Nobody predicted Gov. Rick Perry would set a record by vetoing 82 bills at the end of the session, but neither should anyone be completely surprised. The tension between the governor and the Legislature has been unrelenting since the November elections. If nothing else, they leave the governor’s mark on a session where he had previously had little impact.
Posted inState Government
On Pins and Needles
Some major legislation was still on the Maybe-Maybe Not list as the governor’s June 17 veto deadline approached. The list included the so-called Penry Bill, which would insert an evaluation of mental retardation into the state’s death penalty process and make it more difficult for the state to execute mentally retarded murderers. Gov. Rick Perry originally said the issue should be left to the courts, since the case involving Johnny Paul Penry was, at the time, pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. That court has since ruled (on a related, but somewhat different point about the judge’s instructions to the jury) and Perry no longer has that excuse. He’s getting advice both ways, both internally and externally, but hadn’t made a decision as of late Thursday.
Posted inState Government
A False Start and a Race to the Stage
After an arduous and grueling ten-day campaign (we’re joking, but only a little), Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff dropped out of the 2002 race for the job he already holds. Ratliff jumped into the race on the last Saturday of the session, surrounded by family and bolstered by the presence of nearly a dozen senators. Less than two weeks later, he was standing in front of a bank of cameras and reporters to say that he wasn’t willing to make the compromises necessary in a successful statewide campaign.
Posted inState Government
Redistricting Reboot
Eight days isn’t much of a cooling off period, but the Legislative Redistricting Board will convene on Wednesday to start up to 60 days of work drawing political boundaries for the 2002 races for Texas House and Texas Senate. That start date puts the deadline for the LRB in the first week of August.
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Health care
Out Like a Lamb
The dramatic peak of the 77th legislative session came several weeks ago, when the House was trying to redistrict itself and the Senate was trying not to self-immolate on the hate crimes bill and its own redistricting maps. The end of the session, by contrast, seems as gentle as a receding tide.
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Health care
Real Men Don’t Need Maps
Remember the burning map that used to open the TV show Bonanza? That might as well have been the plans for new political districts in Texas. At our deadline, it was impossible to say with any hope of certitude whether legislative redistricting plans were alive or dead. They weren’t moving, but they had time to move if lawmakers found a compromise, and if they hurried.
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Health care
A Biennial Power Surge
The powers of state officeholders ebb and flow with the calendar. The end of the legislative session is when the governor’s powers peak, when the comptroller has one last moment of leverage, when budgeteers’ prospects are in bloom and when the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House bring their full powers over the legislative agenda to bear. If you see legislative supplicants standing in line to plead for something, chances are the line will lead to one of those people.
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Health care
The Moment We’ve All Been Waiting For
Three weeks from the date at the top of this edition, the Legislature will gavel to a close and go home. That’ll be a relief, to be sure, but the 21 days that lead up to Sine Die will be hectic and the issues that have dominated the conversations in the Pink Building since January are finally coming to a head.
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Health care
Redistricting: A Million Ways to Die
You’re not supposed to predict the future in our business, but what the heck: You have not seen a redistricting plan this year that will actually be used to elect legislators next year.
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Health care
Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Where is the Map?
The state is cut into 150 pieces for purposes of electing members of the Texas House. It’s chopped into 15 chunks for purposes of electing members to the State Board of Education. The head of the House Redistricting Committee, Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, thinks those numbers should sync up. He says he’ll draw the SBOE maps to exactly include ten House districts each.
