ustxtxb_obs_1961_01_21_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

AUSTIN Bills that ranged in goals from the outlawing of drunk dirigible pilots to the regulating of small loan companies continued to plunk into the hopper or be vigorously talked about \(usually well within earexception of passing one bill, the state legislature moved toward its second week at a listless pace, waiting for committee assignments to be completed, and Speaker James Turman indicated he may not be through with the line-up for another week. The bill that did get through both houses and signed into law by Gov. Price Daniel was the pay raise the voters approved for the legislature \($4,800 a year and ate, Doyle Willis of Fort Worth suggested that since they would be cutting appropriations for hospitals and schools and roads, the senators should start ‘cutting closer to home and give themselves only $3,600 a year, but Senator Culp Krueger of El Campo was the only no vote in that house. Around the state, newspapers for the most part greeted the pay raise vote with silence, but the San Antonio Express twitted the lawmakers for taking up their own pay first \(“There is something indelicate about haste just for the heck of it. Besides, the gentlemen haven’t &de much work on the big problem facing them this year, to wit, where is the Houston Post admonished them to earn their pay by voting “the money needed for all other state officials, works and agencies, and ‘for all those dependent on them for money.” As for the payroll tax plan Gov. Daniel offered, it evoked no elation from the legislature andas among the Dallas legislators sometimes downright opposition. Dallas members, probably the most conservative element in the legislature, indicated a broaderbased tax would come closer to pleasing them. The usual 1 y bland Austin Statesman told the -legislators: “The grim fact is that almost everything tappable has been tapped, except to make more onerous in relation to others the burden of little people, who have little or no defense and cannot get up the money to employ their Own lobbyists.” The Observer checked with the writer of the Statesman’s editorial to be sure it got the implications correctly and was told, “Yes, we do mean that the legislature might cast a hook at the oil and gas interests instead of the little man.” A week ago Speaker Turman told the Observer he meant to appoint the committees with extreme care, so that each committee “would reflect the entire House.” He said he wanted every committee to really act as a “screen,” so that “the bills that do get through will have more reasonable treatment on the floor than they otherwise might have.” His care emphasized the slowness of the process of session. launching and again prompted occasional off-the-cuff suggestions among lawmakers and observers for something on the order of a special pre-session, in which the organizational routine could be gotten out of the way. One of the more important bills “THE SPARE RIB” Best Barbecue in Texas 3112 Johnson St. GL 5-9098 Greenville, Tex., Dewey Fitz patrick, Prop. “we reserve the right -to serve anyone.” THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 2 Jan. 21, 1961 Second Week: New Bills The Inside Story facing future debate was introduced by Rep. Criss Cole who, in sponsoring the constitutional amendment designed to kill the interest ceiling on small loans in the last legislature, promised to come back with firm regulatory proposals in 1961. This week the Uniform Small Loan Law. In the matter of interest rates, Cole suggests three per cent a month for the first $99; 2.5 per cent a month for loans of from $100 to $300; two per cent on loans of $301 to $600, and five-sixth of one per cent on loans over $600. This is the so-called “36% law” University of Texas finance experts, shown the suggested schedule, said it “looks about right, compared to what has been done in other states. The three per cent rate on the first $99 was called “quite common.” As for the other end of the scale, the five-sixth of one per cent compares favorably with even the UT Credit Union’s charge of three-fourths of one per cent on auto loans. The bill also requires state licensing of small lenders. Among other bills that fell into the hopper or fluttered on the edge were these, which would: *Pass on the cigarette tax to the consumer in such a way that he could deduct it from his income , *Provide penalties for flying an airplane, dirigible, or balloon while drunk. \(Smith, San An*Provide penalties for selling switch-blade knives, “the status symbol of a punk.” \(Johnson, *Increase vehicle license fee by $1, to be spent on state parks. *Provide penalties for offer, ing pornography for sale, whether or not the seller knows it is pornography, with graduated penalties for various types of violation. *Make false statements under oath before legislative investigating committee constitute perjury, but no penalty specified. \(Miller, *Require construction companies to use only USA-made material on state contracts, with violators banned from state contracts for three years. \(Cory, Vic*Limit governors to one four*Abolish common law marriages, but leave alone those al*Negate divorces obtained out-of-state if both parties are living in Texas when proceedings *Establish labor mediation board for jurisdiction in disputes that effect public welfare or when either party or governor calls it *Require minimum of 180 days schooling a year, as against present minimum of 120 days. *Allow state-paid minimum sick leave of five days a year, cumulative to 30 days for all public school teachers. \(Spears, San Antonio; McGregor, E1 Paso; Stewart, Galveston; Trevino, La*Raise penalty for murder without malice from wo-to-five years to two-to-25 \(Floyd, Hous*Limit the percentage of alumni on state school governing boards to two-thirds. \(Dewey, *Protect newsmen from legal pressure to reveal source of in. formation when testifying. \(Dew*Keep voting polls open from 6 a.m. to 8 p m,. in counties with population of 500,000 and up. Require legislator to be retained at least 60 days prior to tory continuance of a pending *Set state health standards on milk imported into Texas. *Authorize special school districts to provide training for handicapped persons. \(Pipkin, Brownsville; Spilman, McAllen; *Protect. doctors from civil damage suits who administer aid in “good faith” at scene of \(acci*Establish Pan American University in Hidalgo County as state school. ‘\(De la Garza, Mis*Require majority vote to win election for U.S. House, instead of ‘present plurality. \(Green, .* Make Dept. of Public Welfare responsible for finding fathers who desert children, thus slashing amount state pays for dependent children. \(Jarvis, Ty*Increase amount from clerance fund to Blind Assistance Fund and Old Age Assistance Fund. \(Hollowell, Grand Saline; *Make these rules in divorce suit: no hearing short of 60 days atter filing, no defendent compelled to answer on oath, either party can demand and get jury, divorce not in effect for one year. *Submit to ballot as constitutional amendment law making it possible tor people to oust officials in special elections, if corruption warranted move. \(Whit*Require motorists to prove financial responsibility before accidents rather than, as now, after *Establish day schools for deaf children in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, and El Paso counties to permit many now in the Austin deaf school to study closer to home. \(Parkhouse, Dal*Set up a medical assistance fund for vendor payments to aged welfare recipients for medical treatment, providing up to $12 a *Allow 15 and 16-year-olds to be prosecuted as adults when juvenile officer and juvenile judge both agree on action \(Speers, San \(A detailed study will appear AUSTIN The Legislative Budget Board released a budget this week calling for $356 million from the general revenue fund and a ree. or&breaking $2.48 billion spending program including federal funds. The board’s general revenue figure was $20 million less than Gov. Price Daniel’s proposed $376 million, but the overall total including the federal money was about the same as the governor’s. The budget board is composed of five senators and five representatives, and its proposals are generally taken as a base from which to devise a spending program. The $2.48 ‘billion would mean an increase of $96 million in present state expenditures from all programs. Over half the proposed $36 million in new spending from the general revenue fund would go toward education$15 million extra for $148 million in biennium spending. The second largest increase was $12.3 million for hos AUSTIN Rep. W. H. Miller has introduced a bill that would make criminal the mere possession for sale of such items as pornographic movie’s, magazines, penny arcades and phonographic records, wheth pitals and special schools$103 million in all. The administrative end executive agencies would get $3 million more from the general revenue and $35 million more from other funds. Specific recommendations included a $7.5 million increase for state prisons; including $4 million for new buildings; 30 additional parole officers for the board of pardons and paroles at a $38,000 cost; $700,000 for construction of new state parks facilities as the first step in a ten Year program; a $800,000 hike for the board of water engineers for additional personnel and studies; $1 million more for the state health department; and a $2.2 million increase for the department of public safety, including 50 ‘additional highway patrolmen each year. The budget figures did not provide for additional spending which would be required for a teachers’ pay raise and the federal-state medical aid program for the indigent aged. The board did not propose increased student tuition for the next two years. grant farm workers should be extended the same minimum wages, insurance, housing and health minimums, and other protections guaranteed to Mexican “braceros” working in the U.S. under international contract will be factored into the decision of the department on what to do about this issue. Holleman’s assignment to the employment security area means that he will have authority over the federal ‘aspects of the activities of the Texas Employment Commission, toward whose policies he and the Texas AFL-CIO have been sharply critical for a number of years. It became generally known over the weekend that a contest for the presidency of the Texas AFL-CIO has developed between Fred Schmidt, secretary-treasurer of the state organization, and H. new association of the state building trades and formerly education director of the state AFL-CIO. Subversive gious group I mean to get at the first rattle out of the box teaches hatred for Catholics. conservative, ultra-patriotic. “Many organizations are joined by people who consider themselves ultra-conservative. When you get right down to the core of the organization they’ve joined, it’s not conservative at all but merely an organization to foster hatred. “A hate group serves only one master, and that isn’t America.” Miller looked pained at the Mention of Robert Nesmith, the ex-Constitution Party candidate who came to Austin recently and called Franklin Roosevelt, all