Hot List Day 129
Day 129 of the 82nd Texas Legislature
LINE OF THE DAY
“Sanctuary cities is dead in the Senate.”
OBSERVED
With most eyes focused on the fate of the budget, an important bill reforming eyewitness ID procedures passed quietly out of the Senate Wednesday. As Dave Mann reports, House Bill 215, would would reform the identification process—and could literally save lives.
BEST OF THE REST
With the clock winding down on the session, Texas lawmakers are still struggling to reach an agreement on the budget, and a special session this summer is seeming more and more likely. The pressure even prompted Gov. Rick Perry to get involved yesterday. In his latest column, Austin American Statesman reporter Jason Embry writes “lawmakers may well find the consensus they need in the final hour. But they might not need a miracle if someone had shown more leadership in all the previous hours.”
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
It’s deja vu all over again. The House is expected to take up the “fiscal matters” bills today, which will give budget writers more than $4 billion more to work with. If they can’t get the bills passed, a special session on the budget seems all but inevitable.