The Week in the Rearview Mirror

A federal appeals court ruled that an Environmental Protection Agency policy went outside statutory bounds in its attempt to regulate air pollution across state boundaries. The EPA crafted the cross-state rule to apply to power plant emissions that would be carried over state lines. State officials and power plant operators argued the rule would be detrimental to the state’s power grid by reducing production capacity of the affected plants.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Texas the green light to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood clinics pending the outcome of an upcoming trial on the issue. A law passed in the last session cuts off funding to any clinic linked to abortion providers, although no state money went to pay for abortions. Planned Parenthood received state money through the Women’s Health Program to provide health services to about 130,000 low-income women, including cancer screenings. Federal dollars previously made up 90 percent of the funding for the program.

A state district judge ruled that a group representing charter schools could remain a party to the school finance lawsuits set for trial in October. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund had asked that the charter school group, Texans for Real Efficiency and Equity in Education, known as TREE, be excluded from the lawsuit, contending that its concerns were legislative and not constitutional. But Judge John Deitz sided with TREE, allowing the lawsuit to proceed as planned.

Gov. Rick Perry told state agencies that the new federal policy of deferred action announced by the Obama administration in June would not confer any new state benefits to those who qualify for the two-year deportation reprieve. In a letter to state agencies, Perry emphasized that illegal immigrants still may not receive state services because of the plan. Perry criticized the policy, but didn’t go as far as Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who issued an executive order denying benefits and driver’s licenses to those eligible for the program.

Galveston faces a Sept. 1 deadline to present a plan to replace public housing damaged by Hurricane Ike or lose state and federal funds. The state notified Mayor Lewis Rosen the city would be required to pay back $56 million in state funds if the terms of the program are not met. The city also faces a threat from the federal government to withhold aid if the deadline is missed. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development notified officials in Galveston that $586 million in disaster payments is on the line and the city could also be sued by the U.S. Justice Department if it doesn’t comply with the terms of the grants. City officials are pessimistic that they’ll be able to get a plan in place by the deadline to replace 569 public housing units.

For the first time in six years, the Houston Housing Authority has opened access to the voucher program that provides assistance to low-income families. Online applications flooded in for the 20,000 spots, necessitating a lottery to determine which of the expected 125,000 applications will be selected. The waiting list only guarantees that the applicant will be eligible to receive assistance when a current recipient of assistance no longer qualifies. 

A predicted El Niño developing in the Pacific could lead to much-needed rainfall for the state this winter. El Niño raises tropical temperatures and tends to lead to wetter weather for Texas. The state’s climatologist characterized the current El Niño as weak to moderate and warned that the increased rainfall is likely, but not guaranteed.