Burnt Orange Report

Perry schedules execution of democracy for next Monday

By Jim Dallas

Gov. Rick Perry announced plans for a third special session on redistricting today. The Statesman and the Chronicle report:

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry today said he will call a third special legislative session on congressional redistricting to begin on Monday.

Perry said the session will focus on redistricting, but also will include legislation that has been on the call of two previous special sessions: fixing problems in a transportation bill, government reorganization and appropriating about $800 million that was left pending at the end of regular legislative session.

Perry, ever the magnanimous Republican, wants to give the Democrats plenty of time to pack so that they can attend their own funeral. Not to mention the requisite politicization of September 11:

"Monday's a good start day," Perry told the Houston Chronicle. "We've got a lot of issues in front of us. I could call them in tomorrow, but you've got September 11th and all of the appropriate memorials that day. And then you've got Friday and Saturday and Sunday."

Perry said it also will give Democratic senators who went to Albuquerque, N.M., to deny the Senate a quorum in the last special session enough time to get back to Austin. Republican leaders hope a third session will allow them to finally redraw congressional district lines so the GOP can win a majority of seats in the Texas delegation.

The Texas 11 still have a shot in court on Thursday, when they will argue to a three-judge federal panel that the demise of the two-thirds rule is a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

Word on the street has it that Speaker Craddick and Sen. Duncan still can't agree what to do with West Texas, so at the moment the redistricting lines are stalled by House/Senate bickering.

In any case, the question is, now that we've gotten lawyer-bashing (vis-a-vis tort reform so-called) and Democrat-bashing (vis-a-vis redistricting) nearly out of the way, can our state finally move on to the people's business?

It's a possibility. Here is the full agenda for the session (from Quorum Report), which begins at noon on September 15:

• To consider legislation relating to congressional redistricting.
• To consider legislation relating to state fiscal management, including adjustments to certain school district fiscal matters made necessary by recent changes in state fiscal management; making related appropriations.
• To consider legislation relating to the dates of certain elections, the procedures for canvassing the ballots for an election, and the counting of certain ballots voted by mail.
• To consider legislation modifying the filing period and related election dates for the primary elections in Texas.
• To consider legislation relating to the financing, construction, improvement, maintenance, and operation of toll facilities by the Texas Department of Transportation and the disposition of money generated by the driver responsibility program, fines imposed for certain traffic offenses, and certain fees collected by the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas; making an appropriation.
• To consider legislation relating to the reorganization of, efficiency in, and other reform measures applying to state government.
• To consider legislation appropriating fees established by legislation from the 78th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature that remain unappropriated. This matter shall be strictly construed to only include fees that were established during that session of the legislature.
• Legislation relating to making an appropriation for the purpose of returning to a fund outside of the state treasury cash that was transferred from the fund to the general revenue fund.

The full special session proclamation can be viewed here.

Here is Kuff's take on this.