Items of Interest Compiled by Arnold Public Affairs

Below are some general items of interest pertaining to the latest political developments and important events:
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Infographic: Rainy Day Politics In Texas
“We’ve heard a lot of talk lately about the Rainy Day Fund: Should legislators tap it to cover this year’s $4.3 billion deficit — and should they resort to it again to help close a massive shortfall in the next biennium’s budget? As state House and Senate lawmakers undergo the contentious process of drafting their 2012-13 budgets, the Tribune has created an infographic to help Texans understand the intent of the Rainy Day Fund, what it takes to withdraw from that savings account, and the political arguments for and against using it…”
(View full article here).

Texas Task Force to Battle EPA Regulations
“Texas is summoning all of its political firepower to do battle against the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Federal and state lawmakers announced the creation of a Texas task force to slow the agency’s effort to tighten restrictions on Texas manufacturers. Twenty-three Republicans in the U.S. House and two senators plan to work on the issue with the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house and various committee chairmen. …”
(View full article here).

Report Calls on Lawmakers to Boost Stimulus Monitoring
“In 2009, when the federal government began pouring billions into Texas via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or “stimulus package,” the Legislature made a visible effort to monitor its implementation — or at least the House did, setting up a special committee to monitor the funds. Two years later, money from the three-year federal stimulus is still flowing to the Lone Star State, but interest in the Legislature seems to have declined. Speaker Joe Straus did not resurrect the House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding, and the heavy hand at its helm — former state Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco — failed to win re-election…”
(View full article here).

Texas Lawmakers Send Budget Bill to the Floor
“Wednesday proved a pivotal day for lawmakers in the budget-writing process. As the House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to move the 2012-13 budget bill to the floor for a vote, Senate lawmakers hinted they are looking to spend more than their counterparts on public education — setting the stage for a budget battle. HB 1, the House version of the general appropriations bill, proposes a $164.5 billion budget for the 2012-13 biennium, a 12.3 percent decrease from the current biennium. State general revenue would drop by 5.4 percent, from $82 billion to $77.6 billion. After the 18-7 vote in House Appropriations, Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, confirmed to reporters that the bill includes a 10 percent cut to Medicaid provider rates and a 34 percent cut in nursing home funding…”
(View full article here).

Firm Offered to Pay Off Loan to Quash Bill, Craddick Tells House Panel
“Rep. Tom Craddick, who is sponsoring a bill to toughen regulations on payday and car title lenders, told a legislative committee Tuesday that a lending company offered to pay off the loan of a financially struggling constituent two years ago if he would withdraw a regulatory measure he was pushing at the time. The Midland Republican, who is the longest-serving member of the Texas House and a former speaker, appeared before the House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee to testify on his latest measure… ”
(View full article here).

Opponents of Medicaid Cuts Warn of Devastating Ripple Effect
“Proposed steep cuts to state Medicaid spending threaten to force medically fragile children and adults with disabilities away from home care and into nursing homes and other institutions, health care advocates said at Capitol rallies Tuesday. At the same time, however, the 33 percent cuts proposed for Medicaid-funded nursing homes will force agencies to close across Texas, limiting options for thousands of the state’s elderly, advocates warned. The ripple effect of the cuts — estimated at $7.6 billion to almost $10 billion, or roughly one-third of Texas’ Medicaid spending — will endanger lives, kill jobs, strain the state’s economy, and cost Texas more money in the long run, they said…”
(View full article here).

Health Insurance Exchange Bill Bottled Up In Committee
“John Zerwas wants to make one thing perfectly clear – he is a big opponent of last year’s federal health care reform law, which he consistently refers to as Obamacare. At the same time, though, the Republican state representative from the Houston area is equally adamant that the state should take the lead in implementing a health insurance exchange. That’s even though the exchange would be the primary tool in enrolling people in insurance plans under the revamped health care system envisioned by the reform law. Zerwas says that the state would be inviting too much federal influence into the state if it doesn’t take the lead on designing and implementing an exchange. That’s because the feds would implement an exchange on their own if Texas declines to do so. But he’s finding it an uphill struggle to make that case to the conservative grassroots in his party who are equating the exchange with Obamacare. Zerwas told QR today that his bill authorizing an exchange is bottled up in committee. And with the Governor’s Office sending him the message that his bill wouldn’t survive a trip to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk, Zerwas is saying that the exchange bill isn’t going to leave committee anytime soon… This is despite some widespread support among key stakeholders in the Capitol community for Zerwas’ legislation, HB 636. Some of those supporters include the Texas Association of Business, the Texas Hospital Association, the Texas Association of Health Plans, the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Restaurant Association and the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute. Another of Zerwas’ colleagues, State Sovereignty Select Committee Chairman Brandon Creighton, said that HB 636 could prove important in helping facilitate another challenge to Obamacare – the interstate compact waiver. Zerwas acknowledged that with his research on the topic that he might have gotten into the policy weeds a little bit on this topic. ‘I assumed everybody would see it the way we see it,’ he said…”

Texas Senate, Facing Tight Budget, Hunts for Revenue
“The Texas Senate isn’t allowed to raise money. It’s right there in the state’s Constitution, which says all revenue bills must originate in the House. But there goes the Senate, sending Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and a subcommittee of budgeteers on a hunt for “non-tax revenues” that could be used to put enough meat on the skimpy proposed budget to get senators to vote for it. To get the votes he needs to pass the budget through the Senate, Steve Ogden, the Bryan Republican who chairs the Finance Committee, needs to spend money the House won’t let him have. Next week, the Texas House is scheduled to debate a new budget that’s $23 billion smaller than the current one…”
(View full article here).

Perry Fined $1,500 by Ethics Commission
“Gov. Rick Perry was fined $1,500 by the Texas Ethics Commission for failing to report rental income from a house in College Station, and for filing incomplete information regarding debts on the same property, in personal financial statements required by state law. ‘This was an inadvertent error, and as soon as it was realized, the governor’s personal financial statement was amended to include those items,’ Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said in a statement. ‘The Commission has since assessed a fine, which has been paid.’ Perry did not, as the law requires, report income in excess of $500 from rent. According to the Ethics Commission…”
(View full article here).

Texas Committee Votes to Reduce Health Cuts
“Deliberation about what to cut — and whom to save — ended with a vote to restore $4.5 billion to state health agencies at a Senate Health and Human Services sub-committee hearing this morning. The issue now goes to the full Senate Finance Committee, which will debate whether to add the funds back into the Senate appropriations bill. State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, says this morning’s vote “represents our best effort to address our top needs first,” and will restore 505 full-time positions and funding for programs like Early Childhood Intervention and foster care. It will also, she says, significantly reduce cuts to reimbursement rates for physicians, hospitals and nursing homes. But some senators argue that funding should be restored for more services…”
(View full article here).

The Week in Texas Politics Recap: March 21 to March 25
“No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We’ve made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome…”
(View full article here).

Some Small Businesses Could Lose Tax Break, Legislator Says
“An estimated 28,000 of Texas’ smallest businesses might lose their exemption from paying the state’s primary business tax. The chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee says odds are 50-50 whether the Legislature can continue exempting businesses with less than $1 million a year in gross receipts. Without legislative action, the so-called margins tax would be levied against businesses making more than $600,000 in gross receipts. State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville , who heads the committee where tax bills originate, said he and many other lawmakers want to make the small-business exemption permanent but that they have to find about $75 million a year to replace the lost revenue…”
(View full article here).

Texplainer: What is a “Point of Order?”
A point of order is a parliamentary action that points out a violation of the House rules. It is the House speaker’s responsibility to ensure that the rules are enforced, but the point of order allows legislators to interject and declare a violation that has been overlooked. Once declared, a point of order takes precedent on the floor, and the speaker must decide whether there has been a violation before continuing. If the speaker overrules a point of order, business continues as usual. If the speaker agrees that a rules violation has occurred, then the point of order is sustained, which can delay the passage of a bill until the error is fixed.
(View full article here).