#TXLEGE: Early #SpecialSession Battle Lines Drawn

"A whip for the horse,
A bridle for the donkey,
And a rod for the fool’s back."
Proverbs 26:3

We attended this morning's trib event with Carol Alvarado, Drew Darby, and Matt Schaefer; the TL,DR version is that Alvarado was crankier than usual, Darby doubled down on support for Straus (while explicitly coming out against property tax reform), and Shaefer thrived in the face of a withering assault from Alvarado and the audience.




Highlights:

• Schaefer: Call items = "conservative home run."

• Alvarado calls Schaefer "obsessed" with protecting life.
• Note: Guilty as charged.

• Darby: Straus "not a hands on speaker."
• Note: Bullshit.
• "If we [the house members] don't want a bill to move, it's not going to move."

• Alvarado endorses Straus' "school finance is the only way to lower property taxes" nonsense.
• More Accurate Headline: Democrat echoes Straus' position on property taxes.

• Alvarado calls the rule of law "anti-freedom."

• Darby compares Abbott holding legislators accountable to parents threatening children during Christmas.
• "I object."

• Alvarado: "I'm going to be holding hearings on substantive issues" in Urban affairs.
• Note: Duly noted re: historical zoning.

• Alvarado: Revenue caps in Houston haven't worked.
• Note: LOL

• Darby: "The House's position on these issues hasn't changed."
• "I am not going to change my position."

• Schaefer: "There was a slowness to the work of the House" during the regular session.

• Alvarado calls teacher pay increase "unfair to local school districts."
• Endorses raiding Rainy Day fund as alternative.

• Darby throws privacy act under the bus.

• Alvarado keeps door open on busting quorum.

• Darby, in response to question from this author: "I'm opposed to any lowering of the rollback rate" on property taxes.
• Note: We worded our question to Darby about property taxes very specifically see if he would pivot to discussing his property tax bills as an alternative to changing the rollback formula.  He did not.  Thus, it seems unlikely that Darby any intention of pursuing those bills and merely filed them as election season CYA.

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Representative Drew Darby: (512) 463-0331