A Well-Timed Budget Note From the Attorney General

TribLive at the Austin Club featuring State Sen. Tommy Williams and State Rep. Jim Pitts on financial issues facing the 83rd Texas Legislature.
TribLive at the Austin Club featuring State Sen. Tommy Williams and State Rep. Jim Pitts on financial issues facing the 83rd Texas Legislature.

Greg Abbott’s letter doesn’t have any new information in it, but the timing takes away what some — probably those further from the budget conversations than closer — saw as a possible solution for the Legislature’s financial logjam.

The attorney general said what budgeteers already know: Spending from the Rainy Day Fund counts against the constitutional spending cap. The question over that goes a long way back, but a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court settled things: It’s not free money.

That leaves two outs, if lawmakers want to spend more than the constitutional limit on growth would allow. They can vote to spend more than the limit, a simple matter that might, in some districts, have real political costs. Or they can ask voters to change the constitution — this is the idea behind the Senate’s SJR 1 — and to set aside money for water and transportation and education.

The first option requires a simple majority in the House and in the Senate (it's a majority to bust the spending cap; two-thirds to get into the Rainy Day Fund). It would push the state past the spending limits and take care of the big, expensive things legislative leaders and the governor have said they require of this Legislature: water, roads, education and tax cuts.

Lots of members think it would be simple, effective and that it would get a lot of them beat in next year’s primaries.

The second option requires two-thirds majorities from the House and the Senate. They would ask voters to bust the cap instead of doing it themselves. One risk is that voters might say no, taking away any wiggle room for lawmakers looking to balance the public’s demand for spending on various programs with its demand for small government that doesn’t cost much.

They could always cut spending, an idea that everybody likes until they see the cuts that would be necessary to take care of water and transportation spending, not to mention education and tax cuts.

The trick here is to put together the votes for some combination of ideas that will satisfy Republican primary voters and the leadership’s to-do list without crossing any of the lines in the sand drawn by lawmakers who variously don’t want to bust the spending cap, spend money from the Rainy Day Fund, leave public education cuts from 2011 in place, go home without any water plans or transportation funding or tax cuts.

Abbott’s timing — prompted directly by a request from Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and indirectly by the Senate's proposed constitutional amendments — was pretty good. They’ve removed an imaginary and magical solution that might have untied the knot without any hard work.

Now they can really negotiate. 

House Tentatively OKs Bill to Review Solitary Confinement

Updated, May 21, 6:55 p.m.: 

The House on Tuesday tentatively approved Senate Bill 1003, which would require a now-defunct legislative oversight committee to hire an independent party to review solitary confinement conditions in Texas prisons and juvenile lockups.

The Austin American Statesman reported that the Criminal Justice Legislative Oversight Committee, which under the bill would be assigned to hire someone to conduct the review, has been defunct since 2009. It used to be a joint committee of legislators from the House and Senate.

Under SB 1003, an independent third party hired by the committee would review policies for the use of administrative segregation — otherwise known as solitary confinement — and report to legislators on why it is used, the conditions of confinement and what happens to inmates after they are held in "ad seg."

"They’re going to let us know what's going on, essentially," said state Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, the House sponsor of the bill by state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. "Their task is to look at what's going on in ad seg and what's going on after ad seg."

Carona told the Statesman that Gov. Rick Perry's office requested that the legislative committee be tasked with hiring an independent reviewer. “I presume there will be a committee to do that,” he told the newspaper.

Original story:

Efforts to gather data and develop recommendations to reduce the use of solitary confinement in Texas jails and prisons seem to have withered this session in the face of opposition from officials who oversee those facilities.

“There’s not a temperature for it,” said state Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso.

Both Marquez and state Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, said their proposals, which would require agencies that house adult and juvenile inmates to report information about their use of administrative segregation, were running out of time as critical deadlines in the House passed recently. While Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said they don’t take positions for or against legislation, Brazos County Sheriff Christopher Kirk said he and his colleagues who oversee local lockups across the state opposed the measure. They worried that it would be a step on the path to eliminating their ability to use “ad seg” to protect inmates and prison staff.

The measures proposed by Marquez and Guillen would require agencies that house inmates to report how often they use ad seg, why they use it, which types of prisoners are isolated and what happens to prisoners who are confined alone for extended periods of time.

“The purpose of the bill was to get TDCJ to report these issues so that we could make policy decisions based on solid numbers,” Marquez said. 

In fiscal year 2012, more than 830 inmates were discharged from ad seg directly to the streets, according to the TDCJ. Another 613 were released on parole and mandatory supervision.

At legislative budget hearings, Marquez said, TDCJ officials were unable to adequately explain how much it costs to house inmates in ad seg or how many of those prisoners had some kind of mental or physical illness. Her bill would have required the gathering of such data along with recommendations for reducing the use of solitary confinement.

“I can’t imagine someone getting better for being in a place 23 hours a day with only an hour to go out,” Marquez said. “I cannot see how that’s rehabilitative.”

Many lawmakers, she said, don’t understand that some inmates go directly back to the streets, into their constituents’ neighborhoods and communities, after long-term solitary confinement. And TDCJ officials, she said, buck at the notion of additional oversight.

“They continue to want the flexibility to do whatever they want,” she said.

Kirk said that in local lockups like his, ad seg is used differently than in the TDCJ. It’s not always used as a disciplinary tool to punish inmates who break the rules or act aggressively. Often, he said, it is used as a safety protocol to isolate those who have a contagious disease or who might be preyed upon by other inmates. Those inmates, he said, have the same access to programs in the jail and to commissary and other privileges despite being housed in ad seg.

Sheriffs are already required to report to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards about their use of ad seg, Kirk said, though not in as much detail as the legislation would require.

“The sheriffs would argue that this is a necessary classification for certain inmates,” Kirk said. “It is important for jails to have the capabilities to use it when it’s needed.”

From 2009 to 2012, 88 inmates committed suicide in Texas county jails, according to the Texas Jail Project, and nearly half of them were housed in single cells.

Diana Claitor, director of the Jail Project, said she finds the sheriffs’ resistance to the measure ironic given that they have complained bitterly in recent years about the lack of funding for mental health services in Texas, which has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of mentally ill inmates in their facilities. If lawmakers understand the scope of the problem and how often those inmates must be housed in isolation, Claitor said, they might be inclined to provide resources for counties to cope with the issue.

“It’s a pitiful state of affairs when we’re all so concerned about the ever-increasing number of mentally ill in jails and we are not willing to at least try to look at some alternative solutions,” she said. 

Marquez’s bill, House Bill 686, didn’t receive a vote from the House Corrections Committee. Guillen’s bill, House Bill 1266, was approved by the committee but died in the Calendars Committee, which had a Tuesday deadline to post House bills for consideration on the floor. Marquez attempted to add her bill to the TDCJ omnibus bill, but the amendment failed. Neither lawmaker, though, was prepared to admit defeat on the issue.

There could be some hope in Senate Bill 1003 by state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, which would require ad seg reports from TDCJ and TJJD but not from county jails. It has been approved in the Senate, and the House Corrections Committee passed the measure on Thursday.

“You don’t have to pass a bill to change things is what I’ve learned,” Guillen said, “And I think we’re making progress.”

Medicaid Providers Make a Last Push for Higher Rates

*Correction appended.

In the waning days of budget negotiations, medical providers are sounding their biennial battle cry to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates. Despite their refrain that increasing reimbursement rates could shore up the program’s provider network, the rates probably won’t budge much, as that is traditionally one of few variables that the Legislature relies on to contain Medicaid costs.

“If we can find another way to create cost containment in the Medicaid program, then we wouldn’t have to lean so hard on the provider rates,” said Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton. He is House Speaker Joe Straus’ go-to guy for health and human services and Article II in the budget.

In the belt-tightening 2011 session, lawmakers cut reimbursement rates for most providers by 10 to 20 percent, Zerwas said. While budget negotiators are looking to raise a handful of provider rates that are “markedly depressed,” he said the goal this session is to not cut rates further. 

“Texas is one of the lowest states as far as doctor payment under Medicaid,” said Dr. Michael Speer, president of the Texas Medical Association. “We haven’t reached bottom, but we’re right above the catfish — the bottom feeders.”

On average, Texas Medicaid pays 65 cents for every dollar Medicare pays for the same services, according to a Medicaid-to-Medicare fee index compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In its latest survey, the Texas Medical Association found only 31 percent of Texas doctors were willing to accept all new Medicaid patients in 2012, down from 67 percent in 2000. By comparison, 58 percent of doctors accept Medicare patients, down from 78 percent in 2000.

Gov. Rick Perry and other GOP members have repeatedly called Medicaid “broken” because so many providers are unwilling to participate in the program. Medical providers argue that if the Legislature intends to fix Medicaid, raising reimbursement rates would be a good place to start. 

The only Medicaid reimbursements that are guaranteed to rise this session are primary care rates, as a provision in the federal Affordable Care Act requires Texas to bring Medicaid rates for primary care providers to parity with Medicare rates for two years. The federal government will pick up the majority of the tab — $549 million in 2014 — while the state will have to pay $16 million to restore cuts to reimbursement rates made in 2011, according to the Health and Human Services Commission. 

The House version of the budget would redefine obstetricians and gynecologists as primary care providers, enabling them to qualify for the rate increase required by the ACA.

“It seems like a logical policy thing to do, to allow OB/GYNs to be [considered] primary care providers for women,” said Zerwas, noting that he’s still negotiating with Senate budget conferees and it’s “not absolutely baked into our decisions right now.”

“I agree that provider rates need to fairly compensate physicians for these important services,” Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound and Zerwas’ counterpart for the health budget in the Senate, said in a statement. “We are evaluating its feasibility as we finalize the budget.”

The tentative Senate version of the budget allots $74 billion for Article II — nearly a billion dollars more than for public and higher education, traditionally the largest portion of the budget — while the House version calls for more than $72 billion.

Both the House and Senate budget proposals include riders that would reduce Medicaid costs by $349 million or $400 million, respectively. Rather than raise Medicaid rates, the riders include provisions to bring Medicaid rates that are above Medicare rates to parity. (The House version excludes home health pediatric services that have no equivalent in Medicare.)

For the majority of the Medicaid program, the Legislature doesn’t set reimbursement rates anymore, as the state contracts with Medicaid managed care organizations to build provider networks across the state by setting competitive reimbursement rates. Managed care contains costs, proponents argue, as the state pays the MCOs a premium for each Medicaid recipient, rather than a fee for each service.

Earlier this month, the Legislative Budget Board approved a small bump — $59 million for the end of fiscal year 2013 — to Medicaid managed care organization’s premiums. A spokesperson for HHSC said that would pay for costs already incurred by MCOs, such as payments to physicians for services.

“There’s really no incentive or no requirement for them to ensure that those increases trickle down to providers that are actually providing the services,” said Rachel Hammon, executive director for Texas Association of Homecare and Hospice. It’s more difficult for Medicaid providers, such as home health agencies, to operate their businesses, Hammon argued, because unlike other industries, which may raise the cost of services to raise additional revenue, “we can’t increase our rates.”

Although raising the reimbursements to MCOs does not necessarily increase payments to providers, Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said the Legislature could stipulate that increases in premiums trickle down to reimbursement rates.

“If we want to keep Medicaid providers, up the rates,” Coleman said. “As a matter of fact, that would mean a lot to the infrastructure of the networks that are necessary to serve patients.”

*This story originally misstated the amount proposed budget riders would reduce in Medicaid savings. It has been corrected to state that the budget riders would reduce Medicaid spending by $349 million to $400 million in the 2014-15 biennium.

Newsreel: Deadlines, Tax Cuts, Special Session

In the latest Texas Weekly Newsreel: With less than three weeks left in the legislative session, the deadlines are coming fast and furious, raising the stakes for negotiators on the budget, water, transportation, tax cuts and the Rainy Day Fund and prompting whispers of a special session if things don't get finished. 

Inside Intelligence: About Those Special Sessions...

It’s the first week of May — as one insider pointed out, the peak season for speculation about special legislative sessions. That’s what we asked about this week, and that observation might be correct: 39 predict special sessions this year; 22 percent expect them in 2014; 26 percent expect special sessions both years. Only 10 percent said there won’t be extra time for lawmakers.

Overall, 55 percent expect more than one special session between the end of the regular session later this month and the start of the next one in 2015. The leading candidate is school finance, now tangled in state district court and on its way to an expected appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. Smaller numbers — 51 percent and 50 percent, respectively — expect sessions on redistricting and budget issues like water and transportation.

We gathered comments along the way, as is our habit, and the full set is attached. A sampling follows:

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When do you think a special session is likely in the next two years?

• "The Governor's infrastructure priorities will need to be addressed this year. Once the US Supreme Court gets the Feds off of our backs, redistricting will be dealt with in 2014."

• "The first session will be called this summer to shore up the Perry agenda - why Perry slept until April, we don't know.  The second special will be called in 2014 if we lose school finance in court."

• "Education Equity will be after the Primary Elections in 2014.  Redistricting will be in 2013."

• "Rick Perry has a presidential campaign to run. Ain't nobody got time for this!"

• "If the Legislature takes care of business, there won't be a need for a special session until the Texas Supreme Court rules on public education funding, and no one knows that timeline."

• "The lemming wisdom says post-primary 2014 to deal with school finance. But what if the Texas courts give the Legislature a pass on school funding after this session's comparatively paltry restorations?"

• "Most likely, no special sessions.  What's interesting is the timing of your question.  Ask in the first week of February or the first week of August, and you'd get very different answers from today.  But hope springs eternal and the first week of May during a session is the peak moment when insiders desperately want to believe that a special session is right around the corner to save all their dying bills."

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Do you think there will be more than one special session?

• "There will be more than one special session unless the Legislature gets reasonable on their water plan very soon.  Also, redistricting is a given."

• "School Finance will take 2 or 3 tries."

• "Water/tax cut in 2013 and school finance in 2014"

• "We Texans always appreciate water more during the summer."

• "Water also needs attention if funding doesn't occur in regular session.  Also school finance."

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Do you think there will be a special session on school finance?

• "Timing will depend on when the Court weighs in."

• "We'll be in session on school finance only if we lose at the Supremes."

• "The schedule has been pushed back too far.  Dietz needs to have an evidentiary hearing on the finance changes made in the session, then has to write an opinion.  By the time the appeal is filed, briefs are written, oral argument is held, and the Supreme Court issues an opinion, it's way too late for a special in 2014."

• "Yes, but it will be a bargaining chip to get the water bill moving."

• "Unless 'they' think it can wait til 2015 I don't see any other way of getting to fixin' school finance."

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Do you think there will be a special session on redistricting?

• "Once the Supreme Court gives Texas the autonomy it deserves, expect the Republicans to take care of redistricting."

• "We all know Gov. Perry is the only person who can call a special session.  The courts can't make him do it, and I don't see him bending to the will of the courts.  If there's an issue with the maps, it'll be resolved by the courts or it'll be resolved in 2015 during the 84th Regular Session."

• "The clock is ticking. Well, it is really not. It's going to be a hot summer at the capitol."

• "Add it to the water session"

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Do you think there will be a special session on water, transportation or other budget issues?

• "If they fit the profile of the unsatisfied Perry agenda, then yes, we could have specials on any of these issues.  Probably in short order."

• "If TWIA or water don’t get done, then those two issues should be on a call."

• "It depends on how creative the members and the leadership get in the waning days of the regular session. It also depends on whether the Republicans will loosen the purse strings for education. As Whitney sang, 'I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way...'"

• "Deadlines encourage compromise.  There will be a deal."

• "Don't ask me.  Ask Perry, the Dew, and Straus.  They're the ones who control whether these issues are addressed within the next three weeks or will necessitate a special session."

• "A legislator that cannot look at moving a small portion of the RDF into bonds for water projects is the same guy that won't repair his roof shingles and waits for it to cave in."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Brandon Aghamalian, Jenny Aghamalian, Victor Alcorta, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, David Anthony, Doc Arnold, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Tom Banning, Dave Beckwith, Rebecca Bernhardt, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, David Cabrales, Lydia Camarillo, Kerry Cammack, Thure Cannon, Janis Carter, William Chapman, Elna Christopher, Kevin Cooper, Addie Mae Crimmins, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, Hector De Leon, Tom Duffy, Jeff Eller, Jack Erskine, Jon Fisher, Robert Floyd, Wil Galloway, Norman Garza, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Scott Gilmore, Kinnan Golemon, Jim Grace, John Greytok, Clint Hackney, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Adam Haynes, Jim Henson, Ken Hodges, Steve Holzheauser, Laura Huffman, Deborah Ingersoll, Cal Jillson, Mark Jones, Robert Jones, Lisa Kaufman, Russ Keane, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Ramey Ko, Sandy Kress, Dale Laine, Nick Lampson, Pete Laney, Dick Lavine, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Mark Lehman, Leslie Lemon, Ruben Longoria, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Luke Marchant, Bryan Mayes, Scott McCown, Mike McKinney, Robert Miller, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Steve Murdock, Keats Norfleet, Pat Nugent, Pat Oxford, Nef Partida, Gardner Pate, Robert Peeler, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Kraege Polan, Gary Polland, Jay Propes, Ted Melina Raab, Bill Ratliff, Karen Reagan, Tim Reeves, Patrick Reinhart, Grant Ruckel, Jason Sabo, Andy Sansom, Jim Sartwelle, Stan Schlueter, Bruce Scott, Robert Scott, Ben Sebree, Dan Shelley, Christopher Shields, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Todd Smith, Larry Soward, Dennis Speight, Jason Stanford, Bob Strauser, Colin Strother, Charles Stuart, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Sherry Sylvester, Jay Thompson, Russ Tidwell, Gerard Torres, Trey Trainor, Vicki Truitt, Ware Wendell, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick, Alex Winslow, Peck Young, Angelo Zottarelli.

The Calendar

Monday, May 13

  • House Investments and Financial Services, 9 a.m.
  • Senate Transportation, 9 a.m.
  • House Government Efficiency and Reform, 10 a.m.
  • House Elections, 10 a.m.
  • Senate Nominations, 10 a.m.
  • House Criminal Jurisprudence, 10:30 a.m.
  • House State Affairs, 10:30 a.m.
  • Senate Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security, 1:30 p.m.
  • House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, 2 p.m.
  • House Pensions, 2 p.m.
  • Senate Open Government, 2 p.m.

Tuesday, May 14

  • House Transportation, 9 a.m.
  • House Environmental Regulation, 10:30 a.m.
  • House Licensing and Administrative Procedures, noon
  • House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations, 1 p.m.
  • Senate Jurisprudence, 1:30 p.m.
  • House Public Education, 2 p.m.

Wednesday, May 15

  • Senate Higher Education, 9 a.m.
  • Senate Veteran Affairs and Military Installations, 1:30 p.m.

Guest Column: An Early Look at Legislative Partisanship

Mark P. Jones
Mark P. Jones

As we enter into the homestretch of the 83rd regular session, it's time for a snapshot of the ideological location of the members of the Texas Senate and House this session using their votes through April 30.

Methodology

I carried out this preliminary analysis of the ideological location of each Texas legislator based on roll call votes taken in each chamber during the first 113 days of the 140-day regular session, using a Bayesian estimation procedure developed by Stanford University Professor Simon Jackman. Altogether it draws on the 330 and 173 non-lopsided votes cast during this period in the Senate and House respectively to locate the senators and representatives on the Liberal-Conservative dimension along which most legislative politics in Austin (and Washington, D.C.) takes place. I’ll do a more complete and definitive analysis in June, using data from the entire session.

On the figures included here, Republicans are indicated by red dots and Democrats by blue ones. The figures are based on the roll call vote analysis, and for each legislator provide a mean ideal point (referred to below as the Lib-Con Score) along with the 95 percent credible interval (CI) for this point estimate. Only when a legislator’s CI does not overlap with that of another legislator can we state with some certainty that their respective locations on the Liberal-Conservative dimension are credibly distinct from each other. In other words, if two legislators’ CIs overlap, their positions on the ideological spectrum might be statistically equivalent, even if their Lib-Con Scores are distinct.

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When reviewing the figures, it is important to consider that the legislators’ relative locations on the Liberal-Conservative dimension are likely to change somewhat between now and the end of the session, especially in the House. Further, it is vital to keep in mind that just because a Republican’s Lib-Con Score is noticeably lower than that of most of the members of the GOP delegation, this does not mean he/she is not a conservative, only that he/she has a voting record which is less conservative than that of most of his/her fellow Republicans. Finally, the scaling technique used to calculate the Lib-Con Scores (ideal points) is 100 percent chamber-specific, and as a result, the Lib-Con Scores of senators and representatives cannot be directly compared to each other.

Texas Senate

The scores in the Senate range from conservatives Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, and Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, on the right end of the ideological spectrum to liberals Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, on the left.

In spite of the relatively consensual atmosphere that pervaded the Senate during most of its first 113 days, the body still exhibits a very high degree of partisan polarization, with all Republicans racking up scores that are more conservative than those of every Democrat. A few Democrats and Republicans do overlap; nevertheless, as partisan and ideological tensions continue to rise over the next few weeks, it is extremely likely this overlap will diminish, if not vanish completely, by the end of the session on May 27.

Next, while Birdwell registered as the most conservative senator to date, his score is statistically indistinguishable from that of two-thirds of his fellow Republicans. The tight grouping on the right side of the Senate underscores a very high level of ideological homogeneity within the GOP delegation so far this session.

The exception is the presence of a noticeably distinct quartet of Republican senators: John Carona of Dallas, Robert Duncan of Lubbock, Kevin Eltife of Tyler and Kel Seliger of Amarillo. Their scores are significantly less conservative than those of almost all of the 15 other Republican senators, ranging from all but one in the case of Carona to all but three for Seliger. In recent years, these four centrist conservatives have been among the East Wing’s most influential pivot players, with few bills they actively oppose successfully making it out of the Senate.

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Senate Democrats sub-divide into three rough ideological groups, with Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of McAllen and John Whitmire of Houston at the conservative end of the Democratic ideological spectrum, and José Rodríguez of El Paso, Watson and Garcia at the liberal end. During her special election campaign earlier this year, Garcia stated she would be a vigorous and uncompromising advocate for progressive causes in Austin. To date, her voting record indicates that — like her ideological polar opposite Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate — she both talks the talk on the campaign trail and walks the walk on the Senate floor.

Texas House

At the end of April, only 173 non-lopsided roll call votes had been cast in the House. This comparatively small number of votes combined with the potential for a large number of votes to be taken during May indicates that between now and the end of the session the scores  of many representatives could change notably.

The current scores in the House range from those of six Republican representatives who are tightly grouped at the far right edge of the ideological spectrum to a trio of Democrats who are more loosely arrayed at the far left edge of the spectrum.

From right to left, the six Republican representatives with the most conservative voting records through the end of April are Jonathan Stickland of Bedford, Jodie Laubenberg of Parker, Matt Schaefer of Tyler, Matt Krause of Fort Worth, Bill Zedler of Arlington and Scott Turner of Frisco. These six representatives possess significantly more conservative voting records than more than three-quarters of their fellow Republicans. Four of the six are freshmen (Laubenberg and Zedler are the veterans), while five are from the D-FW Metroplex, with Schaefer from nearby Tyler.

The three Democratic representatives with the most liberal voting records through last month are Mary González of Clint, Eddie Rodriguez of Austin and Nicole Collier of Fort Worth. González and Rodriguez have significantly more liberal voting records than almost four-fifths of their Democratic colleagues, while Collier’s is more liberal than that of two-thirds.

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The House figures reveal a high level of partisan polarization, with every Republican more conservative than every Democrat. They also highlight the distribution of key members of Speaker Joe Straus’ leadership team at diverse points across the House ideological spectrum (the speaker, a San Antonio Republican, normally does not cast roll call votes). Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and House Administration Chairman Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, have scores in the least conservative decile of the GOP delegation, scores that are significantly less conservative than those of over half of their 93 fellow Republicans. At the same time, other leading members of Team Straus have substantially more conservative voting records, such as Speaker Pro Tempore Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, and Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas. Only a tiny handful of Republican House members, have significantly more conservative voting records than Bonnen and Branch.

The figures presented here provide an interim portrait of the ideological location of the Texas legislators this session through April 30. Once the deluge of votes that customarily takes place during May has passed, I will return with a more comprehensive analysis of the 2013 regular session. That future study will provide definitive information on the final location of each senator and representative on the Liberal-Conservative dimension in 2013, and will examine the relationship between the legislators’ ideological locations and their win rates on floor votes.

Mark P. Jones is the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy’s Fellow in Political Science, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies and the Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Rice University.

 

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

Most of the legislation filed this session by members of the Texas House never made it out of committee. This new Texas Tribune app tells you the number of bills filed, referred to committee and left, forever, in committee after the deadline passed, and in the House after that deadline passed.

Texas high school students would have new curriculum requirements under legislation unanimously passed by the Senate — but they won't be the ones the House envisioned when it approved its version of the legislation more than a month ago. 

A modernization of Texas’ political disclosure laws could be coming, as the House approved a bill that would strengthen the state's rules on disclosures for political advertisements on radio and television, and add requirements for political ads on social media websites. Another bill that would require lobbyists to disclose the names of lawmakers who pay them using campaign funds for services, including political consulting, is on its way to the governor for a signature or veto.

Small cigarette manufacturers would face new state fees on their sales under a measure that passed the Texas House — a big win for Big Tobacco. The nation’s four largest tobacco companies currently pay more than half a billion dollars to the state every year as part of a 1998 lawsuit settlement. They have for years lobbied for small cigarette manufacturers to face a similar financial penalty.

Groundwater levels in Texas’ major aquifers dropped considerably between 2010 and 2011, as the state's drought intensified, according to a report published recently by the Texas Water Development Board. It showed significant declines in the Ogallala Aquifer, which underlies much of the Panhandle. 

Cheerleaders at an East Texas high school who were told to stop displaying Bible verses on banners at school athletic events can resume such displays, after a state district judge ruled in their favor this week. Officials at Kountze ISD banned the signs after a group threatened to sue; the parents of the cheerleaders sued instead.

Political People and their Moves

State district Judge W.C. “Bud” Kirkendall of Seguin announced he will run for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2014. He’s a Republican, a former district attorney and before that, was a criminal defense lawyer and served as a briefing attorney on the court he now wants to join. He didn’t say which seat he’s interested in; the terms of Judges Cathy Cochran, Paul Womack, and Tom Price all end next year.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed:

Jim Lee of Houston and Ralph Duggins III of Fort Worth to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Lee is president of Ascendant Advisors Group and JHL Capital Holdings. Duggins, who is being reappointed, is a partner at the Cantey Hangar law firm.

• Christopher Huckabee, a Fort Worth architect, to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

• Limestone County Sheriff Dennis Wilson of Groesbeck, to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

• Zebulun Nash of Houston and Douglas Walker of Beach City to the Coastal Water Authority board of directors. Both men are retired, and both worked for ExxonMobil Chemical Co.

• Mike Allen and Claudell Kercheville of Kerrville, and Brian Wright of Center Point to the Upper Guadalupe River Authority. Allen is chairman and CEO of Union State Bank. Kerchevill is retired from Frost Bank in San Antonio. Write is owner of Burn Masters LLC.

Released: Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, arrested and jailed last month for driving while intoxicated. She did 21 days in jail, was ordered pay $4,000 in fines, can’t drive for six months, and faces a hailstorm of calls for her resignation, from the local paper to members of the Legislature. Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford — a former police officer — wants to pull state funding of her public integrity operation unless she quits. He withdrew that effort on one bill but promised to come back around.

Quotes of the Week

It should be no surprise that if folks want to go home at the end of this legislative session, send me $1.8 billion worth of tax relief, send me a balanced budget that has no fee increases for transportation and $2 billion of infrastructure for water, and everybody can go home and enjoy their summer.

Gov. Rick Perry, on the odds of a special session

We weren't sent here to govern like California.

House Speaker Joe Straus on a Senate proposal to ask voters for permission to tap the Rainy Day Fund

The preferred Senate approach is to take a limited amount of money out of the Rainy Day Fund, as Governor Perry has proposed, and not bust the Constitutional spending cap limit.  In fact, as a fiscal conservative, I will not ask my Senators to vote to bust the Constitutional spending cap limit.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, quoted by the Houston Chronicle, dissing the House plan

Speaking the truth, shining light on substantive disagreements of our elected representatives is not bullying. It is the responsibility of each of us.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, in response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who on Monday called Cruz a "schoolyard bully"

Now I don’t agree with him. I think he’s out there. But I’m telling you, he’s more talented than all of these other guys.

Democratic consultant James Carville, evaluating Sen. Ted Cruz on ABC's This Week

Today it’s raining for rich people in Texas.

Rep. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, during House debate over business tax cuts, as quoted by The Dallas Morning News

If I watered it down any more, I couldn’t drink it.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, after one of his proposals turned into a study, in the Austin American-Statesman