Why I Will Filibuster the TxDOT Sunset Bill, by Senator John Carona
There is an old Italian saying: Dai nemici mi guardo io, dagli amici mi guardi Iddio.
It means "I can protect myself from my enemies; may God protect me from my friends!"
It's no secret by now that the conference committee report contents were not what I was led to believe, and that the report was signed and filed before I was ever shown the decisions. What we have is a deal negotiated in bad faith. I can handle the personal and professional insult involved; after all, there is another Italian say...
State Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, says he may filibuster the massive TXDOT overhaul bill, known as the TXDOT sunset, because the local option transportation measure was stripped from the b...
Controversial State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy will return to the board, but not as its chair. The Texas Senate failed to confirm him in a 19-11 vote this afternoon.
A two-thirds majority was required to return McLeroy to his post, so he needed the support of 21 senators. The R to D split in the Senate is 19-12. All 19 Republicans voted yes for McLeroy, all Democrats voted no, except for state Senator Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, who abstained.
During a sprawling speech which included scientific formulas and criticism of the fallacy of McLeroy's foes, state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, co...
State Sen. Mike Jackson introduced the nomination of controversial SBOE Chair Don McLeroy on the Senate floor by giving an extensive background on the Bryan, Texas denist, including teaching 4th grade Sunday school class every weekend. Jackson moved to confirm the chairman, but the vote won't happen without some senate speechifying, first.
"My opposition has nothing to do with this man of faith," said state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, who rose in opposition. "My opposition has to do with his management and his leadership style."
"We've all been amazed at the divisiveness and dysfuncti...
State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy's re-nomination is expected to come up in the Texas Senate sometime this afternoon. Whether he can garner two-thirds approval from senators is an open question. Earlier in the session, many lawmakers believed his nomination wasn't even going to get out of committee.
Because McLeroy's been a stalwart social-conservative voice, the right-leaning Texans for Better Science Education is sending "URGENT" messages to its members, asking they call their senators to support McLeroy. The group's argument?
"...He is being attacked NOT for anything done wrong durin...
Seventeen Texas senators have sent a two page letter to House members, asking them to "lead" and "take a stand" by voting yes for the legislation previously known as SB 855, the local option transportation funding bill. It's now in the form of an amendment to the TXDOT sunset legislation.
The senators who signed the letter, in no particular order: Carona, Gallegos, Watson, Harris, Ellis, Zaffirini, Hinojosa, Wentworth, Nichols, Averitt, Deuell, Shapleigh, Whitmire, Davis, Lucio, Uresti, Eltife.
"Senate bills that are now over in the House of Representatives are dying by the bushel basketloads." -State Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo
Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst are spending some time together this afternoon in an effort to save the work of 181 lawmakers from dying with each passing deadline.
"We're talking about education, we're talking about energy, we're talking about transportation. All those bills are up in the air," said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. (Wentworth also represents South Austin, Buda, Kyle, etc.)
A Senate aide says she's "not at liberty to say" why Senator John Whitmire's desk has caution tape around it. But Statesman reporter Ken Herman did catch the culprit on video. More to come.
The House descended into absurdity over the weekend as Democrats took the full time allotted to "chub", or talk-to-death, various minor bills. The chubfest resulted in all kinds of insane time-wasters on the floor that were just-serious-enough to be allowed. I started a list of memorable moments of random chubness, but please add your own favorite moments from the weekend.
-- Dunnam's demonstration of how to properly fold the Texas flag, before then being asked to mime it. "Hence you will find the properly folded official flag of the state of Texas..."
House GOP Caucus leader state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, says it's unlikely the Texas legislature will finish its work before the regular session ends, ...
It's on, y'all. House Speaker Joe Straus has had enough of people questioning his leadership, and he's not going to take it anymore.
After calling Democrats who slowed down the passage of routine Local and Consent calendar bills "obstructionists", he defended his role in moving things along.
"All session long when we've succeeded in a very closely divided House... it's when members have put their differences aside and worked things out themselves. It wasn't because I...
In this latest chapter of the House Voter ID saga, Democrats believe they have found the point of order (a rules technicality) that could kill the voter ID bill.
House rules say committee minutes must be filed within three days after a committee meeting. The minutes following a Voter ID hearing in the Elections Committee was not timestamped until seven days after. In a series of cryptic hypothetical questions this morning, House Dem leader Jim Dunnam got Speaker Joe Straus to answer that a bill would be "ineligible" if the committee minutes were filed late. Read the memo below.
After another day of chubbing, House Republicans and House Democrats held separate caucuses during a dinner break in an effort to break the partisan gridlock in the chamber. No deal, said R's as they emerged from their caucus meeting.
State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, said Democrats asked R's to agree to move the TDI sunset bill and Voter ID to the Tuesday calendar, and in exchange they would free up all the legislation preceding it on the calendar. Republicans decided not to agree to the deal.
It's also apparent there's some tension between the R's and their fellow member, state Rep. Tommy M...
As the House continues to eat away at the weekend by debating the migration seasons of butterflies (I didn't make that up), Democrats are attempting to take control of the calendar by suspending rules to take bills out of order.
Saturday, State Rep.Trey Martinez-Fischer tried to bring up the windstorm insurance reform bill ahead of other items, but suspending the rules to take something out of order requires a 2/3's vote of the House. The effort failed on a 74-70 vote, almost completely along party lines. (Republican state Rep. Tommy Merritt voted yes, but he was the only R to do so.)
House Speaker Joe Straus, R-Alamo Heights, has been intent on "letting the will of the House prevail" all session, and as a result, did away with former Speaker Tom Craddick's regular media availabilities. During Craddick's leadership, the speaker was available after most daily floor sessions to talk about whatever issues of the day or circumstances came up. Straus has preferred to pick particular reporters to talk with privately, off the record or on background only.
As the House comes to a near standstill as Democrats attempt to slow the arrival of Voter ID to the floor, the quiet yet amiable Speaker hasn...
State Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, predicts the stalling tactics employed by House Democrats to keep controversial Voter ID legislation from reaching the House floor "won't be successful". He wouldn't give details of possible compromises between the two sides to break a legislative stalemate that's putting hundreds of bills in jeopardy, but did speak with reporters this afternoon. With that, here's Todd:
With just ten days left in the session, Democrats in the Texas House are delaying action on the controversial Voter ID bill (scheduled to hit the floor tomorrow) by talking-to-death, aka "chubbing" numerous minor bills on the local and consent calendar.
Senators, whose bills are now being held hostage, are none too pleased. They're caucusing Friday morning to try and see what leverage they have to move things along. The answer from House members? Not much.
There doesn't seem to be much organization as to who chubs which bills, but Democrats clearly got the message that they would slow down the pac...
Just what are State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy's chances for winning re-nomination next week by the full Senate? He was already resurrected by committee in a party line vote on Wednesday. Now he needs two-thirds of the Senate to approve him to keep his job as chairman of the controversial SBOE.backed teaching "weaknesses" of evolution.
The House gaveled out for the day without finishing its debate on the top 10% college admissions bill and after spending several hours on the UI stimulus bill, which is also still unresolved.
State Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, is the House sponsor of SB 1569, the bill that creates conditions to allow Texas to accept $555 million in federal unemployment insurance money from the stimulus package. The bill expands the pool of people eligible for UI money, which opponents, like Governor Rick Perry, say will be a burden on Texas businesses.
Strama said Texas could get another $200-400 million on top of t...
Or as the Texas Observer put it, "McLeroy's Zombie Nomination Lumbers Toward Senate."
He's back, y'all. He wasn't even pending for very long. State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, who's invited controversy (and enjoys controversy) for wacky musings and efforts to inject religions...
Well, that was strange. First, press got notified that Republican state Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, would hold a midday press conference to rally her R troops in support of a strong Voter ID bill. Then, House Democrats sent out a blast that they, too, would have a press conference at lunch, and in the same room. The location wasn't reserved, so it was first-come, first-serve for members upon lunch recess.
SB 283, which we mentioned in yesterday's post, hit the floor Wednesday and passed to third reading without much debate. It's a bill calling for school health advisory councils or SHACs, to meet at least four times a year but was seen as a vehicle for sex-ed reform amendments.
State Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, amended the bill first, with a measure calling for parents to get a notification and summary of what they're learning in their sex ed curriculum. That was uncontroversial.
SB 362, the Voter ID bill, is on its way to the House floor as early as Friday of this week. State Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, who authored previous versions of Voter ID, is holding a midday press conference to discuss her position on the bill. (She doesn't think it's strong enough.) Brown is expected to talk about how she wants stricter photo identification requirements in the bill.
Governor Rick Perry and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott joined a conference call with budding high school journalists this morning to talk high school graduation requirements, nuclear energy and whether newspapers deserve a bailout (answer: no).
Linda Hopson from Bellaire High School in Houston asked about the top 10% rule for Texas universities, which is well-timed considering the House is taking up the top 10% modification bill today.
"I would do away with the top 10% rule if it was my call. If I had a magic wand I would do away with it," said Perry.
What should Texas students learn about sex in schools? It's a thorny issue lawmakers may be forced to vote on on Wednesday.
A technical bill dealing with state health advisory councils is likely to be amended Wednesday by lawmakers whose standalone sex-ed reform bills were stalled in committee. The amendments are watered-down versions of their original bills and will require "medically-accurate" information be taught in sex-ed classes and that parents be informed of what their kids are learning in school.
The controversial budget rider prohibiting state dollars from going to medical research using embryonic stem cells won't make it into the final version of the budget bill. The pro-stem cell group, Texans for the Advancement of Medical Research released a statement applauding the development this morning.
Ogden announced in conference committee the budget negotiators "couldn't come to a consensus", leading the stem cell provision to be pulled from the budget.
How does it go? If at first you don't succeed, try try again, right? State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, is taking the saying seriously. He says he will try to bring his statewide smoking ban bill up for a Senate floor vote again on Tuesday, after failing to secure the necessary votes on Monday. It was a gallant effort.
Various tactics were tried to bring people over so Ellis could get to the necessary 21 to suspend and bring the bill to the floor, including having fellow Houston member, state Rep. Carol Alvarado, come over from the House to literally get down on one knee to beg state Sen. Mario Gallegos, ...
When Bush last lived here full time, he was a media darling with sky-high approval ratings. Karl Rove had conducted a "front-porch campaign," inspired by the candidacy of William McKinley. Governor Bush waited for national GOP leaders to come to him at the stately whit...
Good news from State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth. He just told the Texas House that state Rep. Ed Kuempel, R-Seguin, is responsive and starting to come out of a medically-induced coma.
Kuempel suffered a massive heart attack at the Capitol on Tuesday night and has been in a medically-induced coma since Wednesday morning. Geren said doctors asked Kuempel to "blink if he could hear him" and Kuempel blinked on command, which is a positive sign for his future recovery.
It's deadline day in the Texas House. Lawmakers have 25 pages worth of bills to consider before the midnight deadline to pass bills on 2nd reading, and this week they've made it through about six to eight pages a day.
State Senator Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, makes an appearance on the cover of 360 West, a lifestyle magazine that brands itself as a "full circle view of where we live". It looks like the accompanying article is for subscribers-only, so I won't be able to link that to you. But for the more visually-oriented of you out there, here's the cover shot of the lawmaker.
Speaker Joe Straus' press office just released a morning update on state Rep. Ed Kuempel, who was found unconscious late last night and transported to Brackenridge Hospital. The Quorum Report is reporting he had a heart attack.
The Speaker's office says Kuempel is in intensive care, in stable condition.
"The next 24-48 hours are critical," writes Straus spokesman Angela Hale, in a release. "His family has asked that colleagues and friends not visit the hospital at this time, but asks everyone keep Edmund in their prayers."
Lawmakers adjourned a 12-hour floor session abruptly on Tuesday night, after state Rep. Ed Kuempel, R-Seguin, was found unconscious in one of the main capitol elevators. A capitol sergeant-at-arms found him with a faint pulse, according to The El Paso Times' Brandi Grissom.
Don't get state Sen. John Carona, D-Dallas, started on AT&T and its powerful lobbyists.
He lashed out at the corporation from the Senate floor for "thwarting" his effort to pass a bill to better keep track of prepaid cell phones aka "burners". The disposable, pay-as-you-go cell phones can be used temporarily by criminals and/or drug dealers (as we saw on HBO's The Wire) and then get tossed so that the phone user can avoid law enforcement and/or wiretaps.
State Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, is unofficially the king of puns in the Texas House. Samuel Johnson disparagingly referred to punning as "the lowest form of humor", but Eissler doesn't mind. He delivers his puns with both speed and precision. This morning Eissler's bill, HB 2732, to regulate barking dogs under county noise ordinances, opened up a huge opportunity for him to show his talent for wordplay.
Otto: Didn't Eiland put you on a short leash with this bill four years ago?
Eissler: We can finally get some teeth in the law...
State Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, who has now floated several versions of a House substitute to the Voter ID bill, is going back to square one. His committee is expected to pass the original Senate version of the bill this afternoon in a meeting on the floor.
The Senate version does not require photo ID - it allows two forms of non-photo ID. But, and perhaps here's the sticking point for some of the Elections committee's most conservative members -- the SB doesn't ...
City Councilmember Brewster McCracken has decided to bow out of the runoff for Austin mayor after finishing a distant second to rival Lee Leffingwell on Saturday. Leffingwell...
Travis County District Judge Scott Ozmun, who just last year won his seat on the bench, died Friday of complications from testicular cancer. He was 50. State Senator Kirk Watson wrote this, of his passing:
Last week, Texas lost a great advocate when Judge Scott Ozmun lost his long, tough fight with cancer.
I met Scott way back when we were young lawyers practicing together. Like I said last week, I had the privilege of working with him as a law partner, in politics, in efforts to increase access to legal...
State Sen. Kel Seliger, who loves his fast food*, fought on the floor against state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh's bill to ban trans-fat's in Texas restaurants before the bill passed the full Senate with a 24-6 vote. (The House bill, which we covered earlier this session, is in House Calendars.)
The Austin Chronicle, the city's snarky alterna-weekly, always features a long list of personal ads at the end of its paper issues and online. Woman for man, man for woman, man for man... they run the gamut from sweet to uh, not-so-sweet. But this ad particularly jumped out at us:
There appears to be some strange shenanigans surrounding the efforts to pass a statewide smoking ban out of the Texas Senate. The measure, which is championed by hometown cycling champ Lance Armstrong, is still stuck in the Senate Health and Human Services committee, with no sign of getting a vote.
The familiar last-minute ethics complaint is rearing its head in the final days of the race for Austin mayor. Mayoral candidate Lee Leffingwelllodged a complaint in municipal court Monday, alleging his opponent, Brewster McCracken, took illegal campaign contributions.
Democratic Chairmen Demand New Hearing on Voter ID
Democratic chairs and vice-chairs in the Texas House have sent a letter to Speaker Joe Straus calling for a public hearing on state Rep. Todd Smith's latest version of the Voter ID bill, also known as CSSB 362.
"While some components of the bill may have been discussed previously in committee, the public has not had an opportunity to voice their opinions regarding the comprehensive new bill. This is only prudent, given the Voting Rights Act and the impact of this bill on every citizen in Texas," the letter reads. It was signed by 33 chairmen and vice-chairmen in the Texas House, all of them Democrats.
First it narrowly passed. Then it was narrowly defeated.
A rare verification vote was called on the House floor after state Rep. Patrick Rose's HB 710 to put the controversial State Board of Education under sunset review failed on third reading, 71-73. The House had given the measure tentative approval yesterday in a squeaker, 74-68. (Agencies under sunset review are subject to a top-to-bottom audit every 12 years and can be abolished after an unfavorable review.)
The latest draft of the House version of the Voter ID bill is circulating, and Election Committee members say state Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, who chairs the panel, is hoping to vote the bill out of committee as early as today.
What's in CSSB 362, as of now:
1.) Voter ID Education
-- Creation of a website detailing the new ID requirements.
-- Statewide education effort spearheaded by Secretary of State and the major political parties
2.) Election Worker Training
-- County clerks must provide at least one training session for election judges and clerks about...
House Elections Committee Chairman State Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, dropped off the latest version of his Voter ID "compromise" bill on committee members desks this morning. Staffers are still reviewing its components.
In a quick interview, Smith said he didn't want to talk about what's in the bill because "this may not be the last draft."
"Once I make concessions to one side, I lose some people, and then once I make concessions to the other side, I lose the other people," Smith said.
Just got a copy of the bill, details of what's inside coming up in the next post.
Despite being way outnumbered, a few Democrats in the state Senate attempted to stop the confirmation of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chair Bryan Shaw, on grounds the commission has become too lax in regulating polluters and too cozy with the industries it oversees.
A speech by state Senator Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, detailed how the TCEQ Commission, (made up of gubernatorial appointees), granted a controversial air quality permit to Ascaro, despite the TCEQ's staff recommendation to deny it.
State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, joined Shapleigh in opposition. He released a statement fol...
*Still digging itself out from the bad press in the wake of the Governor's Mansion fire, the Department of Public Safety is back in the news. The interim head of DPS is resigning amid allegations he was, among other things, inappropriately touching women.
State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, successfully passed SB 182, a bill offering women a voluntary ultrasound before getting an abortion. It won final passage on a 20-10 vote.
The bill is a scaled back version of his original bill, which would have made it mandatory for the woman to undergo the ultrasound.
Anti-abortion advocates point out that the "mandatory" part is now on the doctor; he/she will be required to offer the ultrasound.
This compromise was offered after Patrick was unable to bring the tougher standard to the floor for a vote. Senate Democrats and two Republicans had used Senate r...
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