Items of Interest Compiled by Arnold Public Affairs

The word from House Speaker Joe Straus this week is that committee assignments won’t be handed out until next Thursday, Feb. 10. Straus said that two factors – the large class of incoming freshmen coupled with high turnover among his chairmen – have made the already complex task of assigning members to committees even more so. House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts is apparently in no mind to let his counterparts in the Senate get too far ahead of him on budget deliberations. Anticipating that committee assignments will be made next week, he said today that he expects House budget writers will meet for the first time a week from tomorrow with another meeting happening the following day. He added that he expected Appropriations subcommittees will start work on Monday of the following week.

Below are some general items of interest pertaining to the latest political developments and important events:

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Cold Exposes Jumble of Flaws in Texas Electric Policies
“A key state senator blamed some of Texas’ power problems Wednesday on a decades-old policy that, at least for one day, unintentionally pitted the state’s natural gas system against electricity power plants, both of which were struggling to meet near-unprecedented demand amid an ice storm that settled across most of the state. Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, said the much-hated “rolling blackouts” ordered by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas were caused in part when …”
(View full article here).

Medicaid Diagnosis: We’re Billions Short
“The chief of the state’s Health and Human Services Commission, Tom Suehs, will tell members of the Senate Finance Committee today that the Medicaid estimates they’ve been looking at are a little bit off by several billion dollars. The senators have been looking at a base budget that does not take into account the cost of adding 250,000 people who are expected to join the rolls of Medicaid. The additions to the program, which pays for health care for the state’s poorest residents, come from typical growth in the number of eligible people and are not the result of federal health care reform. ”
(View full article here).

Second Federal Court Finds Healthcare Law Unconstitutional
“Upholding a legal challenge from Texas and 25 other states, a federal judge in Florida declared President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law unconstitutional Monday, saying Congress overstepped its power by requiring Americans to buy health insurance. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson was the latest in a series of conflicting legal opinions that will ultimately be resolved in the U.S. Supreme Court, legal experts said. The law has also been declared unconstitutional by a federal court in Virginia, whereas courts in Florida and Michigan have upheld it. Accepting a fundamental claim in the states’ lawsuit, Vinson said Congress “exceeded the bounds of its authority” by requiring Americans to have insurance…”
(View full article here).

Education Cuts Decried; Districts Demand Priority
“Some Texas school districts will have a tough time operating under the state’s first budget proposal, a leading school superintendent said Monday, expressing fears that massive layoffs of support staff will make it harder to meet accountability standards. More than half of the state’s 1,030 school districts already have approved resolutions urging lawmakers to ‘make education a priority.’ School administrators meeting here this week are warning lawmakers that they will greatly harm public education if they embrace the early budget plan cutting public education by about $10 billion from current service levels…”
(View full article here).

Legislators Looking at Troubled State Pension Plans
“Almost $42 billion in unfunded liabilities are plaguing Texas public employee retirement funds as state lawmakers prepare to debate new accountability measures. Legislative leaders are signaling that discussions could hit some sacred cows: ending traditional pension plans for future state employees, imposing fees on pension funds to help pay for state oversight and calling attention to retirement funds that fit an ‘at-risk’ profile. ‘Some [pensions] have significant issues; several of these are in trouble for granting additional benefits when they should not have,’ state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, said Monday…”
(View full article here).

Undocumented Population in Texas Increasing
“The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States remained relatively unchanged in 2010, with a population of about 11.2 million. That’s about 3.7 percent of the country’s total population. Texas, however, was one of the few states that saw an increase over the last few years, according to a new study released by the Pew Hispanic Center…”
(View full article here).

Jail Officials: Mental Health Cuts Hurt Everyone
“Slashing funds for community-based mental health care will hurt taxpayers and degrade the quality of life for thousands of mentally ill Texans and their families, Harris County Jail officials told Texas budget writers today in written testimony for the Senate Finance Committee. Current budget proposals would cut more than $1.1 billion from community-based mental health programs, and would gut some entirely…”
(View full article here).

Report Foresees Quick Gulf of Mexico Recovery
“The Gulf of Mexico should recover from the environmental damage caused by the enormous BP oil spill last year faster than many people expected, according to new estimates in reports commissioned by Kenneth R. Feinberg, the administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund. That prediction will be central to Mr. Feinberg’s plan for paying people who claim their livelihoods were devastated by the spill. It is certain to be controversial among those…”
(View full article here).

Texas Businesses Serving Frail Warn Cuts Would Close Their Doors
“Business owner after business owner warned Wednesday that proposed cuts would shutter their operations serving Texas’ disabled children and frail adults. The grim warnings came as the Senate Finance Committee opened two days of public comment on GOP leaders’ two-year, $158.7 billion budget proposal. The spending blueprint would reduce payments to some social service providers by more than 30 percent. ‘I don’t know that I’ll be able to stay in business,’ said Jerre van den Bent, owner of Dallas-based Therapy 2000, a 3,000-employee agency helping children with developmental disabilities…”
(View full article here).