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May 1, 2007
The last month of the regular session is when most of the real action happens at the Capitol. Seems a good time to recap the Top 8 issues we listed at the beginning of the session.
Admittedly, the list is a bit dated. Some issues expected to be big (property taxes) turned out not to be, whereas others came out of nowhere (HPV, gubernatorial powers, TYC).
Still, here is a mid-term progress report on the big issues of the upcoming session.
Appraisal caps/Property taxation
For Republicans and especially Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, this could be the biggest source of blowback from the primary electorate. As we noticed in the 2006 primaries, GOP primary voters - especially in metropolitan Houston - want something done about rising local property tax levies.
So far, little or nothing has been done. Especially in the Senate it seems Republican elected officials care more about the spending wants of their local elected officials than they do about keeping taxes low.
To date, neither chamber has taken a record vote on bills that cap appraisals or make it easier for voters to order rollback elections to stem local tax levies if those increases exceed inflation.
The slow progress in this area is not for lack of effort on various people's part. Reps. Carl Isett (R-Lubbock) and Ken Paxton (R-McKinney) have both received hearings on several bills designed to limit state spending and local tax increases. The House Appropriations Committee has a subcommittee considering the issue, and the Ways and Means Committee heard Isett's rollback bill.
The Senate Finance Committee has also held a hearing on a rollback bill by Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands).
The House may well take a record vote on these issues, but chances are slimmer that the Senate will. The GOP's failure to limit local property taxes will likely surface as an issue in both the 2008 and 2010 GOP primaries.
The Budget and government spending
The budget is the one bill that has to pass. House and Senate are actually reasonably close together in the amounts of their budgets, as compared with sessions past. One of main differences is the Senate included in its budget the money to fund the settlement in the Frew Medicaid lawsuit (which required more spending on preventive health care for the poor). The House did not have this information when its budget was prepared.
So far the governor's reforms to the budget process have gone nowhere. Isett's subcommittee has heard a bill reforming the state spending limit. It's possible the House will consider a constitutional amendment that would put more teeth in the existing limit on the growth of state government.
Business taxation
So far HB 3 from the 2006 special session has remained intact. The House Ways and Means Committee has held a hearing on several amendments to the revised franchise tax. But so far leadership is committed to making minor changes only until the state has actual revenue figures on the new tax. One idea getting lawmakers' attention involves exempting some additional small businesses from the revised franchise tax.
Toll Roads/Transportation
Here's one legislative agenda item that will play well back home. The House passed - with only two dissenting votes (one belonging to House Transportation Chairman Mike Krusee [R-Round Rock]) - a two-year moratorium on Comprehensive Development Agreements on toll roads.
Comprehensive Development Agreements rent state right-of-way to a private company and authorize the construction of a toll road in exchange for an up-front concession fee. The use of CDAs has been extremely controversial, even in areas that generally accept toll roads, such as Dallas and Houston, Proponents argue CDA's get more roads built faster because concession fees are reinvested. Critics argue they inflate tolls and stomp on popular local toll road authorities.
Perry has held press conferences opposing the moratorium, so the big question is whether it can get to his desk in time for a veto override. The Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee has passed HB 1892 - the bill with the moratorium on it - and it now awaits Senate floor action.
Senate Transportation Chairman John Carona (R-Dallas) is working on SB 1929 - an omnibus transportation bill he negotiated with Krusee and the Texas Transportation Commission fixing many concerns lawmakers have with the process.
Corrections
The much-publicized probation bill is moving. But the main criminal justice issue this session hit center-stage after the session convened - the Texas Youth Commission. Both House and Senate are working on SB 103, an omnibus bill designed to restructure the agency. One significant disagreement on the House side concerns whether to let the governor appoint a single commissioner to run the agency. The commission is under the microscope because of a series of high-profile sexual abuse cases where guards are accused of abusing prisoners.
Electricity
The structure of the Texas electric market is one issue on our list that really did become a marquee issue.
In the Senate, Business and Commerce Chairman Troy Fraser's (R-Horseshoe Bay) displeasure with TXU has dominated consideration of electric bills. Fraser says the company lowered rates too little when natural gas prices came down. The report of the Public Utility Commission's Independent Market Monitor accuses the company of improperly manipulated the balancing energy market - a small part of the market where the Electric Reliability Council of Texas purchases power to ensure reliability - provided more fodder for Fraser.
The Senate passed out SB 482, 483, and 896. SB 482 makes changes to the retail market. SB 483 seeks to reduce concentration in the wholesale market.
And SB 896 gives the PUC authority to block or approve the proposed buyout of TXU by two private equity firms. All three measures passed the Senate unanimously, in forms highly unfavorable to TXU.
The House has been much more deliberative in considering this issue. The goal on the House side is to restructure the market to make competition work for residential consumers and lower prices. There remain provisions in the bills that do not thrill industry, but the House is looking more broadly at the market as a whole.
SB 482 was substantially revised in the House but did pass that chamber. SB 483 has been stalled three times on points of order. It is set on the House calendar again on April 27.
SB 896 is stalled in the House Regulated Industries Committee and likely to die there unless utility lobbyists anger the House leadership by trying to kill SB 483 (which contains some changes to the wholesale market that concern some in the industry).
Most House members have decided that SB 896 is retroactive and do not feel the changes it promotes should apply to the pending TXU buyout.
Immigration enforcement - Border Security
This was the biggest issue in the 2006 Republican primaries, but not much action has occurred so far.
One omnibus bill to watch is HB 13, the border security bill, which has been heard in the House State Affairs Committee and should reach the floor shortly.
Many immigration bills were not given hearings in the House State Affairs Committee because Chairman David Swinford, in consultation with Attorney General Greg Abbott, believe they violate federal law. So the number of bills in play has been greatly reduced.
One issue that will likely reach the House floor is repealing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Swinford heard the bills and told committee members he plans on reporting at least one of them.
Higher Education
Both the House and the Senate have included significant increases in financial aid in their budgets. Those increases, however, do not get the state back up to the number of recipients in the TEXAS Grant program that the state had in 2003 - the last year before boards of regents could hike tuition at will.
The House Higher Education Committee has also reported a bill that would reopen the state's prepaid tuition program (closed in 2003 in response to the House leadership's tuition hikes and corresponding higher education spending increases), albeit at substantially higher prices than before.
Another major and contentious issue getting legislative traction level is allowing state universities to cap the percentage of students admitted under the law requiring admission of all students in the top 10 percent of their public high school class.
The bill has been reported from the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education and the House Higher Education Committee. It is uncertain whether it can pass the Senate, as Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) is opposed and Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) has made his support on the floor contingent on reforms to reduce the increases in tuition.
Higher education is also one area where Gov. Rick Perry is getting some traction. He proposed a new incentive program that gives public universities money for every degree they award.
The House Higher Education Committee has reported a bill that contains the Perry incentives, though incentives based on completion of standardized tests have been withdrawn. |
