Water and schools were the focus of much of the discussion at the Capitol this week. The House passed Rep. Aycock’s HB 5, drastically changing the accountability system, graduation requirements, and end-of-course STAAR exams. Chairman Aycock says, “This bill gives all Texas students the opportunities they need to succeed in life by offering multiple pathways in high school. Our goal is to prepare all students for success, not just those going to four-year colleges. The bill will also make Texas students better prepared for the jobs that Texas employers are struggling to fill.”
Following the 8 hour debate on HB 5, the next day the House took up HB 4 and passed a plan to create a $2 billion fund for water projects. Improving water access and infrastructure is a critical priority: 98% of the state is in drought conditions. The 2012 State Water Plan shows that over the next 50 years, the Texas water supply will decrease by 18% and demand will increase by 27%. If inaction continues, Texas will be short almost 3 trillion gallons of water by 2060.
The Senate passed several significant bills this week. SB 7 reforms Medicaid for long-term care recipients. Sen. Jane Nelson comments, “We are taking a major step forward in our effort to improve the quality our long-term care services in Medicaid, and to reach more Texans with state services.” The bill would improve healthcare access for low-income seniors and 12,000 long-term care patients in Texas. Three Senate bills amended the Alcohol Beverage Code to increase the cap on production and allow small breweries to sell a portion of their products directly to consumers. SB 12 gives law enforcement and advocates for abused children and women more power to introduce past offenses in court. But not all legislators had a good week: Sen. John Corona’s bill to regulate payday lending hit a snag as many consumer groups claim that SB 1247’s protections were watered down by industry trade groups.
News of the Week
Texas House Passes Water Bill
The Texas House approved legislation Wednesday that would use $2 billion to start funding water projects in the state. House Bill 4, by state Rep. Allan Ritter, R-Nederland, would create a water bank that would offer loans for projects like new water reservoirs, pipelines and conservation projects.
In Budget Plans, Riders as Telling as the Numbers
Riders are often added to the budget to ensure that a state agency spends a certain amount of money in the exact way lawmakers intend. If a rider in the proposed House budget plan is ultimately signed by Gov. Rick Perry, for example, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will spend $1.5 million cleaning up “a site of a closed battery recycling facility in a city with a population in excess of 120,000.”
Perry, Cruz, Cornyn to Present United Front on Medicaid
Gov. Rick Perry and Texas’ two U.S. senators will join forces at the state Capitol on Monday to reassert their opposition to expanding Medicaid, a central tenet of federal health reform that has been a subject of much debate among state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
House Approves New Approach to High School Graduation
The challenge of finding balance between rigor and flexibility in graduation requirements dominated Tuesday’s debate over legislation that would significantly change the courses students need for a high school diploma. The measure tentatively passed the Texas House.
TribLive: Freshman Lawmakers on Vouchers
At this morning’s TribLive conversation, Ross Ramsey talked to state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, and state Reps. Scott Turner, R-Frisco, and Gene Wu, D-Houston, about the prospect of school voucher legislation.
House Budget Spends More on Schools, Less on Medicaid
The Senate budget proposal, passed 29-2 by the upper chamber last week, spends $195.5 billion, a 2.9 percent increase from the current two-year budget. The House budget, which is scheduled for a vote on the House floor on April 4, spends $193.8 billion, a 2.1 percent increase.
Perry, Cruz, Cornyn to Present United Front on Medicaid
Gov. Rick Perry and Texas’ two U.S. senators will join forces at the state Capitol on Monday to reassert their opposition to expanding Medicaid, a central tenet of federal health reform that has been a subject of much debate among state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Guest Column: Texas Leads in Tests But Not in Education
Texas outspends every state in the nation on testing, and not just because of its size. A November 2012 Brookings Institution study showed that California, which had nearly 1 million more students enrolled in grades 3-8 (for which annual testing is federally required), spent approximately $53 million on standardized tests; Texas is spending about $90 million annually.
Guest Column: Education in Wonderland
Texas has been a trailblazer in its commitment to prepare all students for college and careers. Yet now that the state requires an additional year of math and science and has introduced end-of-course tests to ensure mastery of high school coursework, some argue that we’re asking too much of our high school students.
Forecasters predict more drought and water problems for Texas
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report, produced by a university-government partnership, was released Tuesday, showing that the great majority of Texas is still experiencing some degree of drought conditions, ranging from “moderate” to “exceptional” (the driest category).
Texas moms unite to rein in state’s end-of-course testing
For Amick and hundreds of other parents across the state, passage of HB5 is fundamental to rolling back what they say is an oppressive system of testing that stands in the way of a sound education for their children. The bill not only constitutes the first major education reform to come before the 2013 Legislature, it also demonstrates the grassroots power of Texas mothers when they lock arms in behalf of their kids.
Texas House bill gives students more room to feel good
It gets the accountability system, in particular its requirements for high school end-of-course exams, out of the way of students who want to do something else. It eliminates the unpopular notion that scores on end-of-course exams should count as 15 percent of student grades. That element had been added as way to push students to try harder on state tests, but many parents and some educators decided it went overboard.
Officials break ground for Vietnam veterans monument at Texas Capitol
Dignitaries broke ground Monday on a long-planned Texas Capitol Vietnam veterans monument in what state Land Commissioner and Marine Vietnam veteran Jerry Patterson called “a long-overdue thank-you to our Texas Vietnam veterans.”
Craft brewers have ‘good day’ in Texas Senate
The Texas Senate voted Monday to give craft brewers and brewpubs new opportunities to sell their beer.
Texas Wind Insurance Assoc. seeks settlement talks
The association best known as TWIA has been in serious financial trouble for years and is $183 million in the red, mostly because of lawsuits filed after Hurricane Ike. The Texas Department of Insurance presented the board with a resolution for it to request rehabilitation through receivership, which is a legal status similar to bankruptcy that is intended to allow businesses to reorganize.
Consumers need true payday loan reform
The payday loan industry’s $2.3 million investment in the campaigns of Texas lawmakers and statewide public officials during the 2012 election cycle is reaping dividends in Austin this legislative session.
Perry asks TxDOT to temporarily fund control towers
The Texas Department of Transportation may dampen the fiscal turbulence shaking the state’s small airports and potentially fund 13 Texas air traffic control towers slated for closure in the next few weeks.
Committee takes up abortion hospital admission bill
The bill would charge a physician found not to have admitting privileges with a class A misdemeanor punishable with up to a $4,000 fine and/or up to a year in jail. Under the bill, the hospital must have OB/GYN doctors on staff and be no farther than 30 miles away from the facility the procedure is performed at.
License renewal ban triggers law of unintended consequences
Another example of how passing a law can trigger another one — the law of unintended consequences — came into focus recently when Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo testified at a House committee hearing on a bill passed last session restricting drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants.
Texas redistricting fight resumes
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has called on the Legislature to make the current — and interim — redistricting maps permanent.
Drought now covers almost 99 percent of Texas
More than 98 percent of Texas is in some level of abnormal dryness as spring arrives, conditions that could set drought records and lead to severe water restrictions in some regions of the state.
Study links tight Medicaid eligibility with delays in care
States that make it very hard to get on Medicaid — because you have to be very poor to qualify — have higher rates of patients delaying needed medical care than do states that enroll people with higher incomes, a new study has found.
Chief budget writer for House seeking to cut UT regents’ spending authority
Pitts, some other House members, more than half of the Senate’s members and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst contend that the matter has already been thoroughly investigated and that the regents are simply trying to force out UT President Bill Powers. If any further review is undertaken, it should be by the state attorney general’s office to avoid significant public spending on an outside firm, the lawmakers told the regents.
Payday Lending Bill in Trouble
Among other things, Carona’s proposal would limit the maximum size of loans to a percentage of the borrower’s monthly income and cap the number of times a borrower could roll over outstanding loans.
For Perry, School Trumps Party and Politics
A governor reliably in league with business leaders and groups that want to curtail civil litigation and awards — tort reformers, in the political parlance — has named one of the state’s most prominent trial lawyers — the folks on the other side of the fight — to a conspicuous and coveted post. It turned some heads, but nobody acted on it.
Citing new duties in Dallas, Tom Luce resigns from CPRIT oversight committee
A Dallas civic leader has resigned from the governing board of Texas’ cancer-fighting agency. Tom Luce will become chief operating officer of the O’Donnell Foundation on Monday.
Leave a Reply