WEEKLY REPORT
September 23, 2011
EPA Rule Proposal Stirs Bad Air at Texas Capitol
Texas would have faced rolling blackouts in August if a proposed rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had been in effect, state officials warned Texas lawmakers on Thursday. The rule, known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, would require utilities to cut sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, beginning Jan. 1, and could portend more problems with the state’s electricity capacity.
(View complete article here.)
Who Will Choose the State’s Next Leaders?
Here’s the sleeper issue for the next round of Texas Republican primaries: Who should pick the next lieutenant governor, and possibly governor, of Texas? Yes, voters rehired Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Gov. Rick Perry for those jobs less than a year ago. But Dewhurst is running for the U.S. Senate in 2012, and Perry (as you might have seen on Twitter or something) is running for president. If Perry wins and Dewhurst loses, Dewhurst would become governor until January 2014. If that happens, or if Dewhurst wins but Perry loses, the 31 members of the Texas Senate would choose someone from among their own ranks to serve as lieutenant governor for the two years left on Dewhurst’s term.
If Perry and Dewhurst both win, it gets a little more complicated, but the Senate would choose both the governor and lieutenant governor for the next two years.
(View complete article here.)
Ogden weighs in on how Senate may pick next lieutenant governor
State Sen. Steve Ogden, though stepping down from the Senate in January 2013, isn’t fazed by a party-whipping effort by some conservative activists to make sure that any intramural selection of a new lieutenant governor passes ideological muster.
(View complete article here.)
Texas’ redistricting maps are problematic
The Justice Department has made it harder to block a state Senate voting map that does injustice to some Fort Worth residents. But by concluding that two of Texas’ redistricting plans violate federal law, the agency upped the ante in what is certain to be a complicated, drawn-out legal fight.
(View complete article here.)
Social Security Debate Exposes Generational Divide
“It has been called a Ponzi scheme by many people long before me,” Perry said. “But no one’s had the courage to stand up and say, here is how we’re going to reform it. We’re going to transform it for those in those mid-career ages.”
(View complete article here.)
Austin area’s ozone at worst levels since 2006
The Capital Area Council of Governments has recorded eight high-ozone days in the Austin area this year; the smog season lasts until the end of October. If Austin exceeds national standards again, it will join Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston on the list of Texas metro areas to have fallen out of compliance with the federal Clean Air Act. This year’s ozone levels are the worst since 2006, when the area recorded 18 days of ozone more than 75 parts per billion.
(View complete article here.)
Texas files case against EPA over clean air rules
Attorney General Greg Abbott asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to review regulations for coal-fired power plants announced July 27. The state planned to file another petition on Wednesday to block enforcement of the rules, said Lauren Bean, a spokeswoman for Abbott.
(View complete article here.)
Protesters tell Congress not to cut or cap Medicaid for poor, disabled
Texas Medicaid recipients and care providers on Wednesday tongue-lashed Dallas GOP Congressman Jeb Hensarling and even President Barack Obama. At a sparsely attended rally at the Texas Capitol, speakers chided congressional leaders and Obama for proposing to reduce the federal deficit at least in part by cutting projected spending on the state-federal health insurance program for poor children and pregnant women, adults with disabilities and nursing-home residents. While the leaders and Obama have said entitlement spending must be curbed, speakers said Medicaid is a unique program for society’s most vulnerable citizens, and should be strengthened, not cut
(View complete article here.)
Smokers are increasingly required to pay more for their health insurance
This increase in premiums will not be charged to nonsmokers, but will also apply to each of the employee’s family members who smoke and who are covered by the health insurance plan provided by the county through the worker’s employment. According to Dallas County, there will be a medical cost savings of $500,000 as soon as next year as a result of this “non-smokers’ discount”.
(View complete article here.)
Texas ends ‘last meals’ for death row inmates
The furor arose after Lawrence Brewer, 44, a convicted murderer and self-described white supremacist, requested a last meal that included: two chicken-fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions; a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger; a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapeños; a bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas; a meat-lover’s pizza; one pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream; a slab of peanut-butter fudge with crushed peanuts; and three root beers.
(View complete article here.)
Two Texas Senate giants walking away
Two of the Texas Senate’s strongest and most powerful leaders said this week they will not seek re-election to serve in those roles when the Legislature meets in 2013.
(View complete article here.)
Davis sues over map for Texas Senate voting districts
Two days after the Justice Department declined to challenge the state’s new voting map for Senate districts, state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in San Antonio saying the maps disenfranchise minority groups in North Texas.
(View complete article here.)
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