News of the Week
Houston lawyer stops payday loan bill
Champagne was flowing at the bar of Austin’s W Hotel, the posh and trendy nightspot favored by lobbyists and politicos after long days at the Texas Legislature. On this particular evening, a group of about 15 representatives of the payday and auto title loan industry were toasting the compromise they had struck that would undo regulations by four major Texas cities.
Payday Lending Bill Pulled From Floor After Raucous Debate
The bill, one of a number before the Legislature attempting to impose limitations on the financial products offered by short-term lenders, has long been seen as the most politically viable. But the bill’s path to the Senate floor has been troubled, with consumer advocates and the powerful short-term-lending lobby at odds over provisions in the legislation.
Perry calls for $1.6 billion in business tax cuts
Gov. Rick Perry on Monday endorsed $1.6 billion in tax relief for 109,000 Texas businesses, including allowing 85,000 small- and medium-sized businesses to deduct the first $1 million in gross receipts from their franchise tax bills.
Zerwas offers ‘cost neutral’ alternative to Medicaid expansion
Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, is poised to recommend a three-step action plan for Texas as an alternative to the federal health care law’s Medicaid expansion. It would force something to happen, at least by the second year of the upcoming two-year budget cycle. But Zerwas’ third option, for a state-based premium assistance plan, probably would lead to only a modest expansion of coverage because it wouldn’t touch a dime of the federal money being offered.
House Budget Writers Back $500 Million More for Schools
House budget leaders voted Thursday to send a supplemental budget bill to the House floor with $500 million more for public schools and payments to state agencies to cover costs related to last year’s wildfires.
High School Curriculum Bill Headed to Senate Floor
Senators voted out House Bill 5, which recently passed the full House, after substituting much of its language with that of Senate bills the committee had already approved. In addition to dropping the number of state exams students must take to graduate from 15 to five, in biology, U.S. history, algebra I, and English I and II, the legislation changes current diploma standards that require four years each in math, science, English, and social studies.
Polling Center: Education No Magic Bullet for Democrats
Recently, Jeff Crosby pointed to two victories by Reps. Abel Herrero and Joe Moody in the 2012 elections as evidence that “… poll after poll showed that public education was a powerful vote-mover. And the Republicans had no compelling defense.”
Report: Texas Colleges Should Graduate Students Faster
Fewer than one-third of Texas students entering four-year universities graduate within four years, according to a new report from Complete College America. Fewer than one-sixth of students complete community college in two-years. Over the course of five years, more than $440 million in state appropriations and grant aid goes to university dropouts, as well as more than $60 million in federal grants. Each year, Texans earn $57 million worth of college credits that are not needed for their degrees.
CPRIT needs radical treatment
Can the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas survive its scandals? How can voters and scientists ever be able to trust the state-funded entity again? And how can we be sure that the institute will award grants to the proposals most likely to save lives?
It’s time for a Texas bottle bill
The reaction to the bag ban in Austin has been lukewarm—unfortunate, because it’s time to clean up the water bottles polluting Texas waterways.
Electronic lobbying changes influence-peddling
During its 12-hour debate on the state budget earlier this month, the Texas House voted to impose certain restrictions if the state’s chief health officer negotiated with Washington on Medicaid expansion. About an hour later, frantic lawmakers voted to reconsider, prompting the amendment’s author to withdraw his proposal.
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Principal’s office or courtroom? Texas school discipline reform makes sense
In the name of making campuses safer and more orderly for learning, Texas public schools have become a massive referral system for local courts. Routine classroom problems that once were solved in the principal’s office are written up as Class C misdemeanors and bundled up for judges to sort out.
Ethics commission up for review at Legislature
Good government advocates praised proposed changes at the Texas Ethics Commission on Monday, but called on the Legislature to go even further by requiring more disclosure and boosting fines.
Bob Perry, Prolific GOP Donor, Dead at 80
Bob Perry, a wealthy homebuilder and philanthropist who was among the nation’s largest political givers, has died at his home in Nassau Bay, near Houston. He was 80.
Perry, legislators have yet to deliver on tax relief promises
Rolling out his state budget proposal in January, Gov. Rick Perry promised to be “the people’s voice” and secure taxpayers $1.8 billion in relief.
Amid Fireworks, Cigarroa Stays Focused on Framework
Looking to lift the University of Texas System out of a roiling debate over higher education reform in the summer of 2011, its chancellor, Francisco Cigarroa, locked himself in his official residence with a small group of advisers for nearly two days to shape a plan to move the system forward.
Instead of New Ethics Laws, a Study — Again
Several ethics proposals appear destined for legislatively induced comas. They won’t completely die, but they won’t become law, either. Lawmakers are setting them aside in a nice bundle that will be studied after the session is over.
Bill Would Allow Driver’s Permits for Undocumented
A Texas House committee on Wednesday heard testimony on a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s permits after submitting to background checks, fingerprints and paying about $150 in fees.
Bill would revise ethics oversight
Good government advocates praised proposed changes at the Texas Ethics Commission on Monday, but called on the Legislature to go even further by requiring more disclosure and boosting fines.
West, Texas, mayor says 35 to 40 dead in fertilizer plant explosion
The mayor of this city said 35 to 40 people are believed to be dead in a massive fertilizer plant explosion “because they are unaccounted for and still missing.”
Officials Search for Answers After Explosion in West
As search-and-rescue teams continued to look for survivors the day after a fertilizer plant explosion leveled parts of the Central Texas town of West, killing at least five people, officials were still dealing with a long list of unanswered questions. And much of the scrutiny was centered on the plant itself.
In Drought-Stricken Texas, an Upside to Hurricane Season
With about 90 percent of Texas still weathering drought conditions, climate experts say tropical storm and hurricane landfall could be the best hope to get rain to parts of Texas that will desperately need it this summer. Read the full story at StateImpact Texas.
Lawmakers Facing Charges Can Get Legislative Pass
On Wednesday, when state Rep. Ron Reynolds‘ co-defendants in an alleged quarter-million-dollar kickback scheme showed up in court in Conroe, the Missouri City Democrat was noticeably absent. Reynolds, who has been charged with two felony counts of barratry, was in Austin conducting state business at the Capitol.
House Passes Texting-While-Driving Measure
House Bill 63, which would make texting while driving a statewide criminal offense, passed the House by a 98-47 vote Wednesday, narrowly surviving multiple attempts to substantially weaken its provisions.
House Panel Debates Medicaid Expansion Proposal
Despite Gov. Rick Perry remaining strongly opposed to expanding Medicaid, a House panel on Tuesday considered legislation that would expand coverage to poor adults under the Affordable Care Act.
Senate Approves Bill That Targets Medicaid Fraud
“Fraud robs us of the resources we need to care for our most vulnerable citizens and breaches the trust of taxpayers,” Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, the author of Senate Bill 8, said in a statement. “This bill will make it tougher for fraudulent providers to take advantage of the system.”
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