It's Over
By Byron LaMasters
Officially.
The special session on school finance, which ended in spirit Friday, ended in fact Monday when the House and then the Senate adjourned for good two days earlier than expected — without approving a bill.
"For good," in this case, might mean lawmakers come back for summer school. Or it could mean a fall special session. Much will depend on progress made by two working groups that will be formed so lawmakers can plug away at the impasses that blocked all efforts to produce a consensus.
What Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made clear, in a joint appearance Monday with House Speaker Tom Craddick, is that the trigger for bringing lawmakers back will be reaching detailed accord on what to do about school finance and property taxes, and how to pay for that.
"It is more important to get this issue right than to get it right away," Perry said.
Well, Rick, I agree. It is more important to get the issue right than right away. Why then did you call a special session before you met with anyone else (other than Grover Norquist that is) to decide what would be right for Texas? And why do all of your proposals do nothing to help children and education in Texas? If we're going to do this right, it's time to cut property taxes, and get serious about a state income tax.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at May 18, 2004 10:06 AM
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