| Texas is one of the worlds largest economies. It is a massive state with three of our countries largest cities. The state is composed of mountain land, desert, grassland, marsh, and forest. We are a diverse state, with a lot of problems that need to be solved. Problem is, our legislature meets for 140 days every two years.
Because of the way House and Senate rules work, lawmakers have their hands tied by the process, and can't bring legislation to the floor until it has been sent to through committee and reworked.
However, the Governor's office can designate certain topic areas as "emergency items" which allow lawmakers to consider them in the first 30 days of session and expedite the process.
This sessions "emergency items" include some new and old topic areas:
- Legislation to provide supplemental appropriations to state agencies and institutions related to hurricane response and recovery associated with the hurricanes of 2008;
- Legislation to assist public and private entities with recovery from the hurricanes of 2008;
- Legislation to reform the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) and legislation to fund the Catastrophe Reserve Trust Fund related to TWIA;
- Legislation to improve state schools and centers operated by the state of Texas;
- Legislation to appropriate funds to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for the purchase and use of screening and detection devices for contraband and personnel, as well as comprehensive security equipment.
Of course schools are there... they always are. New to this years list is hurricane recovery which isn't going so well.
We look forward to seeing which lawmakers are the first to file legislation on these topics and what that legislation looks like.
Update: The State Schools in the Governor's declaration refer to the 19 State Schools for the Mentally Retarded operated by the Department of Aging and Disability Services, not public schools in Texas. They are not really schools, more like institutions for the mentally retarded in Texas. The Department of Justice is investigating all the schools in Texas for civil rights abuses in cases of abuse and neglect, it's something the LSG, working with Reps. Ortiz and Herrero started calling attention to in September of 2007. LSG published a report on thier findings a few months later, and back in December the DOJ released a 70 page letter of findings that essentially mirrored the call for reform. Perry's been getting a lot of heat from the feds and from the disability community to institute reform, so he included it in his emergency items.
For background, here's a link to the LSG's study from a year ago. |
