Nominate the Legislator Who Did the Most in the 81st Session to Fleece the People of Texax

Important Dates for Texas 81st Legislative Session

By Martha Estes - May 26, 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 (135th day)
Last day for house to consider local and consent senate bills on second reading or any senate bills or joint resolutions on third reading
[House Rule 8, Sec. 13(c)]

Last day for senate to consider any bills or joint resolutions on third reading
[Senate Rule 7.25]

Thursday, May 28, 2009 (136th day)
Midnight deadline for house to print and distribute senate amendments
[relates to House Rule 13, Sec. 5(a), requiring 24-hour layout of senate amendments prior to consideration]

Friday, May 29, 2009 (137th day)
Last day for house to consider senate amendments
[House Rule 8, Sec. 13(d)]

Midnight deadline for senate to print and distribute senate copies of conference committee reports on tax, general appropriations, and reapportionment bills
[relates to Senate Rule 12.09(a), requiring 48-hour layout of certain conference committee reports in regular session]

Last day for senate committees to report all bills
[relates to Senate Rule 7.24(b), but note that the 135th day (two days earlier) is the last day for third reading in the senate; practical deadline for senate committees is before the 135th day]

Saturday, May 30, 2009 (138th day)
Midnight deadline for house to print and distribute house copies of all conference committee reports
[relates to House Rule 13, Sec. 10(a), requiring 24-hour layout of all conference committee reports]

Midnight deadline for senate to print and distribute all conference committee reports on bills other than tax, general appropriations, and reapportionment bills and all house amendments to Senate bills that did not go to a conference committee
[relates to Senate Rule 12.09(b) and Senate Rule 7.21, requiring 24-hour layout of certain conference committee reports and house amendments to senate bills during the last 72 hours of a regular session]

NOTE: Date extended until midnight Sunday, May 31, 2009


Sunday, May 31, 2009 (139th day)
Last day for house to adopt conference committee reports
[House Rule 8, Sec. 13(e)]

Last day for senate to concur in house amendments or adopt conference committee reports
[relates to Senate Rule 7.25, limiting a vote on the passage of any bill during the last 24 hours of the session to correct an error in the bill]

Monday, June 1, 2009 (140th day)
Last day of 81st Regular Session; corrections only
in house and senate
[Sec. 24(b), Art. III, TexasConstitution]

Session Ends

Sunday, June 21, 2009 (20th day following final adjournment)
Last day governor can sign or veto bills passed during the
regular legislative session
[Sec. 14, Art. IV, Texas Constitution]

Monday, August 31, 2009 (91st day following final adjournment)
Date that bills without specific effective dates (that could not
be effective immediately) become law
[Sec. 39, Art. III, Texas Constitution]


Sunday, May 31, 2009

If you want to watch high comedy - tune into the Texas Senate today (Sun. May 31) at 1

By Faith Chatham - DFWRCC - May 31, 2009
Antics in Austin, are similar to those in families. We usually know what isn't going to work before we decide to go on an pull it anyway.
Republicans knew that the Democrats weren't going to swallow their Voter ID Bill.
They pushed it anyway and wouldn't budge.
Democrats held their ground.
Most of the bills that some Republicans didn't want which were popular with many constituents of members of both sides of the aisle were already dead in committee.
Yet political posturing of those on the right is a spin saying that these initiatives died because of the bad Democrats. Those on the left think the stubborness of the Republicans over Voter ID was the culprit.

Now they are scrambling to try to get the differences worked out between the two houses.
Yesterday's telecast of the Texas Senate shows them scrambling:
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/?yr=2009

This afternoon's Senate Session starts live at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.
Click here to see it.
It requires Real Player which can be downloaded free on the Texas Legislature On Line Site.
The archives shows the clubbing that occurred in the House last week where legislators on both sides of the aisle stretched out the process by discussing mundane things in their debate. After Republicans understood that the Democrats would stretch up to the last minute before passing the bills on the calendar, they went along and played straight man to the Democrats and occasionally switching roles.

Texas House Video Archives can be seen here. Select links for dates late in May to witness the chubbing. It's the "let's stay home and not run over the border to Oklahoma" tactics which had the same result.

By Mike Ward , Ben Wear - AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF - Sunday, May 31, 2009

TxDOT dispute flares anew

A push to let Austin and other metropolitan areas raise gasoline taxes and to phase out red-light enforcement cameras died Saturday as part of a legislative deal hammered out on Texas Department of Transportation operations.

In retaliation, two key senators who supported the local-option tax measure said they may push to kill the TxDOT bill when it comes up for Senate debate today — a move that could put $2 billion for road projects out of reach and that would end TxDOT's authority to build more build more private toll roads.

Meanwhile, House and Senate negotiators announced a deal on windstorm insurance coverage for coastal areas, an issue that Gov. Rick Perry has warned could cause a special session if left unresolved.

"We have an agreed-to deal," said Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, one of the negotiators. "Special session very unlikely."

However, the negotiators were waiting for the final printing of the bill and held back details.

The developments were part of daylong drama that unfolded at the Capitol, as Perry vetoed his first bill of this session in a dispute over how state laws are written and interpreted and as other issues died and were revived in frantic horse-trading.

Passed and sent to the governor was a change in the state's college admission law to allow the University of Texas at Austin to fill three-quarters of its freshmen classes with the top 10 percent of Texas high school students and the remaining 25 percent with whomever UT administrators decide.

Dead or nearly dead: New openness mandates for electric cooperatives in Texas, including the troubled Pedernales Electric Cooperative.

Still uncertain: The fate of the Texas Racing Commission, which could be shuttered if an agreement is not reached.

Also endangered was a clean-air bill that, among other things, proposes incentives to cut emissions from manufacturing and power plant facilities, promotes energy-efficient appliances, and expands air-technology grants. Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, the bill's sponsor, said he and Senate leaders were seeking to attach the provisions to another bill to keep the initiative alive.

In other developments, the House approved the state's settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the troubled institutions for Texans with mental disabilities. Under the agreement, Texas will have to improve health care and investigate reports of abuse and neglect more quickly at the 13 facilities known as state schools.

The Senate has already approved the settlement.

A record number of conference committees — more than 200 — scrambled Saturday to meet end-of-session deadlines. Lawmakers worked much of the day at their desks filling out and filing an avalanche of green-colored paperwork that harried aides whisked back and forth between wings of the statehouse.

Houston Democrat John Whitmire, the longest-serving senator, said the frantic activity was historic: "I've been here for 36 years and have not seen anything like this, not even a close second."

The reason for the last-minute scramble is the stalling of debate last week by House Democrats that killed a voter identification bill in a partisan fight. To save hundreds of bills before a procedural deadline that meant certain death, the Senate tacked on hundreds of amendments to almost as many House bills — a move that triggered the last-minute rush that began Friday.

On the TxDOT bill, one of the most high-profile and contentious of the legislative session, the so-called local-option tax was dropped after proponents of the change came up one vote short in the House-Senate conference committee negotiating a final version.

The provision would have allowed county commissioners in metro areas to call elections to impose a local gas tax of up to 10 cents a gallon or raise driver's license and registration fees. That money would be targeted to specific road or rail projects named on the ballot.

Conservative groups had argued that the provision was tantamount to legislators voting to raise taxes, a position that resonated in the House, which did not have local-option language in the version of the bill it passed.

The House version would have banned new or extended red-light camera contracts after June 1. The conference committee proposes using the Senate version, which would allow those caught by cameras to take a driver safety course rather than paying a $75 fine. Given the cost and effort to take such a class, however, many people might opt to simply pay the fine.

As legislators worked Saturday, Perry vetoed Senate Bill 2038, an attempt to clarify how the courts and executive branch agencies interpret changes to state law that are intended to be nonsubstantive.

Perry told lawmakers that if they intend a law to accomplish a specific purpose, they should write it clearly enough to do that, not use a re-codification bill

While both the Senate and House approved the measure by wide margins, Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said he does not expect that the Legislature will try and override the veto
. Read more in the Austin American Statesman

Saturday, May 30, 2009

aturday, May 30, 2009, 06:18 PM

Postcards By MIke Ward - Austin American Statesman - Sat., May 30, 2009
Read more in the Austin American Statesman
Conferees to extend their work

By a unanimous vote, the Texas Senate just extended its deadline for the more than 180 conference committees to wrap up their work.

From tonight at midnight to tomorrow at midnight.

That means the Senate on Monday likely will be approving dozens of conference committee reports — the final versions of bills — where they were supposed to just do minor corrections to a few bills.

Senate Administration Committee Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, told senators a few minutes ago that 131 House bills loaded up with Senate amendments are still in conference — meaning they are still in negotiation with House members.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Williams said.

The vote to waive the rule and extend tonight;s deadline was 31-0. A four-fifths vote of at least 25 senators was required.

Earlier today, the Senate started appointing conference committees on at least 182 bills, not counting the four dozen or so that were already at work.

Lawmakers in both chambers have said the number of conference committees this session is unprecedented in recent memory, all because of a vote-stalling maneuver in the House last week over a voter identification bill. That delayed action on hundreds of bills, prompting the Senate to tack them on as amendments to House bills — a move that has created a procedural logjam in a session to ends at midnight Monday.

All day today, the Senate Chamber has been abuzz with negotiations and conference committee meetings between lawmakers, almost frantic in its pace, as lawmakers scramble to come up with final versions of bills by their deadlines.

No word yet on whether the House will extend its deadline at midnight tonight for filing the final versions of all bills.

Paper is flying everywhere in the House and Senate as Conference Committees work to meet deadline

By Mike Ward - Saturday, May 30, 2009,
Read More in the Austin American Statesman

182 more conference committees

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst just announced that the Texas Senate has received requests from the House for 182 conference committees to work out last-minute details on pending bills.

That’s correct, 182 — surely a record, since the Senate already had authorized more than four dozen by last night.

Before midnight tonight, all the conference committees must have their deals worked out on final language for bills, and have their report filed with the House.

Otherwise, bills die.

It’s going to be a busy afternoon — and evening.

In the Senate, Administration Committee Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, just suggested that senators remain at their desks throughout the afternoon to get the Senate’s paperwork on the conference committees approved and sent promptly back to the House.

Paper is flying everywhere, and the Senate just took the unusual step of allowing up to two staff members for each senator onto the floor to handle the rush of signing and sorting.


Conference Committee Named For Eminent Domain
On ANOTHER Front.. and this may be the new Eminent Domain Bill SB-18 turned Resolution with a RIDER attached for University Research Institutions

HJR 14 Corte et al. SP: Duncan in Conference Cmte.

HJR 14 Corte et al. SP: Duncan

Caption: Proposing a constitutional amendment to prohibit the taking of property for transfer to a private entity for certain purposes.
5-30 House refused to concur in Senate amendments and requested the appointment of a Conference Committee.
5-30 House conferees appointed: Corte, Chair; Bonnen, Hilderbran, Pena, Woolley.

HOUSE Conferees:
Frank Corte, Chair #122 Corte Frank.Corte@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0646 & Fax: 512) 463-0893

Dennis Bonnen #25 Bonnen Dennis.Bonnen@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0564 & Fax: 512) 463-8414

Harvey Hilderbran #53 Hilderbran Harvey.Hilderbran@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0536 & Fax: 512) 463-1449

Aaron Pena #40 Peña Aaron.Peña@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0426 & Fax: 512) 463-0043

Beverly Woolley #136 Woolley Beverly.Woolley@house.state.tx.us
512-463-0696 & Fax: 512) 463-9333

SENATE Conferees:
Appointed (05/30/2009)

Duncan (Chair) Duncan, Robert
(512) 463-0128 & Fax: (512) 463-2424
Robert.Duncan@Senate.State.Tx.US

Estes Estes, Craig (512) 463-0130 & Fax: (512) 463-8874
Craig.Estes@Senate.State.Tx.US

Hegar Glenn Hegar Glenn.Hegar@Senate.State.Tx.US
(512) 463-0118 & Fax: (512) 475-3736

Van de Putte Van de Putte, Leticia
(512) 463-0126 & Fax: (512) 463-2114

Leticia.VandePutte@Senate.State.Tx.US
Whitmire Whitmire, John
512) 463-0115 & Fax: (713) 864-5287

John.Whitmire@Senate.State.Tx.US

Friday, May 29, 2009

CHIP bill no longer on the table

Children's health care measure, along with windstorm insurance plan, dies as session's end nears
By R. G. RATCLIFFE - Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau - May 29, 2009
AUSTIN — Lawmakers entered the endgame of the 81st Legislature Thursday still struggling to avoid a special session on windstorm insurance — while also trying in vain to salvage expansion of health care for low-income Texas children.

Gov. Rick Perry suggested Thursday that he might veto the Children’s Health Insurance Program bill, assuming it survived the legislative maze necessary to reach his desk. The bill would make available subsidized health insurance for an additional 80,000 Texas children by raising eligibility for CHIP to 300 percent of poverty, or a maximum income of $66,540 a year for a family of four.

“I would probably not be in favor of that expansion, even if it came to my desk. The members know that,” Perry said. “That’s not what I consider to be a piece of legislation that has the vast support of the people of Texas.”


CHIP and windstorm insurance reform were among hundreds of measures killed earlier this week by an extended House debate of minor bills to avoid controversial voter identification legislation. The Senate worked until about 3 a.m. Thursday reviving many of the dead bills, like CHIP, by putting them on other bills as amendments.
‘We have the money’

Then late Thursday, the House sent the bill back to the Senate, claiming the CHIP provision to revive the amendment was not germane, all but killing it.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he believes there may be ways to resurrect the measure one more time, if the House will agree by a two-thirds vote.

“We have the money in the budget for CHIP,” Dewhurst said. The program is expected to cost the state $43.2 million over the next two years, but draw in 72 cents in federal money for every dollar spent.


Perry has told lawmakers he will call a special legislative session if the windstorm insurance bill does not pass. The governor, whose political fund has received $205,000 from the insurance industry since he took office, declared the windstorm insurance reform an emergency item in 2007 and again this year.

Hurricanes Ike and Dolly in 2008 busted the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association with an expected $2 billion in payouts. TWIA provides windstorm insurance for homeowners who cannot find private coverage — which includes all of 14 coastal counties and part of Harris County.

Perry denied pressuring lawmakers to settle TWIA.

“We are working to get a solution,” Perry said. “Whether I would put it into the ‘applying pressure’ category, we just speak truth to power.”


The outcome of the debate could determine whether the TWIA rates go up significantly.

“The problem is, who is going to pay for it? And that’s why it’s a statewide issue,” said House sponsor Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood.
Small companies fearful


Insurance companies want the system reformed because under current law they can be hit with unlimited assessments to make TWIA solvent. Though they would get tax credits from the state, they claim it could force small insurance companies into insolvency.

But the Senate’s approach to the problem could cause insurance rates to rise as much as 40 percent for TWIA customers. The House would raise TWIA rates, but in the case of a major catastrophe homeowners across Texas would have to subsidize the costs.

“If you’re helping the coastal people too much, the inland people start squawking,” state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, said. “If you charge the insurance companies too much, then there are people who say you are hurting the viability of the insurance market.”

House negotiator Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, said lawmakers may not have time to reach a consensus.

“It’s still a little bit of a long shot,” Smithee said.

San Antonio Express-News reporter Gary Scharrer contributed to this story.
Read more in the Houston Chronicle

Bills Passed into Law by the 80th Legislature

Can be found through the links on the sidebar under "80th Texas Legislature (2007) - Bills Passed by Legislature".

The sidebar contains links for:
House Bills Passed and Signed into Law by Gov. Perry
Senate Bills Passed and Signed into Law by Gov. Perry
Bills Passed by Legislature and Passed into law WITHOUT Governor's Signature
Bills Passed by Legislature but vetoed by Gov. Perry
Line Item Veto exercised by Gov. Perry


Bill Becomes Law - Governor"s Action

Except in the case of a bill sent to the governor within 10 days of final adjournment, upon receiving a bill, the governor has 10 days in which to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature.

If the governor elects to veto the bill and the legislature is still in session, the bill is returned to the chamber in which it originated with an explanation of the governor’s objections.

A two-thirds majority in each chamber is required to override the veto. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the bill within the allotted time, the bill becomes a law.

When a bill is sent to the governor within 10 days of final adjournment, the governor has until 20 days after final adjournment to sign the bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without a signature. Read more about How a Bill Becomes Law