Victory for Parks (Mostly)
May 4th, 2007 at 12:34 am
The parks funding bill, HB 12, cleared the House today on third reading. After the 141-0 vote Speaker Craddick gifted his gavel to Rep. Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) who has been working to increase funding to the cash-starved Texas parks system for two years. Applause ensued.
Parks advocates are now closer to achieving one of their main goals of the session: busting the cap on the sporting goods tax, which could potentially free up an extra $80 million a year for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
However, some troubling provisions remain in in the bill. For starters, HB 12 taps more inmates to do the grunt work on Texas state natural areas, picking up trash or digging foundations for new buildings, as Hilderbran explained today. So for any of you jailbird John Muirs, Mother Nature needs you! (A random thought: will anti-immigration folks be up in arms when they find out “illegals” in prison have one more way to steal American jobs?)
An attempt by Rep. Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) to strip out the inmate labor sections of HB 12 fizzled on a 77-65 motion-to-table vote. “I really don’t think we should finance our government by using slave labor,” Dunnam said. Apparently that didn’t convince ten Democrats who joined Republicans in shooting down Dunnam’s amendment.
For your interest, the Dem chang gang consisted of Reps. Cook, Farabee, Gallego, Guillen, Heflin, Hopson, Pena, Villarreal, and suprisingly the liberal Donna Howard of Austin. Democrats did succeed in prohibiting any inmate convicted of a violent crime or sex crime from working on the parks. No one offered an amendment to ban arsonists or the guy who poisoned the Treaty Oak.
Also left in the bill is the controversial transfer of historic sites from TPWD to the Texas Historical Commission, an agency headed by Craddick crony John Nau III. A wholesale transfer of historic sites, such as Sebastopol House in Seguin and rock climbing mecca Hueco Tanks near El Paso, is opposed by parks advocates, visitors, and many of the local communities.
“It’s unfortunate that there are some sites that do not want to go to the historical commission that will be going,” said Beth McDonald, president of Texans for State Parks. McDonald fears that the Historical Commission will not have sufficient state money to maintain the sites - some of which receive few visitors - and will turn to outsourcing, increased entrance fees, and privatization schemes to generate revenue. Of course that may be the whole point of Nau’s - and Craddick’s - gambit: starve the sites of funding and then turn them over to private sector control.
Rep. Donna Howard - and this may explain her earlier vote - did get Hilderbran to accept an amendment yesterday that would require the commission to prepare an “operating plan” before any site transfer. The plan would have to include a proposed budget and mission statement, but the language appears to stop short of making the transfers contingent on the details of the plan.
HB 12 now goes to the Senate. Meanwhile, budget conferees from the Senate and House - where the rubber really meets the road -will meet to work out appropriations for TPWD.
May 4th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Please note that neither of the two sites referenced in your article are one of the 18 being considered for transfer. Thank you.
May 5th, 2007 at 3:10 am
Ms. Head, the public relations coordinator for the Historical Commission, is correct. Sebastopol and Hueco Tanks are not currently among the sites to be transferred in HB 12. Sebastopol was listed in the original version of the bill as well as in HB 7, which is no longer in play.
The 18 sites in HB 12 are:
Acton State Historic Site; Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site; Casa Navarro State Historic Site; Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site; Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site; Fannin Battleground State Historic Site; Fort Griffin State Historic Site; Fort Lancaster State Historic Site; Fort McKavett State Historic Site; Fulton Mansion State Historic Site; Landmark Inn State Historic Site; Levi Jordan State Historic Site; Magoffin Home State Historic Site; Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site; Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site; San Felipe State Historic Site; Starr Family Home State Historic Site; Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site.
May 30th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
this bill has language from the defeated hb 2414. section 41 chapter 43 section v indigenous snakes permit. this should be removed before going to the governor. or since it already passed the senate he should remove it. these snakes are peoples pets and we should not be required to have a permit anymore than someone should for a dog or cat. how many people are maimed or seriously hurt my these constrictors in this state every year? none. how many from dogs? lots. how many of these snakes are strayes roaming the streets getting in my trash? none. i dont see pit bull owners and breeders having to buy permits, and they are far more dangerous. the rest of the bill is fine it benefits the parks. thats good, but this was a dirty way of getting a bill passed that was previously defeated because of our voice. they new that by hiding it in this bill it would pass. thanks
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:50 am
There is also a section of this bill that prohibits road side hunting of non-game species (also including public areas such as rest stops), hunting being defind as any attempt to capture or restrain the animal. This means that a kid who catches a lizard in a rest stop is breaking the law. It seems this law is mostly pointed at herpitologists who do road collections, many of who do so for zoos or privet collections. These herpitologists also move snakes off road ways to safer places for the snakes (road kill is a major cause of death for many snakes, including many helpfull species such as the bull snake). Several sections of this bill seem to be maliciously intentiond for herpitologists and especialy snake fans.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Here is another prime example of how blithering idiocy at the top of an organization ultimately affects policy and implementation. TPWD is a political entity, period. All commissioners are appointed by the governor often times after, shall we say, “generous contributions” to a campaign. Look it up for yourselves. How much educational background do you think these commissioners have in biology or wildlife? Yep, you guessed it…almost zilch. But, we have cattle barons, oil tycoons, and automobile CEO’s. Who needs science anyway?
Don’t misunderstand me, TPWD has some fine people that work for them, usually barely getting by on their poverty line salaries. But wildlife policy and law comes from the top, not the trenches. Since TPWD knows very little about many of these species, they blanket them all.
While I do not condone commercial exploitation of our wildlife species, I am saddened by the prohibition of collecting herps and small mammals (rodents) from Texas roadways or county roads. To many folks, this was their only place to look for specimens. Are we going to incriminate little Johnny for taking home a horned lizard from a Texas FM road now? What about students and amateur collectors who can’t even capture, observe and release, much less prepare museum specimens for research and academia? This is all very sad and another example of the incompetency of TPWD.
I agree with the blogger who wrote about law enforcement officials unable to identify most of these animals. Most TPWD game wardens I’ve encountered can’t even distinguish among popular gamefish species (like sandbass, stripers, and their hybrids) much less reptile species. With the new legislation they don’t have to…all collection off of public and county roads, and probably public rivers, creeks and lakes will be prohibited. Make no mistake, outdoor hobbies are now huge moneymakers; TPWD is still in the back pocket of big private landowners and continues in their persecution of the “average Joe” sportsmen and naturalist, despite the fact that we contribute the most to wildlife funding and conservation. Meanwhile, the Texas land-barons continue to do as they please and charge ever-increasing prices for access to all and any outdoor activities.