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EARTH SHOE STORE 474-189 1610 Lavaca Austin, Texas 78701 8 STORES IN DALLAS: 4536 MeSINNEY AVE. 1805 ELM 206 S. ZANG \(OAK RICHARDSON: 508 LOCKWOOD FARMERS BRANCH SHOPPING CM. SW CORNER. VALLEY VIEW IN WACO: 25th COLUMBUS IN AUSTIN: 1514 LAVACA 8103 BURNET RD. La Fonda de la Noche Southwestern Cuisine Liberal FoodConservative Prices 2405 Nueces Itll 474-7562 16 The Texas Observer 13CoOK.5 503 5 WEST 17 TH 476.0116 Mist in, Texas 711711 -0PW1P4P–Iii1 1501,411WAP-18101.4P-11P-11P01-1/10 nu 0 Yv E’RE PROUD to say 0 that we’ve been printing 0 0 The Texas Observer 0 for just about as long as there has been one! 7c4 24′ S 4 4 0 4 4 $ $ iFUTILIIRS111 4 512/442-7836 1714 South Congress P.O. Box 3485 Austin, Texas 78764 isdb4,0, 4. HALF PRICE “RECORDS MAGAZINES A coming battle in the Legislature Employment Agencies By Geoffrey Leavenworth Rep. Bill Presnal Jackie St. Clair of DLS Austin One of the more interesting contests taking shape in the still young 65th Legislature pits the private employment agency lobby against the Texas Department of Labor and Standards. Key figures in the struggle are Rep. ment agencies’ corner, and DLS Commissioner Jackie St. Clair. It all began when the House labor subcommittee for appropriative affairs learned that Presnal, who chairs the powerful appropriations committee, had directed the staff of the Legislative Budget Board to reverse its recommendation that the Private Employment Agencies Regulatory Board be abolished. In a revised report, the LBB staff not only called for continued PEARB funding, but supported the employment agencies in their long-standing wish to be free of DLS control. LBB member Presnal prevailed upon his colleagues to approve the new recommendations unanimously. As things stand now, the PEARB develops regulations and guidelines for the employment agency industry in Texas, but the DLS is charged with enforcement of the regulations. The recommendations Bill Presnal rammed through the LBB would, if acted on favorably by the Legislature, lead to the creation of a new Department of Business and Professions vested with the functions of the PEARB and the regulatory powers of the DLS over the mobile home business, boiler manufacturing, boxing and wrestling promotion, and private employment agencies. There’s never been any love lost between St. Clair and PEARB, so Presnal’s solution was to estrange the two once and for all. Who will regulate the private employment agencies of Texas? No one if the industry has its way and it just might. Among those glad to hear of the LBB staff’s “change of heart” was James Presnal of Austin, general counsel and lobbyist for the Texas Private Employment Association and brother of the lawmaker, who called the revision a “pleasant surprise.” It’s a safe bet that Bill Presnal’s cousins, who operate employment agencies in Bryan and Arlington, were equally pleased. For St. Clair, who heard of Rep. Pres