HB 4184/HJR 133: One-Legged Stool
Rep. Wayne Christian’s intent in House Bill 4184 is noble: provide adequate funding for public education. It’s his way of going about it that’s all wrong.
Senate Bill 690: Trimming the Grassroots
Karen Hall’s knees still haven’t recovered from gathering signatures door-to-door for an amendment to Bryan’s city charter. “Democracy is a messy business,” she says, “but we like it.”
Senate Bill 342: Busting Mommy
Sen. Jane Nelson, a Republican from Lewisville, wants to make it easier to convict drug-addicted new moms by letting prosecutors use evidence found in babies’ bodies against their mothers. The goal of Senate Bill 342, Nelson says, is rehab; the outcome, it seems, would endanger both mother and child.
House Bill 925: Profiling Pit Bulls
Democratic Rep. Harold Dutton of Houston is proposing a law that relies on a tried-and-true American approach to police work: appearance-based profiling.
House Bill 1135: Positively Stingy
If freshman legislator Rep. Ken Legler has his way, Texas’ already stingy unemployment insurance benefits will reach even fewer jobless Texans. The Pasadena Republican’s House Bill 1135 would mandate drug testing for people filing to collect unemployment insurance and deny payments to those testing positive.
House Bill 1893: Crossing the Line
Joe Driver, a Republican state representative from Garland and concealed handgun license holder, takes umbrage at “an imaginary line” around college campuses inside of which he cannot pack heat.
Senate Bill 300: Free the ISDs
No one can accuse Dan Patrick of linguistic inefficiency. In Senate Bill 300, Patrick manages to reverse five school mandates by striking eight words and adding just 27 to the Texas Education Code.
House Joint Resolution 52: California, Here We Come
In the opening days of the current session, Senate Republicans made it clear they don’t want traditional consensus-building rules to stop them from passing pet legislation like Voter ID. They know how difficult getting a two-thirds “supermajority” can be.
House Bills 254 & 261: Round ‘Em Up
On Feb. 18, Texas Employers for Immigration Reform held a debate between Reps. Leo Berman, a Tyler Republican, and Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat. Afterward, Harry Joe, an immigration lawyer with the Dallas-based Winstead firm, approached Berman with questions about legislation he had discussed.
House Bill 508: Tax Attack
Q: What do a Houston pathologist, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economist, and state Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, have in common?
A: HB 508.
House Bill 419: Disabling Democracy
Every now and then, Texas takes the lead on an issue. Accessible voting, to name one. But as any firstborn child will attest, there are costs and difficulties associated with being out in front. Rep. Betty Brown has found a way to alleviate some of the financial burdens that Texas communities have felt in their transition to a more democratic system. Her solution? Simple. Leave some people out.
House Bill 36: Ultra-Unsound
To hear Rep. Frank Corte tell it, his latest abortion bill is all about women’s rights. House Bill 36 and its Senate companion, Republican Dan Patrick’s SB 182, would require physicians to conduct ultrasounds on pregnant women, then show and explain the results before performing abortions. Doctors would have to report the fetus’s size, heart activity and organ development, along with the presence of legs, arms, fingers and toes. They’d have to make fetal heartbeats audible.
House Bill 566: Home Cooking
State senators and representatives put in five months every other year sitting through long debates and poring over the details of legislation on behalf of Texas citizens, and they get a measly $7,200 annual salary in return. Surely, at the very least, they deserve a little special treatment in the eyes of the law, right?
House Bill 49: Preemptive Policing
Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, is launching a three-pronged attack on non-citizens this session. Prong 1: Hook 'em at work with HB 48, which would suspend employers’ licenses for “knowingly” employing undocumented workers. Prong 2: Nail 'em at school with HB 50, which would disqualify undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition.
House Bill 480: Making Breaking Up Harder to Do
Rep. Warren Chisum is on a mission to save Texas families, and he’s gonna educate the family-splittin’ fight out of ’em.
House Bill 109: Honk If You Love Subtlety
On Dec. 18, Gov. Rick Perry singled out House Bill 109 as one he would be devoting a great deal of time and attention to during the coming session. Perry said the bill would allow “Texans who believe in the sanctity of life” to tell it to the world in “a subtle but meaningful way.”
House Bill 81: Lost in Translation
Rep. Dan Flynn wants to stop using state money to print public documents in languages other than English. His House Bill 81 would also repeal a key section of the Texas election code, which requires voting precincts to provide bilingual elections materials.
House Bill 830: Messing with Kids, It’s the Christian Thing To Do
You gotta hand it to certain Texas politicians. They never fail to come up with new, creative ways to stick it to poor kids.
House Bill 131: Fudging dropout numbers—redundantly
That which we call a high school diploma by any other name would smell as sweet.
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Capitol People
Women to Watch: Rep. Kristi Thibaut, D-Houston
After she lost her first campaign for a House seat from Houston in 2006, Kristi Thibaut showed up in Austin anyway. What she encountered, as she lobbied unsuccessfully for lower utility rates with fellow ACORN activists, was almost enough to make her wonder why she'd wanted that seat in the first place.
Fact Check
One Weekend a Month, Two Weeks a Year, Five Years in Jail
Sometimes our legislators don't even know what's in their own bills. This morning, Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) discussed his House Bill 1165 before the Defense & Veterans Affairs Committee and it was evident that he hadn't read - or maybe didn't understand - what all was in it.
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