Hot List Day 108

Day 108 of the 82nd Texas Legislature

LINE OF THE DAY
“I think there’s people both on the right and the left that want to see the Senate fail, and if the Senate fails, it can advance their political agenda.”
State Sen. Steve Ogden on how outside groups’ statements, along with lack of necessary votes, may be stalling the Senate budget process

FLOOR PLAY BY ABBY RAPOPORT
For most of the session, you can forget about there are 150 members of the House. But during last night’s redistricting debate, many came out swinging. Check out our list of the top redistricting debate fights. 

OBSERVED
After months of speculation about market manipulation from the statewide rolling blackouts in February, the verdict is in. According to Public Utility Commission’s 26-page report, investigators the profits from the incident were all kosher. 

BEST OF THE REST
It looks like Sen. Jeff Wentworth, author of the concealed carry on campus bill, may be getting desperate. To his colleagues’ surprise yesterday, he tried to tack on the bill as an amendment to Sen. Judith Zaffirini’s major higher education legislation. Though Zaffirini pulled her bill down, Wentworth says he’ll try and find other ways to get his campus carry bill, which has been stalled for weeks, onto the floor for debate. 

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
While the Senate budget debate is hold on, lacking the necessary votes to bring it up for debate today, legislators are still busy. A Senate subcommittee on family planning funding will meet today, while the House is scheduled to debate the Railroad Commission sunset bill.