July 13, 2005
Capitol Beat: Education is not on the minds of Texas Legislators
By Katie Naranjo
Gov. Rick Perry called the special session to address the inadequate school finance bill HB2 and HB3, but unfortunately they are still in conference committee. However, legislators have not been too busy with Education Finance to increase their pensions by over $6, 000. The session ends on July 20th and as of now the record stands legislators 1 education 0.
The session also addressed the problem of eminent domain this week, setting limits on the Supreme Courts ruling. This measure passed the house unanimously and in the form of a constitutional amendment to be voted on Nov. 8th along with another famous amendment HJR 6. With the 30-day session coming to a close and bills back in forth in conference committee there will be more updates from the capitol. There is something rotten in the city of Austin.
Posted by Katie Naranjo at July 13, 2005 03:03 AM
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What was the bill # of this?
You know, it would be nice if BOR would, when mentioning such legislation, provide information as to how those members of greatest interest to BOR readers (i.e. local Austin reps) voted.
from the Senate Journal:
CSSB 11 as amended was passed to engrossment by a viva voce vote.
All Members are deemed to have voted "Yea" on the passage to engrossment except as follows:
Nays:iiJanek, Shapleigh.
Present-not voting:iiLindsay.
Absent-excused:iiCarona, Eltife.
I must take issue with this. The yearly salary of Texas legislators before this bill was a grand total of $7,200. Keep in mind that since they are in session for long periods of time, many legislators do not receive much help from their employers - and thus have no other source of income. I'm fully okay with the men and women responsible for making decisions that affect Texans everyday not having to struggle to make ends meet and receiving a salary of less than $14,000 per year. It would be nice if all of the facts were represented fairly in the future.
Katie,
You don't have a problem with Kelo v. New London?
Akash,
I do have a problem with Kelo v. New London and think that the Supreme Court has been recently inhabited by pod people and therefore have decided to kill civil rights. But that post is for a later date.
Brock,
I do recognize that our elected officials only make around 14,000 a year with this new piece of legislation. However, when they don't have a plan for education and are cutting teacher insurance co-pay one has to wonder the necessity of increasing their pay. Plus, I highly doubt any state rep is in huge financial trouble as a result of their holding an office. In fact most of them benefit from the connections and publicity they receive as a result of their office.
I'm fully okay with the men and women responsible for making decisions that affect Texans everyday not having to struggle to make ends meet and receiving a salary of less than $14,000 per year. It would be nice if all of the facts were represented fairly in the future.
