-Ditta writes it’s still not enough to meet Texas’ needs.  

BEST OF THE REST
The Texas House postponed hearing a controversial education deregulation bill yesterday so lawmakers could head home early for the Easter holiday. The legislation would give school districts more flexibility over class sizes and teacher salaries. Gary Scharrer of the San Antonio Express News outlines what teachers and school administrators think of the bill, scheduled now to be debated Tuesday. 

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Today and Monday will be quiet under the pink dome as lawmakers headed home yesterday for the Easter holiday. But things will pick back up starting Tuesday. The Senate is expected to bring its version of the budget to the floor next week. 

Day 101 of the 82nd Texas Legislature

LINE OF THE DAY
“We’re not closing the door. We are changing who gets to go first.”
-State Rep. Dan Branch on prioritizing TEXAS college grants based on academic readiness.

FLOOR PLAY BY ABBY RAPOPORT
Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee passed a school finance plan that cuts $4 billion from school districts—almost half of what the House cut. But as Abby Rapoport reports, the plan still cuts from the poorest school districts in the state and maintains the dysfunctional system that’s left huge gaps in funding between districts. 

BEST OF THE REST
Everyone is looking towards the Senate to pass a budget that will spend billions more than the House’s version. But in addition to accounting tricks and fees, the Austin American-Statesman reports, Senate Finance Czar Steve Ogden says he will need $3 billion from the Rainy Day fund to pay for state funding for the 2012-2013 biennium—a plan that could easily be opposed by House leaders and Gov. Rick Perry.  

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
After months of meticulous number crunching, the Senate Finance Committee is finally ready to vote on its budget bill. Though there are are still significant cuts, particularly to education and human services, the upper chamber has injected billions more dollars into their version of the budget, in contrast to the House’s bare bones budget passed earlier this month. But there’s still not word on whether they can pay for all those priorities.

Day 100 of the 82nd Texas Legislature

LINE OF THE DAY
“I’m concerned about imposing white middle-class values on low-income people who are focused on doing the best they can to keep food in their children’s stomachs.”
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, on why he voted against a bill that would limit the use of food stamps for candy, cookies and sodas.

FLOOR PLAY BY ABBY RAPOPORT
After weeks of scouring for extra money to help balance its budget, the Senate finally revealed its list of ideas yesterday, which total to about $5 billion. Most of state Sen. Robert Duncan’s “non-tax revenue items” are accounting tricks and fees and don’t address the larger structural deficit. “This is a one time fix,” he said of the list.

OBSERVED
Leave it to the Texas Legislature to make it harder for Texans to fight polluters. In yesterday’s House debate of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s sunset bill, Republicans added several amendments which now make it harder for citizens and the agency to fight big industries. 

BEST OF THE REST
The House Redistricting Committee voted on a new map of House districts yesterday. This one adds two Hispanic seats—rather than eliminating one like the original map. Still, while chairman Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, says the map will get federal approval, committee Democrats were not satisfied that it accurately reflects Hispanic population growth in Texas.  

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
“Fasten your seat belts, here we go,” Sen. Steve Ogden, the lead Senate budget writer, said yesterday. The Senate Finance Committee will vote today on fees and accounting tricks that members hope will raise enough revenue to prevent drastic budget cuts. They’ll also vote on a major school finance bill. 

Day 99 of the 82nd Texas Legislature

LINE OF THE DAY
“I don’t know that you can raise a tax high enough to curtail the consumption of things that are unhealthy for our children.”
Sen Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, on a bill to tax sodas.

OBSERVED
Teachers may soon be laid off and nursing homes might close, but some Texas lawmakers are fighting to save money for an especially disenfranchised group: mega-yacht owners. As Forrest Wilder reports, the House Ways and Means committee heard a bill yesterday that would give a tax break on boats over $250,000.  

BEST OF THE REST
Texas lawmakers yesterday took one small step toward putting more money into the austere House budget that cuts $23 billion from current state spending. As Peggy Fikac of the Houston Chronicle reports, House budget writers approved a bill that would add $3 billion in non-tax revenue to the bare-bones 2012-2013 budget.  

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Today the House will take up a number of bills, including one to outlaw salvia and a bill that would create an innocence commission to investigate cases of wrongful conviction. Meanwhile, there are rumors that the Senate may debate the sonogram bill. 

Day 98 of the 82nd Texas Legislature

LINE OF THE DAY
“It’s the passing of an influence, as districts that only represent rural Texas are becoming fewer.”
State Rep. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, on the diminishing political power in West Texas

FLOOR PLAY BY ABBY RAPOPORT
The reality of the budget crisis hit home for students at Katy ISD and Keller ISD last week, who rose up in support of their teachers by protesting district layoffs. As Abby Rapoport writes in her latest column, students across the state will get the news that their teachers have been let go, and we likely haven’t seen the last of their protests. 

OBSERVED
In his latest post, Dave Mann looks at a Texas Forensice Science Commission report on the flawed arson conviction of Cameron Todd Willingham. The report, with 17 recommendations on how to reform arson investigations, represents some kind of end, Mann writes, but “if this was the end, it was a nebulous one.” 

BEST OF THE REST
Late Thursday night, Senate budget writers sent their slightly larger version of the budget to the printers, hoping for a vote on the bill this week. Peggy Fikac of the Houston Chronicle looks at the differences between the Senate and House budgets, and how the Senate plans to pay for theirs. 

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
It could be a big day in the Senate today as lawmakers could bring up the sonogram bill and a bill by Sen. Dan Patrick that would require a two-thirds vote on any tax legislation. Meanwhile, the Senate Finance committee will hear Sen. Eddie Lucio’s bill that would institute a soda tax.