#TXLEGE: Notes on the Mark Jones Index....

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 7:20

Mark Jones is a political science professor at Rice University.  Every odd numbered year, he produces a non partisan index that ranks the members of the Texas Legislature from left to right.  Jones' index is worth investing some time into because, while the methodology is more complicated than some other groups, it's the most comprehensive analysis of individual members of the Texas Legislature.

Texas House Results:

Note: Click on the image to enlarge.

Texas Senate Results:

In no particular order, some personal observations:

• Freedom caucus (predictably) solidify their position as the 12 most conservative House members.

• Kel Seliger is the most liberal Republican in the Texas Senate; over half of the Republican caucus in the House is more liberal than Seliger.

• In the House, we would give every member from Rodney Anderson up a passing grade on voting record; that's 31 members out of a 95 member Republican caucus.

• However, even among those 31 members with passing grades on their voting record, there are three (Drew Springer, Dennis Bonnen, and Larry Phillips) who receive automatic F's based on other shady actions; so 28 members out of a 95 member House Republican caucus ultimately receive passing grades.

• 26 Republican House members have more liberal voting records than Byron Cook; chew on that one for a second.

• Jason Isaac moves significantly to the right from 2015 to 2017; this is consistent with a number of observations we made during the session.

• In the other direction, Jodie Laubenberg, James White, Giovanni Capriglione, Tan Parker, and Phil King continued their multi-session leftward drift.

• Speaking of leftward drift, Dan Flynn is now in the bottom half of House Republicans.

• On Monday, we discussed how the leftward march of the pro-status quo crowd was playing with fire; on that note, we find the fact that in both chambers Democrats from the Valley (which has been trending Republican for a decade) voted to the right of their counterparts in the big urban counties to be fascinating.

• Rafael Anchia and Chris Turner both rank significantly to the left of the average Democrat in the House...are they sure those are the two guys they want to make spokespeople for their entire party?!?

• On the Senate side, all Republicans elected in the past 7 years are significantly to the right of the person they replaced.
• Update: We suppose that technically Paul Bettencourt is about even with the guy he replaced in SD-7.

• Charles Perry and Larry Taylor both have voting records to the left of Bob Nichols; while people shouldn't overreact, this is a trend worth monitoring.

• Joan Huffman as the second most liberal Senate Republican might be flying a little too close to the sun for her own good in her re-elect cycle.

Read the full report (including a detailed discussion of methodology) for the House here and the Senate here.

#TXLEGE: Four Hour local and consent sets tone for final House push....

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage."
2 Peter 2:19

After we left the UT board meeting, we went to watch the House local and consent calendar.  What a mess.  After four hours of crossfire stalling and a shady attempt by leadership to change rules, over 20 bills had been killed.

While Jonathan Stickland was a ringleader, he wasn't the only participant.  Briscoe Cain, Matt Rinaldi, Tony Tinderholt, Valoree Swanson, and others also did their thing.  On the Democrat side, both Rafael Anchia and Ramon Romero saw significant action.

Some highlights:

• Stickland and Cain knocked off a Sarah Davis bill to fund a "maternal mortality" study under Medicaid that might have been used to justify abortions.

• Travis Clardy had (at least) three bills knocked off the calendar and at times was trying to distract Stickland while he was speaking.

• Larry Phillips almost sucker punched a member of the Freedom caucus and had to be physically restrained by another member of House leadership.

• Several attempts to create new taxes were considered.

• Likewise several special purpose districts with eminient domain authority.

Following the calendar, Senfronia Thompson attempted to change the rules so that the bills which had been knocked off could be considered on the regular calendar; she backed down when Matt Rinaldi attempted to amend her motion to consider several bills that leadership is actively killing.

Bottom Line: Tempers are short (and we still have two more days to go)....

Bonnen hears (at least) 11 more special interest carve out bills (51 for session)....

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

It's that time of week when we check on the latest from Dennis Bonnen and the Texas House Ways and Means committee:

• HB 643        Phillips
  Relating to the eligibility of land for appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes as qualified open-space land on the basis of its use for wildlife management.
  
• HB 1211       Phillips               
  Relating to the additional tax imposed on land appraised for ad valorem tax purposes as qualified open-space land if a change in use of the land occurs.

• HB 1626       Gutierrez              
  Relating to the authority of a taxing unit other than a school district to enter into a tax abatement agreement with an owner of real property in a tax increment financing reinvestment zone.

• HB 2453       Lucio III | et al.     
  Relating to an insurance premium tax credit for investment in certain communities; imposing a monetary penalty; authorizing fees.

• HB 2560       King, Tracy O. | et al.
  Relating to the appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes of certain dealer's heavy equipment inventory.

• HB 2756       Cook                   
  Relating to certain procedures for tax redeterminations and refund claims.

• HB 2871       Guillen                
  Relating to the use of county hotel occupancy taxes by certain counties.

• HB 3345       Springer               
  Relating to the definition of "passive entity" for the franchise tax.

• HB 3466       King, Tracy O.         
  Relating to the appraisal for ad valorem tax purposes of dealer's heavy equipment inventory and the prepayment of taxes on that inventory.

• HB 4052       Murphy                 
  Relating to the exemption of certain services performed by certain employees from the sales and use tax.

• HB 4054       Murphy                 
  Relating to the application of sales and use taxes to certain food items.

LOL, 17 #TXLEGE RINO's attempting to waft behind Cruz's campaign....

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
Matthew 7:20

-----

Update: It's worth mentioning that, at the beginning of the summer, we were considering keeping a running tally of which Presidential candidates Texas legislators were supporting, but we decided against this because we thought something like this might happen.

-----

Ted Cruz's Presidential campaign released a list of supporters from the Texas Legislature this morning.  It's...an interesting list.  It reveals the degree to which Ted Cruz defines politics in this state.

The overwhelming majority of solid conservatives in both chambers endorse Cruz.  In the Texas Senate, all of the Senators who endorsed him are solid.  In the Texas House, 15 out of the 19 Scott Turner supporters endorsed Cruz.

But this list gets interesting when you look at the Straus supporters who've endorsed Cruz.

While a few of the Straus supporters are middle-of-the-pack House members, the list also features some of the WORST RINO's in the Texas House.

Empower Texans compiles an index to measure legislators on economic issues.  Texas Values has a similar index for Faith and Family issues.  On that note, consider the following from the recently concluded legislative session:

Obviously, these folks think getting their name in a Ted Cruz Presidential press release (and the pictures that will inevitably follow) will obscure their mediocre and worse records in the legislature.

Bottom Line: Ted Cruz clearly attracts support from both conservatives and people who are scared to death of conservatives.

-----

* - Dan Flynn led the Wallace Hall impeachment fiasco.

** - Larry Phillips helped illegally cock-block Constitutional Carry.

*** - Debbie Riddle almost killed a pro-Life bill in an obscure legislative committee.

**** - Wayne Smith killed the TESLA bill.

***** - John Zerwas is openly pro-Obamacare.