Is July a “special” time?
Earlier speculation was that Perry would wait to call a special session until after the Republican primary. Now, according to a couple of sources who are usually knowledgeable about the goings-on in the governor’s office, Perry wants a short special session around a month from now — I’d say between the Fourth of July holiday and July 20, which is the first day of the NCSL meeting in Philadelphia. The NCSL trip is a good incentive for lawmakers to get their business done in a hurry. The call would be limited to two items: the Sunset safety net bill and authorization for the $2 billion in highway bonds. Voter ID? Probably not. He has to prepare for a general election campaign as well as a primary, and putting the spotlight on a partisan political issue would not help him.
If this comes to pass, it seems like a pretty good strategy to me. Opening the call to more issues is always risky business for a governor. Perry has not fared well in previous special sessions; readers may remember when Keffer offered the governor’s school finance plan and it was voted down without a single aye vote. Get them into town fast, get them out of town fast — that’s the right plan for a special session.
There could be some tough votes ahead. Democrats are already unhappy that the review of worker’s comp was pushed back in the safety net bill, as was scrutiny of the Texas Department of Insurance. These will be contentious issues. I would not be surprised to see other Sunset reviews delayed as well. Perry is running in 2010 for a term that expires in January 2015. He is a very hands-on governor when it comes to running the executive branch. If he can put off the Sunset scrutiny of the controversial agencies until the end of his term, he won’t have to put up with criticism of TxDOT or Democratic pro-consumer proposals for the Department of Insurance.
Tagged: july, rick perry, special session
Texas Democrat says:
Burka., I don’t see Perry calling a special session, he’s too busy securing a 3rd full term that will run from January 18, 2011 to January 20, 2015.
So the chances of a special session: ZERO.
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paulburka Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I’ll take the over.
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Wonka Tonka Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Looks like you were dead wrong. FAIL!
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Prince Royal says:
This is a thoughtful, logical, and appropriate course of action for a governor to take, therefore, I don’t see it happening.
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Hill Country says:
Do you think the conservative right that Gov. Perry will depend upon in the March Primary would let him get away with not putting issues such as VoterID, parental notification, etc. on the call? Seems like a tough catch-22: call the special & have the D’s go nuclear OR don’t call the special & have the grassroots conservatives stay home.
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Ben Quick Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
“The call would be limited to two items: the Sunset safety net bill and authorization for the $2 billion in highway bonds. Voter ID? Probably not.”
I agree, the call should be limited to what you cite, but, I have a son who lives in Lubbock, I witnessed the Tommy Williams rule theasco, Dewhurst – has said Voter ID is a top prioritiy, and I know Republican Primaires (voters). How can Perry call a special and not include Voter ID? – KB (unknown PACs) will kill him on that!
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Ben Quick Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
theasco? Blunder!
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Anonymous Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Hill Country, friend, we have had parental notification since 1999 in Texas (Gov. Bush, remember?)
Do try to keep up.
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GOP Realist says:
Looks like Tx Dem above was wrong.
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Texas Democrat Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
OK, I was wrong, but not shocked however, I wonder if the Religious Right gave Perry a personal phone call, it seems like he does what they tell him to do.
Perry is the Right’s prostitute.
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FtBendConservative says:
A Texas Democrat wrong…ohhh noooo say it ain’t so.
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Texas Democrat Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I and everyone else in Texas assumed that Perry doesn’t have the stomach for a special session, considering it blew up his face before in 2003 and 2005.
How much do you wanna bet that Voter ID gets passed in the special session and have Perry force the Democrats’ hand by having them go off like crazy and flee to Colorado or New Mexico ?
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Anonymous Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
FYI…”Texas Democrat” is not a Democrat. He’s a Bush and Perry supporter from waaayyy back! Just ask him!
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blah says:
Just in time for July family vacations. What a disaster for run-of-the-mill Lege employees. =(
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slick says:
I agree that the crazies are going to lean on him hard to put their pet issues on the call (Voter ID, Choose Life, declaring the earth to be flat) — and he’s going to have to tell them no. He’s not so good at telling folks no.
What a fool — all of this would be unnecessary if he would have shown some leadership and been in town to help get the business done — but he instead thought it more important to be in Houston to give Rush Limbaugh a resolution. Thant’s leadership, MoFo.
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Dewhurst's Watch Winder says:
This is not the fault of the Governor. It’s not like he vetoed the “safety net” bill. He never GOT it. I suspect calling a special session is the last thing he wants to do.
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Don't Mess w/Pink Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Dewhurst wears a watch? What happened to his “time” detail — those persons assigned to inform the Lite Guv of the time at preselected intervals? Oh, god. We ARE in a recession.
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Texas Democrat says:
Slick, Perry is the Religious Right’s prostitute, if they tell him to dance at a strip club, he’ll do it.
Political Prostitution is the proper term.
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Prince Royal says:
TD, that is a bummer. The one group that he would respond to is one group that doesn’t like the strip clubs all that much. What are the odds?
I do think that Perry needs to take some of the blame. He was having fundraisers in Houston with Limbaugh when he should have been an engaged governor working the floor and telling people that he is expecting to see certain legislation on his desk or they will see a special. He said it for wind insurance but nothing else…
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Texas Democrat Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Prince Royal, didn’t Briscoe, Clements, Connally, and Daniel engage with the Legislature during their tenures ?
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Anonymous Reply:
June 9th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
PR, you would blame a farmer for the drought if his name was Rick Perry.
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Anonymous Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
do you really think anyone had a clue the TXDOT bill wouldn’t pass until the senate rolled in local options at the last minute and the dragon michael quinn sullivan whipped a fury??? hard to see that one coming. . . no matter who the governor was/is. . . and not a whole lot he could have done between carona’s fit, pit-bull truitt and sullivan.
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Dewhurst's Watch Winder says:
No, Anon @ 8:24. You can blame a drought for the fact that there IS no farmer Rick Perry, though. And, you can blame an oversupply of furloughed pilots in the early 1980′s that there is no Captain Perry ferrying you through the skies on Southwest. The confluence of these two disappointments brought you politician Rick Perry.
There is a selfish, mean, wanna-be-rich squash farmer in his teens peering over his fence at a parched field in West Texas tonight.
For the sake of the next generation, PRAY FOR RAIN.
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Dr. Kevorkian says:
Texas Democrat is a patient of mine, please send him my way so I can give him his final injection. He really wants to go. Really. He’d be much happier. Trust me.
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