Crunch time at the Capitol
With just four days left in the regular session, Texas lawmakers are on a track to approve a substantially larger budget than last session and pass a slew of bills coming out of conference committees.
As of early Friday afternoon, lawmakers were putting the finishing touches on a budget proposal that exceeds $140 billion. The two-year budget calls for spending 19.7 percent more than the lean budget approved last session. Gov. Rick Perry is still asking budget writers to earmark $600 million for his job-creation funds, but many pundits are doubtful he will get that much.
Everyone is eager to know what is happening with the "big issues" such as the school finance and tax bills. The short answer: A lot. HB2 (Education), HB3 (School Finance), SB6 (Child Protective Services), HB7 (Workers' Compensation), SB11 (School Security) and SB408 (Continuation of PUC; Telecommunications) are examples of major bills for which conference committee reports have yet to hit the full House and Senate as of this morning. HB26, however, which relates to an electronic database of major state contracts and related documents was passed late Friday morning and is on the way to the governor. For details about Capitol happenings this weekend check out the Lens on the Legislature column below.
UT's LBJ School Appoints Six New Faculty Members
Six new faculty members with a range of academic and professional experience in nonprofit management, international affairs and social policy will join the University of Texas at Austin's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs this fall.
Peter Frumkin (pictured), an associate professor of public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, has been appointed as a tenured professor and will serve as director of the LBJ School's RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service.
Eugene Gholz, Shreyasi Jha, Alan J. Kuperman and Cynthia Osborne will hold tenure-track appointments as assistant professors, and Jane Arnold Lincove will be a postdoctoral fellow.
Gholz is currently an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.
Since 2002, Jha (pictured) has been a consultant for the World Bank in Washington, D.C., working with the bank's Institute Evaluation Group, Environmental and Socially Sustainable Development Network, and Environment Department. Her policy interests are in international development, international trade and environmental policy.
Kuperman is resident assistant professor of international relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy.
Osborne (pictured), who is a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, specializes in family policy, poverty and social policy, and urban population dynamics.
Lincove is a policy research consultant for the Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles and a research assistant for the University of California at Los Angeles Lusk Center for Real Estate.
Legislators: Broken workers comp system now fixed
Though it still must get the blessing of the House and Senate, state leaders held a press conference on Wednesday to announce that they have fixed a broken workers' compensation system through House Bill 7.
"Today we have reached an agreement that will lead to lower workers' compensation costs for employers, control the cost of health care provided for injured workers and ensure injured workers get the care they need so they can get back to work as quickly as possible," Gov. Perry said.
Texas' workers comp system is notorious for being one of the most troubled in the country; plagued by delayed recoveries, inefficiencies and unaccountability.
A key aspect to the new plan includes a workers' compensation system that is governed by a single, appointed commissioner that will be housed in the Texas Department of Insurance. Also, employers would get financial relief of insurance costs, allowing more of them to opt into the system, and government mandates on medical fees are to be replaced with free market principles so doctors have a stronger incentive to participate.
Most importantly, the revamped system will help injured workers return to work sooner, said Sen. Todd Staples (R-Palestine), a member of the HB 7 conference committee. With such broad support, pundits expect the House and Senate to quickly pass HB 7 over the weekend.
DISD breaking ground on six schools
The Dallas Independent School District plans to break ground on six schools in the next 30 days. The first groundbreaking took place Thursday for Arturo Salazar Elementary in North Oak Cliff. Other groundbreakings this month are planned for Hector P. Garcia Middle School, and Jimmie Tyler Brashear, Larry G. Smith, Felix G. Botello and Jerry R. Junkins elementary schools. In 2002, voters approved a $1.37 billion bond package to build 21 new schools and add to or renovate all existing schools.
SAWS hires new VP of business planning
The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) has hired Janelle Wright to be vice president of strategic resources and business planning for the city-owned utility. She reports to work in June. Wright will oversee water resource, resource protection, conservation, economic development and strategic planning. She has experience with in-depth strategic consulting in both the national and international markets, having worked most recently as a senior consultant with Bethesda, Md.-based Infrastructure Management Group. She also worked as a consultant at the World Bank and for several government agencies.
UT-Arlington names new VP of IT, CIO
University of Texas at Arlington President James Spaniolo has appointed Suzanne Montague as vice president of information technology and chief information officer. Montague has been serving as interim vice president of information technology for the past 18 months. She began her career at UT-Arlington in 1982 as a systems analyst. In 2000 she became the director of business computing services and in 2002 became the assistant vice president for information technology.
Houston doc appointed president of TMA foundation
Houston cardiologist Dr. A. Tomas Garcia III has been elected president of the Texas Medical Association Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Texas Medical Association (TMA). Garcia will serve a two-year term as president of the foundation, which raises money for TMA initiatives. Garcia , a former president of the Southwest Branch of the Harris County Medical Society, has been a member of TMA since 1980. TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 40,000 physician and medical student members.
LCRA forecasts revenue jump, increased spending in '06
As part of a business plan approved by the board of directors, the Lower Colorado River Authority is projecting revenue of $903 million in fiscal 2006 - a 2.6 percent rise from 2005.
The LCRA's fiscal year begins July 1. It projects expenses of $644 million in 2006 and a new cash flow of $350,000. Nearly two-thirds of the self-sustaining, quasi-governmental agency's operating budget, about $407 million, will pay for coal, natural gas, renewable energy and purchased power used to generate electricity for LCRA's 42 wholesale electric customers
Nearly two-thirds of the capital budget, $244 million, will fund transmission projects to improve reliability and capacity of the electric grid serving most of Texas. The capital budget also includes construction and improvement projects related to water and wastewater utilities, power plants, the Highland Lakes dams and hydroelectric generation units and parks.
State leaders mobilize to fight base closure recommendations
Gov. Rick Perry named Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams to lead the state's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Response Strike Force, which will fight the proposed closure of military bases in Texas. The governor created the task force in response to U.S. Department of Defense's list of proposed base closure and reduction recommendations issued earlier this month. The group will lobby against potential closures, identify possible remedies and help communities that depend on bases. The strike force will consist of representatives from 14 state agencies, boards and commissions.
"This is an emotional time for many Texas communities, but we're going to rely on a thorough, aggressive presentation of the facts to demonstrate the value of these facilities," Williams says.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission has until September to decide upon which bases will make the final cut. An independent base closure commission recently cancelled a planned hearing in Dallas, making a July 11 meeting in San Antonio the only chance for Texas communities to make their case before federal officials. More information about the BRAC proposal can be found here.
Lens on the Legislature: May Madness Ends with the Final Four
Today (Friday) is Legislative Day 137. Today through Monday comprise the final four days of the 79th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature.
Shortly before 5:00 p.m. last evening, Chairman Jim Pitts responded to a question in the House about the status of the various appropriations matters. He said that he was asking for conference committees for HB3540 (a 30 page bill covering a variety of fiscal matters, including employee and teacher retirement), HB10 (relating to supplemental appropriations and reductions for the current fiscal year), and SB1863 (a 94 page bill dealing with a variety of fees and taxes). He also said that the SB1 (nearly 1,000 page General Appropriations Bill) Conference Committee would also be meeting later in the evening, presumably to vote final approval.
Recalling from the March 31st Lens on the Legislature that the House and Senate can only take up or down votes on conference committee reports and recalling from previous discussions in this column that next Monday is reserved solely for technical corrections, it's clear that time would not permit these complex bills to be reworked if either chamber votes them down. In all likelihood, the legislature will trust their conferees and approve these important bills, the final versions of which most legislators will not have read.
The end of session crunch is not unique to fiscal matters. HB2 (Education), HB3 (School Finance), SB6 (Child Protective Services), HB7 (Workers' Compensation), SB11 (School Security) and SB408 (Continuation of PUC; Telecommunications) are examples of major bills for which conference committee reports have yet to hit the full House and Senate as of this morning. In addition to the 74 conference committees that already existed, before adjourning at about 8:10 last evening, the Senate appointed conferees for several more bills. Each conference committee report will require an up or down vote by Sunday.
Looking at the broader statistics, through last evening 480 House Bills and 318 Senate Bills have passed both chambers. By the yardstick previously described in this column, that's slightly over half way to the finish line. The governor has now signed 163 of these bills and the "effective immediately" tally is at 66.
This will be an exciting weekend. While the press has reported consensus on a number of these bills, anecdotes abound about how major bills were killed in the waning hours of prior sessions by a single legislator's point of order or other parliamentary maneuver.
Next week's column will begin to discuss the results, some of which may still be subject to the governor's veto.
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