LEGISLATIVE MEMOS

ELECTION CYCLE BEGINS IN PREPARATION
FOR THE 80th LEGISLATIVE SESSION

The election cycle has officially begun in preparation for the Texas Legislature’s 80th session which will convene on the second Tuesday of January 2007.

Actually there will evidently be at least one more special session of the 79th Legislature sometime this spring to deal with public school finance because of the recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that the current system is unconstitutional.

All of the one hundred and fifty members of the Texas House of Representatives and about one-third of the thirty-one members of the Texas Senate must stand for election this year.

Although the deadline for candidates to file the necessary papers in order to run was January 2nd, many of the statewide and local candidates filed for election or re-election in the weeks and days leading up to Christmas.

The contest that will be at the top of the ticket both in the primaries and in the general election next November is the race for governor.

Governor Rick Perry has filed for re-election; if he is successful he will have served ten years as governor, longest in the history of the state.

At the last minute Comptroller of Public Accounts Carole Keeton-Strayhorn, decided not to challenge Perry in the Republican primary where he will have strong support from his political base on the right, including members of the religious right. Instead Strayhorn filed as an independent.

Filing as democrats were former congressman Chris Bell of Houston and former congressman Texas House and Senate member and Supreme Court Justice Bob Gammage, now of Llano but formerly of Houston.

Some believe that the most interesting candidate is novelist and musician Kinky Friedman of Kerrville, who filed as an independent.

The primaries in each party will be on March 7th. Inevitably there are some runoffs in certain races. The General Election will be on November 7.

There very well could be a larger turnover of members especially in the House of Representatives because of widespread unhappiness with the inability of the Legislature to deal with the issue of public school finance, and the related issue of high property taxes. A number of incumbents, especially Republicans, are being challenged primarily on those issues in the primaries.

All thirty-two members of the Texas Delegation in the congress must also run for re-election this year. Those races could be complicated by the fact that the challenge to the Tom Delay, Republican engineered re-districting plan of 2003 has gone up to the United States Supreme Court. If the Court upholds the current plan there probably will be very few changes in the Texas Delegation. If on the other hand the Court throws out the plan, some of the members who were defeated because of re-districting in 2004 may very well run in their old congressional districts.

STUDIES UNDERWAY IN PREPARATION FOR THE 80TH LEGISLATURE

Even though the makeup of the Texas Legislature beginning in January 2007 is still uncertain, committees of the House of Representatives have already begun interim studies which will produce proposed legislation which will be introduced just prior to the convening of the 80th session.

A number of the issues being addressed by the interim studies of the House are of concern to the bishops of Texas and will be monitored by their public policy arm, the Texas Catholic Conference.

The House State Affairs Committee has been told to “examine scientific advances made on stem cell research.” While the bishops support stem cell research, they are adamantly opposed to embryonic stem cell research which requires the creation human embryos which are destroyed in order to harvest the stem cells. This was an issue during the last session and will certainly be on the agenda beginning in January of 2007. The State Affairs Committee has also been told to “monitor rule making of parental consent for the performance of an abortion.” The parental consent bill was passed during the last session and was signed by Governor Perry in a very public event last fall.

The House Committee on Public Education has been instructed to “study the impact of successful school choice programs on students, parents, and teachers.” That means the Committee is going to study voucher programs around the country most likely in the District of Columbia, Milwaukee Wisconsin, and Cleveland, Ohio. The bishops favor as much parental choice in education as possible since parents are the first educators of their children and people of all economic levels should have the ability to make choices for their children’s education. Where the bishops differ from some proponents of school choice is that they also support adequate funding for public education statewide so that the quality of the public education each child receives is dependent upon the wealth of the entire state and not so much on the wealth of the individual district in which the child lives.

The House Committee on Corrections has been told to “study the effects of prevention programs, such as after school programs, in reducing the actually indices of crime and the rate of young offenders entering the criminal justice system.” The Corrections Committee will study that issue jointly with the House Committee on Juvenile Justice and Family Issues. The men and women who do jail and prison ministry are especially interested in this study as many of them have come to the conclusion, after years of first hand experience, that diverting young people from crime is the best and most economic way to solve both the crime and prison overcrowding problems in Texas.

One of the most complicated and possibly controversial issues will be looked at by the House Committee on Public Health. That committee has been told to look at a specific chapter in the Texas Health and Safety Code which permits loved ones of severely ill patients to have an opportunity to transfer the patient from a facility that is recommending termination of treatment to another hospital or residence facility. All of the “end of life” issues that were raised by the Terry Shiavo case in Florida have no doubt contributed to this study.

SPECIAL SESSION AND TAX REFORM COMMISSION

As stated above the Governor will probably call a special session of the legislature, the fourth called session of the 79th session, sometime this spring to discuss public school finance.

In preparation for that session Governor Perry has appointed a tax reform commission chaired by his former rival for the office of Lt. Governor, former Comptroller, State Senator and State Representative John Sharp originally of Victoria now of Austin. A wide variety of experts, most of them from the business community, have begun holding hearing around the state to solicit input from citizens. The Commission’s initial meeting in Austin in November launched the study. Chairman Sharp at that time said that all possible solutions except a state personal income tax were on the table.

Lt. Governor Dewhurst has also appointed a committee of Senators to study the school finance issue.

June 2005

79th LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS “SINE DIE”

For the 79th time since Texas became a state, the Texas Legislature met in regular session beginning on Tuesday, January 11 and ending around 7:00 p.m. on Monday, May 30. By all accounts this session of the legislature was only moderately successful.

The one thing that any legislative session must produce, a state budget for the next biennium, (FY 2006-2007) did happen. In the closing hours of the session the conference committee on the budget of House and the Senate were able to agree on a budget of approximately of one-hundred and forty billion dollars.

Two other major issues did not fair as well, the efforts to revise the system of funding public education and the proposed tax bill which would have lowered property taxes and raised business and other taxes both failed to pass in the final hours of the session. The failure of the public school finance bill raised the possibility of Governor Perry calling a special session some time this summer or in early fall to deal with that issue. There seems to be no more than a fifty-fifty chance that there will be a special session.

As usual the staff of the Texas Catholic Conference working with a wide range of advocacy groups including the Diocesan Respect Life directors, the Catholic Charities agencies across the state, and men and women involved in the criminal justice ministry, monitored and lobbied on a wide range of issues.

Two “life issues” supported by the TCC, the bill to require parental consent before a minor can obtain an abortion and legislation to give juries the option of giving life without parole in death penalty cases both passed. At this writing the Governor has scheduled a bill signing ceremony for the parental consent legislation; life without parole advocates are hopeful that he will sign that legislation as well. While the life without parole bill passage means that there will probably be fewer executions there was a compromise worked out and the option of juries giving life with parole was eliminated.

Early in the session there was optimism that parental choice in education legislation would be enacted this session. Governor Perry, Lt. Governor Dewhurst, and Speaker Craddick, as well as key legislators in the House and the Senate, had all indicated support for an educational voucher experiment. The Governor had made parental choice one of the issues he advocated for in his State of the State Address in January. In the end approximately fifteen Republican House members broke with the Speaker and opposed a voucher experiment thus killing the legislation at least for this session. The inability of the Speaker to get voucher legislation through the House of Representatives appears to be the only major defeat that he experienced this session in the lower chamber.

While Texas has a very strong statute defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, a proposed constitutional amendment on that topic was put forward and passed and will be on the ballot in November. Proponents believe that the constitutional amendment is necessary to protect the state of Texas from laws or judicial decisions regarding same sex marriage coming from other states. The bishops of Texas will be supporting a “yes” vote on the referendum in November.

Advocates for Children were very encouraged by the reversal some of the budget cuts effected in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) last session. While the final CHIP legislation did not meet all the expectations of the advocates, which includes the Catholic Charities agencies of the state, significant funding was restored and benefits for children in the areas of visual, dental and mental health coverage were restored. CHIP is a federal/state program. Approximately two dollars of federal funds are made available for every one dollar appropriated by the legislature.

Another high profile issue that reached a happy conclusion was the significant increases in the funding for both Child and Adult Protective Services in Texas. The Legislature has provided additional funding so that there will be more case workers with lower caseloads.

A major disappointment for everyone interested in good government was the defeat of legislation to significantly reform campaign financing in Texas. Late in the session a bill to tighten the regulation of corporate campaign contributions was killed both on a procedural vote in the House of Representatives and then in the house committee which was considering it.

Opponents to legalizing more gambling in Texas, led by the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention, were successful in sidetracking several proposals to provide more gambling opportunities in the state. The issue that got the most attention was the installation of so called video lottery terminals (VLTs) in certain locations around Texas. The view of the bishops as articulated in a 1984 statement is that Texas already has enough gambling opportunities for those who want to participate and that important state functions, such as public education and the provision of health and human services for the needy, should not be dependent upon unstable revenue source such as gambling.

In the end there was no legislation enacted regarding cloning or stem cell research. Clearly both issues will back before the legislature in the future. While the Catholic Church supports scientific research, including stem cell research, the church has a very clear position that since life begins at conception, the creation of human embryos in order to harvest the stem cells to do research is morally unacceptable. Embryonic stem cell research, including public funding for such research, is a major issue at both the national and state level.

TEXAS LEGISLATURE IS A YEAR ROUND ENDEAVOR

Despite the fact that the Texas Constitution calls for a legislative session every two years for one-hundred forty days, anyone who spends any time at the legislature knows that, in effect, we have year round legislative activity. Some time late this summer or early in the fall the committees of the House and the Senate and the staff members of the Senators and Representatives will begin preparing for the 80th Legislature which will convene in January of 2007. Between now and then, of course, there will be elections, both primaries of the two major and the minor political parties and a general election in November of 2006.

During the last election cycle, there was very little turnover in the legislature; only two Senators and sixteen House members were freshman this session. Unless there is significant political fallout from the just concluded session, on the issues of the failure to enact a public school finance bill or the inability to lower property taxes, for example, most observers believe that the cast of characters in 2007 will be pretty much the same as 2005. The one big political question mark hovering over Texas government is whether or not Governor Perry will be challenged either by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison or Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn in the GOP primary in 2006.

Extensive information on the Texas Legislature is available at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/.
The Texas Catholic Conference web site is www.txcatholic.org.

79th Texas Legislature May 2005

79th LEGISLATIVE SESSION IN FINAL WEEKS

As this memo is being written, there are three weeks left in the regular session of the 79th Legislature. By the time you receive this memo or read it on our web site there will no doubt be significant changes in the status of some of the bills described here. The final weeks of any legislature are extremely hectic, as members work diligently to get their favorite legislation passed. While members have enjoyed long weekends throughout the session, during the final weeks there is significant activity on the weekends especially Saturdays and even some on Sundays.

LIFE ISSUES

At this writing the legislation to require parental consent before an abortion can be performed on a minor (HB 1212 by Representative Phil King) is scheduled for a debate on the floor of the House of Representatives. All of the legislation regarding stem cell research, including embryonic stem cell research, is still in committee.

The Texas Catholic Conference supports the parental consent bill and also supports stem cell research but not embryonic stem cell research. Bills to ban embryonic stem cell research in Texas (HB 864 by King and SB 943 by Armbrister) are still pending. No public hearing has been held on SB 943. TCC also supports legislation to ban state funding for embryonic stem cell research (HB 2081 by Paxton).

Legislation to give juries the option of assessing life without parole in capital cases (HB 60 by Lucio) has passed the Senate in an amended version. As passed out of the Senate, the bill does give juries the option of giving life without parole, but would at the insistence of district attorneys especially in Tarrant and Harris counties, the juries no long have the option of giving life with parole. The status of the legislation in the House of Representatives is uncertain. There is significant difference of opinion among death penalty opponents concerning the HB 60.

The legislation to establish an interim study on the death penalty without imposing a moratorium, SB 128 by Shapleigh, at this writing is still in committee.

PARENTAL CHOICE IN EDUCATION

Three bills to establish an education voucher experiment have been introduced in the House of Representatives. No voucher bill has been introduced in the Senate. The three House bills had a marathon public hearing on March 5. The bill supported by the Texas Catholic Conference is HB 1236 by Harper-Brown which would establish a pilot educational voucher program in public school districts in the six largest counties in Texas. That legislation was reported favorably from the House Public Education Committee on May 4. Of great concern to voucher proponents, is the future of voucher legislation in the Senate. The Senate has a rule which requires a suspension by a two-thirds majority before any legislation can be considered. That means that eleven Senators can block consideration of any legislation. While there is majority support for a voucher experiment in the thirty-one member Senate, there may be eleven Senators who are adamantly opposed to a voucher experiment and would not vote to suspend the rules. Because of this situation there has been significant legislative maneuvering going on behind the scenes.

BUDGET

The only thing the legislature must do each session is pass a budget for the next biennium, in the case of this 79th Legislature that means passing a budget for the 2006-2007 fiscal years. Both chambers have passed their version of the 2006-2007 budget, in each case approximately $135 billion. A Conference Committee has been working for several weeks to resolve the differences between the two versions. Advocates for Health and Human Services for the needy in Texas have been following the progress of the Conference Committee. Of special concern to most advocates, including the Catholic charities agencies of the state, has been full restoration of the benefits in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

There are many other budget issues of concern to persons involved in ministry in Texas including the men and women in jail and prison ministry who have been advocating for restoration of funding for chaplain services in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice which were cut by forty percent during the last legislative session. There has also been much concern about alternative programs to incarceration and more rehabilitation and substance abuse programs within the state prisons.

Closely related to the state budget is the issue of public school finance. Again both chambers have passed their versions of a public school finance bill and the differences will be resolved in a conference committee. If there is no successful conference, the Governor may have to call a special session of the legislature to consider public school finance this summer.

A state district court in Travis County has ruled that the current system of funding public education in Texas is unconstitutional. The state has appealed that decision and the Texas Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case on July 6. There are many issues in the public school finance legislation including teacher salaries, local control, and property tax issues.

Among the issues being discussed in a related tax bill are lowering property taxes, establishing a new business tax, modifying the state franchise tax and possibly seeking new sources of revenue such as increase taxes on tobacco and alcoholic beverages. There has also been consideration of expanding the gambling opportunities in Texas in order to generate more state tax revenue. At this writing it appears that the opponents of more gambling in Texas have been successful.

OTHER ISSUES

Legislation to enact significant campaign finance reform in Texas has been killed in a series of legislative maneuvers. The primary campaign finance reform bill, HB 1348, originally had over eighty House sponsors, but by early May it appeared not to have any prospect of moving out of the House Elections Committee. There was an attempt made to invoke a rarely used legislative maneuver to bring the bill directly from the Committee to the floor of the House of Representatives. After a contentious debate between members, at least one of whom had been an original sponsor of the bill, the bill was not brought to the floor and subsequently voted down two days later in the committee.

A House resolution to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriages in Texas has, at this writing, passed the House of Representatives and is in the Senate. Proponents of the amendment believe that despite the fact that Texas has a strong statute defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, judicial decisions in other states regarding same sex marriages could affect Texas.

In early May there was a very contentious debate on the floor of the House of Representatives regarding a bill to require photo-ID or two other forms of identification before an individual could vote. The legislation did pass the House but its prospects in the Senate appear to not be very good.

Extensive information on the Texas Legislature is available at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/.
The Texas Catholic Conference web site is www.txcatholic.org.

79th Texas Legislature April 2005

LEGISLATURE HEADS INTO THE LAST MONTH

The final day of the 79th Session of the Texas Legislature will be on Monday, May 30, Memorial Day. Because of rules enacted by both the House and the Senate in recent years, the flurry of activity normally associated with the final days of the session will be significantly moderated. Bills that have not passed one of the chambers will not be considered in the final days of the session. Because of that there has been a tremendous amount of legislative activity during the month of April which will extent into the first week of May.

MANY PRO-LIFE ISSUES HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED

More than fifty bills related to the issue of abortion or human cloning and stem cell research have been introduced in the session. At this writing, most of the activity on these issues has taken place before the House State Affairs Committee. At this writing, no hearings have been scheduled on any of the issues involving abortion or stem cell research have been scheduled for the Senate.

Monday, April 11 was the day the bills related to stem cell research, including embryonic stem cell research, were heard before the House State Affairs Committee. Because the bio technology industry has convinced may people that embryonic stem cell research has the possibility of providing miracle cures for extremely debilitating diseases and injuries, the discussion on stem cell research, especially embryonic stem cell research, often gets very emotional. That was the case on April 11.

The position of Texas Catholic Conference is that life begins at conception and therefore creating a human embryo in order to harvest the stem cells is not acceptable. The Conference opposes any appropriation of state funds to finance embryonic stem cell research in Texas. Legislation introduced by Representative Ken Paxton (HB 2081) on that issue is supported by the TCC.

The abortion related legislation day was Wednesday, April 13. On that day the Texas House State Affairs Committee took up about fifteen bills relating in one way or another to abortion. The hearing extended into the morning hours of the following day, April 14.

The bill given the most serious consideration was legislation by Representative Phil King to require parental consent before an abortion can be performed on a minor (HB 1212). The Texas Catholic Conference supports this legislation.

PARENTAL CHOICE IN EDUCATION

Legislation to provide more parental choice in education is also originating in the House of Representatives, specifically in the House Committee on Public Education. Three bills regarding educational vouchers were heard before that committee on Tuesday, April 5. That hearing also extended into the early hours of the following day.

Two of the bills would establish voucher experiments in the six largest counties in Texas and the third bill would create a voucher plan for all students in Texas.

The bill supported by the Texas Catholic Conference is HB 1263 by Representative Linda Harper-Brown, which is a pilot program in all the school districts in the six largest counties.

Legislative maneuvering will be required to get voucher legislative enacted this session because of significant opposition to any voucher plan in the Texas Senate. Proponents of parental choice have hope that such maneuvering will be successful.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES LEGISLATION

Much of the discussion regarding Health and Human Services has taken place in the context of the preparation for the state budget for the fiscal years 2006-2007. Those discussions have taken place in the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee and on the floor of the House and the Senate.

Each chamber has passed its version of the proposed budget for the biennium; the amount is approximately one-hundred forty billion dollars. The differences between the two versions of the proposed state budget will now be worked out in a conference committee composed of five members of the House and five members of the Senate. The Speaker and Lt. Governor have appointed the individuals who will serve on that committee.

The conference committee will work through the rest of April and into early May, in order to bring a compromise bill back to each chamber for its approval and then send it on to the Governor for his signature. At some point the comptroller of public accounts will have to certify that there will be sufficient funds to cover the proposed expenditures.

Advocates for the poor, including the Catholic Charities network throughout the state, have been advocating for many health and human services issues including the restoration of many of the human services that were cut last session. High on the list of concerns has been full restoration of the Childrens Health Insurance Program benefits.

Catholic Charities and other advocates have also been involved in legislation to reform the Child Protective Services in Texas.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND OTHER CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES

At the beginning of the session, many of death penalty proponents were hopeful that during this session a bill to give juries the option of giving life without parole instead of the death penalty in capital cases would pass. Because of significant opposition from the District Attorneys, especially in Fort Worth and Houston, that legislation was stalled in the Texas Senate. On April 14th, the Senate approved a version of SB 60 that eliminated the possibility of a sentence of life with parole.

Other legislation to establish a commission to study the death penalty (SB 544 by Senator Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso) was also thought to have a chance of passing this session, but at this writing the bill is still in committee.

There has been a lot of activity during this session regarding funding of programs to provide alternatives to incarceration.

Extensive information on the Texas Legislature is available at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/.
The Texas Catholic Conference web site is www.txcatholic.org.

79th Texas Legislature March 2005

Embryonic Stem Cell Research Issue Surfaces

As expected, the issue of embryonic stem cell research in Texas has emerged as an emotional and controversial issue. Legislation has been introduced which the Texas Catholic Conference supports and opposes.
The embryonic stem cell research issue always emerges in the context of legislation to ban human cloning. While almost everyone agrees that human cloning should be banned, there are differences of opinion about what sort of stem cell research should be carried on. The Church’s position is that creating human embryos in order to harvest the stem cells in order to do scientific research is morally unacceptable since life begins at conception and ends with natural death. Representative Phil King of Weatherford and Senator Ken Armbrister of Victoria have introduced legislation (HB 864, SB 943) which bans human cloning and also prohibits embryonic stem cell research. Representative Beverly Woolley of Houston and Senator Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso have introduced human cloning ban bills which permit embryonic stem cell research (HB 1929, SB 128). In addition, Representative Ken Paxton of McKinney has introduced a bill (HB 2081) to ban any state funding for embryonic stem cell research which the TCC supports.
As in California and elsewhere, significant lobbying efforts have been undertaken by various parts of the scientific community to support funding for embryonic stem cell research. Because of the hopes held out by some of these scientific endeavors for cures for terrible diseases, the issue becomes very emotional for individuals who are themselves afflicted or who have loved ones and associates who are so afflicted.

OTHER LIFE ISSUES

Because of the recent Supreme Court decision, which held that executing individuals who were juveniles at the time of a crime is unconstitutional, the efforts in Texas to pass legislation giving juries the options of giving life without parole in capital cases has been given new life. Sponsored this session as in the past by Senator Eddie Lucio (SB 60) the legislation seems to have an excellent chance of passage this session.
Legislation has also been introduced by Representative Phil King to require parental consent before an abortion can be performed on a minor, (HB 1212).

PARENTAL CHOICE IN EDUCATION

Bills have been introduced by Representative Frank Corte of San Antonio (HB 12) and Representative Linda Harper-Brown of Irving (HB 1263) to establish voucher experiments in the five largest counties in Texas. The recipients of the vouchers would be disadvantaged children who are attending low performing public schools. The voucher could be used to pay tuition in a private school.
It is also possible that a voucher experiment could be attached to other legislation which is being considered. Virtually every one of the groups representing those who work in public education oppose the voucher experiment legislation.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES ISSUES

Legislation to fully restore the Childrens Health Insurance Program benefits is receiving serious consideration in the legislature.
Efforts to significantly reform the Adult and Child Protective Services agencies in Texas are moving rapidly through the legislative process. As with the case of the CHIP legislation, finding sufficient funds in order to provide more case workers in Adult and Child Protective Services is a key issue. Many other issues of concern to the Catholic Charities agencies throughout Texas are being considered including foster care reimbursement formulas.

PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE REFORM / TAX BILL

Two closely related bills were considered by the Texas House of Representatives in early March and will be on the agenda in the Texas Senate in late March and early April.
Reform of the public school finance system in Texas (HB 2) evoked strong emotional responses during its consideration on the floor of the House second week of March.
As is the case with vouchers, the entire public school establishment opposed the bill as reported from the House Public Education Committee.
Any public school finance bill is mainly a series of formulas for funding various programs in the public schools. Public school groups do not feel there is sufficient funding provided in the legislation.
The proponents of the legislation are strongly in favor of more accountability on the part of the public schools in Texas.
A separate but closely related tax bill (HB 3) was also considered by the House of Representatives in early March.
The bill sponsor did not refer to it as a tax bill but rather as a “property tax reduction bill.” The bill as reported by the committee does significantly reduce property taxes, a primary source of revenue for public schools. It also raised the state sales tax and imposes additional taxes on other items such as cigarettes, bottled water, and the sale of automobiles and boats. The legislation as originally reported also provided a new business tax, a 1.25% payroll tax on salaries up to $90,000.
At this writing HB 2 is on its way to the Texas Senate for further consideration and HB 3 is still being considered by the House of Representatives.

GAMBLING

A number of gambling issues have emerged as new possible revenue sources for state services including public education. Video lottery terminals (VLT’s) at race tracks and legalization of casinos in Texas are being considered. In 1984, the bishops of Texas issued a statement on gambling stating that it is not good public policy for the state to encourage its citizens to gamble in order to raise needed revenues for social services including education.
Extensive information on the Texas Legislature is available at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/.
The Texas Catholic Conference web site is www.txcatholic.org.

79th LEGISLATURE Started Slowly As Usual

As usual the 79th Session of the Texas Legislature started off at a leisurely pace. After being in session for one week, both chambers recessed for an entire week in order that those who wished could attend the inauguration activities in Washing, D.C. Three weeks into the session the Lt. Governor and Speaker appointed the committees of the Senate and the House.

As expected most of the committee chairs returned to their posts. In the Senate there was a new subcommittee added to the Business and Commerce Committee, the subcommittees on Energy, Technologies and Economic Development. Senator John Carona is the chair. The Infrastructure Development and Security Committee got a name change and is now the Transportation and Homeland Security Committee chaired by Senator Todd Staples of Palestine. Senator Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio took over the Jurisprudence Committee replacing Senator Robert Duncan of Laredo who moved over to State Affairs where former Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff had been chair. The Natural Resources Committee now has a new subcommittee on Agriculture and Coastal Resources and Senator Mike Jackson of Pasadena is in charge. There are nineteen committees and subcommittees in the Senate.

Over in the House there are forty committees so there were a few more shifts.

The big change was Representative Jim Pitts of Waxahachie taking over Appropriations from the defeated Talmadge Heflin.

Those who minister in jail and prisons are interested in the Corrections Committee where Rep. Jerry Madden has taken over from Rep. Ray Allen who has moved over to chair County Affairs. Rep. Allan Ritter of Nederland now chairs Economic Development replacing Rep. Jim Keffer who has moved to the important tax writing Ways and Means Committee. The General Investigating Committee has added ethics to its title replacing the former Select Committee on Ethics which was chaired by Rep. Steve Wolens last session. Rep. Carlos Uresti former chair of Human Services now chairs the Government Reform Committee. Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp has taken over Human Services.

Rep. Kent Grusendorf of Arlington continues to chair Public Education, an important post given the need for public school finance reform.

Rep. Dianne White Delisi, whose family is connected to the Scott & White Clinic in Temple, now chairs Public Health.

When Rep. Jerry Madden left State Affairs he was replaced by Rep. David Swinford of Amarillo.

The staff of the Texas Catholic Conference monitors committees which relate to the various ministries and institutional concerns of the Church in Texas.

CATHOLIC CHARITIES, CATHOLIC SOCIAL ACTION, PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRIES ADVOCACY DAY, FEBRUARY 1

On Tuesday, February 1st over five hundred individuals involved in Catholic Charities, Catholic Social Action, Parish Social Ministry descended on the capitol for their second advocacy day.

After a brief rally on south steps of the capitol (brief because of bad weather) the advocates reported to a control center and received assignments to visit every member of the Texas legislature, all one hundred and fifty members of the House and thirty one members of the Senate.

The advocates brought several concerns to the attention of the legislators especially full and complete funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and adequate health care for all residents of Texas.

As they did in 2003, the advocates delivered angel food cakes to the members of the legislature and their staff with the message to “be an angel” and provide adequate health and human services for all Texans.

This year several members of the group were able to meet with both Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst for about thirty minutes each to explain the Catholic advocates views on several important issues. The Governor and Lt. Governor were very receptive to the views of the group which included Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, Bishop Vincent Rizzotto of Galveston-Houston and Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo. Many Catholic Charities, Catholic Social Action, Parish Social Ministry advocates indicated that it would probably be necessary to return to Austin later in the session to further discuss the issues with their elected officials.

While many individuals had a role in the successful advocacy day, Jennifer Carr of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and Barbara Budde of the Diocese of Austin played key roles.

EMERGING ISSUES OF CONCERN

In late January a number of members of the House and Senate sponsored a forum on stem cell research. Three panels of experts discussed scientific issues, ethical issues, and the impact on business and commerce in Texas if there is an increase in stem cell research in the state.

The House committee on Regulated Industries would deal with the stem cell research issue. While most everyone supports stem cell research in order to look for cures for terrible diseases, the Church opposes research on embryonic stem cells.

Several other issues of concern to the Bishops of Texas received early attention including restructuring of the Child and Adult Protective Services agencies, full restoration of the Children’s Health Insurance Program benefits, and adequate funding for Medicaid.

The wide range of other life issues on the legislative agenda of the Bishops working through the Texas Catholic Conference includes the death penalty and the regulation of abortion.

A bill to require parental consent before a minor can receive an abortion is anticipated.

Senator Eddie Lucio of Brownsville pre-filed his bill to give juries the option of giving life without parole in place of the death penalty. A number of other death penalty bills have been pre-filed including one by Rep. Harold Dutton of Houston to establish a commission to study executions.

The bill to establish a pilot program for school voucher in the five largest counties in Texas was pre-filed by Rep. Frank Corte of San Antonio. Other voucher initiatives are anticipated.

Extensive information on the Texas Legislature is available at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/.
The Texas Catholic Conference web site is www.txcatholic.org.

Selected Texas Catholic Conference Legislative Concerns
79th Legislative Session 2005

LIFE ISSUES: The sanctity of human life from conception until natural death is a primary concern of the Catholic Bishops of Texas. A number of issues will probably be considered by the Legislature.
· Moratorium on the death penalty in Texas.
· Ban on human cloning and embryonic stem cell research.
· Ban on executing individuals who were juvenile at the time of their offense.
· Providing the option of life without parole to juries in capital cases.
· Parental consent for abortion for a minor.

PARENTAL CHOICE IN EDUCATION: As the first educators of their children, parents should have as many choices for educating their children as possible. The Bishops believe that middle- and low-income families ought to have the same array of educational choices as upper-income families.
· Legislation to enable the State of Texas to loan textbooks to children enrolled in non-public schools.
· Tax credits or tax deductions for educational expenses.
· Amend the higher education bonding authority, which currently permits schools already in existence to use that funding mechanism, to cover schools which are being established.
· Adequate funding for Equal Educational Opportunity for all Texas school children.
· Maintain adequate funding for Tuition Equalization Program (TEG).

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: All persons residing within the State of Texas ought to have access to adequate health and human services regardless of economic condition or legal status.
· Restoration of full funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
· Adequate funding for primary and preventative health care for documented and undocumented immigrants.
· Increased funding for job training including instruction in English as a second language and provision of transportation to work sites.

ENVIRONMENT: Care of God’s creation is a basic principle of Catholic Social Teaching.
· Legislation to protect water sources including the Aquifers in Texas.
· Legislation to guarantee clean air in all areas of the state.
· Establishment of policies to guarantee affordable water in all districts and municipalities, including colonias.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: All individuals in the State of Texas regardless of economic level or legal status should have access to the equal justice under law.
· Increase funding and support for the chaplain corps within the TX Dept. of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).
· Provide more probation funding within TDCJ.
· Restore and enhance drug and alcohol abuse treatment programs within the TDCJ units.
· Provide more funding for training of corrections officers.
· Provide an equitable pay scale to correctional officers.
· Full implementation and funding for the Indigent Defense Act of 2001.
· Legislation to implement the Supreme Court decision banning execution of the mentally retarded.

MISCELLANEOUS
· Texas Driver’s Licenses available to all residents to ensure public safety throughout the state.
· Enactment of legislation to provide a living wage throughout the state.
· Maintain rate of payment for foster care parents.
· Campaign Finance Reform.

79th Texas Legislature January 2005

LEGISLATURE CONVENED ON JANUARY 11

The Texas Legislature convened at noon on Tuesday, January 11, for the 79th time since statehood.

Members of the religious community including representatives of the Texas Catholic Conference gathered on the south steps of the capitol at 10:00 a.m. to conduct a prayer service urging divine assistance to the 181 men and women in the Texas House and Senate and the other elected officials who will play major roles in the legislative session.

The leadership in this legislative session will probably be pretty much the same as it was during the 78th Legislature in the spring of 2003 and during the several called (special) sessions this summer which dealt with congressional redistricting and public school finance reform.

Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst continues to serve as the president of the Senate, one of the most powerful legislative positions in any State House. At this writing it is anticipated that he will re-appoint most if not all of the committee chairs from the last session since there has been relatively little turn-over in the upper chamber. Only two new senators elected in special elections (from Amarillo and Tyler) have joined the returning incumbents. Senator Steve Ogden of Bryan-College Station will probably chair the powerful Finance Committee, Senator Florence Shapiro of Plano will likely lead the Education Committee (which handles both elementary, secondary and higher education issues), and Senator Jane Nelson of Flower Mound will probably chair the Health and Human Services Committee.

Representative Tom Craddick of Midland will once again be the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Craddick is the first Republican in that position since Reconstruction. While there may be more changes in committee leadership in the House, where last session there were 40 standing committees, most of the key leadership persons will probably return. The big change will be that the chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, Talmadge Heflin, was defeated for re-election and Speaker Craddick has already appointed Representative Jim Pitts of Waxahachie as chair.

Representative Kent Grusendorf of Arlington will probably return as chair of public education, Carlos Uresti of San Antonio at Human Services and Jody Laubenberg at Public Health. Representative Laubenberg replaced Representative Jaime Capelo during the special sessions after Capelo was defeated in the primary. Representative Jerry Madden of Dallas was appointed to chair the State Affairs Committee when Representative Kenny Marchant was elected to congress.

Bills of concern to the Catholic Bishops will be considered by all of those committees.

MAJOR ISSUES

The one thing the legislature must do in any legislative session is formulate a state budget this session for the fiscal years 2006-2007. Early in the session the Comptroller of Public Accounts Carol Keeton Strayhorn will provide revenue estimates for the coming biennium. Last session her estimates provided a bleak $10 billion deficit picture for the lawmakers. It is possible that there will be a deficit this session, but not as severe.

Another issue that the legislators will have to deal with is public school finance. A state district court in Austin has ruled that the system of financing public education is unconstitutional. The attorney general has appealed that decision to the Texas Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court affirms the lower court’s decision the legislators will have to formulate a new system of funding public schools. Prior to the beginning of the session there was much conjecture at the capitol that the public school finance issue would be taken up before any other issues.

As the legislators look at improving the way public education is delivered in Texas, they also will have look at possible new revenue sources. The states overwhelming dependence on property and sales taxes makes it difficult to significantly increase funding not only for public education but for other health and human services.

Two health and human service issues that are high on the agenda for this session are complete restoration of the Childrens Health Insurance Program and a revamping of Child and Adult Protective Service’s. Both of those initiatives will require additional revenue.

The budget writing committees will look at various options including closing some tax loopholes, increasing some business taxes, and possibly revisiting some of the “soft” money producers such as expansion of gambling.

Some members are quietly talking about the possibility of a state personal income tax in Texas. Senator Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso and Representative Eddie Rodriguez of Austin have articulated a position that shows that a state personal income tax, possibly on the model of the state of Kansas, would reduce property taxes for most Texans.

PRE-FILED BILLS

Beginning in November, members of the legislature began pre-filing bills and resolutions. By the beginning of the legislative session, more than 400 had been put in the hopper. Many of them will be of concern to the Texas Catholic Conference.

One of the most difficult issues that will emerge in this session has to do with a ban on human cloning. While most are in favor of the ban, there is not agreement on the issue of state funding for stem cell research. The bishops of Texas and of the United States support stem cell research but are opposed to embryonic stem cell research.

A bill to establish a voucher experiment in certain school districts in Texas has been filed. More voucher experiment bills are anticipated.

Issues concerning the death penalty will once again be on the agenda. Bills to provide juries the option of giving life without parole in death penalty cases and banning the execution of individuals who were juveniles at the time of the offense or mentally retarded have been filed. A moratorium on the death penalty bill has also been filed.

Several bills to increase cigarette taxes to fund health and human services and certain child care programs are already on the agenda.

Likewise bills to restore the Children’s Health Insurance Program have been filed.

All the elections in Texas this fall went fairly smoothly, there are still some lingering concerns about electronic voting. Several bills to require a “paper trail” when electronic voting devices are used will be considered.

An issue that has emerged of great concern to a number of organizations including the print media is that of requiring the legislature to record all votes taken in the House and the Senate. Several bills and resolutions dealing with that issue have been filed.

The Texas Catholic Conference web site is www.txcatholic.org, and the mailing address for the members of the Texas House and Senate are as follow:

Texas Senate Texas House of Representatives
P.O. Box 12068 - Capitol Station P.O. Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78711-2608 Austin, Texas 78768-2910

2004 ELECTIONS

The 2004 elections in Texas have put the Republican Party in even firmer control of the Legislature and the congressional delegation. All statewide elected positions in Texas are held by the GOP. Because of the redistricting that was done during Special Sessions of the 78th Legislature, the Texas delegation in congress is now composed of twenty-one Republicans and eleven Democrats.

In the Texas Senate there are nineteen Republicans and twelve Democrats and in the Texas House, barring changes due to recounts or challenges to the election especially in one district in Houston, there will be eighty-seven Republicans and sixty-three Democrats.

The most contested race was in District 149 in Houston, where Vietnamese American challenger Hubert Vo defeated the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, veteran legislator Talmadge Heflin. At this writing there is talk around the Capitol that Heflin might challenge the election when the Legislature convenes in January.

The national election has put President Bush firmly in charge of the government for a second term. At least two Texans will assume more important positions in the government; former Texas Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales has been nominated for Attorney General, and former Texas legislative aide and education lobbyist Margaret Spellings has been nominated to be Secretary of Education. More Texans in President Bush’s inner circle are expected to assume important positions in the administration.

There were few surprises in the Texas elections; one exception was perhaps the victory of incumbent Congressman Chet Edwards over challenger State Representative Arlene Wohlgemuth in the dramatically redrawn eleventh district which extends from Burleson through Waco and on to Bryan-College Station. Advocates for children were heartened by Edward’s victory. The dramatic restructuring of the health and human services system in Texas and the significant cuts effected in the Children Health Insurance Program were major issues in the race. (A State Senator in that area Kip Averitt has already pre-filed a bill restoring the CHIP benefits, another good sign for advocates for the children of the working poor.)

The elections seemed to go smoothly throughout the state of Texas and even nationally with the possible exception of some problems in the state of Ohio. Concerns over electronic voting, early voting, and accessibility to the polls by the disabled, did not materialize in any significant way in Texas.

The staff at the Secretary of State’s office is to be commended for a successful and efficient election.

Legislative Memo January 2006

Legislative Memo June 2005

 Legislative Memo May 2005

Legislative Memo April 2005

Legislative Memo March 2005

Legislative Memo January 2005

Legislative Memo March 2004

Legislative Memo March 2003

Legislative Memo February 2003

Legislative Memo January 2003

Texas Catholic Conference Legislative Agenda