DATE: February 14, 2007
RE: Austin Update
The
The constitution also states that no bill shall be heard in committee during the first 30 days and no bill shall be voted on in either chamber of the legislature in the first 60 days. A four-fifths super majority is needed to overrule this constitution provision. In past sessions, in order to give the House and Senate the time they need to entertain the 6000 plus bills filled each session, the overruling of this constitutional provision has been routine business. Not this session. The House could not muster the 120 votes needed to proceed, fall-out from the bitter Speakers race on the opening day of the session.
There is also a provision in the constitution that lets the governor declare any bill an emergency. You guessed it, Governor Perry forwarded to the House a long list of bills that, in a normal political year would have been a priority, in this situation, he declared them an emergency.
The leaders of the Senate and House have appointed all committee chairs and members. Relative to past sessions, there was considerable change in leadership.
The failure of the insurgency in the Speakers race in the House had considerable fall-out. Several former Chairmen were busted, Capitol Hill speak for loosing your chairmanship. That, coupled with Chairmen who retired or lost their bid for reelection, resulted in numerous new faces in the center chair.
The Senate was no exception. The major committees of Administration, Natural Resources, Nominations and Transportation are all under new leadership.
Multiple committees are now meeting on a daily basis. Those items that were declared emergencies are receiving the most attention, however committees are taking testimony on a variety of bills. House bills that were not declared emergency items can be voted out of committee, they just have to sit in calendars committee until the sixty first day of the session.
State
of the State
Governor Perry delivered his State of the State message this past week. It was most noteworthy for the topics covered, not necessarily the content. The message seemed to be crafted for a national audience.
Governor Perry is starting his seventh year as the state’s top executive. He will be in the middle of his second full term during the 2008 election cycle. Speculation runs rampant that he has his eye on a national office, most often mentioned is Perry as a Vice Presidential running mate to someone out of the northeast. Another possibility, Senator Hutchinson runs for governor in 2010, wins and Perry appoints himself to fill the remainder of the term that ends in 2012. Time will tell.
The House has strict deadlines for the filing of bills. Not so much in the Senate. The filing deadline for House bills is the 60th day of the session, or March 9th. Most chairman want bills drafted by Legislative Council. Do to the demand on the staff lawyer’s time in Leg. Council, they have notified all House members that the Council cannot guarantee delivery of bills by the March 9th filing deadline unless the drafting request is received on or before February 19th. Bills can still be filed in the House after March 9th, but it takes a suspension of the constitutional rule. That takes a four-fifths majority.
The Senate is much more liberal when it comes to allowing the late filing of bills. It is a rare occasion when a senator is denied the opportunity to file a bill after the deadline.
I have forwarded several bills for your consideration that deal with the minimum wage, and, among other topics, a statewide smoking ban. I will continue to review all of the bills filed and report to you those bills I feel may impact the TBCA. If, in your daily course of business you identify a proposal you feel should be brought to our attention, please feel free to forward that information.
The gaming issues started strong out of the gate, but have faded going into the first turn. One of the reasons, and probably the main reason, is the in fighting amongst the track owners. The track owners still hold out hope that they and they alone can be the venue for VLT’s (video lottery terminals). The lack of consensus among the gaming proponents of all strips and the fund surplus reported by the comptroller and the greed of the track owners may have doomed the issue for the session. Time will tell.
The legislature will review the recently passed margins tax. That, along with an increase of the tax on cigarettes and tobacco, is the funding source for the much ballyhooed property tax reduction. It is unlikely there well be any significant changes in the margins tax. Most likely, the effort will be finding and correcting technical errors, which inevitably find their way into new legislation.
Speaking of the budget surplus, as I did above, most, if not all of it, will be consumed by growing in the number of students in our public schools, an increase in the Medicaid roles and the money needed to pay for the property tax reduction. It’s a classic example of, in government, “now you see it, now you don’t”.