Items of Interest Compiled by Arnold Public Affairs
Below are some general items of interest pertaining to the latest political developments and important events:
__________________________________________________________________
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 4, 2011
“The House did its dance over the weekend, passing a stark $164.5 billion budget that left virtually no area of state government untouched. Debate began Friday morning, ran until roughly 1 a.m. Saturday morning and resumed Sunday. (The Tribune team was there the whole way.) The budget bill, which cuts $23 billion altogether from areas like public education and health and human services, was approved on a largely party-line vote, 98-49, late Sunday night…”
(View full article here).
Inside Intelligence: The Best and Worst So Far…
“No charts go with this week’s Inside Intelligence survey — it’s all text. We asked the experts what they think of the state’s top three leaders so far this legislative session. Who do they think is a standout — positive or negative — and ought to be getting the attention of Paul Burka and the other writers and editors putting together Texas Monthly‘s biennial list of Best and Worst state legislators? And which of the freshmen in the House and Senate — and there are a lot of freshmen this time — are making names for themselves, for better or for worse? It’s a mixed bag. Our full set of verbatim answers is available here…”
(View full article here).
Texas Clout in Congress Rises Along With GOP
“Last year, with Democrats controlling the U.S. House of Representatives, Texas’ delegation of Republicans was largely shut out of power. What a difference an election makes. Today, with Republicans now at the helm, Texas has the largest GOP delegation in Congress, and those members have relatively high seniority, spots on key committees and seats at the leadership table — evidence, observers say, of the state’s sway inside the Capitol. ‘Texas clearly has huge clout,’ said Brian Darling, a former Senate aide and now the government relations director at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization in Washington. Texas members in both parties have, on average, 11 years of experience in the House, more than 39 other states’. Its senators also rank higher than those of 30 other states…”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 5, 2011
“The gulf between the House and Senate over budget cuts may be widening. Though House Republicans, with a two-thirds majority, handily passed a stark, service-slashing budget this weekend, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has said the House proposal wouldn’t get the votes needed to pass in the similarly Republican-dominated Senate, where lawmakers have said they’re prepared to spend about $10 billion more than the House. But key Republican senators now say they’ve also got beef with some of the amendments their House counterparts tacked on to the bill over the weekend… ”
(View full article here).
Lone Star Reform Hinges on Rick Perry
“Everything is bigger in Texas — the challenges for implementing the federal health reform law included. POLITICO interviews with Texas legislators and lobbyists indicate that Gov. Rick Perry is unlikely to take the steps necessary to implement the insurance exchange required under the federal health reform law, which means the task will probably be left to the Obama administration. To be sure, other Republican governors have also come out strongly against setting up the reform law. Citing their opposition to the law, Florida’s Rick Scott and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal have sent health reform grants back to Washington. A Texas decision not to build a health exchange, however, would have much more wide-ranging consequences in terms of both politics and policy…”
(View full article here).
Pitts Talks, Gently, of Adding to Texas Budget
“Less than two days after approving a state budget that cuts $23 billion from current spending, House leaders are already talking among themselves about how much more money they’d be willing to spend. House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts said this afternoon that he’s already asked Rep. Larry Taylor of Friendswood, who heads the House Republican Caucus, whether the conservatives in the House would be willing to spend another $5 billion if it can be located. ‘I asked the caucus chair, ‘If I brought you a bill back that’s $5 billion more than we had on the floor, what would be the reaction from the caucus?’ And he said, ‘Well, it depends on where the money comes from,’ Pitts said to reporters Tuesday afternoon…”
(View full article here).
It’s Senate vs. Austerity In Fight Over Budget
“Democrats did something rare on Sunday on the floor of the Texas House: They pleaded with their colleagues in the Senate to stop a budget bill they did not have the votes to block, and used strong words to send their message across the rotunda. ‘Thank God for the Senate,’ said state Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston. ‘I appreciate their sentiment. We’ll do our best,’ was the wry response from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. ‘We have a fair amount of latitude, but we’ve still got to address how we’re going to pay’ for the budget. The Texas House, where Republicans control 101 of 150 seats, passed a two-year budget that is widely considered to be so austere that the chamber’s head budget writer, state Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, somberly promised the body he would do everything he could ‘to make the bill better’ as it moved forward to the Senate…”
(View full article here).
Texas GOP Legislators Push New Voter Bills
“Limiting the assistance offered to voters, increasing penalties for illegal voting and tweaking laws governing the use of cellphones by poll watchers are included in Texas Republicans’ ongoing efforts to overhaul Texas’ voting system. Fresh off its voter ID victory last month, the majority party in the House made good on its promise to go beyond that controversial measure to combat what it alleges is serious voter fraud. In what House Elections Committee Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, called “the Peña Network” the committee on Monday heard more than a half-dozen bills authored by Rep. Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg. The measure that drew the most debate, House Bill 304, would limit how often an election worker would be allowed to assist voters to two per day…”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 6, 2011
“House Republicans may be inching toward a compromise on the billions of dollars they just voted to slash from the state budget. House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts said Tuesday, as reported by the Tribune’s Ross Ramsey, that he has asked the leader of the House Republican Caucus if conservatives in the House — which this weekend approved a stark, revenue-slashing budget — would be willing to spend more money…”
(View full article here).
Business Tax Needs Another Look, Key Senator Says
“Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden on Tuesday continued his call to revisit the state’s main business tax, signaling that a debate on whether to increase taxes could be coming in the final eight weeks of the session. Led by Gov. Rick Perry and former Comptroller John Sharp , lawmakers rewrote the state’s corporate franchise tax in 2006 to pay for a one-third reduction in property tax rates for school operations. That plan was meant to be a net tax cut, meaning the revamped business tax — known around the Capitol as the “margins tax” — would not raise as much money as the property tax cuts. But the tax has performed well below even those expectations, and that underperformance costs the state billions of dollars a year. Ogden wants the state to revisit the tax, but many lawmakers have signed pledges saying they won’t raise taxes…”
(View full article here).
Dueling Rallies: Cut Spending or Save Programs?
“Texans on all sides of the budget equation rallied at the Capitol Wednesday for vastly different priorities. The first gathering on the north steps of the Pink Dome featured speakers representing conservative causes. They praised the lean version of HB 1, the general appropriations budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, that is on its way to the Senate. ‘It’s not a perfect bill, but it’s a bill that stays within our revenue,’ said Talmadge Heflin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy, the main organizer of the rally…”
(View full article here).
Will Hospitals Be Taxed to Prop Up Medicaid?
“Talk has resumed in the Senate — albeit quietly — about a so-called quality assurance fee, a revenue generator that would effectively tax hospitals to prop up the state’s cash-strapped Medicaid program. ‘There’s a quiet discussion going on, though nothing has been formally proposed,’ said Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “It should be considered.’ But state leaders suggest Texas hospitals would largely have to be on board in order to get them to seriously consider this source of new revenue. John Hawkins, senior vice president with the Texas Hospital Association, said he’s expecting a proposal for a quality assurance fee soon — but with so many existing unknowns in Medicaid funding at the Legislature, a sign-off from the hospitals is unlikely to happen in the next six weeks…”
(View full article here).
Hispanics at Heart of Texas Redistricting Debate
“Efforts to redraw the Texas congressional map have begun in earnest, and the rapid increase in the Hispanic population will be at the heart of just about every redistricting decision made this year. The search for Hispanic-majority districts could also affect the re-election chances of some lawmakers. State Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, who chairs the House Redistricting Committee, said he hasn’t drawn a map yet, but his committee has started hearing how the state would add four new congressional seats, which Texas gained in its 2010 census allotment. Two such proposals have come from the Texas Latino Redistricting Task Force, a coalition of advocacy groups…”
(View full article here).
Texas Bill Capping Fees, Interest on Payday Loans Clears Senate Committee
“Legislation by Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth that would cap fees and interest on loans made by payday and car title lenders was approved Thursday by the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. The bill, which now heads to the full Senate, has strong support from a coalition of consumer and faith-based groups, who are calling for tougher regulations on the lenders. The Consumer Service Alliance of Texas, which represents lenders, opposes the proposed caps. The committee vote was 5-1; Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington, cast the dissenting vote. Davis and Sen. Royce West of Dallas introduced the legislation to rein in payday lending practices that they say subject consumers to a spiraling cycle of debt. The two Democrats modified their original bill as part of a compromise to soften some industry concerns. Other related measures are pending in the House. Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, chairwoman of the House Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee, has introduced a package of three bills that would add regulations…”
(View full article here).
The Brief: Top Texas News for April 8, 2011
“It’s no government shutdown, to be sure, but Texas has run into its own bout of fiscal drama: leaked budget documents. On Thursday, anti-tax group Empower Texans posted on its website a list of revenue sources under consideration by the state Senate, which has been unwilling to cut as deeply from the state budget as the House, which recently approved a stark, service-slashing budget that cuts spending by $23 billion. The Senate has since sent a subcommittee, led by Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, on a hunt for at least $5 billion in non-tax revenue…”
(View full article here).
Leave a Reply