State lawmakers did not go home on May 30, the last day of the regular session of the 82nd Texas Legislature.
Their work was incomplete when time ran out.
A Senate filibuster over cutbacks in education funding has been the main pointed-to reason for the holdover. But Gov. Rick Perry issued proclamations listing plenty of other problems he also wants lawmakers to solve in the 1st called session, which commenced May 31.
They are:
1. An accounting clean-up bill for House Bill 1, the state budget passed in the regular session;
2. Health care cost containment (through an as-yet uncreated interstate health care compact instead of the federal government);
3. Access to services through managed care;
4. Economic and structural incentives to improve the quality of Medicaid services;
5. Congressional redistricting; and
6. Reform of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.
House and Senate committees moved quickly. The powerful House Appropriations Committee, under Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, considered the state fiscal matters bill on June 2 and passed it on Saturday, June 4. The bill employs accounting strategies such as payment delays and deferrals and tax collection speed-ups to balance the budget.
And, to smooth the way toward agreement with the upper chamber, Pitts said, the House will take up and consider the Senate’s version of the bill passed June 3 by the Senate Finance Committee under the leadership of Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan.
SB 8 by Senate Education Chair Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, was approved at committee level. It would allow school districts, instead of firing or laying off teachers, to furlough them and grant unpaid leave, as long as funding remains less than 2010-2011 levels.
SB 7 by Senate Health and Human Services Chair Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, also was approved by the committee. It identifies $3 billion in efficiency savings that could be accomplished through agency rule changes, such as moving Medicaid prescription benefits under managed care programs and implementing an electronic visit verification system, to ensure that reimbursements to providers are paid for actual services.
Supposing the momentum continues with Republican majorities in the full House and full Senate, school districts and the taxpayers responsible for most of their funding, will face a 2012-2013 biennium with $4 billion less to work with than they had in the 2010-2011 state budget.
House and Senate members are expected to try to attach amendments to school funding and other legislation in floor debates to come.
Panel OKs smoking ban bill
Public places where food and alcohol are consumed would go smokeless under legislation by Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Lake Dallas.
Crownover’s HB 46 aligns with “economic and structural incentives to improve the quality of Medicaid services” in the governor’s special session goals and also aligns with general cost-cutting measures.
In June 4 testimony, Crownover said that banning smoking in public places could save the state $31 million in 2012 and 2013 in smoking-related costs that would include hospitalization, doctor visits, medication and more.
The House Appropriations Committee approved Crownover’s bill on a vote of 19-1, with freshman Rep. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, an orthopedic surgeon, voting against.
In closing, Crownover said more than 20 states have passed similar legislation and she didn’t want to see Texas, and especially rural Texas towns that may not pass anti-smoking ordinances, attract more smokers and become “ashtrays.”
Social media to help TxDOT
June 1 was the first day of hurricane season.
The Texas Department of Transportation is planning to make greater use of Twitter feeds and Facebook postings to get helpful emergency information to Texans faster and more efficiently.
TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz said, “If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that social media is an effective way to reach thousands of Texas citizens.”
Officials laud prayer decision
Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott in separate news releases praised a June 3 federal court decision to allow a prayer to be delivered in public during a Texas high school’s graduation ceremonies.
Under a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a district judge’s injunction that would have censored prayer at Medina Valley High School’s 2011 graduation has been dissolved.
Ed Sterling works for the Texas Press Association and follows the Legislature for the association.
