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Parisian Charm. Omelette & Champagne Breakfast. Beautiful Crepes. Afternoon Cocktails. Gallant Waiters. Delicious Quiche. Evening Romance. Continental Steaks. Mysterious Women. Famous Pastries. Cognac & Midnight Rendezvous. In short, it’s about everything a great European style restaurant is all about. ,F2.03e Old n St s afe 31 0 East 6th St. MARIJUANA? IT’S ALMOST LEGAL. .. ISN’T IT? No. Nothing is ever “almost legal.” Especially marijuana. Last year alone almost 50,000 people were arrested for marijuana offenses in Texas. Of these, 94 percent were for simple possession. Texas NORML is working to put an end to these arrests. But we need your help. Please join us today. Send membership fee of $15 1007 S. Congress, #353 Austin, Texas 78704 Affiliate of the National Organization for the Re form of Marijuana Laws ATTORNEYS Overcome the high cost of down-time on your legal secretary. Let us type your motions, appeals, contracts, and other legal documents. We can type from your rough drafts or tapes. Our work is flawless, professional, fast, and economical. Foreign language typing available. 477-6671 504 W. 24th St. Copy-Rite, DON’T BOTHER TO CALL . . late dining service until midnight for plotters and schemers and the best Gumbo in town ENGLISH’S Restaurant & Bar 3010 Guadalupe Austin, Texas ing the city’s decision to the state agency. And, if the RRC or PUC didn’t agree to the increase, the utility could still keep collecting the whole sum while appealing the matter in the courts. Power companies argued that none of this would hurt, since they would simply reimburse ratepayers later if the final ruling went against them. Aside from noting the inherent bureaucratic costs of such a plan, consumer advocates pointed out that the utilities could delay a final court ruling on their rate requests almost indefinitely, and even could turn right around and ask for another rate increase to start the whole process going again, paralyzing the regulators. The Senate passed an amended version of the bill \(it excluded electric comfloor for action, thanks to aggressive consumer lobbying against it. The telling vote in the Senate came on May 10 on the question of whether to bring this anti-consumer boondoggle to a vote at all-21 senators voted to take up Southern Union’s bill, while only seven voted “no.” The 21 earn Observer zeros for their votes. 6.Protecting utilities A bill to help the utility companies crack down on anti-nuclear protesters passed both houses easily on voice votes, but the House had amended it very late in the session \(see House vote considered it again, and Sen. Ron Clower saw a way to kill it by moving not to concur in the House amendments, but no dice. Only four others joined him on this votethe only record vote on SB 952and then the Senate routinely concurred and sent the bill to the governor. Stars to the stouthearted five. 7.Generic drugs SB 601 was the one far-reaching bill pro-consumer groups wanted and really thought they had a chance to pass. Sponsored by Sen. Chet Brooks, it would have allowed pharmacists to fill prescriptions with cheaper generic drugs in place of their costly, brand-name equivalents and would have saved Texans an estimated $40 million a year \(0 b s , March It was widely assumed that the bill was assured of passage in the House Speaker Bill Clayton favored it, and the House had passed similar bills in two previous sessions only to see them die in the Senate. So this year, the House insisted that the Senate act first. Unfortunately, the broad coalition that backed SB 601 couldn’t prevent a series of pharmaceutical industry maneuvers that postponed Senate consideration until very late in the sessionwhen it fell victim to Killer Bee backlash. Senators who had earlier promised their support c CD X CD THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13