Alan Ritter brought his Texas Residential Construction Commission bill to the floor this afternoon. It is undoubtedly a good-faith effort to improve the process by which home buyers are prevented from recovering money from unscrupulous and/or incompetent builders, and Dan Gattis, who has had buyers’ remorse about the TRCC for
I went to the House yesterday expecting to see a passionate battle over the voter photo ID bill. Instead, it was a day when lassitude ruled the chamber. Oh, the Democrats offered plenty of amendments; they accused the Republicans of imposing a poll tax; they talked about the sanctity of
Five guys in a Dallas bar are sitting around nursing their beers when a gunman walks in, robs the place and shoots a bar patron. When the police arrive, all five guys give markedly different descriptions of the robber and wildly contrasting accounts of the event.I heard that story nearly
Albert Hawkins’ nomination as Health and Human Services Commissioner is likely to go forward this week, despite continued criticism of TIERS, the state’s expensive new software for determining social service eligibility.Hawkins has been held hostage by lawmakers unhappy with misadventures related to privatization, as well as his nonresponsive answers to
It happened during the routine Local and Consent calendar last Friday. Speaker Turner laid out HB 3170 by Swinford, “relating to the authority of certain counties to impose a hotel occupancy tax.” Swinford said, “This authorizes the commissioners court of Midland County to impose a tax of no more than
I believe that a new record was set yesterday. A-Rod hitting ten home runs in his team’s first fourteen games? No. Richard Raymond passing 190 consecutively numbered resolutions honoring various retired teachers in Laredo.
SurveyUSA’s monthly tracking poll for April shows a slight increase in both the approval and disapproval ratings for President Bush in Texas, while Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Cornyn, and Rick Perry remained steady.President Bush: 41% favorable, 57% unfavorable, a one-point increase on both sides of the equation since last
With the state’s prosecutors standing firm in opposition to Jessica’s Law, David Dewhurst spent most of today in meetings with senators trying to drum up support for the latest version of the legislation.According to several senators, Dewhurst promised to generate thousands of phone calls to senators from supporters of the
In a telphone interview concerning my previous post, “Stem Cell Advocates Protest Swinford’s Conduct,” State Affairs committee chairman David Swinford said, “I believe life starts at conception, but that didn’t have anything to do with how I was running the committee. We made a decision at 10:30 [p.m., when the
My colleagues Brian Sweany, our articles editor, and Skip Hollandsworth, one of our executive editors, have weighed in with their analysis of the presidential candidate donor rolls for zip codes in the Dallas area, including downtown Dallas, Highland Park, the Park Cities, Preston Hollow, and North Dallas. Givers of
Sometimes I think the Republicans are bent on self-destruction. The decision last week by State Affairs chairman David Swinford and the committee’s Republican majority to pass a bill blocking state funds for stem cell research is a case in point. Opposition to stem cell research cost the Republicans their U.S.
Bob and Doylene Perry, $2,300 each to Romney.Louis Beecherl, $2,300 to Romney.Fayez Sarofim, $2,100 to Romney and $2,300 to Giuliani.Annette Simmons, $2,300 each to Romney and Giuliani.Kenny and Lisa Troutt, $2,300 each to Huckabee.Trammell Crow, $2,300 to Giuliani and $2,100 to Romney.Robert and Bettie Girling. $2,300 each to Clinton.George Hixon,
In the midst of all this zip-code-focused donor analysis, we wondered if the CEOs of the fifty largest Texas companies (according to the Fortune 500) were giving to the presidential candidates. In previous posts we mentioned that Ed Whitacre, chairman of AT&T, was a McCainiac ($2,300), that Rich
At his post-session press conference, David Dewhurst today put to rest the rumors that he would appoint seven members to the budget conference committee. So despite a conversation between Finance chair Steve Ogden and House chair Warren Chisum about the possiblity (see earlier post), expect five senators, as usual, to
Inspector General Brian Flood has issued a report highly critical of TIERS, the state’s new billion-dollar eligibility software system, and suggesting that state officials halt its expanded use.Lawmakers are expected to be fully briefed by Flood late this afternoon in the Senate Finance Committee room. Apparently, TIERS has proved unreliable
From our old pal and colleague (and current writer at large) Jan Jarboe Russell, the chronicler of all things San Antonio, regarding that city’s Alamo Heights, Olmos Park, Monte Vista, downtown, Dominion, Sontera, and West Side neighborhoods:Tom and Nancy Loeffler, $2,300 each for John McCain. He is a former Texas
Continuing our back-of-the-envelope analysis of the presidential campaign donor rolls, here are a few notables from the downtown Austin zip code, where so many of the city’s influentials do business (and, apparently, give ’til it hurts):Beau Armstong, $2,300 to Edwards. The CEO of Stratus Properties.Ben and Melanie Barnes, $2,300 each
From our executive editor Mimi Swartz, who knows her hometown of Houston better than just about anyone:Dan Arnold, $1,000 to Romney. Old-line power broker and board member par excellence.Scott Atlas, $1,000 to Clinton. New-line power broker, former V&E partner, husband of Federal judge Nancy Atlas.Jack S. Blanton, $2,300 to Romney.
Appropriations Chairman Warren Chisum confirmed that Senate Finance Chair Steve Ogden last week broached the subject of bringing seven Senate members to the budget conference committee.“I told him I’m okay with that. I’m happy for the lieutenant governor to appoint seven,” Chisum said. “Ya’ll run your side and we’ll run
The New York Times has a fun feature online: a searchable database of donors to the many presidential candidates through March 31, 2007. Over the next day or two I’ll try to post comments about the appearance of various names in one candidate’s camp or another —
Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst has come up with an imaginative, or perhaps bizarre, response to Senate conservatives who are still unhappy about not having representation on the appropriations conference committee: add two additional conferees. The only flaw, aside from changing the rules in midstream, is that Speaker Craddick would have to
About four years ago, an investigator in the coroner’s office in Calcasieu Parish (Lake Charles) began noticing some disturbing evidence whenever he arrived at the scene of a death due to drug overdose: lots of empty prescription drug bottles for addictive painkillers, all from the same pharmacies and same doctors
The Picture ID bill, infamously carried by Mary Denny last session, has been delayed for a trip back to committee to clean up points of order. Perhaps we should expand our Ten Worst list to include staff; they can’t seem to get a bill through the process without mistakes. Or
No surprises: Chisum, Gattis, Guillen, Kolkhorst, Turner.The Democrats ran with four motions to instruct the conferees. All failed. The biennial plea not to tie the hands of the conferees was made. Herrero asked that full funding for the CHIP bill, including twelve months eligibility, be retained. Heflin wanted the conferees
For the benefit of those of you who haven’t seen it (and are wondering what all the fuss is about), here’s the video over at You Tube, which was posted by our friends at Pink Dome.
I appreciate the time and length Senator Patrick took to reply to my post about his actions on the state budget. The point of my original post, which I think Patrick missed, is that you cannot legislate by press release. It appears that Senator Patrick and his staff
Here is the list of Dan Patrick’s proposed cuts from the Senate budget, totaling $3 billion. I should have posted this on Friday night, but I was fully occupied following my fantasy baseball team, the Capitol Punishers–how about Carlos Lee!–and didn’t check my e-mail. It is my intention to research
The two-year moratorium on the privatization of highways that Lois Kolkhorst tacked onto a transportation bill in the House last week was just the first shot against the Trans-Texas Corridor. The amendment prohibited the Tx-DOT from entering into a comprehensive development agreement with any private entity and banned the sale
If you weren’t watching the House until the bitter end Thursday night, you missed a, well, bitter end. It was one of those moments when an apparently innocuous bill pulls back the curtain on the enmity and suspicion that lingers behind it. The occasion was HB 2068 by Hartnett, which
This evening Senator Dan Patrick responded to Patti Hart’s post of yesterday with the following comment:————————————–I don’t normally respond to blog posts, but I felt Patricia’s comments needed some clarification. I’m surely not mad with her. She has a job to do and has her opinion, but let’s at
I hesitate to tackle the subject of retail electricity, lest I reveal my imperfect understanding of the subject, or put readers to sleep, or both, but it was an important debate in a way that went beyond the substance of the issue. It was like the old days before the
It would be easy to dismiss the fireworks in the Texas Senate today as the reaction of an elite fraternity punishing a party crasher. But the reality is Dan Patrick deserved his public upbraiding on several levels:1. Joe McCarthy was hated in the fifties and he’s hated now. How irresponsible
Simmering resentment toward radio personality- turned-Senator Dan Patrick boiled over into a shouting match as the Senate debated the state budget today. Patrick announced at the beginning of the debate that he had identified $3 billion in cuts, and suggested that the current budget process didn’t carefully search for efficiencies.At
Signalling an end to the perceived House/Senate split on CHIP eligibility, David Dewhurst told me today he has begun conversations with LBB chief John O’Brien to come up with a more realistic cost figure for adopting a new eligibility verification system.Dewhurst made his comments as Senator Jane Nelson presented the
Dan Patrick, Rodney Ellis, Chris Harris, Mike Jackson and Eliot Shapleigh. Wonder if they’ve ever voted together before…Patrick promised to share with the press $3 billion in potential cuts he and his staff identified. Wonder if he shared them with the Finance Committee while it was writing the budget….
The Frew settlement was a great piece of work. That it happened at all came as a surprise to many at the Capitol, since the conventional wisdom was that the state’s clear failure to live up to its agreements to serve children on Medicaid, and the track record of Judge
David Dewhurst responded by letter to Dallas Area Interfaith, whose leader criticized the lieutenant governor for failing to meet with his organization to discuss CHIP eligibility. But the letter raises more questions than it answers:“Dear Mr. Bennett:I was surprised to learn today that your organization held a news conference at
Cue the music from The Twilight Zone: As reporters gathered to pose questions to David Dewhurst after today’s Senate session, John Whitmire walked by and commented to a staff member, “I don’t even know what a normal day around here is anymore.”He should have stuck around.The press briefing
I wasn’t surprised to answer my cell phone yesterday and hear the words, “Can you speak to Governor Dewhurst?” I could guess what Lite Gov wanted to talk about: “A Cauldron is Brewing in the Senate,” an item I posted last Thursday about tensions in the Senate that threatened
One of the low points of the session was Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst’s explanation back in January of why families eligibile for the Children’s Health Insurance Program should have to sign up twice a year instead of annually: “I don’t think most people in Texas have a lot of sympathy for
Last Thursday, most members of the Texas Senate left town to enjoy their Easter vacation, exhausted, no doubt, from the Dallas’ Imam’s lengthy prayer Wednesday. In their absence, Speaker Tom Craddick got off a good jab during the House session.Craddick’s merry-making began with a softball from Phil King: Mr. Speaker,
Faced with a $210 million fine by the Public Utility Commission for manipulating the wholesale electricity market, TXU responded in typical swashbuckling fashion by threatening to shut down some of its power plants. A Dallas Morning News editorial today got it exactly right:[F]orgive us, this smacks of blackmail. We
Within the hour, Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst and Speaker Craddick announced that the Frew case had been settled, subject to the approval of Judge William Wayne Justice. No details have been announced; however, I was told this afternoon, unofficially, that dentists will receive a 40% increase in reimbursement rates–up from a
The words in the headline were spoken to me by a Republican senator about recent developments involving the Senate budget, followed by, “People’s frustrations are at a boiling point.” Tensions are high in three areas: inside the Republican caucus, between many senators and Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, and between Rs and
As I reported in an earlier post, Sen. Dan Patrick this morning boycotted a prayer delivered by a Dallas Imam after spending the morning warning other senators that the Imam espoused dangerous views. At the end of today’s session, invoking his right as a senator to deliver a personal
This morning’s opening prayer by Imam Yusuf Kavakci of the Dallas Central Mosque sparked a flurry of meetings this morning after Sen. Dan Patrick vowed in conversations with fellow senators to “make a statement” in protest of what he considered an inappopriate prayer.In the end, Patrick was absent from the
Well, I called that wrong. Coleman, after first saying that he would speak “on” the bill, said he would vote for it. Senfronia praised Speaker Craddick for his help. She thanked Turner. Coleman and Turner embraced. The vote for the bill was 126-16. That’s a big vote. But it still
Sylvester Turner’s compromise bill to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program has been under attack all day from the left and the right. Garnet Coleman led the attack from the left. It was a classic case of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Turner had forged a
Negotiations underway between the Attorney General’s office and plaintiffs in the Frew case not only could spare the state the pain of yet another Judge Justice decree, but could temper increasing party tensions on the Senate Finance Committee.The AG last week began negotiations at the urging of Finance Chairman Steve
Carolyn Boyle, one of the founders of Texas Parent PAC, posted a comment in respose to my report on how Republicans endorsed by her organization voted on the issue of using the funds alloted in HB 1 for merit pay for an across the board pay raise. All five