#TXLEGE: Jane Nelson Gives Us an Idea

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

Interesting:

A leading lawmaker has announced the state budget process will require every agency to utilize zero-based budgeting in the wake of a projected shortfall due to the Chinese coronavirus and government-ordered shutdowns that have devastated the Texas economy.

“As I meet with each agency to review their appropriation requests, I will begin at zero,” said State Sen. Jane Nelson (R–Denton), the head of the Senate Finance Committee which will prepare the state next budget.

Requiring zero-based budgeting—a powerful tool to rein in expanding bureaucracy and administrative bloat—for every agency in every budget has been a legislative priority of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility for years.

Yes. Absolutely. One Hundred Percent. Plus one.

However, even if Nelson is successful, this won't be the last time we need this level of fiscal cleansing.  Unfortunately, this level of fiscal cleansing is difficult to achieve.  It only ever seems to happen during major economic downturns.

It needs to become a regular thing.

This gives us an idea: Why not make zero-based budgeting part of the sunset process?!?

Agencies already have to go through sunset.  They already have to review their operations.  They already have to dedicate the resources.  While they're at it, why not make them build their budget from scratch?!?

Bottom Line: Nelson's directive is a worthwhile response to the current crisis.  But the current crisis will certainly not be the last crisis.  Zero-based budgeting as part of the sunset process will inevitably make us stronger whenever next time inevitably shows up.

#TXLEGE: Insufferable Senate Solipsists Waste Everybody's Time

"Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
Though they join forces, none will go unpunished."
Proverbs 16:5

[Note: If you care about the details, Lauren McGaughy of the DMN live tweeted the early part of the hearing here.  Her thread contains links to coverage of later parts.  Masochists can watch the full hearing here.]

[Note II: The definition for 'solipsism' is available here (see definition #2); the definition for 'pompous' is available here.]

It's mercifully over.

Today's initial hearing of the Texas Senate's interim committee on so-called "Mass Violence Prevention & Community Safety" accomplished nothing.  Unless you consider an unintentional case study in ego and political grandstanding an accomplishment.  It delivered on that count.

DPS chief Steve McCraw was the hearing's primary witness.  This would be the same Steve McCraw who, earlier this year, bungled the state's voter roll eligibility review.  Honestly, that tells you everything you need to know.  Only in government could someone with Steve McCraw's recent record of grotesque incompetence not get fired.

A vignette: During his testimony, McCraw prattled on for several minutes about the alleged threat posed by incels.  Seriously, frickin' incels.  Obviously, incels are a demented sex cult.  But they're completely irrelevant.  Yet one of the top law enforcement officials in the state of Texas actually jabbered at the Texas Senate about this topic.  Even worse, the Senate took it seriously.  It was embarrassing (or should have been).

Also, this happened:

. @SenJaneNelson just said there are privacy concerns with checking social media, says she doesn't want law enforcement to be reading all her tweets. 🤔#txlege

— Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) September 26, 2019

Apparently, Senator Nelson is unaware that Twitter is already a public forum.

Bottom Line: Obviously, recent events in El Paso and Odessa sucked.  That goes without saying.  Nevertheless, today's Texas Senate hearing was a reminder that showboating politicians rarely make things better after a tragedy.

#TXLEGE: Abbott Thumbs Nose at Citizenry (pharmaceutical lobbyists got paid)

"And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said."
Exodus 7:13

Sigh:

Among the bills signed by Abbott at Thursday’s bill signing event was Senate Bill 11. Originally focused on school safety in the wake of the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, the bill was amended to include the creation of the “Texas Mental Health Care Consortium” after State Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R–Bedford) killed a separate bill to do exactly that on procedural grounds earlier in the evening.

....

Despite the bill’s unanimous passage in the Senate and near-unanimous passage in the House, many conservative activists raised concerns over parental rights, privacy, and the potential for over-medication of psychotropic drugs.

After the bill passed the legislature, a coalition of conservative organizations across the state, including Grassroots America We The People and the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party, wrote to Abbott to urge him to veto his priority legislation.

“We greatly appreciate your efforts to make schools safer. Regrettably, we cannot support these bills. SB 11 contained several features that directly addressed school safety. However, it also had provisions of concern. While some groups attempted to get these concerns addressed, the bill was only made worse,” the group said in a letter dated May 29. “We believe that the use of a psychiatric consortium that has inherent connections to the pharmaceutical industry simply puts Texas children at risk of dangerous psychotropic drugging and policies that lead to the same.”

The request fell on deaf ears, however, as Abbott signed the legislation without even responding to their objections.

 Bottom Line: Never waste a good crisis....

#TXLEGE: Dan Patrick and Jane Nelson need to KILL this TAX HIKE (that already passed the frickin' house)

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

Sssssssssssssssssssay what, via. Forbes:

Though the sales tax hike appears dead, Texas taxpayers are not in the clear for the year. In the same week that the sales tax hike was tabled, another tax hike, one targeted at travel agents, passed the House and now heads to the Senate for further consideration next week.

That proposed tax hike, HB 3579, would affect all travel booking fees, inflating costs for Texans and out-of-state visitors when they use either in-person, or online travel booking services. Hotel occupancy taxes are already collected on the room price agents arrange with hotels. HB 3579 would extend hotel occupancy taxes beyond the room rate and apply the tax to the fee paid to travel agents.

It may strike some as odd that lawmakers would pursue policies that make their state a more expensive place to visit, but that’s what enactment of HB 3579 would do. HB 3579, which was approved by the House this week and now heads to the Senate, is a tax increase that will adversely affect anyone who books a hotel stay through a traditional travel agent or an Online Travel Agent (OTA), such as Orbitz, Travelocity, and Hotwire. Next week’s Senate Finance Committee hearing on HB 3579 will be instructive as to whether Texas senators intend to slap a new tax on people who book hotels and other lodging accommodations online, despite this being a time when state coffers are flush.

A source e-mails:

[T]his is also a case of massive cronyism. It uses higher taxes as a cudgel to push travelers and tourists to the likes of Hilton.com in order to keep fees down— in other words, it’s a total cronyist giveaway to Big Hotel (it also disadvantages smaller, independent hotels, which may be more dependent than Hilton.com on the likes of Orbitz for bookings). It is also straight up extending a HOTEL LODGING tax to services— kind of like if Texas decided to apply a cigarette tax rate to gas pumped at your local Exxon station.

For those wondering, this was the vote in the house:

Note: Page 3348 in the Journal

Obviously, this is a wretched bill for all of the reasons discussed above.

The good news, however, is that the Senate can kill it by...doing nothing.

If Jane Nelson refuses to vote the bill out of committee...the bill dies.

If Dan Patrick refuses to bring the bill up for floor consideration...the bill dies.

Bottom Line: This bill should never have gotten this far.  That being said, the Senate still has the opportunity to do what should have originally been done.  Hopefully, they do.  If not, woe unto all of us....

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: (512) 463-0001

Chairwoman Jane Nelson: (512) 463-0112

#TXLEGE: Stepping Back from the Budget Brink

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

While we are where we are in the session, TPPF offers an escape:

Property Tax Relief Scenarios Comparison by Cahnman on Scribd

On a related note, new Polling Data:

TX Statewide General Election Survey 050519 by Cahnman on Scribd

Bottom Line: The escape hatch exists. Whether or not it's used is up to the legislature. We'll know in three weeks.

#TXLEGE: Nelson's teacher pay proposal **MIGHT** be a good start

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6

We've seen conflicting chatter about the teacher pay bill introduced yesterday in the Senate.  So we decided to so something crazy.  We read the bill:

SB 3 -- Nelson teacher pay ... by on Scribd

Thoughts:

• Nelson's bill doesn't do anything obviously bad.  It's a simple, straightforward, state level expenditure for a specific purpose.  None of the shenanigans the educrat lobby sometimes likes to play.
• Note: So far.

• Any state expenditures authorized under this bill will, by definition, go into the classroom.

• State provides a long term funding mechanism.

• That being said, it's certainly not cheap.  It's very valid to fear Nelson's proposal will be expensive and ineffective.  Across the board raises don't incentivize good performance.

• Section 1 (c) of the bill specifically leaves room for a merit pay program along the lines of what the Governor has proposed.  That's probably coming soon.  Still, we'd rather see the money that's going for this proposal going to that one.

• One the other hand (ie. counting votes in the Senate), if an across the board teacher raise is what takes to pass a merit pay system, that might not be the worst trade.

• Like it or not, this proposal is a reflection of the current political reality.

Bottom Line: Obviously, all the standard disclaimers about it being early and the devil being in the details still apply, but this isn't the worst proposal we've ever seen come out of the legislature.

#TXLEGE: Patrick's Press Conference

"These are the things you shall do:
Speak each man the truth to his neighbor;
Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;"
Zechariah 8:16

[Note: The Trib's facebook page was the only place we were able to find the video in an embedable format; following some introductory commentary from one of their reporters, the Lt. Gov's remarks start at the 15:00 minute mark of the video.]

Lt. Gov. Patrick held a press conference this afternoon to discuss the special session and unveil the Senate's school finance plan:



Highlights:

• "I support all 20 bills that the Governor has put on the call for the special session that begins next week.  I've got my 20 for 20 pin on...I've noticed a lot of House members wearing it as well.  We've already passed 10 of those out of the Senate; they were killed by the speaker and that's why they're back on the call."

• "During the [regular] session we passed 30 of 30 of our priority bills and I intend to pass 20 of 20 of the Governor's priorities."
• "Clearly, the people support this legislation."

• "The Senate will hit the ground running next week, and as always we will be efficient and get the work done."

• "I believe the House can pass 20 for 20 as well...if they ever get a chance to vote for them on the floor."

• "A bold and serious plan to increase teacher pay."

• "Teachers are the most important part of a child's education; we must make every effort to compensate them for the work that they do."

• "Laying out a plan to end recapture."
• aka. Robin Hood.

• "This is a serious plan, which is different from what the speaker laid out during the regular session and continues to talk about; THAT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN AN EDUCATION PONZI SCHEME."
• Note: OUCH!!!

• "The speaker's school finance plan took $1.5 BILLION from the foundation schools plan; it would have delayed paying school districts one month to give them the same money."

• "There was no funding in the speaker's finance plan; it was a ponzi scheme."

• Straus' regular session education funding shell game "was a dangerous political stunt."

• Property tax reform "needs to pass."

• "Where do you get billions more for education?!?  The only way to do it is a state income tax."

• "I will not join the speaker in laying the groundwork for a state income tax."

• "Let's stop talking about billions of dollars coming out of nowhere."

• "Just throwing billions at [education] won't make a difference, and I'm offended to see anyone try to use public education as a political tool and a political stunt, promising to throw billions at it without a plan and not telling people where the money's coming from."

• "We spend 52% of all the money we have [in the state budget] on education."
• K-12 = 38%

• "There is no more money, Mr. Speaker."
• "We're not hiding $1.5 billion under the Sam Houston mattress in the Governor's mansion."

• "At the local level, and at the state level, [education] is our priority."

• "Every agency always wants more, but we are not underfunding education, it's over half of our budget."

• Since 2000, education spending up 108% while enrollment is only up 32%
• "Teacher pay has only gone up 35%."

• "Where's all the money going?!?"

• "Teachers are the key.  Buildings don't educate students.  Expensive stadiums don't help teachers to help kids to read or solve math problems."

• We spend $163k per classroom on average while teachers get 52k.

• Less than 32% of the education budget goes to teachers.

• If you redirected 5% of the money that's going into the bureaucracy you could give teachers an $8000 raise.

• Longevity bonuses for teachers coming from the state.

• Retired teachers with 20 years + experience will get $600/month longevity bonus.

• $200 million for TRS.

• How do you pay for this?!?
• We need to direct that money.
• In the short term, make a deferral from a managed care fund.
• In the long term, pass a constitutional amendment to dedicate funding for teachers from the lottery funding that's already dedicated to education.
• "We're just directing the money to teachers, because [school districts] aren't."

• Robin Hood: Never more than $1.5 billion per budget cycle.
• 1% in savings across the state budget can cover the Robin Hood payments.

• Nelson and Larry Taylor carrying the bills.

#TXLEGE: Numerous Strong #SpecialSession Property tax bills already filed!!!

"But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God."
Nehemiah 5:15

During his press conference announcing the special session, Governor Abbott said he wanted to see property tax relief in the form of "SB 2 [from the regular session] or better;" the precise language from the call leaves wide latitude for 'or better':

Legislation reforming the laws governing ad valorem property taxes.

While the big enchilada property tax bills have yet to be unveiled, a number of other property tax bills have been filed that fall well within the bounds of "or better":

• HJR 16/HB 44 (Keough): "Relating to a limitation on increases in the appraised value of real property for ad valorem tax purposes."
  
  While it could go further, Keough's constitutional amendment and bill would begin to reign in out-of-control appraisal growth and it would apply those limits to all property, not just residential homesteads.

• HJR 19/HB 71 (Bohac): "Relating to the limitation on increases in the appraised value of a residence homestead for ad valorem taxation."
  
  Bohac's constitutional amendment and bill is similar to Keough's but only applies to residential homesteads, not all property.

• HB 75 (Darby): "Relating to transferring to the property tax relief fund one-half of any unencumbered balance of general revenue at the end of a state fiscal biennium."
  
  Darby's bill would dedicate half of any unspent revenue at the end of a budget cycle to property tax relief.

• HJR 21/HB 82 (Darby): "Relating to the abolition of school district maintenance and operations ad valorem taxes.
  
  Darby's constitutional amendment and bill would eliminate the largest part of school district property taxes.
  
  [Note: Considering his role in killing property tax relief during the regular session, clearly Darby was taken to the woodshed by the Governor during the interim.]

• HJR 23/HB 88 (Bell): "Relating to a limitation on increases in the appraised value of real property for ad valorem tax purposes.
  
  Bell's constitutional amendment and bill is similar to Keough's but with a whole bunch of exemptions related to local corporate welfare agreements.

• HB 91 (Swanson): "Relating to the abolition of ad valorem taxes and a study of alternative methods of taxation to replace revenue lost to political subdivisions as a result of the abolition of ad valorem taxes."
  
  This is similar to the abolition of property taxes bill Swanson filed during the regular session and is consistent with the RPT legislative priority on property taxes abolition.

• SB 21 (Nelson): "Relating to the system for protesting or appealing certain ad valorem tax determinations; authorizing a fee."
  
  Nelson's bill is rather complicated, but to the best of our understanding it would increase taxpayer protections in the appraisal appeal process and give the office of the Comptroller significantly more jurisdiction over appraisal boards.

A cynic will note that a number of these measures are constitutional amendments, meaning they need 100 votes in the House and 21 in the Senate to pass.  Thus, some of these measures might be more intended for show than for implementation.  That's certainly possible, but if events break in the right way we don't think it's inconceivable that a few of these make it across the finish line around day 26 or day 27 of the special.

And, again, keep in mind that the main property tax measure has yet to be unveiled.

Bottom Line: The status quo crowd should have taken 5% automatic rollback elections when that was the deal on the table.

#TXLEGE: SB 1 -- "Vote your Conscience" budget....

"So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."
Revelation 3:16

Here's the thing about this budget (that the bible verse quoted above makes clear): We've seen significantly worse villainy from the legislature, but the budget still makes us want to vomit.

Put differently, it's a case where reasonable people can disagree.

TPPF outlines the positive case:

“HB 2 brings Texas to the edge of a historic accomplishment for the 2016-17 biennium, a Conservative Texas Budget when there are no significant funding restraints. Rather than appropriate all the money it had available, the 84th Texas Legislature kept appropriations increases under population growth plus inflation and returned much of the surplus money to taxpayers through a major tax cut. The 85th Texas Legislature has continued this work by proposing spending in HB 2 under the Conservative Texas Budget targets. If the House approves HB 2 as passed by the Senate, the 2016-17 biennium will conclude with fiscal restraint not witnessed in Texas in many years. Considering that government spending must ultimately be paid for by taxes, passage of a Conservative Texas Budget helps keep taxes low—an environment our research demonstrates leads to more economic opportunities for Texans.

“SB 1 makes it possible that this trend could continue. In overall appropriations, SB 1 comes within several millions of dollars of the 2018-19 Conservative Texas Budget target of $218.5 billion—after accounting for the delay of $1.8 billion in transportation appropriations. The 86th Texas Legislature will have approximately $2.7 billion to spend in its supplemental appropriations bill in 2019 in order to remain under the final CTB limit of $221.23 billion for the entire 2018-19 biennium. Though the budget increases public education spending without reforms such as school choice, Texans would benefit from the passage of what would be a second consecutive Conservative Texas Budget.”

A tea party coalition letter [NOTE: Which this author did NOT sign] outlines the negative case:

The $217 billion Conference Committee report for the 2018–2019 biennium budget was distributed to the legislature at 10:00 PM last night (5/25/17). That’s a lot of money. People all over Texas worked very hard to make that money to send to the State.

We are three days away from sine die for the 85th legislative session. House and Senate legislators have not yet reviewed the 970-page budget report. The people of Texas do not have the budget details. Yet, some officials are already trying to tell us what a great budget it is.

It appears that the usual Great Budget Cram-down is about to take place, and frankly, this flies in the face of how Republican leaders define themselves.

Taxpayers demand transparency, not budgets passed before anyone has a chance to know the details. We believe the people paying the freight deserve a little respect.

The people’s elected representatives should know and understand what is contained in the budget. The people of Texas themselves should know what is in that budget. Ramming the budget for the State of Texas through only guarantees one thing – a bunch of surprises. The people of Texas deserve better.

[Note: Emphasis in original.]

And therein lies the rub: the budget [Note: Just barely] comes in under the top line number we requested last summer, but it gets there through gimmicks and a secretive process that funds some pretty terrible things.

And UT gets a last minute increase:

The University of Texas at Austin, whose budget seemed to be on the chopping block a few weeks ago, instead would see a 3 percent increase in legislative appropriations under the two-year state spending plan approved by a House-Senate conference committee.

Senate Bill 1, which the two chambers will consider this weekend, would provide a total of $835.6 million to the flagship campus for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. That’s about $25 million, or 3 percent, more than its current state funding.

The budget agreed to by House and Senate negotiators includes $12 million for UT’s Dell Medical School, which would have received essentially nothing under the plan previously approved by the Senate.

This budget does some pretty terrible things, but it's NOT a repeat of the 26% spending increase they pushed through two sessions ago.

We don't think anything good will come from moving the goalposts at the last minute.  Technically, they did what we asked for a year ago.  Moving forward, as we seek to "begin a new conversation" on the budget, we think holding up our end of the current bargain helps our credibility.

In terms of letter grades, we would give this budget a "D."  It's a passing grade, but just barely.  And we respect why others will disagree.

Bottom Line: It could be worse...but it also could be a lot better.

#TXLEGE: Curtailing the last minute budget nonsense....

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:21

This morning, we received a grassroots alert about the state budget:

The State Budget Conference Committee is still meeting to resolve the budget differences before the budget goes back to both the House and the Senate to be voted on. Agreement has not yet been reached.

Gov. Abbott has insisted the Conferees add back to the budget these items, which are opposed by a majority of the conservative grassroots groups:

$236 million for Abbott’s "high quality" prekindergarten initiative, taken out of schools' basic funding
$16 million for Abbott’s university scholar recruitment program
$86 million for Abbott’s Texas Enterprise Fund & $22 million for Film & Music Industry incentives (Corporate Welfare)
Total: $360 million!

Our pro-life wins in the House are also in jeopardy of being removed!

Please weigh in right now by telling the Budget Conferees you want the following:
1) Eliminate state funding for abortion providers & affiliates (i.e. Planned Parenthood)
2) Fund alternatives to abortion at the full $38.3 million for two years
3) No raid on the Rainy Day Fund or Transportation funds!
4) Fully defund the Enterprise Fund (Corporate Welfare)
5) Fully defund Film & Music subsidies (Corporate Welfare)
6) Ensure 24 full payments to the Permanent School Fund – no budget gimmick here!
7) Don’t rob basic school funding for new Pre-K programs.

Even if you don’t agree with all of these points, pick those you do and contact the Budget Conference Committee members ASAP! If you wait, it may be too late & then we’ll be faced with trying to defeat the budget – which is MORE difficult!

This is correct: The budget isn't a done deal...yet.

But we do have to say, that we're even "having this conversation" in the final few days of session is incredibly irritating.

One caveat: This is not another 2013.  For as much as we disagree with the allocation and gimmickry in this budget, it's not a 26% spending increase.  We still expect the top line number to come in below the Conservative Texas Budget target announced last summer.

[Note: Woe unto the legislature if they fail to come under that target.]

Bottom Line: It just is what it is, but what it is is incredibly irritating....

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Senator Jane Nelson: (512) 463-0112

Representative John Zerwas: (512) 463-0567

#TXLEGE: A quick thought on "Supplemental" Budgeting....

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

From this morning:

Texas Senate budget writers on Thursday approved a supplemental budget to pay for leftover expenses that aren’t covered in the state's current two-year budget, mostly for health and human services programs.

The Senate Finance Committee unanimously voted to spend about $800 million in state funds — which comes with a matching $1.6 billion from the federal government — to cover a shortfall in Medicaid, the public health insurance program for the poor and disabled. That made up by far the largest chunk of the $2.6 billion supplemental budget approved Thursday.

Another $158 million of combined state and federal funds would pay for “critical needs” at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, mostly to cover the costs of hiring new Child Protective Services caseworkers.

That's fine...as far as it goes.  The supplemental bill falls within the parameters that were set before the session.  Our early fears on the supplemental appear to have not materialized.

But, moving forward, we are getting awfully sick of having to do a supplemental every two years.  It's gimmicky nonsense (that has recently been very badly abused), and it only happens because legislators don't want to be criticized for being tight-fisted (which is going to happen anyway).  It might be too late to avoid a supplemental in 2019, but next session it needs to be a priority to write a budget that won't require a supplemental in 2021.

Bottom Line: We need to begin a serious conversation on "supplemental free budgeting" during the interim.

Will the 85th #TXLEGE actually revive Old School BUDGET GIMMICKS?!?

"He who walks with integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will become known."
Proverbs 10:9

In what seems to be an emerging motif for this legislative session, both chambers are (again) attempting to engage in a slight of hand while attention is focused elsewhere; fortunately, TPPF smoked them out.

Here's what's happening: Because the Texas Legislature only meets every other year, state government in Texas has a two year budget cycle.  That means there's a lot of guesswork that goes into the back end of a two-year budget.  Therefore, it's typical for the legislature to low-ball costs for the back end, then come back and pass a supplemental appropriations bill for the current two year cycle at the beginning of the next legislative session.

To be clear: There's nothing inherently wrong with supplemental appropriations.  Used properly, supplemental appropriations are a wise cash-flow management strategy.  The problem is that the legislature has a bad habit of using supplemental appropriations bills to hide massive spending increases when nobody is looking.

Here's why it works: If you hide a massive spending increase in a supplemental bill, it jacks up what's called the "baseline" which allows them to pretend the budget for the next two-year cycle isn't growing as much as it actually is.  [Author's Note: To put it in nerdy math terms, if you increase the denominator it lowers the percentage change when you later increase the numerator.]

They last attempted this nonsense four years ago.  In 2013, the year of the infamous 26% spending increase, they split the afore mentioned spending increase between the supplemental and the final budget.  We chided the disingenuous media for willfully misrepresenting this process at the time.

Unfortunately, as the TPPF numbers above indicate, the current plans for a supplemental appropriations bill revive this gimmick; the biggest shame is that the budget was the one thing they did a "reasonably not crappy" job on last session.

Bottom Line: We'll have to see how this plays out, but this is NOT an encouraging sign for anything related to this session.

-----

Senate Finance Committee Chair Jane Nelson: (512) 463-0112
House Speaker Joe Straus: (512) 463-1000

-----

Grassroots leaders from around the state released the following letter to legislative leadership last night:

Grassroots Coalition 85th Spending Limits by Cahnman on Scribd

First Major Pro-Life SENATE Bill of 85th #TXLEGE Filed!!!

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5

We've yet to make final decisions about how we will pursue the life issue next session, but this is a strong start:

PR 11 17 2016 Lt. Gov. Patrick Statement on Filing of the Pre-Born Protection and Dignity Act by Cahnman on Scribd

Bottom Line: What you really need is a full ban on dismemberment abortions (to say nothing about a full ban on ALL abortions), but considering political reality at the Capitol this might be an achievable step towards eliminating the most abhorrent practices in which we learned two summers ago that Planned Parenthood was engaged.

#TXLEGE: Senate Pressure re: Property Taxes already changing local behavior....

"But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God."
Nehemiah 5:15

This is fantastic:

Plano Property Tax Hearing (10.03.16) by Cahnman on Scribd

Patrick/Nelson move ZERO BASED BUDGETING forward!!!

"The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;
But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich."
Proverbs 13:4

Press Release from the Lite Guv's office:

PR 05 03 2016 Lt. Gov. Patrick on Zero-Based Budgeting

Texas Senate moving towards Zero-Based budgeting!!!

"The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;
But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich."
Proverbs 13:4

Press release from Konni Burton this morning:

Press Release_Burton on Zero Based Budgeting_04.19.16

Bottom Line: It'll probably take a few sessions to implement this policy across the board.  But you have to start somewhere.  Kudos to Lt. Gov. Patrick and Sens. Nelson and Burton for getting the ball rolling.

Texas Racing Commission signs its Death Warrant

"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness."
Matthew 13:41 

Yesterday, the Texas Racing Commission chose cronyism over the explicit wishes of the Texas Senate.  To be honest, the degree to which they continue to be stubborn and belligerent shocks us.  Lt. Governor Patrick's statement speaks for itself:

PR 12 15 2015 Lt. Gov. Patrick on Texas Racing Commission

Conservative North Texas Senators ENDORSE Stickland's re-election!!!

"As iron sharpens iron,
So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
Proverbs 27:17

Ho hum, another day, another round conservatives endorsing Jonathan Stickland:

STICKLAND ANNOUNCES STATE SENATE ENDORSEMENTS FOR REELECTION CAMPAIGN

(Bedford, TX) – Wednesday, Jonathan Stickland announced his fourth round of public endorsements for his re-election campaign to the Texas House. The list includes four of the most conservative State Senators in Texas.

Senator Konni Burton

Senator Bob Hall

Senator Don Huffines

Senator Van Taylor

“Rarely do politicians do what they say they will do once elected. Jonathan Stickland has done just that. As an early supporter of his first campaign, I could not be happier to stand with him once again. Hurst, Euless, and Bedford can be proud of the fact that they have sent a true leader to represent them in the Texas legislature.” -Senator Burton

“Representative Stickland is a true defender of liberty. When something needs to get done in the House or a bad bill needs to be killed, he is the go to guy. I am proud to endorse his reelection campaign.” -Senator Huffines

“Representative Jonathan Stickland is a one of a kind leader in the Texas House. Jonathan’s
command of the rules and dedication to his home district makes him a tremendous asset for the conservative movement in Texas. I am proud to endorse him for reelection.” -Senator Taylor

Bottom Line: It's not surprising that conservative Texas Senators would endorse a conservative State Rep.  Still, questions remain.  For a Tarrant County based district...where are Kelly Hancock and Jane Nelson?!?

Criminalization of politics now targets Jane Nelson

"For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful matters
Against the quiet ones in the land."
Psalm 35:20

Oh good grief:

Last year crony investors connected with the Texas horse-racing industry sought to undermine Texas’ constitution in an effort to line their own pockets. Now, this same group is working to criminalize the leadership of State Sen. Jane Nelson (R–Flower Mound) and her efforts to rein-in their illegal usurpation of power.

On Monday, Jan Haynes, President of the Texas Horsemen Association, filed a felony criminal complaint with the Texas Rangers against Nelson. He is asking the state to lock Nelson in a cage for the rest of her life for daring to do her job and stop the Texas Racing Commission’s abuse of power. The attacks are in response to efforts by Nelson to use the legislature’s power of the purse to rein-in illegal and unconstitutional activity by the rogue executive agency.

Last year the Racing Commission, in the face of a letter from the Senate Republican Caucus ordering them not to usurp legislative power, passed rules permitting Texas horse racing tracks to install slot machine-like devices called “historical racing terminals.” The rules were passed without any legislative authority and against constitutional restrictions. All segments of the horse gambling industry were expected to make millions from the new rules.

....

Instead of coming to heel under the legislature’s power, the horse-racing industry is using the new favorite weapon of the establishment class: phony criminal investigations where the process is the punishment. Like Tom Delay, Rick Perry, Wallace Hall, and, most recently Ken Paxton before her, Sen. Nelson will now be required to hire criminal defense attorneys to defend her innocent and entirely laudable behavior.

The gamblers want to use the threat of the criminal justice system to intimidate Nelson into releasing their funding. Unfortunately for them, a knot has already been tied in their gun barrel: the statute they are attempting to use against Nelson was declared unconstitutional this summer by the Austin-based Court of Appeals.

Read the whole thing here.

When Straus' House killed "Strategic Fiscal Reviews"

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it.
Proverbs 21:20

SB 53, by Jane Nelson, was a bill captioned: "relating to strategic fiscal reviews of state agencies and programs."

The purpose of the bill was to collect more information for legislators about state agencies going through the sunset process; among other things, it would require identifying statutory authority for each activity in which the relevant agency engages.

The bill passed the Texas Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.  Notably, every Democrat voted for the measure.  Kelly Hancock was the lone dissenting vote.

On May 4th, Joe Straus referred SB 53 to the House Appropriations committee.  Under chairman John Otto, the bill stalled.  Strategic Fiscal Reviews were dead in committee.

No one denies that the 84th #TXLEGE produced a "reasonably not crappy" two year budget, but the fate of SB 53 illustrates (again) how Team Straus went out of their way to kill any sort of structural fiscal reform.

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Read the full bill below:

SB5384th#TXLEGE