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The Brief: May 16^th, 2011

“For state lawmakers, amid the sniping and the stalling, the clock is ticking loudly. Two weeks to the day away from Memorial Day, the last day of the regular legislative session, Texas legislators are buried in important bills that have been held up over stalemates and delays. Though bill-filing deadlines in the House have passed, members can — and will undoubtedly try to — resuscitate legislation by attaching it to Senate bills. School finance reform, a must-pass piece of legislation, missed a House filing deadline last week, for instance, but its supporters hope for a Senate revival…”
(View full article here).

Senate Votes $4 Billion From Rainy Day Fund for Deficit

“The Texas Senate approved a $3.97 billion draw on the state’s Rainy Day Fund to cover a deficit of the same size in the current budget, but not before rejecting efforts to add on a larger amount to help balance the 2012-13 budget. Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, matched the size of the withdrawal to the size of the current deficit. But he asked the Senate to use more of the fund than the House used, casting aside other revenue sources that were in that chamber’s mix…”
(View full article here).

House Passes Bill on Indigent Care for Immigrants

“A contentious measure that would allow Texas counties to consider the income of a legal immigrant’s sponsor when determining if the immigrant is eligible for indigent health care passed the House today. Senate Bill 420, by state Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, also would allow counties to take into consideration the income of a sponsor’s spouse when the applicant requested indigent care. A sponsored alien is one who is admitted into the country legally after an affidavit of support is submitted in his or her favor by a U.S. citizen. The bill passed the House 100 to 37; it passed the Senate last month…”
(View the full article here)

Lawmakers Say They Have a Vehicle for Smoking Ban

“Don’t stub out the statewide smoking ban bill yet. The bill’s House and Senate authors say they’ve got a vehicle for the measure to be passed, and they’re still hopeful Texas will be the first southern state to outlaw the habit in restaurants, bars and most public places. Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, said even though House Bill 670 had 74 co-authors, she didn’t bring it up on Thursday, the last day to hear major House bills in that chamber, because the clock was running and the smoking ban bill would’ve taken up too much time in debate…Crownover said she’s hopeful she can amend the smoking ban onto Senate Bill 1811 — a broad “fiscal matters” measure on Wednesday’s House calendar…”
(View full article here)

Combs Finds Another $1.2 Billion for Budget

“Comptroller Susan Combs added $1.2 billion to her estimate of state revenues, making that much more money available to budget writers who are scrambling for cash. She said the state’s income from sales taxes, motor vehicle sales taxes and oil production are all up, and that those numbers justified the increase in the amount available to spend during the 2012-13 budget. That’s not enough money to settle the differences between the House and Senate — their budgets differed by $4 billion in education alone… ”
(View full article here).

Conference Committee Approves Most of Texas Budget

“House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on everything in the state budget except for public and higher education and a section of general provisions that can be used later to make sure the numbers in the budget balance. They left some controversial issues — like funding for family planning — for later. And the leaders of the conference committee — Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan — said they need to resolve their differences over education quickly if they’re going to finish a budget during this regular session… ”
(View full article here).

The Brief: May 17, 2011

“The House and Senate made big progress on budget negotiations Monday, but maybe not enough to avoid a special session. The committee tasked with reconciling the House and Senate versions of the budget came to an agreement yesterday on everything in the budget except for public and higher education funding…”
(View full article here).

Update: Texas Senate Approves Redistricting Maps

“The Texas Senate approved new political districts that protect all of the Republicans and all but one of the Democratic incumbents in that body and, after a delay, gave tentative approval to a House map already approved by the House. Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, had the House map up for a vote when Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, interrupted and asked for a delay while the Senate retreated into a private caucus…”
(View full article here).

Redistricting Lawsuit Moved to Federal Court in McAllen

“A lawsuit alleging census figures in 2011 redistricting plans undercounted Latinos has moved to federal court. The state House’s Mexican American Legislative Caucus filed the lawsuit April 5 in the 139^th state District Court against state Republican leaders, and the lawsuit was transferred to U.S. District Court in McAllen last week. The caucus’ attorney, Jose Garza, had said state district court in Hidalgo County was a favorable jurisdiction to file the lawsuit because of its proximity to complaints against the U.S. Census Bureau’s process to count colonia residents…”
(View full article here).

Nursing Homes Saved From Cuts

“Legislative budget negotiators agreed Monday on spending in many key areas except education, prompting Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden to suggest there could be a special session this summer focusing on public schools and universities. The incomplete budget agreement would protect nursing homes from additional cuts in Medicaid reimbursement rates in the next two years, said Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond. That would address concerns that big cuts backed earlier by the House would mean many nursing home closures…”
(View full article here).

The Brief: May 18, 2011

“A special session looms large, but attention shifted briefly Tuesday to another familiar topic: Rick Perry for president. The Perry-for-president rumor mill — that fount from which a million news stories, and a million Perry denials, have flowed — sprang back into action yesterday with news that the governor’s associates may have quietly begun re-examining his national prospects. RealClearPolitics reported that “a Texas pol who is close to Perry” has been telling strategists that the governor is waiting to be called on to run and that he could make a move by late summer…”
(View full article here).

Texas House Passes Final Version of Voter ID Bill

“The Texas House passed hotly debated legislation Monday requiring voters to show photo identification before casting ballots, sending to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk a measure he declared an “emergency” item for the legislative session. The 98-46 vote adhered to party lines, with Republicans largely saying the measure is necessary to prevent voter fraud and Democrats countering that it could make it harder for the state’s poor and minority voters to go to the polls. Perry’s signature will mark a victory for Republicans on an issue that has split along partisan lines for years…”
(View full article here).

Budget Writers Agree to First Texas Prison Closure

“Lawmakers working on a final version of the state’s two-year budget have agreed to close down a Texas prison for the first time in the state’s history, according to a press release from the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The foundation lauded the budget agreement both for shuttering the Central Unit in Sugar Land and for minimizing cuts to programs that help offenders stay out of prison. Closing the Central Unit would save an estimated $50 million over two years…”
(View full article here).

Sanctuary Cities Bill Gutted By Senate Committee

“In a surprise move that could effectively kill HB 12, the sanctuary cities bill that Gov. Rick Perry declared an emergency item, a Senate committee today replaced the immigration language with a homeland security bill by state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands. The move could be deadly for the sanctuary cities legislation because the Williams bill, which was offered as a substitute to HB 12 by Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, does not contain any language about local law enforcement checking immigration status…”
(View full article here).

Concerns Raised Over Merger of Texas’ Juvenile Justice Agencies

“The state will close three Texas Youth Commission facilities and merge the two halves of the juvenile justice system for an expected savings of more than $155 million during the next two fiscal years under legislation awaiting Gov. Rick Perry’s signature…But the speed of the merger worries some who work in the juvenile justice system. If Perry approves the legislation, the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission will merge, and a new agency, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, will be born Dec. 1. While optimistic about the merger, Randy Turner, Tarrant County juvenile services director, is among those concerned that the pace is too fast and that assumptions driving the merger could be wrong…”
(View full article here).

The Brief: May 19, 2011

“After a day of dizzying budget back-and-forth, lawmakers have another shot today at avoiding a special session. The House today will again take a crack at two crucial fiscal bills, which were delayed Wednesday after negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers — and, in one closed-door meeting, with Gov. Rick Perry — repeatedly stopped and stalled…”
(View full article here).

Rodney Ellis Says Lawmakers Have Voted to “Spend Virtually All of the Rainy Day Fund Four Times” In History

“Appealing unsuccessfully to spend more money from the state’s so-called Rainy Day Fund, state Sen. Rodney Ellis hearkened to legislative history, saying in floor debate May 16: ‘Members, this legislature has voted to use virtually all of the Rainy Day Fund four times’ since its creation in the late 1980s. ‘The sad truth is that Texans and the (fund) are being held hostage to politics.’ Back story: GOP Gov. Rick Perry has said he’s agreeable with taking about $3.1 billion from the fund, formally called the Economic Stabilization Fund, to help cover the state budget that runs through August. But Perry and many Republicans oppose tapping the fund, which is fed by state oil and gas oil production taxes, for the 2012-13 budget…”
(View full article here).

House Tentatively OKs Medicaid Fiscal Reform Bill

“The state House tentatively passed a health care bill intended to increase efficiency and cost savings in Texas’ expensive Medicaid programs today — but not before adding a far-ranging variety of amendments. Medicaid fraud, abortion and immigration issues all entered the debate, drawing jeers and cheers among members. One amendment that sent applause through the House would crack down on pharmacy benefit managers convicted of Medicaid fraud by increasing the fine to $500,000 and prohibiting those convicted of fraud from re-entering the Medicaid program…”
(View full article here).

Balanced Budget Resolution Passes Texas Senate

“Gov. Rick Perry is one step closer to scratching another item off of his emergency item list. It’s more symbolic than anything else and not likely to attract much attention in Washington, D.C., but House Concurrent Resolution 18 — which urges Congress to submit to state governments an amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring a balanced federal budget — was passed by the state Senate today with little fanfare. The House passed it last month. The resolution was filed by state Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, and was one of Perry’s first emergency items…”
(View full article here).

Rick Perry’s Un-Campaign for President

“It’s Rick Perry versus the nincompoops. That’s not a slap at the rest of the Republican field, but at the political chatterers who just can’t or won’t believe the Texas governor when he says he doesn’t want to run for president. Nobody believes him, which makes it easier for some to contend that he is making a grab at the highest political office in the land. It’s not that Perry is lying. It’s that politicians so regularly lie about prospective campaigns that his actual words don’t matter. What matters is the sense of things and perception…”
(View full article here).

The Brief: May 20, 2011

“House and Senate lawmakers struck a major deal on education funding late Thursday that could help avert a special session. But with time running short, they’re still not out of the woods. The conservative House passed a stark budget in April that slashed $7.8 billion from public education funding, but in a breakthrough last night, leaders in the lower chamber announced that they’d agreed to a proposal by the more moderate Senate to bring that number down to $4 billion…”
(View full article here).