Weekly Summary
Rick Perry delivered the State of the State, emphasizing the priorities of legislative leadership and pushing his familiar limited government vision. He spoke of Texas’ speedy economic recovery and hinted that lawmakers should consider dipping into the Rainy Day Fund to provide tax relief. Perry is confident that Texas will stay within conservative spending limits while meeting the state’s urgent water and transportation infrastructure needs.
Education advocates said Perry should have talked about restoring funding for public schools. Perry ushered parents that the Legislator heard their concerns with STAAR tests, and a slew of bills have been filed to change testing across the state. While reforms are in order, said Commissioner Williams, Texans should not lose faith in our accountability system. STAAR passing rates have increased to 73%.
Also this week: Speaker Straus released the Legislature’s committee assignments.
News of the Week
Gov. Rick Perry hails Texas model, calls for tax cuts, money for infrastructure project
When giving the State of the State, Perry boasted that Texas has become a national model of economic success under his tenure, assuring lawmakers they can deal with pressing water and transportation projects and fund state needs while keeping the brakes on spending.
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Proposed Charter School Would Focus on Adult Students
The Goodwill Industries of Central Texas is one of the few options available for adults who want to improve their job opportunities. There is high need for the service in Texas, where one in five people older than 25 lack a high school education, and employment projections indicate that over the next four years, 80 percent of the top 20 growth occupations will require education above the high school level.
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Perry’s Call for Tax Relief is Subject of Confusion
The Rainy Fund Fund is projected to amass $11.8 billion by the end of the next biennium. Rather than leaving so much money in the fund, Perry called for $3.7 billion in infrastructure spending and “tax relief of at least $1.8 billion over this biennium.”
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Senate Finance Grills Doctor on Fraud Allegations
Members of the Senate Finance Committee raised serious concerns about the state’s Medicaid fraud investigation tactics on Wednesday during testimony from Doug Wilson, the Health and Human Services Commission’s inspector general. Some lawmakers accused HHSC’s investigators of depriving accused Medicaid providers due process rights and forcing them out of business in the process.
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CPRIT fallout: Cancer network ceases operations
The fallout from the state’s troubled cancer-fighting agency escalated Tuesday with the announcement that its largest grant recipient— a statewide cancer research network — has ceased operations and fired 30 employees.
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State Posts Revised List of Women’s Health Providers
The Health and Human Services Commission removed the list earlier this month after lawmakers and women’s health advocates challenged its accuracy. State Rep. Lon Burnam for example, contacted 104 providers listed in the Fort Worth region and found only 11 accepted WHP patients and three of them provided only limited services.
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Health Advocates Make Case for Medicaid Expansion
Health care advocates flocked to the Capitol on Thursday to urge the Senate Finance Committee to consider the benefits of expanding Medicaid to impoverished adults, restoring funding for family planning services cut last session and encouraging a redesign of the state’s health delivery system to help additional disabled and low-income Texans.
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Tort reform foes team up to force insurance companies to pay promptly
Trial lawyers and doctors have a long history of acrimony at the Texas Capitol, much of it due to the years-long tort reform debate. But lately, many doctors and hospitals are putting aside hard feelings and are hiring trial lawyers to fight another Capitol powerhouse: insurance companies.
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Straus Makes House Committee Assignments
House Speaker Joe Straus announced committee assignments for the Legislature’s lower chamber on Thursday, ending speculation over key chairmanships and giving lawmakers the go-ahead to start considering bills. Read the full list here.
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TX Senate Panel to Discuss College Funding
The battle for higher-education dollars begins as the Senate Finance Committee hears testimony on the funding needs of four state university systems.
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TEA Chief: Don’t Give Up on Accountability System
Education Commissioner Michael Williams on Tuesday called on educators to hold the line on the state’s accountability system amid what he called a “ranging conversation” at the Legislature about how to address the widespread concerns about the role of high-stakes testing.
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Students show strong improvement on STAAR retake
Nearly 73 percent of students in the Class of 2015 have now passed the ninth-grade writing exam that is required for graduation, a significant jump from the 54 percent who had passed as of last summer.
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Senator Pollyanna takes a run at busting down a wall
The wall in question is the one between top Texas officials, led with steadfast determination by Gov. Rick Perry, and the administration of President Barack Obama over expansion of Medicaid healthcare benefits for low-income Texans. There might be a way to reach a compromise.
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Texas Senate committee urges end to insurers using customer inquiries to raise rates
Some Texas insurers are penalizing customers who call asking questions about their coverage or potential claims, a Senate committee said Tuesday, urging that the practice be stopped.
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Staples responds to Obama’s immigration plan: Not so much
Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples had some strong words for President Obama’s immigration speech on Tuesday, saying that even though the Rs are, in fact, pushing for guestworker programs and disinclined to round up 11 million people and shuttle them back over the border … they aren’t exactly on the same page with Dems, either., Staples called Obama’s plan ”amnesty bundled up in a new box with a fresh bow.”
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Report: Employee Misclassification Costs State Millions
Many in the home construction industry say it is also a breeding ground for payroll and tax fraud, and rife with employers who knowingly misclassify their employees, a practice that perpetuates the hiring of illegal workers.
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Lawmakers Renew Push to Ban Texting While Driving
A series of events were designed to garner support for three bills filed in November: House Bill 63, by state Rep. Tom Craddick, and numerous other coauthors; HB 41, by state Rep. José Menéndez and Senate Bill 28, by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a companion to HB 63. Craddick’s and Zaffirini’s bills would ban typing on a handheld device for the purpose of sending an electronic message, while Menéndez’s bill seeks to make any use of a cell phone without a hands-free device illegal.
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House reacts to State of the State
Reaction to Gov. Rick Perry’s State of the State speech in the Texas House on Tuesday was predictable, as Democrats took issue with the governor, and Republicans — of all persuasions — praised him.
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Searching for Clues in Perry’s State of the State
Two years ago in Gov. Rick Perry’s State of the State speech, he set up the legislative session and a future presidential run with a laundry list of issues dear to Republican primary voters. His address on Tuesday was subtler, but still political.
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TxDOT Considers Outsourcing IT
The Texas Department of Transportation might transfer its information technology needs to private firms, the agency confirmed Thursday — signaling an interest in expanding its outsourcing of the agency’s services.
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