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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Texplainer: How Will High Gas Prices Affect the Budget?
“Oil prices have risen recently, as unrest in the Middle East continues. Gasoline prices have gone up in tandem. In Texas, a gallon of gas costs a dollar more than a year ago. For state policymakers, a crucial question is how higher prices at the pump will affect Texas’ estimated $15 billion to $27 billion budget gap. The answer, of course, is that it’s complicated. To some extent high oil prices are good for Texas tax revenues…”
(View full article here).
What a Hospital Tax Could Look Like in Texas
“Texas hospitals are abuzz over quiet conversations in the Senate about a possible “quality assurance fee,” or tax on hospitals to raise revenue to beef up Medicaid. Such a tax looks highly unlikely; lawmakers have said the hospitals would largely have to be on board before they’d risk it — and the hospitals aren’t there. But the Health and Human Services Commission contracted with Deloitte earlier this year to run the numbers on what such a tax could cost individual hospitals in the 2012-13 biennium, and how it could affect those hospitals’ bottom lines…”
(View full article here).
“Chuy” Hinojosa Sponsors Bill to Decriminalize Some Offenses by Students
“Hinojosa, D-McAllen, co-authored SB 1116, which would remove schools’ ability to levy misdemeanor citations on some troublesome students. The bill would prevent school police departments from issuing misdemeanor fines on students caught disrupting class, fighting in schools and causing disturbances on school buses. Hinojosa said the legislation aims to curb issuing criminal citations for ‘something that is not criminal.’ ‘Kids are kids and they’ll do dumb things, but that doesn’t mean they are criminals,’ Hinojosa said…”
(View the full article here)
Perry’s Pick for D.C. Office Plays Familiar Song
“A Washington liaison with an anti-Washington message might be just what Gov. Rick Perry thinks Texas needs, but some state senators aren’t so sure. The Senate delayed a decision on Perry’s appointment of Chip Roy as director of the Office of State-Federal Relations after he made remarks at his confirmation hearing that could have come straight from Perry’s Washington-bashing ‘Fed Up!’ A former staffer to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Roy spoke of an ‘intrusive federal government that spends our money recklessly.’ Roy said he wants to ‘empower state leaders ….. to push back on Washington where necessary.’ Roy said it was ‘hardly surprising’ that the Texas House had voted to slash most of the office’s funds and put them into a tuition reimbursement program for children of the military… ”
(View full article here).
Small Businesses Lobby to Keep Margins Tax Exemption
“Tim Piggott of Longview Radiator and Automotive has a prospering small business with increasing sales, a new building and the prospect of hiring another mechanic. But Piggott told the House Ways & Means Committee on Monday that the prospect of losing his small-business tax exemption makes him uncertain whether to press ahead with his plans. ‘Texas lawmakers should be encouraging growth, not squashing it,’ Piggott testified. ‘I need to hire one more employee, but I need to know what’s going to happen here.’ Rallying behind small business is politically popular at the Legislature. The committee is considering four identical bills…”
(View full article here).
3.5 Million Texans’ Data Compromised Online
“Personal and confidential data from 3.5 million Texans getting unemployment checks, teachers, state workers and retirees were left unprotected on the Internet for about a year, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs announced Monday. There is no indication that the personal information — Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth and more — was misused when it was parked on a publicly accessible server. Nevertheless, the Texas attorney general and FBI have opened a criminal investigation, said Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott. Combs spokesman R.J. DeSilva said it was human error, not a security breach by a hacker, that caused the problem. The people responsible for the error have been fired, DeSilva said, though he could not say how many people were involved…”
(View full article here).
Lawmakers Eye Repeal of Natural Gas Tax Break
“The state of Texas generates a fortune from taxes on mining for oil, gas and minerals. But as Ryland Barton of KUT News and ReportingTexas.com reports, the natural gas industry enjoys a special incentive that some legislators want to scrap.…”
(View full article here).
From Texas to D.C., Medicaid Funding Debate Rages
“If congressional Republicans’ proposed solution to cutting health care costs — giving states block grants to fund Medicaid — sounds familiar, it’s because it is. Texas’ GOP lawmakers are backing similar proposals to put states in charge of deciding how to insure indigent children, the disabled and the very poor. While the congressional proposal focuses on Medicaid financing, one Texas proposal, called a health care compact, takes it a step further — turning over not just the purse strings, but authority for operating Medicaid, to the states. Both are long shots. The Republican congressional proposal needs the unlikely support of the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate and the Obama administration. The Texas proposal has a good chance at passing here, but it too requires a congressional — and presidential — OK. Currently, Medicaid is largely financed through a combination of state dollars and federal matching funds…”
(View full article here).
Senate Panel Considers DWI Deferred Adjudication
“For the first time in decades, first-time drunken-driving offenders could get deferred adjudication under a bill the Senate Criminal Justice Committee considered Tuesday. Current law does not allow deferred adjudication for DWI offenses, and many first-time offenders either take jail time or plead guilty to other, lesser crimes. In an effort to reduce the backlog of drunken driving cases in Texas courts and to increase the number of people who receive treatment for alcoholism, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, has filed a measure that would give judges discretion to sentence first-time offenders to deferred adjudication…”
(View full article here).
Senate OKs Merging of Juvenile Justice Agencies
“The Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission would be combined into a new Texas Juvenile Justice Department under a bill the Texas Senate approved today. ‘It will allow a seamless system for juvenile detention,’ said the bill’s author, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. The new state agency would have an 11-member board appointed by the Governor and would establish a unified state juvenile justice agency that works in partnership with local county government and the courts. In committee, Whitmire emphasized that by creating a more streamlined agency young offenders would be kept in their communities for treatment and confinement instead of being sent to rural TYC facilities…”
(View full article here).
House Tentatively Passes Eminent Domain
“Another bill on Gov. Rick Perry’s emergency items list — eminent domain — tentatively passed in the House today, and it could further curb the government’s right to take private property. Current law states the government cannot seize private property for public usage without adequate compensation, but CSSB 18, authored by Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, seeks to limit the entities from taking private property through eminent domain. The bill would require entities to make a ‘bona fide’ offer, which includes a written initial and final offer to the property owner and a written appraisal of the land…”
(View full article here).
Texas Lawmakers Want Congress to Balance Federal Budget
“The Texas House passed a resolution Wednesday urging Congress to propose a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Forcing Congress to balance its budget might be a good idea, Texas lawmakers said Wednesday, although some thought it hypocritical to force the issue. Opponents held up a Bible to make their case. Others invoked President Obama’s plan to cut the federal deficit by $4 trillion. Some kept reminding colleagues about Texas’ own $5 billion a year structural deficit. In the end, House members voted 115-17 in favor of the resolution. Another 16 legislators — all Democrats — cast a ‘present, not voting’ protest vote…”
(View full article here).
Democrats Plan to Target Texas in 2012 U.S. Senate Race
“In the latest twist in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, made the surprising announcement Thursday that Texas will be one of the party’s ‘six in 12’ — six target states with GOP seats up in 2012. There’s at least one holdup with those plans: No well-known Democrat has publicly shown interest in making the race in Texas, where Republicans hold every statewide office. Asked by the Star-Telegram why she is optimistic about Texas, Murray answered with ‘a two-word response: changing demographics.’ Asked about a candidate, Murray said: ‘Yes, we’re talking to someone. I expect to see something very soon…’”
(View full article here).
California Hopes to Learn from Texas Job Growth
“Gov. Rick Perry has made several trips to the west coast to talk up Texas’s business climate, and several times over the years has been proud to announce the relocation of jobs from California to Texas. He says that just because he’s pushed for companies to leave California doesn’t mean he wants the Golden State to fail. ‘We want California to succeed. I mean, the fact is we need a strong California in this country,’ says. ‘And that’s the way that I look at this relationship. And there’s still a lot we have that we can learn from California.’ Republican California Assemblyman Dan Logue thinks it’s his state’s turn to learn a trick or two, which is why he and 18 other California officials are in Texas this week…”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 11, 2011
“The fate of campus-carry legislation — once virtually assured of passage this session — may lie with a Senate Democrat (or two). The bill, which would allow concealed-handgun license holders to carry their weapons into college classrooms in Texas, enjoys broad Republican support. But last week, the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, unexpectedly stopped debate in the chamber after two Democrats — Sens. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, and Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville — withdrew their support, citing concerns from their constituents…”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 12, 2011
“In a turn of events, campus-carry legislation could provide Democrats with what’s sure to be one of their few legislative victories this session. On Thursday, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, shut off debate on Senate Bill 354 — which would allow concealed-handgun license holders to carry their weapons into college classrooms in Texas — after two Democrats withdrew their support. The measure, which passed the Senate in 2009 but stalled in the House, boasts broad Republican support…”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 13, 2011
“Texas may have just secured $832 million in education funding. So why isn’t everyone happy? News surfaced Tuesday that the federal budget deal struck Friday night to avoid a government shutdown included a repeal of the so-called Doggett Amendment, a provision that U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, tacked on to an education jobs bill last year to ensure that Texas would maintain education spending levels. Gov. Rick Perry said state budget processes prohibited him from guaranteeing such funding. The funding has remained stuck for nearly nine months, but the repeal effort, led by U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville — and widely applauded by fellow Republicans on Tuesday — could send those millions to cash-strapped school districts in Texas…”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 14, 2011
“The maps are out, and the race is on. For redistricting, that is. Though it’s not so much a race as a marathon, as the maps released Wednesday by Rep. Burt Solomons, chairman of the Redistricting Committee in the Texas House, are just the initial proposals in the long process that will redraw district boundaries to account for population growth, as recorded by the 2010 census. ‘The map we are proposing is a fair and legal map that represents the people of Texas and our growth over the last 10 years,’ Solomons said in a statement. ‘And, I believe the members understand this growth resulted in some difficult decisions for me personally…’”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 15, 2011
“A state commission wouldn’t rule Thursday on what’s become one of the highest-profile death penalty cases in the nation. Instead, the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s long-awaited report on the controversial Cameron Todd Willingham case issued recommendations for fire investigators, who have been accused of professional negligence for deciding years ago that the fire that killed Willingham’s three daughters was arson. Willingham was convicted in 1992 of setting fire to his Corsicana home and killing his children, but following his execution in 2004, the case became a national lightning rod when scientists began questioning the fire science used to convict him. Experts have since deemed that science scientifically unsound…”
(View full article here).
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