Gardner Selby is reporting that Gov. Rick Perry is suggesting an immediate special session in June should the legislature not pass the most important issue facing Texas. Interestingly, that important issue is not Voter ID or Handguns on Campuses.
Gov. Rick Perry told legislators this afternoon he could call a special session immediately after the regular session ends June 1 to work on a plan patching up the fund that provides windstorm insurance coverage to property-owners in 14 coastal counties and a sliver of Harris County.
Though Perry's office didn't confirm Perry's remarks, Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, said the prospect of an immediate special session was one thrust of Perry's remarks to members of the House and Senate...
Here's some advice to Gov. Perry and the legislature. If you feel that fixing the issues related to windstorm insurance are so important (and brought into clearer need because of Hurricanes last season), then why are you having the legislature waste it's time killing time and bills with debate over bills that solve any actual existing problems from Voter ID and Guns on Campus?
After all, the Voter ID bill that no one wants, is now being faced with threats from House Democrats that it could inspire the return of a quorum bust.
Asked to specify what he meant by "protect," Dunnam didn't elaborate, though there's speculation that members dead-set against the ID proposal could leave the House chamber when it comes up, potentially depriving the 150-member body of the quorum needed to take action. Such a move could prove riotous and endanger other Senate measures, which under House rules must be considered by the House by the end of the day Tuesday to survive.
Come on Rick Perry- lead. Or don't. And this session, for all the praise of change with a new speaker, will be just as much a failure of leadership as it was under Craddick.
Time to prioritize.
Update: Looks like legislators' desire to get the hell out of town and not come back to a special session is strong. From Quorum Report...
Hot on the heels of a gubernatorial promise to call a special session if lawmakers can't pass a windstorm bill this session, the House Insurance Committee passed out a much worked over compromise version of legislation propping up the state's windstorm insurer of last resort.
Coastal and inland interests both said today that they could find many things in the bill that need modification but they agreed that the process needs to move forward. The windstorm bill must somehow find a place on the House Calendar sometime before the Tuesday deadline for Senate bills at the same time that the remaining big pieces of legislation are all getting pushed further and further back toward the weekend.
Let's which bill shoves the others to the back of the line now...
Once a State Representative or Senator is done serving in the Texas legislature, it doesn't mean they are done working in the pink dome.
Texans for Public Justice has looked at 10 formerly elected officials including 8 Republicans and 2 Democrats. All 10 of these former State Representatives were serving in the House just this last session and now have gone through the revolving door to get huge payouts to lobby.
Texans for Public Justice looked at the 68 lobby contracts held by Mike Krusee, Fred Hill, Kyle Janek, Pat Haggerty, Corbin Van Arsdale, Dianne Delisi, Kevin Bailey, Robby Cook, Tony Goolsby and James Murphy currently have. Because of reporting laws, lobbyist are only required to disclose whether they fall within a range and not the specific amount the actual revenue from each lobby contract.
Lobbyist are only required to specify if they make less than $10,000, $10,001 to $24,999.99, $25,000 to $49,999.99, $50,000 to $99,999.99, $100,000 to $149,999.99, $150,000 to $199,999.99, $200,000 to $249,999.99, etc.
This makes it difficult to determine how much these 10 formerly elected officials are actually making.
Needless to say, these 10 men have 68 contracts and are currently getting paid anywhere from $2,025,000 to $3,890,000. Mike Krusee and Fred Hill appear to be the two highest paid former elected with Tony Goolsby and James Murphy rounding out the bottom.
In case any one is concerned how former lobbyist Todd Hunter is doing after taking a pay cut to work at the capitol again, don't worry too much. In 2007, Hunter had 4 lobby contracts that could have made him as much as $225,000. He should be okay for a little bit.
(A must-read for the morning. - promoted by Phillip Martin)
In 2003 the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act, creating a Commission to regulate the home building industry and provide consumer protection for new home buyers. Six years later the Texas Comptrollers Office and the Texas Sunset Commission have called for the abolishment of the TRCC (trick). As the reports stated, the Commission is nothing more than a "builder protection agency" with "fundamental flaws that do more harm than good". The fate of this ill-conceived Commission is currently in the hands of the Texas Senate. They should stand with the consumers of this state and let the sun set on this fatally flawed Commission.
The Sunset Bill In response to the concerns of the Sunset Commission, House Bill 2295 by Representative McClendon (D-San Antonio) has been filed. According to the rules of the Sunset Commission, if this "sunset" bill is not signed into law, the TRCC will be abolished. The bill has passed the House and is currently lingering in the Senate with time running out in the legislation session.
The TRCC Facts The facts concerning this Commission, which supposedly was created to help homeowners with construction defects, are undeniable and unbelievable. The Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Bob Perry Homes wrote the bill that created the TRCC. Governor Perry later appointed him to the Commission. The State Legislator who sponsored the TRCC bill owns a lumber company and sells to the home building industry. He is a member of the Texas Association of Builders (TAB) and received an award after passing the bill. The National Association of Home Builders also named him "Legislator of the Year"
Since its creation, the board has been stacked with builder friendly Commissioners. The Arbitration Task Force, charged with researching the abuse of mandatory binding arbitration in new home contracts, was stacked with home builders and members of the American Arbitration Association (AAA). The Commission, heavily in favor of the home building industry, established a statewide standard for new home warranties that provides one single year of protection, while repealing the implied warranty of good workmanship granted to homeowners in the sixties.
Calls for Abolishing In 2006 the Texas Comptroller's Office conducted a detailed investigation of the TRCC prompting the Comptroller to state "...if it was up to me personally, I would blast this TRCC builder-protection agency off the bureaucratic books". The report by the Sunset Commission issued in 2008 had a key recommendation of "Abolish the Texas Residential Construction Commission and repeal the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act." Both reports were very clear, the $10 million/year TRCC is not providing a useful service to the consumer and deserves to be abolished.
HB2295 Deception HB2295 continues to deceive. The bill calls for licensing of home builders, but exempts over 28,000 builders currently registered with the TRCC. The licensing oversight will be controlled by the TRCC an agency with 6 years of failure, instead of by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation with 100 years of outstanding service and experience in oversight. And the requirements for licensing are nothing more than paying a fee, taking 8 hours of training, and passing a test administered by the inexperienced TRCC.
The mandatory State Sponsored Inspection and Resolution Process (SIRP), a process to help mediate complaints, continues to be a convoluted, complicated, legal nightmare that requires legal assistance to navigate. The bill offers an optional, extremely expensive mediation process chock full of legal loopholes that will do more harm than good for the consumer. The bill also reduces the time required to complete the SIRP, but does nothing to reduce its overwhelming complexity and legal ramifications.
Kill the Bill In 2003 testimony from the home building industry claimed the TRCC would provide much needed consumer protection for new homeowners with construction defects. Instead it has been an expensive failure causing financial ruin to many homeowners and allowing the industry to run wild with no fear of being held accountable.
The facts are clear. It is time to let the sun set on this bureaucratic, expensive, nightmare called the TRCC.
John R. Cobarruvias has been an advocate for new homeowner rights and is a member of Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings. He has testified against the TRCC and has provided research on the Commission and the rules and procedures.
On Monday, the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee will hold a public hearing on a bill which will give Texas bloggers and citizen journalists some much-needed protections under Texas law.
The committee will take public testimony on House Bill 4237 by State Rep. Aaron Pena (D-Edinburg).
This bill gives bloggers and citizen journalists the same protections that the mainstream media has when it comes to covering matters of "public concern," such as legislative proceedings, school board meetings, and the actions of state officials.
When Mr. Ramey Ko stood up to testify before the Texas House Committee on Elections on Wednesday, April 8, I'll bet he never expected for Republican State Rep. Betty Brown to ask him to erase his family history so that he would be easier for her to deal with.
He may have expected having to discuss his "naturalization" papers that were needed in order for his parents to come into the country -- as if there was something unnatural about them before. He may have even expected needing to explain to Rep. Brown that he wouldn't need any ID to vote in China because, as he gently told her, "there's not a lot of elections in China."
But I don't think he expected to be asked to disown his family name so that he would be easier to deal with for small-minded, America-centric, ignorant elected officials like Republican State Rep. Betty Brown.
The remarks -- for anyone who hasn't seen the story on blogs, in e-mail action alerts, on the TV, in the newspapers, on Facebook, or anywhere else -- were rather shocking for me to hear. When I listen to Republican State Rep. Betty Brown make this proposal -- even after having read it and watched it over a dozen times -- I still cringe with anger:
Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese - I understand it's a rather difficult language - do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?
Names are important. The history of how a name evolves is unique to every family, whether you are American or -- if you're like most of the people in the world Rep. Betty Brown knows so little about -- non-American. A name is identity. A name is posterity. A name is more than just a few characters marked onto a document to make it easier to ensure someone doesn't disqualify your legal right to vote. A name tells the story of a journey and a struggle. A name reflects a heritage and a past that is greater than any one person.
One of the biggest decisions one can make in life is to change a name. The process of transliteration Mr. Ko patiently explains is very complicated. It is also extremely emotional. Changing a name through transliteration is the technical realization of a much more personal decision that people of all backgrounds struggle with on a daily basis. Whether it is an Asian-American not wanting to be laughed at by his or her classmates because the teacher never learns to correctly pronounce a name, or a woman deciding that she can love her husband and respect the tradition of marriage without leaving her name behind, the decision to "adopt a name" is always a serious one.
But for Republican State Rep. Betty Brown, it isn't. For her, the consequences of Mr. Ko changing his name are probably no different than calling french fries "freedom fries." For a person and a party who believe that unlawful immigrants and "illegal aliens" are the same thing, the sheer ignorance of such remarks remains startling, though is not so surprising.
However, there is one thing that did surprise me: Mr. Ko.
Watch the video if you haven't. Look at his poise. See how calmly he responds, and how patiently he answers all of her questions. He does not get angry. He does not yell. Instead, he is thoughtful. He listens, he speaks, and then he listens again.
The name we have given to something that would be advantageous for us to act on is the word, "behoove." Its etymological roots go back to the action, "to raise." Mr. Ko raised himself above Rep. Brown's remark in his testimony, and in doing so, honored his family's name. I am proud of him, and I hope that an intelligent and thoughtful person like Mr. Ko is never denied the right to vote.
Rep. Betty Brown, meanwhile, should do more to develop a sense of her own name:
brown: O.E. brun "dark," only developing a definite color sense 13c.
The voter ID legislation that Republican State Rep. Betty Brown and her colleagues champion is as suppressive as Rep. Brown's remarks are stupid. The barriers they want to put in place -- and the ones that some House Democrats are beginning to compromise about -- are real. Voter fraud is a wedge issue that Republicans are pushing to throw red meat to their base. They don't care when, if ever, it is enforced. The Republican State Chair of the Committee, State Rep. Todd Smith, has admitted that he would want nothing more than to use this issue against Democrats in an election.
There are some things we can compromise, and some we can't. We shouldn't compromise our names, as individuals or as Democrats. We shouldn't compromise who we are and what we believe in. We shouldn't trade away our votes to appease Texans that can't accept that we live in the 21st Century, or to buddy-up with Republican elected officials who have proven, time and again, that they will do anything to increase their political power.
Democrat State Rep. Jim Dunnam was in that room when Mr. Ko gave his testimony. House Democrats Rep. Rafael Anchia, Rep. Alma Allen, Rep. Aaron Pena, and Rep. Joe Heflin all sit on that committee.
I sincerely hope that they, and all Democrats, have courage like Mr. Ko to rise above the nonsense and stop the voter ID legislation. If they compromise, then they should know that many in their family will not be happy.
During public testimony in the Election Committee, Republican Representative Betty Brown said something very interesting.
"Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese - I understand it's a rather difficult language - do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?"
Now the background.
Rep. Brown, a Republican, made it clear that nothing is sacred that gets in the way of Texas Republicans' extreme partisan agenda, asking a witness testifying on the problems the Republican Voter ID bill would create for Chinese-American Texans. That's when she said the above mention line.
According to the Texas Democratic Party, Rep. Brown then went on to put the onus on those who would be prevented from voting by the Republican Voter ID bill to figure out their own solution, saying to the aforementioned witness, "I see a need here for young people like you, who are obviously very bright, to come up with something that would work for you and then let us see if we can't make it work for us." While Rep. Brown later tried to back out of her statements, the damage was done.
The Texas Democratic Party is now asking for Rep. Brown to apologize.
"It's already shameful enough that the Republican Elections Committee members are trying to suppress the votes of countless Texans with their partisan Voter ID bill, and now Rep. Brown is adding insult to injury with her disrespectful comments," said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie. "We are calling on Rep. Betty Brown to apologize for her offensive and out-of-touch remarks."
The Asian American community is one of the fastest growing populations in Texas. If a law is going to disenfranchise a group of people, the solution cannot and should not be for a person to sacrifice their culture in order to have the right to vote.
As the Asian American Action Fund pointed clarified, "Texas has a rather substantial APA voting population, including a fair number of Republicans. Not to mention, current and previous elected officials including ex-Rep. Martha Wong and sitting Rep. Angie Chen Button."
AJ Durrani, President of the Asian American Democrats of Texas added to Chairman Richie's appeal. Durrani e-mailed the members of AADT saying:
Members of AADT,
On Wednesday April 8, during the Texas House of Representatives testimony on the Voter ID Bill, State Representative Betty Brown, R-Terrell, made shockingly intolerant and insensitive remarks about Asian Americans. An article from the Houston Chronicle.Com is provided below for details, as is a statement from Texas Democratic Party Chairman, Boyd Ritchie.
State Representative Betty Brown's racially insensitive remarks have no place in America, and she should immediately and unconditionally apologize for her remarks. Please contact State Representative Betty Brown about her unacceptable remarks and ask her to apologize immediately in a public forum.
Her email address is: [mailto:betty.brown@house.state.tx.us betty.brown@house.state.tx.us]
Her postal mail and fax addresses, and phone numbers are as follows:
Capitol Address
Room E1.404, Capitol Extension
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 463-0458
(512) 463-2040 Fax
District Address
108 S. Pinkerton, Suite 105
Athens, TX 75751
(903) 675-9500
(903) 677-6773 Fax
This is the Republican solution to the many problems with Voter Suppression legislation. If you are negatively effected by this ill conceived and unnecessary law, you should make sacrifices. If you are unwilling to sacrifice your job, your culture, your marriage, or anything else that may prevent you from voting, then you didn't want to vote bad enough.
Maybe that is why former Texas Republican Party Political Director Royal Masset estimated that a photo ID requirement would reduce Democratic turnout in Texas by 3%.
Mexican American Legislative Caucus chairman, and recent blog newcomer, Trey Martinez-Fischer has found a way to bring some levity to the situation. Once you get done asking for Rep. Brown to apologize, you can at least find out what your new name can be here. Let me introduce you to Elise Hughes KVUE's new political reporter. She may look familiar. Sort of like Jennifer Kim.
Update: Thanks to a friend on facebook, we now have the entire question and answer period between Ramey Ko and Rep. Betty Brown. There a couple really great points and our friend Ramey does a great job testifying.
Early this afternoon, the Texas legislature debated Senate Bill 297 by Senator Leticia Van De Putte.
The bill is intended to provide support to the men and women who have served our country and are ready to go to any of our public universities.
According to the bill analysis:
Currently, veterans who are not Texans but who want to attend a public college or university in Texas are required to pay out-of-state tuition and fees until they have lived in Texas for one year. Non-Texas veterans who may be interested in settling in Texas may be hesitant to attend college here because of the out-of-state tuition costs. Senate Bill 297 would deliver real support to veterans while helping strengthen Texas' economy by attracting and keeping talent in the state. Expanding in-state tuition benefits to military veterans and their spouses and children is a fitting way to recognize those who have served, led, and protected our country.
SB 297 would allow veterans and their spouses and children to pay in-state tuition and fees without regard to the length of time they have resided in Texas.
Democrat Marc Veasey offered an amendment during the House debate to extend these benefits to the children of active duty soldiers fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan.
It's not surprising the amendment and bill easily passed. However, it is surprising nearly two dozen House Republicans voted against tuition benefits for the kids of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Who were the Republicans who opposed helping children and our military?
Fred Betty Brown
Warren Chisum
Joe Crabb
Tom Craddick
Brandon Creighton
Gary Elkins
Dan Flynn
Kelly Hancock
Will Hartnett
Charlie Howard
Ken Legle
Debbie Riddle
Ralph Sheffield
Mark Shelton
John Smithee
David Swinford
Vicki Truitt
Randy Weber
Beverly Woolley
John Zerwas
To be clear.
A Democratic State Senator from San Antonio and a Democratic State Representative from Fort Worth authored and amended a piece of legislation to help military families get an education in our public universities. The amendment is projected to have little fiscal impact on the state budget, but it will improve the lives of families who have made huge sacrifices for our state and country. It overwhelmingly passed, but 20 Republicans felt so strongly opposed to the amendment they decided to create a 13% minority and oppose active duty soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As the right wing of the Republican Party continues to be marginalized and Democratic gains continue, expect that percentage to decrease.
Update: According to Vince Leibowitz, Chief of Staff for Rep. Sheffield, Molly B. Quirk, is saying he is changing his mind.
The Rep. Sheffield did not vote against the amendment. The unofficial tally is online, he changed his vote to aye. He is a co-author on the amendment to the amendment.
Update: Rep. Veasey's office had the following press release to elaborate on the amendment.
State Representative Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) today passed an amendment to Senate Bill 297 that will exempt the children of US Armed Forces personnel who are deployed in a foreign combat zone from tuition costs associated with attendance at a state institution of higher education during semesters when one or both of their parents are so deployed. The amendment passed with a vote of 125 members for to 20 members opposed.
"The purpose of this amendment is to honor the sacrifices made by our soldiers and their family members during times of war. Many of these soldiers have been deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan for years at a stretch, and the personal and economic costs to their families can be severe. This tuition exemption is a small way that we as a state can give back to these families who have given us so much," said Rep. Veasey.
Over 150,000 Americans are presently deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan warzone, including many thousands of men and women from Texas. The Veasey amendment will open doors of opportunity for the college-age children of those soldiers deployed from Texas by sharply reducing the cost of higher education - a particularly important benefit during this time of economic hardship.
"Time and again, we've asked these men and women to put their lives on the line. I'm glad to see such a strong majority of my fellow representatives join me to provide what help we can to these soldiers' families," said Rep. Veasey.
SB 1364 would "curtail te practice of pulling students out of classes to receive additional tutoring, primarily for TAKS remediation."
Groups like the Texas Music Educators Association are pushing the bill hard, as they tell "horror stories" of students consistently missing class for TAKS tutoring.
The bill will help protect students' opportunties to study fine arts and other enrichment subjects so important t their success.
Students should not be pulled from one academic subject (e.g., fine arts) and miss out on the knowledge to study for another.
Grades should not be given to students for a subject from which the stuent is consistently absent for remediation in another subject.
There has to be a way to give extra help to the students who need it while still allowing them to be exposed to beneficial fine arts classes like Music and Art.
While most do not expect any opposition on the floor, if you would like to contact your senator about this bill, you can find their contact information here.
Possible sweeteners floated by Dewhurst include a two- to-four-year grace period before identification demands are enforced...
If this is such an urgent and immediate problem, why would Republicans be willing to wait four years to make it law? Try to somehow explain why they would be willing to offer a compromise if they truly believed this...
"Voter fraud is a very real threat to the legitimacy of our electoral system, and in a close election could very well compromise the results of what voters would rightly expect to be a fair and honest election." -- Republican State Senator Craig Estes (Source)
...or if they truly believed this...
""The voting system we have today is easy to cheat...To assume there is no voting fraud in Texas is laughable." -- Republican State Sentaor Troy Fraser (Source)
...or if they truly believed this...
Senator West: Is this more important than dealing with tuition deregulation?
Senator Williams: Senator West, I believe that it is. (Source)
Why on earth would anyone be so insistent on passing legislation that would not even take effect until 2012? Especially considering that there is such an incredible amount of evidence to suggest it's not necessary? Couldn't they commission a state-sponsored, bipartisan study and wait two years? They could still have plenty of time to pass the law and have it in place by 2012 -- or are they worried that a study would prove what everyone already knows: this is a solution in search of a problem, that voter impersonation is a non-issue, and that if we really want to curb voter fraud and improve the integrity of our elections, there are plenty of other policies out there that can do the trick.
Of course, maybe it has nothing to do with policy. Maybe it has to do with politics, as TX House Republican Elections Chair Todd Smith admitted in this story in the Statesman, "Voter ID measure set to head back to House" --
"I believe to the bottom of my heart, if I was putting on my partisan Republican hat, the best thing that could possibly happen would be for this legislation to be narrowly defeated, so Republican candidates could go into these marginal (could go either way) districts and blame Democrats for elections being less secure than they could be," Smith said.
Yup. There you have it. Republicans don't care about voter ID -- they're willing to delay it. Republicans just want a wedge issue they can use against Democrats. And you don't even have to take my liberal commie word for it:
I'm just repeating what Texas Republicans are saying.
After insisting for months that the Voter ID bill carried a fiscal note of zero, it appears Senate Republicans are changing their tune.
Chairman Steve Ogden offered up a $2 million rider that was contingent on the passage of the bill.
Ogden was admitting what Republicans have been hiding for a long, long time. If Voter ID does manage to pass, the State will be obligated to spend millions of dollars to educate people about the changes. Even then, of course, thousands of people will fall through the cracks and be denied their right to vote.
On Monday, Ogden ended the Republicans' ongoing charade that Voter ID would cost the state nothing. But then, as Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) pointed out, he tried to have it both ways.
If Vote ID passes, “prudence would dictate that we provide the Secretary of State with additional funds to make sure everyone in the state of Texas knows the new rules (requiring identification at the polls),” Ogden reasoned.
“Will the fiscal note for the bill still be zero?” asked John Whitmire. Royce West suggested that the rider indicated the true cost of Voter ID was $2 million.
Ogden said he believed the fiscal note, but “I just think they (the Secretary of State’s office) need more (money).”
“That doesn’t sound like the chairman I know,” West said.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Ogden quipped.
The proposal prompted a testy exchange when Voter ID advocate Tommy Williams observed that “the very people who are complaining (about costs of the bill) are opposing what appears to be very generous funding.”
“What’s absurd is that someone is trying to have it both ways,” Whitmire shot back.
Eventually Senate Republicans will have to come clean and level with Texans about the true costs of Voter ID.
They claim that a significant amount of legal voters will not be barred from voting. They claim (most of the time, at least) that the Secretary of State's office will not need millions of dollars in funding to educate voters about the dramatic changes.
Our job, as Democrats, is to make sure the truth comes out. It is good to see Sen. Whitmire and Sen. West working to make sure that happens.
Here's some advice to Gov. Perry and the legislature. If you feel that fixing the issues related to windstorm insurance are so important (and brought into clearer need because of Hurricanes last season), then why are you having the legislature waste it's time killing time and bills with debate over bills that solve any actual existing problems from 
In 2003 the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act, creating a Commission to regulate the home building industry and provide consumer protection for new home buyers. Six years later the Texas Comptrollers Office and the Texas Sunset Commission have called for the abolishment of the TRCC (trick). As the reports stated, the Commission is nothing more than a "builder protection agency" with "fundamental flaws that do more harm than good". The fate of this ill-conceived Commission is currently in the hands of the Texas Senate. They should stand with the consumers of this state and let the sun set on this fatally flawed Commission.
