Comptroller Strayhorn certifies $139B state budget

State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn certified the Legislature's $139.5 billion budget late Friday morning, essentially telling state lawmakers that the state will have enough money to carry out their spending plan. The certification of state spending for the next two years is the next-to-last hurdle for the budget, which will now make its way to the governor's desk. Gov. Rick Perry could trim the spending plan with line item vetoes in the coming weeks. Details about the budget, bills and legislative processes can be found below in this week's Lens on the Legislature.

Featherston named chief operating officer of TRS

Pattie Featherston has been named chief operating officer of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS). Her duties include providing executive direction and operational oversight to the Benefit Services and Financial divisions, as well as the administration and support functions of communications, governmental relations, human resources, information technology and special projects. Featherston has been at TRS since 1997 when she was named director of governmental relations. She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Texas and is an alumnus of Leadership Austin and the Governor's Executive Development Program. TRS manages a $90 billion trust fund and delivers retirement benefits to more than 1 million education employees in Texas.

Combs announces bid for state comptroller
Sen. Todd Staples to pursue top post at Ag Commission

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs formally announced her candidacy for state comptroller on Thursday. Immediately following her announcement at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Republican Sen. Todd Staples, who represents several counties in East Texas, said he will formally announce later this summer his bid to succeed Combs as agriculture commissioner.

Current Texas comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is widely considered a potential candidate for governor in 2006, though she has not publicly revealed her next political step.

Combs, 60, is a lawyer and fourth-generation rancher with a cattle operation in West Texas. She was a Dallas County prosecutor, served in the Texas House for two terms and worked for Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison before being elected agriculture commissioner in 1998.

Perry expects special session before end of June

Gov. Rick Perry believes the Texas Legislature will be back in Austin for a special session on school finance before the end of the month. The Legislature wasn't able to restructure the Texas tax system to pay for K-12 public education, something that was a priority in the session after a judge ordered the state to fix funding problems by October. If they fail, state money for schools would cease, according to a ruling issued by State District Judge John Dietz. The ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court. A July 6 hearing has been set for oral arguments in the case. The governor has indicated that he will rely on public pressure to convince lawmakers to return to the Capitol.

State reaches out to small businesses seeking public funds

A series of educational summits are being organized around the state to help equip more small business owners with the knowledge and tools they need to be successful in the long run.

The first summit will be held in El Paso on June 15, followed by one in San Antonio in July. The summits will provide experienced business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to receive help securing start-up or growth capital, learn how to qualify for tax credits and find out about bidding opportunities with Fortune 500 companies.

Many small business owners in Texas report a hesitance to pursue expansions until they know how school-funding reform will affect their bottom line.

"Small-business owners are moving very cautiously now and, in some cases, are a bit pessimistic about the future since legislators are placing the burden of funding public schools squarely on the backs of small-business owners," said Will Newton, the Texas director of the National Federation of Independent Business. "Without knowing how bad the damage will be on their tax burden, the business community is clearly holding back right now."

Madla moves up

Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio, was recently elected president pro tempore of the Senate. The post is mostly ceremonial, but it does put him third in the order of succession to the governor, making him the top dog at the Capitol when Rick Perry and David Dewhurst aren't around.

Governor signs workers' comp bill

Gov. Rick Perry signed House Bill 7, an overhaul of the state's notoriously poor workers' compensation program, at Lockheed-Martin's White Settlement facility Wednesday.

He was flanked by Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, and Reps. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, and Helen Giddings, D-Dallas, the legislators that helped pen the legislation that will abolish the Workers' Compensation Commission, increase the cap on weekly benefits for injured workers by as much as 15 percent and alter the dispute-resolution process by creating a new Office of Injured Employee Counsel.

The changes will take effect in 2006. Staples said the last time the Texas Legislature took on workers' compensation reform was in 1989.

Lens on the Legislature: It's Over (almost)!

Monday was the 140th day of the 79th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature and by early evening both chambers adjourned sine die. Sine die is Latin for "without day." In other words, they adjourned without setting a date for meeting again, in keeping with the constitutional requirement that the session last only 140 days.

876 House Bills and 513 Senate Bills were enrolled and sent to the governor. So far, the governor has signed 263 and vetoed none. As explained in the April 8th Lens on the Legislature, the governor has until Sunday, June 19th to sign or veto bills. If he does neither, they become law without his signature.

Should gubernatorial vetoes be expected? Reasonably good records exist back to the 12th Session in 1871 and in every session at least one bill was vetoed. The current governor vetoed 51 bills in the 78th Regular Session and 82 bills in the 77th Regular Session. The average for the preceding ten regular sessions was 36. These numbers include appropriations bills when the governor exercised his or her authority to veto line items in those bills.

The governor's authority to veto line items in appropriations bills is granted in Article 4, Section 14 of the Texas Constitution. This authority can mean more than trimming money from programs. Following the 78th Regular Session (2003), the governor used a line item veto to totally eliminate a number of small state agencies (Aircraft Pooling Board, Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board, Texas Wildlife Damage Management Service, Criminal Justice Policy Council, Texas Council on Environmental Technology, and Research and Oversight Council on Workers' Compensation).

How can one tell what has passed? If you have the bill number or have the time to look through hundreds of bills, the following online inquiries can be used:

• Enrolled bills
• Bills signed by the governor
• Bills vetoed by the governor
• Bills effective immediately

Most readers will have a specific subject area in mind, however. The best way to see what bills have been enrolled in that area is to use the text search, click house, senate, bills, enrolled and bill text, and type in a subject such as "procurement." Using "procurement" as an example, 23 enrolled house bills and 12 enrolled senate bills relate to that subject in some way and are listed by this inquiry. Many relate to the subject in a minor way while others, such as HB1516 make significant changes to procurement processes. Of course, each of these bills must still be acted on by the governor, so the online inquiries in the preceding paragraph will still be important.

Next week's Lens on the Legislature will focus on specific bills. Subsequent articles will also discuss important resolutions, such as those related to amending the constitution.

[Editor's note: Past Lens on the Legislature articles are available here]

TCC lands aviation grant

The National Science Foundation awarded Tarrant County College in Fort Worth and four partner institutions a two-year grant of about $500,000 to establish a National Center for Aircraft Technician Training. The program is scheduled to take off August 1, and will run through July 2007. Floyd Curtis, division chair of TCC's aeronautical training, will direct the program.

ACCD eyeing new bond issue

Following the defeat of a $450 million bond issue in February, officials at the Alamo Community College District in San Antonio said they intend to return to voters as soon as November with another proposal. ACCD officials said they need to fund improvements to Northwest Vista, Palo Alto, St. Philip's and San Antonio colleges. A fifth campus also is planned for the northeast side of San Antonio.

New dean hired at UT's Southwestern Medical School

Nobel laureate Dr. Alfred Gilman is the new dean of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He has been chairman of pharmacology there for 24 years, and served as interim dean for the past year.

Strategic Partnerships, Inc. (SPI) is a research and consulting firm offering business development and public affairs services. Founded in 1994, SPI has offices in Texas and California. To learn more about SPI services click here or contact our sales department at 512-531-3900.

Focus on SPI Consulting Staff

With extensive knowledge of Texas state government processes and operations as well as decades of experience in dealing with health care issues, Jimmy J. Helm brings a wealth of talent and expertise to the SPI team. To read Jimmy's full bio, click here.

Special alert: SPI researchers and budget analysts are prepared to deliver extremely valuable information regarding recently approved legislative initiatives.

As has been SPI's model since 1994, the Information Service Division of SPI is dissecting the final Appropriations Bill. SPI is able to provide a total breakout of all funded opportunities for the next two years.

SPI's experienced researchers and consultants also analyze new statutes that will produce upcoming opportunities and other important information gained from planning documents, legislative requests, and federal mandates. Information gained from watching budget hearings, agency board meetings and changing sector trends also is being analyzed. Government vendors and contractors interested in learning more about how to obtain such information and insight should contact SPI's sales division at 512-531-3900

Event Links

Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Summer Workshop - 6/8/05 - 6/10/05

Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Summer Conference - 6/8/2005 - 6/10/2005

Western Governors' Annual Meeting - 6/12/2005 - 6/14/2005

Texas State Agency Business Administrators' Association 36th Annual Summer Conference - 6/12/05 - 6/15/05

DIR / TASSCC Government Portals seminar - 6/17/05

TASB Summer Leadership Institute - 06/23/05 - 06/24/05

Government Finance Officers Association 99th Annual Conference - 6/26/05 - 6/29/05

Western States Land Commissioners Association Summer Conference- 7/24/2005-7/28/2005

8th Annual Texas Transportation Summit - 8/9/05 - 8/12/05

Texas Association of Counties 2005 Post Legislative Session Conference - 8/10/05 - 8/12/05

4th Annual San Antonio Transportation Leadership Forum - 9/7/05 - 9/8/05

Recent ABJ articles by Mary Scott Nabers

State's renewed emphasis on education offers possibilities - 5/16/2005

Millions to be spent on connecting Texas' first responders - 4/22/2005

Texas Government Insider Archives

Last Issue - 5/27/05

Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3 Archives - 11/7/03 - 5/27/05

Resources

Helpful Legislative Links

State Budget Resources

Diagram of Legislative Process

HUB Forms Library

State Contract Management Guide

State Procurement Manual

Who Represents Me? Texas Districts By Address

Diagram of Texas' Biennial Budget Cycle

Texas Fact Book 2004

Things you should know about the Texas Government Insider™

We would like to send the Texas Government Insider™ to your friends and coworkers. We hear from many readers who have attempted to forward the newsletter…..it does not work well. So, we will make it very easy for you. Simply click the "Sign up for our mailing list" icon near the top of this issue and type in an e mail address. You may do this for each person you want to add to the distribution list. The publication will begin going directly to each of them next week.

Occasionally, we learn about people who signed up, but didn't get the Texas Government Insider™. In nearly all cases, the problem turned out to be spam filtering on the receiving end. We strongly support the elimination of undesired email and applaud the use of technology to filter it. Occasionally, however, such filters prevent email that the recipient wanted to receive. If you have been unable to receive the Texas Government Insider™ or suddenly stop receiving it, we urge you to check your spam filter program.

GFOA's 99th annual conference

The Government Finance Officers Association will hold its 99th annual conference in San Antonio June 26-29. Visit the GFOA's Web site for on-line registration and conference details.