SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The Senate will come to order. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: A quorum is present. Will all on the floor and in the gallery please rise for the invocation to be delivered by Reverend Denny Henderson, Hill Country Bible Church of Austin.

PASTOR: Let's pray. Father, we recognize today that You are intimately acquainted with our every need and our every challenge. As the psalmist wrote, You have humbled yourself to know the things of heaven and the things of Earth. (Psalm 113:6) So nothing is a surprise to You, nor are You apathetic toward the affairs of man. We affirm this morning that You have blessed us richly and that every good and perfect gift is from You. We acknowledge both Your goodness in our abundance and Your faithfulness in our challenges. I pray this morning that You will give wisdom to those who lead our great state. As Your elected public servants, may each lead with compassion, conviction, and integrity, placing the good of the people above their own interests. Give them divine wisdom and unity in their decision-making. I pray for their families, who have also sacrificed for the good of others. May Your blessing and comfort be present in their everyday life. Grant each man and woman here this morning the courage to lead the people of Texas honorably. Equip them for complete usefulness and service for others. May they steward their leadership well. We praise You in advance for Your complete faithfulness, and, God, may You bless Texas. Amen.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Reverend Henderson, for being here today. We appreciate you. You may be seated. Members, Senator Whitmire moves to dispense with the reading of yesterday's journal. Is there objection? The chair hears no objection from any member, so ordered. Mr. Doorkeeper.

MR. DOORKEEPER: Mr. President, there's a messenger from the House.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Admit the messenger.

MESSENGER: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I'm directed by the House to inform the Senate that the House has taken the following action, the House has concurred on Senate amendments to the following measures: HB716 the House has refused to concur in the Senate amendments to the following measures and request the appointment --

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Mr. Messenger. The Chair recognizes Senator Watson to introduce the doctor of the day.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I'm real pleased to introduce Dr. Love D. Paul, Dr. Paul is here today as our doctor of the day. He's with the Austin Medical Group and is a family physician with that group. He was educated in India where he graduated in November of 1974 and did his residency at the Swedish Covenant Hospital. He is a member of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, the TMA, the Travis County Medical Society and Texas Indi American Physician Society. He has been the past president of the Indi Medical Society in Victoria, Texas, past president of the South Texas Chapter of the TAFP and a past chief of staff -- excuse me, at the Victoria Regional Medical Center. We're very honored to have Dr. Paul with us here today. Members, will you please help me in welcoming Dr. Paul D. Love for being our physician of the day.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Watson and thank you Dr. Paul for being here today. Chair lays out the following resolution. Secretary read the resolution.

PATSY SPAW: Senate Resolution 918 recognizing Rosalio "Rabbit" Duran for his many contributions to the political and cultural legacy of east Austin by Watson.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The Chair recognizes Senator Watson on the resolution.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Members, I'm truly honored to have an Austin treasure as my guest on the Senate floor today. Rosalio "Rabbit" Duran, but everyone knows him as Rabbit in his east Austin establishment, Rabbit's Lounge are a few of my favorite Austin things. Rabbit received his nickname back in high school because he was as fast as a rabbit when he was in high school and that nickname stuck and that has been the name by which he has gone throughout life. Today, we are celebrating Rabbit's 78th birthday and the closing after 42 years of Rabbit's lounge. Rabbit opened the lounge in 1969, and it soon became the meeting place for Chicano political activists and leaders of the civil rights movement. He welcomed notable city leaders to the lounge like John Travino, Austin's first Hispanic city council member, Richard Moya, the first Mexican American Travis County commissioner and State Senator Gonzales Barientos. There's a lot of history under that iconic mural of Cesar Chavez on East 6th Street. Rabbit has played an important role in the story of our city and the story of Chicano politics in east Austin. I am very thankful to count him as a friend and a constituent. Members, please join me in welcoming Rabbit Duran and his son Ryan to the Texas Senate and also with him on the floor is Catherine Farrell, his daughter, Angela Duran Hood, another daughter and, of course, his wife Mary. Members, help me in honoring Rosario Rabbit Duran as he closes Rabbit's lounge after years and celebrates his 78th birthday. Mr. President, I move adoption of Senate Resolution 918.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion, is there objection? The Chair hears none, resolution is adopted. Thank you, Senator Watson. The Chair lays out the following resolution. Secretary read the resolution.

PATSY SPAW: Senate Resolution 989 congratulating Rasheed Jamal Furlow of Boy Scout troup 986 on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Senate Resolution 990 congratulating Edmund Kyle English of troup 986 on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. And Senate Resolution 991 congratulating Daijon Mitchell of Boy Scout troup 986 on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. All by Senator West.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The Chair recognizes Senator West on the resolution.

SENATOR ROYCE WEST: Mr. President and members, I stand here today as not only as a Senator but also as a member of Circle Ten Council executive board of Boy Scouts of America. I'm deeply honored to bring to the floor three Eagle Scouts from troup 986 of Oak Cliffe Cummings Recreation Center. Rasheed Furlow. Rasheed, raise your hand. Edmond English, Daijon Mitchell. These Eagle Scouts are the first group of Eagle Scouts from troup 986. The Boy Scouts of America is an organization that's very dear and near to my heart. This nation, our state, our communities and most importantly our youth. Those involved in scouting is a way of life. Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation's largest youth organizations. It provides a program and instruction for young people which helps to build character, Senator Watson. Scouting teaches responsibility and the importance of team work. Through role models they learn and develop citizenship and emphasize the issue of personal development. Young men as Eagle Scouts join a very select group. Only a small percentage of young men join the Boy Scouts of America and only 5 percent of those achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. And since 1912, almost 100 years, only 2 million scouts have earned that rank. An Eagle Scout is regarded as an exceptional person. One who is respected for his outstanding contributions and community service. These young men are exceptional people. Many of our nation's greatest leaders in government, business and sciences and the community are Eagle Scouts such as former presidents as Gerald Ford, astronaut Neil Young, baseball player Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, Bill Gates, Governor Rick Perry. As an Eagle Scout society will expect more from you. The road to becoming an Eagle is long and hard. It's required a lot of patience, it requires you to earn at least 21 merit badges, completing an extensive service project and passing a board of review. Despite the hard work it takes to earn this honor, every Scout develops qualities during this arduous journey, qualities that will help you and guide you through the rest of your life. Scouting has played an important role in my life of my six sons, three of them are Eagle Scouts. Rasheed, Edmond, Daijon, you are marked men. As Eagle Scouts you have assumed the solemn obligation to do your duty to God, to your country, the fellow Scouts and to mankind in general. Although I never was a Boy Scout, Senator Estes, I got my wood badge a few weeks ago. I've always embodied the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. And I stand prepared, as you must, to request -- to represent the downtrodden, speak out against injustice and speak out against those who are less fortunate. Eagle Scouts are also proud to be joined on the floor by Scout Masters that have been involved in scouting for a long time Jami and Joe Hayes. I congratulate each and every one of you for becoming an Eagle Scout. And, Mr. President and members, I move adoption of the respective resolutions.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator West. Is there objection? Chair hears none, resolution is adopted. Thank you, Senator West. The Chair announces the signing of the following in the presence of the Senate.

PATSY SPAW: SCR25, SB1693, SB1353, SB1125, SB977, SB420, SB328, SB132, SB118 and SB14.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The Chair lays out the following resolution. Secretary will read the resolution.

PATSY SPAW: Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 50 commends Admiral Bobby R. Inman on his exceptional service and extending congratulations to him on receiving the Joe M. Kilgore award for public service by Watson.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Chair recognizes Senator Watson on the resolution.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you, Mr. President, members. It's my pleasure to introduce a man who many of you already know or have heard of. He has served our country and our state so honorably and admirably and that's Admiral Bobby R. Inman. Admiral Inman was recently awarded the Joe M. Kilgore award for public service by the Greater Austin Crime Commission. This commission raises awareness about law enforcement in central Texas and has picked a very fine individual to recognize this year. Admiral Inman served in the United States Navy from 1951 to 1982. He was the director of the National Security Agency and the deputy director of CIA. Since his so-called retirement, I can't hardly say that word when I talk about Admiral Inman, but since his retirement Admiral Inman has worked to secure funding for several startup technology companies, he served as chairman and CEO of Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation. He served as the interim dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs here in Austin and is the managing director of Jeff (inaudible) Ventures and Limestone Ventures. He is truly deserving of this recognition by the Greater Austin Crime Commission and today by the Texas Senate. Please help me to welcome the following gentleman to the floor, of course, Admiral Inman the past president of the Greater Austin Crime Commission, Joe Holt a director and past president, Kenny Jastrow, a director, Ralph Wayne, a cofounder and past president and Kerry Roberts the ex director of the Greater Austin Crime Commission. I'm also pleased to say that we're joined in the gallery by a number of Crime Commission Directors and students from the Longhorn Leaders program, the youth outreach collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin. I think they're over here in this part of the gallery. Members, we all know the value of public service and we know what it means to continue that public service beyond whatever specific title or role we might play. Admiral Inman is an example of the kind of service both with the title and roles that also after those title and roles what you do on a day-to-day basis by example with regard to public service. So I am very honored to present today on the Texas floor and congratulate Admiral Inman on his recognition by the Crime Commission but also to put forward SCR50. And, Mr. President, I move adoption of SCR50.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you have heard the motion by Senator Watson. Is there objection? Hearing none, resolution is adopted. Thank you, Senator Watson. The Chair recognizes Senator Uresti for an introduction.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Thank you, Mr. President and members. I rise today to remember the life and acknowledge the legacy of a great Texan. It has been almost a year since Governor Dolph Briscoe passed away at the age of 87 joining his beloved Janie and leaving a loving family, a cadre of loyal friends and a state that he had made better for all of us. He was my friend. He helped me to do a better job of representing the people of Uvalde and of Texas here in this chamber and I still miss him. A soldier, oil man, rancher, philanthropist, legislator and governor, husband, father and grandfather, Governor Briscoe compiled a professional and personal resume that places him in the pantheon of Texas giants. His accomplishments helped shape Texas and the lives of its people, he never stopped loving Texas and he boasted proudly and often until the end of his days. We have a saying in Texas, It ain't bragging if it's a fact. Well, here's some facts from that accomplished life. Dolph Briscoe became the 40th governor of Texas in 1972 and during that tenure he signed a law of serious reform measures, the Reference Act, and legislation creating the Public Utility Commission. As a state legislator he coauthored the Colson Briscoe Act of 1949 which helped revolutionize the farming economy in Texas. Senator Nichols, if you have ever taken a farm to market road in Texas, you have traveled on the legacy of Dolph Briscoe. In his private life as a rancher and businessman, he was a steward of the land, an activist for the public good and a champion for working families. Renown for his generosity Governor Briscoe gave to the University of Texas Health Science Center of San Antonio which he helped create and he was a liberal donor to the Whitty Museum, UTSA, St. Mary's and the Dolph and Janie Briscoe Western Art Museum. Members, Governor Briscoe once told the San Antonio Express News, "I've been very fortunate in life but I've never the motivation of people who make a lot of money just to count it up and make a big pile. What matters with God is the difference you make in the world." Dolph Briscoe made a difference, a difference as big as Texas and that's why he will be greatly missed and always remembered. Members, perhaps his greatest success came as a family man, he cherished his life with Janie and the family they produced together, three children and five grandchildren. Through them the name and the legacy live on. Members, we have two very special guests with us on the floor this morning. Please help me welcome Governor Briscoe's daughters Jamie Briscoe Marm ion and Cele Briscoe Carpenter. Thank you, members. Thank you, members and Mr. President, and I ask that when the Senate adjourns this day we do so in memory of Governor Dolph Briscoe. Please help me welcome our special guests this morning.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Uresti. The Chair recognizes Senator West for an introduction.

SENATOR ROYCE WEST: Mr. President and members, at this time I would like to introduce Mr. Johnny Pinchback who's joining us on the Senate floor today as a free man. He's joined by Johnny -- I mean, Cory Sessions and also Natalie Roetzel. I am getting ready to tell you a story in his introduction and, you know, I don't do a lot of introductions but I think this is important. Johnny Edward Pinchback was convicted in 1984 of aggravated sexual assault of two young female victims ages 14 and 15. On March 22nd, 1984, the girls were walking down Illinois Avenue in the Oak Cliff of Dallas when a man with a gun approached them. The man ordered them to run across a vacant lot to a location where they were ultimately tied together with their legs and raped. After their brutal attack the girls rushed to a nearby resident and called the police. They were then transported to a Parkland Hospital for a rape examination. A few days later, Senator Uresti, while the girls were spending time at an apartment, they noticed a man they believed to be their attacker. They documented license plate number and the make of the vehicle the man was driving, they notified the authorities who promptly located the owner of the vehicle and ultimately determined that the owner had loaned the car to Mr. Johnny Pinchback. Meanwhile Mr. Pinchback found out that the police were looking the car's driver in connection, Senator Estes, with a criminal investigation and although his friends and family members attempted to convince him to lay low and see how things played out, Mr. Pinchback initiated -- initiated a meeting with the authorities in hope of clearing his name. Although, Senator Eltife, police allowed Pinchback to leave at that time on April the 4th an officer from the Dallas Police Department presented each of the girls a photo lineup and they picked Mr. Pinchback out. Throughout Johnny's trial, Pinchback maintained that he was innocent. He took the stand in his own defense and attempted to convince the jurors that the wrong man had been indicted for the crime. The prosecution, meanwhile, shot down Pinchback's statement and successfully convinced the jurors to render a guilty verdict. Mr. Pinchback was sentenced to 99 years of confinement in the penitentiary, members. The Innocence Project decided to take up his cause. The Innocence Project received a request from Mr. Pinchback in October of 2007. Ultimately they decided to take up the cause and because of the valiant effort of individuals involved in the Innocence Project here in the state of Texas, he was released from confinement after 26.5 years of his life of confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections. Let that sink in for one moment. Twenty-six -- students, 26 years confined in the Texas Department of Corrections, citizens, for a crime that he did not commit. Johnny was wrongly convicted of that crime. He's now the 26th person from Dallas County that's been given his freedom and cleared as a result of DNA evidence since 2001 in Dallas County alone. This is why I offered Senate Bill 1616 which would create a uniform standard, Senator Seliger, for collecting and preserving DNA evidence. But for that DNA evidence he would still be confined in the Texas Department of Corrections maintaining his innocence for a crime that he did not commit. I want that to sink in. That's why I'm spending a few moments on this issue. Society owes you a debt of -- we owe you an apology for what transpired and that's why we wanted you to be on the floor of the Senate today, Mr. Pinchback, so we can say we're sorry for what occurred, but thank God that we had the Innocence Project. Thank God that we had some DNA evidence in order to make certain to take your case into consideration and ultimately after 26 years to get your freedom. So members, today I wanted to make certain that we just spent one moment, and I know that we're real busy, to say to Mr. Pinchback that we're sorry for what occurred, we have done a lot in terms of legislation that hopefully will help you to be able to settle back into society, I know a lot has changed but understand that something that really hasn't changed a lot is the willingness of people associated with the Innocence Project and legislators on this floor to do the right thing. And hopefully you know that deep in our heart there are people that want to do the right thing and as a result of that we just wanted to make certain we stop just this moment to say we're sorry for what occurred and hopefully we can put in place systems which will prevent these travesties of justice from happening in the future. Thank you for being here today.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator West. The Chair recognizes Senator Estes for an introduction.

SENATOR CRAIG ESTES: Thank you, Mr. President and members. Members, please join me in welcoming some of my constituents from Travis Elementary School in Mineral Wells to the Texas Senate. They are in the blue shirts up here in the north gallery. Please stand. They're accompanied by their teacher Ms. Cody Jordan and the talented 6th graders will be performing in the Capitol rotunda today at 6:30. Welcome.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Estes. Welcome to the Texas Senate. The Chair recognizes Senator West for an introduction.

SENATOR ROYCE WEST: Mr. President and members, I want to introduce to some and present to others part of the business community of the Dallas/Fort Worth area the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce. Its CEO and its board members and leadership. They're here today. Had I known they were coming we'd had a resolution for them, but what I'd like to do is at least acknowledge their presence and I'll ask them to stand up in the east gallery. Will you please stand and let's recognize them.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator West. The following report from the nominations committee. Chair recognizes Senator Deuell to explain the report.

SENATOR BOB DEUELL: Thank you, Mr. President and members. I move to confirm the nominees that are listed on your committee action report placed on our desk. These nominees were taken up and confirmed at our Monday May 16th meeting.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Are there any request to sever? Chair hears none, Senator Deuell moves that the nominees report favorably from the nominees committee be confirmed. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, no nays, nominees are confirmed. Thank you, Senator Deuell.

SENATOR BOB DEUELL: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, that concludes the morning call. Senator Ellis is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on Committee Substitute to House Bill 417.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you, Mr. President and members. There is a floor substitute that my staff sent to all your staff so people would know what we're doing in this bill. This bill relates to compensation for people that have been wrongfully convicted, like the one that Senator West so eloquently talked about earlier. The changes in the floor substitute were made at the request of the governor's office, the attorney general's office, the comptroller's office to incorporate language from Senate Bill 1686, that is legislation that we unanimously passed on April the 29th which would give exonerees the ability to get health insurance through the Texas Department of Corrections which they must pay for. It only covers them for the time in which they were wrongfully convicted. So if you were wrongly convicted for 27 years, as was the case of Mr. Pinchback, he can buy into the system to get the same insurance that the jailers got for 27 years. In addition to the changes in the floor substitute this legislation will do two very important things. It will make sure that the attorney's fees for state compensation claims are not excessive. And secondly, make it possible for Mr. Anthony Graves to receive compensation for being wrongfully convicted. As many of you know, Mr. Graves was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for 18 years, 12 of which were on death row, for multiple murders that he did not commit. His case was recently the subject on an episode of 48 Hours. Governor Perry has called Anthony Graves' case a great miscarriage of justice and said that he would support efforts to quote "get this individual the appropriate reimbursement for years that he has spent incarcerated for something that he did not do." And I appreciate the work of the governor's office, his staff in particular, and the governor personally for helping us with this bill. Members, I ask you to support this bill to ensure that Mr. Anthony Graves receives the compensation that he deserves, the attorney fees are not excessive in compensation claims and so exonerees have access to affordable health care insurance. Mr. President, I move to suspend the senate's regular order of business to take up and consider at this time the Committee Substitute to House Bill 417.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona for what purpose?

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: Just parliamentary inquiry. Did I understand there was a floor substitute or --

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Yes, there was a floor substitute which I walked through and we sent it to your office so I hoped they have passed it around.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: I didn't see it on my desk and could we wait until --

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Yeah, no problem, Senator.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: We're passing out the floor substitute right now.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: And if you'd like, Senator Carona, while you're looking at it, I'm going to walk through what it does. The changes of the floor substitute were made at the request of the governor, the attorney general, and the comptroller to incorporate language from a bill that passed here unanimously to give exonerees the ability to get health insurance through the Texas Department of Corrections. In addition the more substantive change would be this legislation does two important things that you ought to make note of. It makes sure that attorney fees for state compensation claims are not excessive, I essentially scaled back the language that passed on the House side that I thought was, upon reflection, a bit more burdensome. I think it's easy to complain about the fees that were very high that some exonerees paid for compensation claims, which you took a case like Anthony Graves' and it makes the case that sometimes you need specialized legal help. Secondly this substitute makes it possible for Anthony Graves to seek compensation for being wrongfully convicted, only Anthony Graves that we know about. There was a press account about another individual that was on death row, that person is not covered, if someone brought that concern to your attention. It is narrowly crafted so that Anthony Graves is the only person that we know about that would fall into that window.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Carona. Senator Ellis. Senator Patrick, for what purpose?

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Question of the author.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis yield?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Gladly, yes, sir.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Senator Ellis, I appreciate and respect the work you have done for those that are wrongfully convicted. You and I visited a few weeks ago on a story and you just briefly touched on it. There was a very disturbing story that there was an attorney with the Innocence Project who appeared to be taking down 50 percent of this particular inmate's settlement. And my first question is since you work with the Innocence Project you serve on the board; is that correct?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: That's correct.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Tell -- I'd like the Senate to know the bottom line of the story. How does an attorney -- because I thought the Innocence Project was pretty innocent in terms of doing probono work, trying to help these inmates. And when I see the Innocence Project and the attorney affiliated with them I believe from my memory, I may be off on a few numbers, charged a fee of a $1 million. I just found that outrageous. So help me understand, because I've always thought what they were doing was going in the right direction and I know it disturbed you too. So help me and help the members understand this.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Well, Senator, first of all, I want to point out that I chaired a board of Innocence Project out of the New York. There are a number of innocence projects around the country including in Texas. And the controversy that you have read about involved some attorneys involved with the Innocence Project in Texas. I think that distinction is important to make. The one that I chaired the board of was the group that was cofounded by Berry Czek and Peter Newfield, and initially it was affiliated with the Cardoza University Law School in New York. I think in 2002 they decided to set up a separate not for profit board. They were asked to affiliate with various universities around the country, negotiations with Columbia, number of other schools, they decided to keep an affiliation with Cardoza in New York so students could do some of this work and get academic credit for it but they set up their own 513. I chair that board. We do have a copyright on the Innocence Project name, but we don't have the ability to control what every Innocence Project around the country does. There is a loose alliance and we could take the name from one of these affiliate projects but we don't control them. Compensation statutes in Texas I think prior to 2001, you get 25,000 period if you were wrongfully convicted no matter how long. In 2001 I authored legislation to take it to I think 25,000 a year, capped at half a million. I think when President Bush signed legislation on the federal level to move the compensation to 50,000 if you're wrongfully convicted, if it's a capital case is a hundred. I passed a law maybe in '03 to mirror that. Two years ago, I believe, my numbers might be off. Two or four years ago we passed a statute in Texas which took $100,000 out and said you get 80,000 for every year you're wrongfully convicted and you would get an annuity on the same amount. There were some attorneys that were helpful and to be honest with you very much associated with very conservative causes and they were very helpful on getting support to pass legislation. I did not know that they had signed agreements with many of the exonerees coming out of Dallas County to get compensation. And when I found that out, to be honest with you, I was very disturbed. You know, once a bill passes around here, everybody takes credit for it and that's okay. That was actually a bill that Senator Duncan was a lead author on. I'd worked on it and did a lot of the work behind the scenes to get it passed but had no earthly idea that these attorneys had agreements and those issues will be sorted out. After the press accounts on the high compensation that they were getting in some of those cases, not all of them, but in some of those cases I was offended. So was Representative Anchia who carried the bill in the House. During the interim he and I talked and made a commitment to one another that we'd get legislation passed somehow to clamp down on that and it was very difficult figuring out how to do it. The language put in on the House side in the bill that passed unanimously, to be honest with you, was much more onerous, much stronger than the language I had in this bill and I've worked with Representative Anchia. Part of the problem is you come up with a case like Graves, Mr. Graves, where it's considerably more than just signing a piece of paper and it really made me rethink what was in his statute. So what we did was change that statute to do things like require attorneys who file compensation applications for exonerees to submit a fee report that will include the total dollar amount sought for fees, number of hours a person worked on the application, the name of the applicant, the fee report would be public information so if someone wants to file a grievance complaint against the attorney for excessive fees they can do it. We also make some changes so that when someone is going to come out of the jail because they've been wrongfully convicted we make sure -- we require the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to provide wrongly convicted persons on information on how to obtain compensation for their wrongful imprisonment and a list of contacts for nonprofits that assist wrongfully incarcerated persons to file compensation claims. So, you know, I think we found a very reasonable balance that I suspect other states around the country may look at Texas in this phase to do it. So you're absolutely right to be outraged, you and I had a conversation over lunch about this over a month ago and I am equally outrages because it does in some ways detract from the good work that the Innocence Project out of New York and all of these other Innocence Projects do.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: So is this Committee Substitute, is this bill a reaction and a response to that particular case? In other words --

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: That is correct.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Before that story made headlines a month ago, where was this bill, what was this bill about, what was the difference before that story? Because I don't know the history of the bill, if you had the Senate Bill that went over and isn't moving or --

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: No, it was a House bill --

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: It was a House bill.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: It was, I put in identical language to the language that Representative Anchia put in and even before The New York Times article that you are making reference to, there were press accounts that stated when individuals who were wrongfully convicted filed lawsuits against their attorneys and there was a lot of coverage in Dallas and in Lubbock on this subject matter. So as a result of those accounts Representative Anchia and I started working on legislation during the interim and neither one of us practicing in this space, we consulted with the attorney general's office, the comptroller, we came up with some pretty strong language that was in the Senate Bill and the House bill. On this one, I deferred to the House to move it first, and when the bill came out of the House I guess you can say I didn't hijack it, I borrowed it and when the governor's office and the comptroller and a number of us were expressing outrage over the Anthony Graves matter, my staff noticed that this bill had a very broad statute, a very broad heading relating to compensation for wrongfully convicted persons and we were looking for a vehicle to solve the Anthony Graves problem. And then I decided, because we unanimously with your help and Senator Huffman, passed the insurance matter. And what else did I add to this? Is that it? That's it. I'm going to add something else to Senator Carona's.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: That was my next question and again because we just received it --

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: We did. And I respect -- we did send it to your office --

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: We're all busy.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Yeah, I know, which is why we tried Senate print it and --

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: So this substitute addresses this issue of attorney, it's not going to end the practice of them being able to charge the prisoners, I shouldn't say the prisoners. Those who have been in prison wrongfully convicted who are released. This will not end the practice of attorneys being able to grab part of their settlement with the state.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: It would not. What it does is put a spotlight on it and the reason we can only put a spotlight on it, Senator, is you take that Anthony Graves case, I don't know what his arrangements are in terms of attorney fees. But here's a guy 27 years wrongfully convicted, I believe, 18 years wrongfully convicted, 12 on death row and it ended up being a nightmare in part because of a host of errors including some prosecutorial misconduct. That's the case where Attorney Seigler out of Harris County who ran for DA was appointed as a special prosecutor and you had a case where the prosecutor who convicted him had practiced law with the judge that heard his case and the judge who presided over the case where he was released is the daughter of the judge that initially convicted him and did not put into the order releasing him the magic words, actual innocence. So he was just in limbo and still in limbo could not get compensation. So what I did was take this statute, did as much as we could to clamp down or stomp out excessive attorney fees by putting a spotlight on it. That's No. 1.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: But it's only putting a spotlight on it, it's not an actual cap.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: No, it's not a cap.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Because my concern, Senator, is the injustice of someone being imprisoned wrongfully is the first injustice. But now a person gets out of prison and they are compensated and especially if they've been in prison for a long time, they may not have any contacts with lawyers outside, they may not have any contact with family, they may come out of prison, really have no idea of what they're entitled to. I know this bill begins to address that -- and as you said list of nonprofits but they are vulnerable. It seems to me still with a second injustice and that -- I'm so angry at this attorney, I mean, I just see it as theft and it's legal but I see it as theft for any attorney to go in in this case when someone has been imprisoned for more than a decade and take half their money. It's just another great injustice to that person and I would actually like it to see it be stronger that we can protect these people who come out vulnerable from some attorney who says, great, they're going to get 2 million bucks from the state, I'm going to do nothing, nothing because the person is entitled to it. The lawyer does nothing and puts a million dollars in his pocket.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Well, Senator, I want to say to you how much I appreciate your outrage and I think that this bill goes a long way towards addressing that because it will require the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to advise them on what they can get, give them a list of not for profits who can handle it and we put in language about reasonable hourly rates. And I also respectfully suggest to you that all of us on this floor ought to have an equal amount of outrage about cases where there's prosecutorial misconduct.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: I don't disagree.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: And in no way am I disparaging what you are saying, I'm just saying I want to make sure we pass this bill which I think goes a long way toward addressing the compensation issues. But realizing in a case like Anthony Graves I wish you had been in many of the meetings that I sat in on where everybody was calling press conferences about how the Graves matter was an injustice. The highest levels of power within our land. But then when it was time to solve it, everybody would keep telling me about unintended consequences. So then I decided what I'm going to do is just have a hearing and I'm going to invite the prosecutor, I'm going to invite the judge, I'm going to have the exoneree and I'm going to invite the press and then I'm going to see if y'all could flesh it out in public. Then all of a sudden we came up with a very good compromise to address that issue. So what I'm saying, as you know, none of these issues are as simple when we dig into them as they may appear to be at first blush.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Two quick follow up. Do you believe that someone who's released from prison based on DNA evidence that they actually need an attorney to receive the benefits from the state they deserve or can the state not handle it directly and say, you have been wrongfully convicted, wrongfully imprisoned, you have served X number of years and days, here's what you're entitled to? Do they even need an attorney to represent them?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: I think they need an attorney to represent them, and I'll tell you why. When I passed that statute in 2001, I was forced to put in language, as we all are forced to, to get the bill passed that restricted how many bites somebody who'd been wronged by the system could get at the apple. You know, it's nothing I'm proud of, but I had to do it. What we do with the Innocence Project out of New York, people like Cornelius Dupree, who's on my staff, he's in the Texas legislative internship program, 30 years wrongfully incarcerated. We look for a law firm, usually one of the topnotch law firms who will take on the case pro bono. He just happens to end up having been assigned an attorney who was in my internship program a good 15 years ago who's now a big hot shot corporate lawyer (inaudible), whatever it is. And they got him and they're going to represent him on a pro bono basis. But under that statute that I authored, my name's on it, I was forced to accept language that you had X amount of time to do it. If you didn't do it right, you know, there are a lot of hurdles there. At some point I want to clear it up. My fear has been if I went back and tried to open that up and clean it up I might have a can of worms which is why even in this bill I didn't go back and touch all that stuff. Because you probably do need an attorney but most of the cases are plain vanilla.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Right. They're plain vanilla.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Some of them like Graves' case, that's one that you ought to look at, I just kind of walked through it on the floor. But that one goes to that broader issue that we ought to be looking at like when somebody gets out and it's the wrong person, what did happen -- you know, I draw my analogy to a plane crash, when a plane crashes we don't say it happens. But that's a separate issue. And Senator Huffman, I did not put that in this bill. There's no innocence commission in this bill, that's a separate discussion.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: And last question, Innocence Project you said that you owned the copyright, you're a group, you're the chairman of the board and there are multiple Innocence Projects across the nation.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Maybe 50 or 60.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Okay. And should -- in the light of this case -- and I don't know if there have been other lawyers who takes 50 percent of a fee --

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: I think it's a third, by the way.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: For doing zero work should the Innocence Project also look at this issue and put in place a set of rules in order -- because obviously for someone to call themselves the Innocence Project and tie into your copyright, they had to sign some agreement. You know, it's like getting a McDonalds franchise. You have to kind of go along with what the franchise rules are. It seems to me that you're the chairman -- and I'm not being critical because you all are doing fine work. But I don't think you're nonprofit -- you are nonprofit, correct?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: That's correct.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: I don't think your nonprofit can absorb this type of negative publicity and say, well, you know, it's our name but everyone can do what they want around the country in these 50 or 60. And so I would just strongly urge you as the chairman to see within your own organization beyond the legislature what you can do to tighten what the Innocence Projects can do who use your name, your good name around the country.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: That's a good point and I appreciate it, it is something we're looking at and discussing the Innocence Project out of New York work very closely with me and the governor's office and attorney general's office, sometimes those are adversarial relationships. But to craft this legislation, something I think will pass, but I do want to stress to you when you talk about not for profits that's sort of like the name, Senator. You know, from time to time, none in this state, but if a Senator in some other state does something that kind of goes off the realm of what ought to be done, it creates a problem but when you talk about not for profits, people who are struggling to raise the money to do this work, I mean, this case that Senator West made reference to earlier, that young woman who did his legal work wasn't pro bono but it was almost. So it is something we're looking at and trying to figure out how to not blow up that coalition but also have some constraints on what people can and cannot do. But must of these young lawyers who do this work are extremely talented because it is like looking for a needle in a haystack and may be you can help us.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Well, and I want to be sure that nothing I said today implies any wrongdoing by the Innocence Project and I know that you did not mean to say that Senator Duncan who passed that bill knew what was happening. This was an outlier, this was a rogue attorney who took advantage of this person and charged them fees that they shouldn't have charged and it's exposed quite frankly an issue that you're trying to address, not through just this legislation but hopefully through the Innocence Project. And I appreciate the discussion, I think it was a discussion that we needed to have. Thank you.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you. And I want to stress that that language in this bill relating to compensation, health benefits is the same language that was bedded that passed too unanimously. I think the bill is moving through the House but at this point my guess is it's as dead as a doornail.

SENATOR DAN PATRICK: Like a lot of other Senate bills?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Yes, sir.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Patrick. Senator Huffman, for what purpose?

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Will the author of the bill yield?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Gladly.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Senator Ellis, just to clarify, I stepped in the back when you first stood up to lay out your bill so I just want to make sure that the floor amendment that you presented to us today, does it contain any language that was not voted on in committee previously either in state affairs or in criminal justice.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: No, it does not. And to make sure I'm answering you correctly, the Anthony Graves situation is what was bedded with the governor's office, the attorney general's office, the comptroller's office. That was -- at this late date I couldn't do a separate bill to do that, it was just not going to make it. So when we saw this caption and we can add it in there, I can't say off the top of my head that we vetted that in committee. Yeah, the language -- you got it in front of you.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Yes, sir.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Here's some language under B17 that the AG and the governor's office brought to us that is different from what we looked at in committee and this tightens this bill up even more to restrict who would be eligible for compensation other than Anthony Graves. The language that says on line 17 page one of it in accordance with a writ of habeas corpus that is based on a court finding or determination that the person is actually innocent of the crime for which the person was sentenced. Now, I know a lot is going on, but that's what the governor's office has talked to your staff about and what that does is -- that was language to make sure, just to lay the cards on the table that Mr. Brantley would not get compensation under this bill.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Okay.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: So to the best of our knowledge, only Anthony Graves. We're to ensure that others in addition to Mr. Brantley wouldn't fall in that narrow window and that's something that after the governor's office, AG and everybody signed on this and vetted it, somebody woke up in the middle of the night and said, let's tighten this up more.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Okay. But otherwise that's the only other language that I haven't already voted yes in committee on?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: That's correct. The language on health care is the language that you bedded on -- hey, that you -- put it this way, that you gave me credit for writing it but it pretty much -- it is your writing, it is your language.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Okay. That was my questions. Thank you very much, Senator Ellis.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: And thank you, Senator, for working with me, I know that the bill would not have made it out of the criminal justice, it would not have made it out of state affairs because many of our colleagues turn to you on these issues. And I appreciate your help.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Thank you for your work, sir.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Huffman. Senator Wentworth, for what purpose?

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Question of Senator Ellis.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Yes, sir.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Isn't it true, Senator Ellis, that this bill has now been bedded by both the governor's office and attorney general's office before you've introduced this floor substitute?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: That's correct. And the comptroller's office. In fact, in committee, the clock was ticking and the issue was would I -- in terms of rolling it all into one, it was cleaner to do it on the deadlines of the committee to just do it on the floor and then they had this change from the governor and attorney general to tie down that language more on that writ of habeas corpus that I made reference to.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Right. Thank you, Senator.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Wentworth. Members, Senator Ellis has moved suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to House Bill 417. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes, one nay, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading Committee Substitute to House Bill 417. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 417 relating to claims for wrongful imprisonment.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The following amendment by Ellis. Secretary read the amendment.

PATSY SPAW: Floor amendment No. 1 by Ellis.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis to explain the amendment.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: That's the floor substitute that we have discussed ad nauseam, so I'd like to move adoption of it, if there's no question.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: I agree, Senator Ellis. Senator Ellis moves adoption of floor amendment No. 1. Is there objection? Chair hears none, floor amendment No. 1 is adopted. Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Mr. President, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, Committee Substitute to House Bill 417 is passed to third reading. Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Mr. President, I move to suspend the constitutional rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes, one nay, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute to House Bill 417. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 417 relating to claims for compensation for wrongful imprisonment.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Mr. President, in honor of Johnny Pinchback for 27 years, Cornelius Dupris, 30, and Mr. Tim Cole, I move final passage of the Committee Substitute to House Bill 417.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis now moves final passage of Committee Substitute to House Bill 417. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes, one nay, Committee Substitute to House Bill 417 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Ellis.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Wentworth. Senator Wentworth is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on Committee Substitute to SB1425.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Thank you, Mr. President. I do move to suspend the regular order of business to take up the Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 1425. This is the retainage bill that we considered yesterday and passed unanimously. I move to suspend the regular order of business. That was nearly unanimously. What was the vote 30 to one?

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: I believe it was 21 to ten.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Well, 21 to ten. Pretty close. I beg your pardon. My memory was it was unanimous. Twenty-one to ten. Still a good bill.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Wentworth moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute SB1425. Senate Patrick, for what purpose? The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 21 ayes, ten nays, the rule is suspended. Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute to SB1425. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 1425 relating to an account for construction retainage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Wentworth, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Mr. President, I move final passage for Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 1425.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Wentworth now moves final passage of Committee Substitute SB1425. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 20 ayes, 11 nays, Committee Substitute SB1425 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Wentworth.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on Committee Substitute SB1916.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you, Mr. President. I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider at this time the Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 1916 relating to the creation of the southeast Travis county municipal utility district No. 4. Members, yesterday what we did we voted on the creation of the southeast Travis county municipality districts No. 1, 2, and 3. I move suspension of the rules.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to SB1916. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rules are suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading Committee Substitute to SB1916. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 1916 relating to creation of a southeast Travis county municipal utility district No. 4.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you, Mr. President. I move passage of the Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 1916 to engrossment.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senate Watson now moves passage to engrossment. Is there objection? Chair hears none, Committee Substitute to SB1916 is passed to engrossment. Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: So moved.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute SB1916. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 1916 relating to the creation of southeast Travis county municipal utility district No. 4.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Mr. President, I move that the Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 1916 be finally passed.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson moves final passage of Committee Substitute to SB1916. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, no nays, Committee Substitute to SB1916 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Watson.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Estes is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business Committee Substitute to HB252.

SENATOR CRAIG ESTES: Thank you, Mr. President and members. And I'm talking off my sheet for House Bill 252, I just wanted to make that -- I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider now House Bill 252. Members, House Bill 252 would require the applicant for a resident's homestead exemption to supply a copy of the applicant's driver's license or state issued personal identification, a copy of the applicant's vehicle registration receipt. Person who did not own a vehicle would have to provide a signed affidavit to that effect and a copy of the utility bill in the applicant's name of the property which the resident's homestead exemption was sought. A chief appraiser could not grant exemption unless the applicant's driver's license or state issued ID matched the issue on the applicant's vehicle registration or utility bill and correspond to the address for the property which the applicant sought a resident homestead exemption. I move suspension.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, Senator Estes moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to House Bill 252. Is there objection? Chair hears none, the rural is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading Committee Substitute to House Bill 252. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 252 relating to an eligibility for an exemption from an ad valorem taxation from the resident homestead of a person.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The following amendment. Secretary read the amendment.

PATSY SPAW: Floor amendment No. 1 by Wentworth.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Wentworth to explain the amendment.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. President. Floor amendment No. 1 simply adds my Senate Bill 915 to Representative Hildebrand's House Bill 252. Both bills obtain the process for exemption from ad valorem taxation of a person's resident homestead. Senate Bill 1915 coauthored by Senator West was passed unanimously out of the Senate committee on IGR and passed the full Senate on local and consent on April 14th. Representative Hildebrand is the House sponsor for Senate Bill 915 and is supportive of this amendment. This amendment would simply streamline the process for requiring a homestead exemption for a manufactured home while still protecting the process from abuse. I move adoption of floor amendment No. 1, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Estes on the amendment.

SENATOR CRAIG ESTES: The amendment is acceptable.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Wentworth move adoption of floor amendment No. 1. It is acceptable to Senator Estes. Is there objection? Chair hears none, floor amendment No. 1 is adopted.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Thank you, Mr. President. Could the journal note that that amendment passed successfully?

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Wentworth. You finally got one right.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Thank you, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Estes, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR CRAIG ESTES: I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Estes now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, Committee Substitute to House Bill 252 is passed to third reading. Senator Estes is recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR CRAIG ESTES: So moved, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute to House Bill 252. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 252 relating to eligibility for an exemption from ad valorem taxation from the resident homestead of a person.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Estes, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR CRAIG ESTES: Mr. President, I move final passage of Committee Substitute to House Bill 252.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Estes moves final passage of Committee Substitute to House Bill 252. The secretary will read the caption. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, Committee Substitute to House Bill 252 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Estes.

SENATOR CRAIG ESTES: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business Committee Substitute House Bill 1899.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members. The Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899 amends the transportation code as it relates to notification on a ban of using cellphones in school zones. Currently cities in a school district must post signs around every school indicating that while driving using a cellphone is prohibited in a school zone. In El Paso, for example, estimates are that this unfunded mandate cost them nearly $500,000. In cities like El Paso which has a citywide ban on driving with a cellphone this costly rule is redundant. Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899 would permit a city with a complete ban on driving while using a cellphone without a hands free device to be exempt from the school zone sign posting rule if they posted signs along major roads entering the city. House Bill 1899 passed both Senate and House committees without opposition and was passed on House local and consent calendar. Mr. President and members, I move that we suspend the regular order of business and all necessary rules to take up and consider Committee Substitute for House Bill 1899.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899. Is there objection? Chair hears none, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading Committee Substitute House Bill 1899. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899 relating to posting of signs in school crossing zones.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899 is passed to third reading. Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move to suspend the constitutional rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 aye, one nay, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899 relating to posting of signs in school crossing zones regarding the prohibited use of a wireless communication device.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves final passage of Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899 relating to the posting of signs in school crossing zones.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez's recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President, I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves final passage of Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, no nays, Committee Substitute to House Bill 1899 is finally passed.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Harris is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 901.

SENATOR CHRIS HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move to suspend the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 901 at this time. This relates to spousal maintenance on the division of -- on the dissolution of a marriage. Mr. President, I move suspension.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Harris moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 901. Is there objection? Chair hears none, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 901. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 901 relating to spousal maintenance.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Harris, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR CHRIS HARRIS: I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Harris now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 901 is passed to third reading. Senator Harris, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR CHRIS HARRIS: Mr. President, I move to suspend the three day rule.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 901.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 901 relating to spousal maintenance.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Harris, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR CHRIS HARRIS: Move final passage, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Harris now moves final passage of House Bill 901. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, House Bill 901 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Harris. Senator Birdwell. Senator Birdwell is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on Committee Substitute SJR130.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President and members, I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to SJR130. Mr. President and members, last October the US Department of Education adopted new regulations to clarify the role of the states in assuring the integrity of federal student aid programs. These new regulations will go into effect July 1st of 2011. For an institution to be eligible to participate in federal financial aid financial programs the regulations require institutions be established by name as an educational institution by a state through a charter statute, constitutional provision or other action issued by a state agency or state entity and is authorized to operate educational programs beyond secondary education including programs leading to a degree or certificate. All public institutions are established in this manner, but few private institutions are named in any statute or state document. Years ago private or independent colleges or universities were granted charters by the Congress of the Republic of Texas, the Texas legislature, the Texas secretary of state at various points in our state's history. Furthermore, those institutions chartered in the 1920s and 30th century have modernized their original documents by filing new articles of incorporation with the secretary of state. Because the federal regulations require institutions be established by a state action or by -- and by name. It is difficult to determine what private institutions must do to prove that they are authorized to operate. If a new institution were being created now, it would file articles of incorporation as a college or university with the secretary of state and at the appropriate time seek a certificate of authority to grant degrees of higher education coordinating board. After the coordinating board reviewed that institution, would be given a certificate of authority to grant degrees, the certificate would have the institutions name on it and that would meet in current federal requirement. Our independent institutions are not new however. For many years our institutions have been accredited by accrediting bodies the coordinating board under Texas law recognizes that long-term accreditation exempts them from the coordinating board process and all these institutions eligible to participate in federal financial aid programs have reached this exempt status. At this point it appears the most efficient way to validate the state of Texas or the status of the state of Texas' independent and private universities in the eyes of the U.S. Department of Education is for the legislature to enact and inform them these institutions are authorized to provide post secondary session and grant degrees and certificates by listing them by name and citing the ways which such institutions meet the October 2010 regulations that are effective in July. We propose to do this by joint resolution since that requires a two-thirds majority and should be an adequate demonstration of state action. The House passed this joint resolution by a vote of 145 to nothing and the Committee Substitute simply corrects the name of an institution that changed its name last month. Mr. President, I move to suspend the regular order of business.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Huffman, for what purpose?

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Permission to question the author, please.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Birdwell yield?

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Yes, sir, I yield to Senator Huffman.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Thank you, Senator Birdwell. Do I understand you are proposing a joint resolution?

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Yes, ma'am, that's correct. It's an SJR, it's a House resolution.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: And don't we normally reserve joint resolutions for a very few important matters?

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Yes, ma'am. Those normally would revolve around either amending the state constitution, ratifying an amendment to the U.S. constitution or other similar big muscle movement actions. But in this case to demonstration the resolve of the state of Texas, both the House and now the Senate would move by a joint resolution to show major muscle movement or significant action on the state's behalf, on behalf of our private institutions.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: And why are you going beyond our usual practice in using a joint resolution for this issue?

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Well, the U.S. Department of Education has adopted regulations requiring the states to do certain actions to ensure the integrity of federal student aid programs and one of the regulations require colleges be established by name as an educational institution to the state. To operate educational programs beyond secondary education including leading to a degree or a certificate. The. Texas Education Code creates all public colleges and universities by name and establishes their degree granting authority. While we set standards in education code to describe which colleges and universities qualify as private or independent institutions of higher education, we do not name them in law. In fact, naming them in the code is not really desirable. So this legislature must take action that names the private or independent college and universities that meet the Texas education code standards to be operating and granting degrees to comply with those new federal regulations. So we chose a joint resolution to do this. A two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature is required to pass a joint resolution, so we set a high bar to pass this measure so that the Department of Education would know we took a significant state action comparable to ratifying an amendment to the US Constitution, requiring a constitutional convention to assure Texas -- pardon me, Mr. President and members. Meeting these regulations is important for -- is important for our students and private universities to be able to receive federal funding of their student aids, student aid applications.

SENATOR JANE NELSON: Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Yes, Senator Nelson.

SENATOR JANE NELSON: Could I ask her a question about her question to Senator Birdwell?

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Yes. Senator Birdwell, will you yield to Senator Nelson?

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Yes, ma'am -- yes, Mr. President, I yield to Senator Nelson.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Yes, Senator Nelson.

SENATOR JANE NELSON: Would you just repeat the initial question that you asked Senator Birdwell?

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: I asked him why we were going beyond our usual practice and using a joint resolution to do this this morning.

SENATOR JANE NELSON: Okay. I just wanted to clarify.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Yes, ma'am, I'm good. Thank you, Senator Nelson. Thank you, Senator Huffman.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Nelson.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: I have a couple more questions if I could proceed.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Please do, Senator Huffman.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Thank you.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: I yield.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: What was the vote in the House on this SJR?

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: 145 to nothing in the House.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: And just one more, haven't most of these institutions been around for a long time?

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Yes, ma'am, they have. Some were established before we became a state, some were established before we became our own nation back in the early 1800s. So many of these have been around for just a few years or well back before the Civil War.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Okay. Thank you, Senator Birdwell. Thank you for answering my questions.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Thank you, Senator Huffman.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Huffman. Members, Senator Birdwell moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to SJR130. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rules are suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading Committee Substitute to SJR130. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to SJR130 meeting requirements of the United States Department of Education concerning federal student aid.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Birdwell, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: I move passage to third reading, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Birdwell now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, Committee Substitute to SJR130 is passed to third reading. Senator Birdwell, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: So moved, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, no nays, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage SJR130. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute SJR130 meeting requirements of the United States Department of Education concerning federal student aid.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Birdwell, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: I move final passage, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Birdwell moves final passage of Committee Substitute to SJR130. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, Committee Substitute SJR130 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Birdwell.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Thank you, Mr. President. I would also like to move that the comments between Senator Huffman and I be placed in the journal for legislative intent.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator Birdwell. Is there objection? Chair hears none, so ordered. Thank you, Senator Birdwell.

SENATOR BRIAN BIRDWELL: Thank you, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The Chair recognizes Senator Wentworth for an introduction.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Mr. President and members, I have the pleasure today to introduce some young students we have in the gallery -- the south gallery, they're members of the Young Historian Club from Frank Tejeda Middle School in San Antonio. Frank Tejeda Middle School is actually named after a former member of this body, Frank Tejeda. They're here to learn more about how our state government works and I know there's at least one young lady who is the niece of Senator Van de Putte who already knows a little bit more about it than maybe some of her classmates. Please help me in recognizing -- and would you all stand, those from Frank Tejeda Middle School. And let's welcome them to the Texas Senate.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Wentworth. Welcome to the Texas Senate. Senator Van de Putte, for what purpose?

SENATOR LETICIA VAN DE PUTTE: Thank you. I rise also and congratulate the students from Frank Tejeda Middle School as my nieces and nephews go to that great middle school named after one of our colleagues, I wanted to welcome them along with Senator Wentworth, even though it's not in my district, my sister and my brother-in-law would not like it if I did not acknowledge the presence of my own family here. So thank you, students.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Van de Putte. Senator Williams, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 423.

SENATOR TOMMY WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. President and members. Currently the Texas transportation code grants urban transit directions the power to adopt safety rules and regulations. Rural district do not have that same ability to adopt such rules. This bill governs the body of a rural transit district the authorization to create, adopt and maintain rules of safety for the safe and effective operation of a transit system's transportation system. Mr. President, I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 423.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Williams moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 423. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rules are suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 423. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 423 relating to powers and rules of urban transit district.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Williams is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR TOMMY WILLIAMS: I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Williams moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 423 is passed to third reading. Senator Williams, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR TOMMY WILLIAMS: So moved.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 423. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 423 relating to the powers and rules of urban transit districts.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Williams is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR TOMMY WILLIAMS: I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Williams moves final passage of House Bill 423. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes and zero nays, House Bill 423 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Williams.

SENATOR TOMMY WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 3234.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President and members. I move to suspend the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 3234. House Bill 3234 seeks to ensure that records requested by former foster care children are redacted and delivered in an appropriate time frame by the Department of Family Services. The bill requires the Department of Family and Protective Services to create a set of guidelines to assist them in prioritizing requests received for the release of case records including an emphasis on those requests made by former foster care children. Mr. President, I move to suspend the regular order of business.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis moves to suspend the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 3234. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 3234. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 3234 relating to the prioritization of requests to release certain case records maintained by the Department of Family and Protective Services.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 3234 is passed to third reading. Senator Davis is recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: So moved, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, rule is suspended. Chair lays out on third leading and final passage House Bill 3234. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 3234 relating to the prioritization of request to release certain case records maintained by the Department of Family and Protective Services.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move final passage of House Bill 3234.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis moves final passage of House Bill 3234. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, House Bill 3234 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Davis.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 555.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Mr. President, I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider at this time House Bill 555 which will bring state law regarding the reporting of voting incidents with damages in line with federal requirements. This will decrease work for Texas Parks and Wildlife and streamline reporting for those involved as well as officers. I move suspension of the rules.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 555. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 555. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 555 relating to reportable boating accidents and the penalties for certain boating accidents.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson's recognized for a motion.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: I move passage of the Committee Substitute of House Bill 555 to third reading. Actually it's not the Committee Substitute -- House Bill 555.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 555 is passed to third reading. Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: I move to suspend the constitutional rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes and one nay, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 555. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 555 relating to reportable boating accidents and the penalties for certain boating accidents.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson's recognized for a motion.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: I move final passage of House Bill 555.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson moves final passage of House Bill 555. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes, one nay, House Bill 555 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Watson.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis, you ready on 215? Senator Ellis is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 215.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you, Mr. President and members. This is a bill that you have seen before. House Bill 215 is the same as Senate Bill 121 pertaining to improving the eyewitness identification procedures. The Senate unanimously passed the eyewitness ID bill on March 16th, which I should note did get a hearing in the House this week, and we appreciate it even if it was two months after the bill passed. As all of you know, many of us have worked on this bill for a number of years trying to improve mistaken eyewitness identifications. The primary cause of 80 percent of Texas' 44 DNA exonerations was mistaken eyewitness ID. Johnny Pinchback was on the floor earlier, released after 27 years. It's a good bill, you've seen it before and the reason I opted to go ahead and try to pass this House bill after passing the Senate version once before is we don't want any other mistakes like this. I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 215.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 215. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 215. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 215 relating to photograph and live lineup identification procedures in criminal cases.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Mr. President, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 215 is passed to third reading. Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: So moved, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, no nays, constitutional rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 215. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 215 relating to photograph lineup and live identification procedures relating to criminal case.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis now moves final passage of House Bill 215. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, no nays, House Bill 215 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Ellis.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you, sir.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 2851.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members. House Bill 2851 would allow active duty military who are serving overseas to defer payments resulting from surcharges related to the driver responsibility program. The bill was voted out unanimously by both the House and Senate committee on veteran affairs and military installations. Currently if a member of the military is on active duty and serving overseas, they're still required by law to pay or set up an installment plan to pay the surcharges within 30 days. If neither is done, their driving privileges may be suspended. This may be difficult for those overseas as they have not had access to the surcharge notifications which are mailed to the address on record of DPS. They may even be unaware that a surcharge has been assessed. House Bill 2851 will defer the payment deadline for up to 36 months for members of the military who are deployed overseas. This would only apply to surcharges resulting from driving with an invalid license, without valid insurance or driving without a license. This will not apply to those who owe surcharges due to DUI offenses. Once a member of the military returns from oversea deployment, they'll be required to pay or set up an installment plan in order to pay the surcharges owed. The goal of this legislation, members, is to help increase compliance with the program. This bill passed unanimously on the House on local and consent calendar. Mr. President, I move to suspend the regular order of business.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez move suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 2851. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rules are suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 2851. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2851 relating to deferral of certain surcharge payments for military personnel.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move passage to third reading of House Bill 2851.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 2851 is passed to third reading. Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move to suspend the constitutional rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 2851. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2851 relating to deferral of certain surcharge payment for military personnel.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President, I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez now moves final passage of House Bill 2851. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, House Bill 2851 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Rodriguez.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on Committee Substitute to House Bill 2973.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you, Mr. President and members. And thank you, Mr. President, for your work as coauthor of this bill. Members, this is the anti-slap statute. The Texas citizen participation about which will protect Texans' rights of speech from punitive, meritless lawsuits. House Bill 2973 on the -- passed the House calendar's committee and passed the House floor 142 to zero. Members, an anti-slap, anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation legislation protects all Texans petitioning the government on speaking out about matters of public concern. This bill creates in Texas a way for people who have been subjected to slap lawsuits to protect themselves from having to give into the plaintiff who has greater resources or other power rather than spend thousands of dollars defending themselves. Members, anti-slap statutes have been adopted in 27 other states. It's a good bill and I appreciate the work of Chairman Duncan and again you, Mr. President, the work of the trial lawyers, TLR, the media and everyone coming to a consensus on this bill. Id like to suspend the rules to take up and consider Committee Substitute to House Bill 2973.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to House Bill 2973. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 2973. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute House Bill 2973 relating to encouraging public participation by citizens by protecting a person's right to petition right of free speech for a meritless lawsuit.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Mr. President, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, Committee Substitute to House Bill 2973 is moved to third reading. Senator Ellis, you're recognized for motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: I move to suspend the three day rule, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes and zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute House Bill 2973. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 2973 relating to encouraging public participation by citizens by protecting a person's right to petition for free speech from meritless lawsuits.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: In honor of my cosponsor, Senator Eltife, I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis moves final passage in honor of his co-sponsor Eltife, Committee Substitute to House Bill 2973. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Being 31 ayes and no nays, Committee Substitute to House Bill 2973 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Ellis.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 2007.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. The Denver Water Authority -- let me start over. Mr. President, I move to suspend the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 2007. Under House Bill 2007 it takes into account and tries to fix a problem existing today for the Ben Brook water authority. Ben Brook water authority provides water and waste water collection services to the residents of Ben Brook. In the course of providing those is services the BWA sewer system has experienced occasional backups due to repair work and other typical operational service activities. Some owners have had actual property damage because of the backups of the BWA sewer system. The Ben Brook water authority wants to be a good neighbor to its residents by allowing them to pay customers for their actual property damage without waiving their governmental immunity from lawsuits or liability. This bill would allow them the opportunity to do that. Mr. President, I move to suspend the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 2007.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 2007. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 2007. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2007 relating to payment by the Ben Brook water authority for certain damages.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 2007 is passed to third reading. Senator Davis, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: So moved, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, rule is suspended. Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 2007. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2007 relating to payment by the Ben Brook water authority for certain damages.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move final passage of House Bill 2007.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis now moves final passage of House Bill 2007. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, House Bill 2007 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Davis.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 2342.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Mr. President, I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider at this time House Bill 2342 that updates the criminal and punitive penalties for violating the Securities Act and allows for heightened penalties for fraud committed against victim that is over the age of 65. Members, we voted out the Senate companion of this bill SB1281 unanimously on April 20th. I move suspension of the rules.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider HB2342. Is there objection? Chair hears none, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 2342. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2342 relating to certain violations and offenses under the Securities Act.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: I move passage of House Bill 2342 to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson now moves passage of House Bill 2342 to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 2342 is passed to third reading. Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: So moved.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, rule is suspended. Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 2342. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2342 relating to certain violations of and offenses under the Securities Act.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: I move final passage of House Bill 2342.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Watson now moves final passage of House Bill 2342. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes and zero nay, House Bill 2342 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Watson.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 2170.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President and members. I move to suspend the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 2170. House Bill 2170 seeks to ensure that foster children who are in 16 -- who are 16 years or older and in the permanent conservatorship of Department of Family and Protective Services receive annual assistance in obtaining and understanding their free credit reports that they are entitled to receive under the Federal Fair and Accurate Transaction Act. This is necessary because unfortunately children in foster care tend to often be the victims of identity theft by persons who have access to their information and they don't understand the consequences of that theft until after they've aged out of the foster care system and are unable to obtain credit. Members, there's also going to be two amendments that will be offered by our colleagues and both of those are acceptable. Mr. President, I move to suspend the regular order of business.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis moves suspension of the regular order of business to take were and consider House Bill 2170. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rules are suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 2170. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2170 relating to assisting a foster child in obtaining the child's credit report.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Following amendment. Secretary please read the amendment.

PATSY SPAW: Floor amendment No. 1 by Uresti.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Uresti to explain the amendment.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Thank you, Mr. President and members. This amendment is language from Senate Bill 116 known as the Christy Appleby Bill that was passed out of this chamber earlier this session unanimously and also last session I might add and unfortunately died in the House. In the event of dating violence under current law, only a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend is eligible to apply for a protective order against their current or former significant other. This results in an obvious gap in the protective order laws leaving third parties vulnerable should they be targeted for violence or otherwise threatened by their former or significant others current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend. The amendment would redefine dating violence in the family code such as third parties are eligible to apply for restraining orders against former or significant others, current or former wife and girlfriend or a spouse. With that, Mr. President, I move adoption of floor amendment No. 1. I believe it's acceptable to the author.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis on floor amendment No. 1.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: It's acceptable.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: It's acceptable to Senator Davis. Senator Uresti moves adoption of floor amendment No. 1. Is there objection? Chair hears none, floor amendment No. 1 is adopted. Thank you, Senator Uresti. Senator Davis, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis -- Senator Uresti, do you have a question? Senator Davis is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 2173 is passed to third reading. Senator Davis is recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: So moved, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 2170. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 2175 relating to assisting a foster child in obtaining the child's credit report.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. I move final passage of House Bill 2170.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Davis moves final passage of House Bill 2170. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, House Bill 2170 as amended is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Davis.

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 3052.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members. House Bill 3051 amends section 42.01 of the human resource code relating to requiring licenses for child care facilities and child placing agencies. Avancy El Paso is a nonprofit organization that is focused on breaking the cycle of poverty through early childhood development parenting and adult literacy. Avancy serves nearly 1,400 parents and their children in cites in El Paso county. The Even Start program is a successful national program that enables adults to improve their children's development for providing parenting instructions along with adult literacy and educational courses. The Texas Education Agency requires organizations that administer the Even Start program to provide 60 to 65 hours of instruction per month. However, current Department Family and Protective Services regulations do not allow for children to be separated from their parents for more than 23 hours per week even if the child and the parent are in the same building. This regulation makes it very difficult but not impossible for organizations like Avancy to meet TEA's program requirement of 60 to 65 hours on instruction per month and translated to 16 hours per week. House Bill 3051 as engrossed only effects El Paso and is narrowly tailored for programs like Avancy and the Even Start program. The bill increases the maximum number of hours that parents may be away from their child from 12 to 15 hours a week to attend child parenting classes so that parents may satisfy the TEA requirements of 65 hours of instruction per month. House Bill 3051 will allow parents to receive their instruction in a proper classroom environment while their children are just down the hall receiving their own development instructions. Mr. President and members, I move that we suspend the regular order of business and all necessary rules to take up and consider House Bill 3051.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, to be clear about this, we called up -- what bill did we call up, House Bill 3052. Senator Rodriguez has called up House Bill 3051.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: That's what you described. I want the members to be aware. We'll hold for just a minute. Members, the subject is on House Bill 3051, that's what Senator Rodriguez has described.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: That's correct.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: And that's the motion on House Bill 3051. So, members, Senator Rodriguez has moved suspension of the regular order of business to take up 3051. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 3051. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 3051 relating to the provision of child care by certain facilities exempt from child care licensing requirements.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 3051 is passed to third reading. Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move to suspend the constitutional rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, House Bill 3051 is passed to third reading -- rules are suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 3051. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 3051 relating to the provision of child care by certain facilities exempt from child care requirements.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves final passage of House Bill 3051. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, House Bill 3051 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Rodriguez.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Hegar is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 3302.

SENATOR GLENN HEGAR: Thank you, Mr. President. Under current law a municipality may vote up to half a cent of -- 2 percent discretionary sales tax to one or both of its economic development corporations, type A type 4B. Type A corporation is limited to economic development projects that primarily promote new and expanded industrial manufacturing facilities for small rural towns. This narrow permissibility does not give them the ability to use all the collected balances for outlets in this purpose. This bill only for municipalities of a population of less than 7500 with a type both A and B and subject to approval by the municipalities' governing body with HB3302 would allow a corporation a Type A corporation to act as a type B whose authorized expenditures are not nearly as limited and may undertake a wider range of civic and commercial projects. And I would move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 3302.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Hegar moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 3302. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading, House Bill 3302. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 3302 relating to the authority of certain type A economic development corporations to undertake certain categories of projects.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Following amendment. Secretary read the amendment.

PATSY SPAW: Floor amendment No. 1 by Hinojosa.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, Senator Hegar is going to explain the amendment. Senator Hegar.

SENATOR GLENN HEGAR: Thank you, Mr. President and members. This amendment would simply allow a type A corporation that may not undertake a project primarily for the purpose of dealing with a transportation facilities. Senator Hinojosa and I have talked about this and it's acceptable to the author and I would move adoption of floor amendment No. 1.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Hegar moves adoption of floor amendment No. 1. Is there objection? Chair hears none, floor amendment No. 1 is adopted. Senator Hegar is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR GLENN HEGAR: Thank you, Mr. President. Move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Hegar now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 3302 is passed to third reading. Senator Hegar, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR GLENN HEGAR: So moved.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 3302. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 3302 relating to the authority of certain type A economic development corporations to undertake certain categories of projects.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Hegar is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR GLENN HEGAR: Thank you, Mr. President. Move final passage of House Bill 3302 as amended.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Hegar moves final after House Bill 3302 as amended. Secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, House Bill 3302 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Hegar. Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business for Committee Substitute House Bill 3342.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members. This is the right bill. The Committee Substitute for House Bill 3342 clarifies state law regarding the role of local prosecutors in legal proceedings involving people involuntarily admitted to a state hospital or mental facility. This bill passed the House and Senate committees in the full house unanimously. Currently if a person is involuntarily committed to a state hospital or mental illness and refuses to take needed medication, a court may order them to take medication. However, state law is unclear on whether local prosecutors must represent the state enforced medication hearings. In rare cases a person involuntarily committed to a state hospital may sue the hospital or its physicians claiming to be held without legal justification. Because this happens so rarely it is unclear who should represent the state hospitals and physicians in challenging the patient's claim about being held without some justification. House Bill 3342 clarifies that local prosecutors must represent the state's forced medication hearings. It makes the state a party to all legal proceedings resulting from a patient suing a state hospital or physicians from being held without a legal justification and requires local prosecutors to represent state hospitals and physicians sued under these circumstances. The Committee Substitute for House Bill 3342 clarifies that local prosecutors are not required to represent private hospital or private physicians and clarifies that if a patient sues a state hospital physician for holding him without any legal justification, the suit must be filed in the same county that originally committed the person to the state hospital. This bill is supported by the Texas District and County Attorneys Association and the statutory probate courts of Texas including Travis county statutory probate court judge Guy Herman. Mr. President and members, I move that we suspend the regular order of business and all necessary rules to take up and consider the Committee Substitute of House Bill 3342.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to House Bill 3342. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading Committee Substitute House Bill 3342. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 3342 relating to the representation of and by the state and joined by the state of certain mental health proceedings.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I now move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, Committee Substitute House Bill 3342 is passed to third reading. Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, I move to suspend the constitutional rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes and zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute to House Bill 3342. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 3342 relating to the representation of and by the state.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President, I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves final passage of Committee Substitute to House Bill 3342. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Committee Substitute of House Bill 3342 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Rodriguez.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 3510. 3510. Senator Carona is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on Committee Substitute to House Bill 3510.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: Thank you, Mr. President and members. House Bill 3510 deals with the department of licensing and regulation overseeing the vehicle towing, booting and storage industry. In 2007 we made a number of changes including transferring duties from -- to TDLR from TxDOT. In 2009 we also made further changes and now this bill comes back to conform those changes to other sections of the law. For example, the bill would remove the redundant requirement that a towing company must notify law enforcement when it has performed an incident management tow which is requested by law enforcement. That is the nature of the bill and it further cleans up the act. I move at this time to suspend the Senate's regular order of business.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider Committee Substitute to House Bill 3510. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading Committee Substitute to House Bill 3510. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 3510 relating to regulation of the towing, booting and storage of vehicles.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: Mr. President, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is -- Committee Substitute of House Bill 3510 is passed to third reading. Senator Carona is recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: So moved.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes, one nay, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage Committee Substitute to House Bill 3510. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: Committee Substitute to House Bill 3510 relating to regulation of the towing, booting and storage of vehicles.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: Mr. President, I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona now moves final passage of Committee Substitute to had been 3510. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes, one nay, Committee Substitute to House Bill 3510 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Carona. Senator Hegar on refuse to concur. The Chair recognizes Senator Hegar on a motion to not concur on House amendments to SB647.

SENATOR GLENN HEGAR: Thank you, Mr. President and members. Senate Bill 647 is the office of public insurance counsel's sunset bill. The House put on an amendment that expands the duty of OPIC and I would ask that we not concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 647. Go to a conference so we can actually discuss that. Thank you.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Hegar moves that the Senate not concur in House amendments to House amendments to Senate Bill 647 and requests the appointment of a conference committee. Is there objection? Chair hears none. Are there any motions to instruct? Chair hearing none, the following conferees.

PATSY SPAW: Conference committee on Senate Bill 647 Chair, Senator Hegar, member, Senator Huffman, Senator Birdwell, Senator Uresti, and Senator Nelson.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The Chair recognizes Senator Nichols for a motion to grant the House request for an appointment of a conference committee on House Bill 1112.

SENATOR ROBERT NICHOLS: Members, I request a conference committee. The House had an amendment in the bill that basically had the city council of El Paso -- actually this was the RMA cleanup bill, had the RMA city council members, that amendment by Senator Rodriguez removed that. We're in disagreement. So I move to have a conference committee.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Nichols moves that the Senate grant the request from the House for a conference committee on House Bill 1112. Is there objection? Chair hears none. Are there motions to instruct?

SENATOR ROBERT NICHOLS: Thank you.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Hearing none, the following conferees.

PATSY SPAW: Conference committee on House Bill 1112 Chair Senator Nichols, members, Senator Williams, Senator Shapiro, Senator Rodriguez, and Senator Watson.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The Chair recognizes Senator Rodriguez for a motion to not concur in House amendments to SB602.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Mr. President and members, if you recall Senate Bill 602 addressed three specific issues relate to the Texas Public Information Act. The House added three amendments. Mr. President, I respectfully refuse to concur in the House amendments to Senate Bill 602 and request the appointment of a conference committee.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Rodriguez moves that the Senate not concur in the House amendments to SB602 and request the appointment of a conference committee. Is there objection? Chair hears none. Are there any motions to instruct? Hearing none, the following conferees.

PATSY SPAW: Conference committee on Senate Bill 602: Chair Senator Rodriguez, members Senator Uresti, Senator Gallegos, Senator Wentworth and Senator Eltife.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Rodriguez.

SENATOR JOSE RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona, 1573. Senator Carona is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 1573.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: Thank you, Mr. President and members. Members, House Bill 1573 would improve and update the efficiency of certain court procedures and processes. The bill would benefit the court, public, and court personnel. Currently a clerk of a court must post notice of an upcoming criminal court docket set at least 40 hours -- 48 hours, excuse me, before a case is heard. This bill would require the notice to be posted as soon as the court notifies the clerk of the setting. In addition, there are other similar issues, for example, a pretrial. When the public becomes aware of an incident before it has been appropriately entered into court records, this bill would prohibit a grand jury indictment from being made public if the defendant is not in custody or under bond at the time of the presentment of the indictment. The bill has been carefully agreed to by the various parties and I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider had been 1573. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rules are suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 1573. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 1573 relating to certain pretrial and post-trial procedures in a criminal case.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Following amendment. Secretary please read the amendment.

PATSY SPAW: Floor amendment No. 1 by Ellis.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis to explain the amendment.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: Thank you, Mr. President and members. This amendment contains the Texas Senate Bill 122. It was unanimously passed out of the Senate on April the 6th. Senate Bill 122 would improve the state's post conviction DNA testing statute that came out of the Tim Cole advisory committee. It is acceptable to the author. And, again, members who are looking at it, it passed the Senate unanimously. Senator Huffman, it is the very same language that you -- we won't say you coauthored, we'll say you advised me that this would pass. Same language.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona on the amendment.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: It's been fully bedded by everyone here on the floor, I believe, it is acceptable.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Ellis moves adoption of floor amendment No. 1. It is acceptable to Carona. Is there objection? Chair hears none, floor amendment one is adopted. Senator Carona, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: Mr. President, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona now moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 1573 is passed to third reading. Senator Carona you're recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: So moved.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 1573. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 1573 relating to certain pretrial and post-trial procedures in a criminal case.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Carona now moves final passage of House Bill 1573. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nay, House Bill 1573 as amended is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Carona. Senator Zaffirini is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 871.

SENATOR JUDITH ZAFFIRINI: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President and members, I move to suspend the Senate's regular order of business in order to take up and consider at this time House Bill 871 by Representative Davis relating to indigent health care services that may be provided by a county. Members, this bill would permit counties to offer physical and occupational therapies as optional services under the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. There will be an amendment by Senator Uresti which is acceptable to the author. Mr. President, I move suspension.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Zaffirini moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 871. Is there objection? Chair hears none, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 871. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 871 relating to indigent health care services that may be provided by a county.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Following amendment. Secretary read the amendment.

PATSY SPAW: Floor amendment No. 1 by Uresti.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Uresti to explain the amendment.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Thank you, Mr. President and members. Amendment No. 1 to Committee Substitute to House Bill 871 will provide our counties a small measure of confidence when developing their yearly budgets by codifying the current practice where state health services reimburses counties for 100 percent of eligible indigent health care expenses up to the amount budget once a county expends more than 8 percent of its budget. I believe the amendment is acceptable to the author.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Zaffirini.

SENATOR JUDITH ZAFFIRINI: Thank you. It is acceptable, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, Senator Uresti moves adoption of floor amendment No. 1. It is acceptable to Senator Zaffirini. Is there objection? Chair hears none -- Senator Nichols, for what purpose?

SENATOR ROBERT NICHOLS: To ask the author of the amendment a question.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Uresti yield?

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: I yield.

SENATOR ROBERT NICHOLS: I wasn't familiar with the amendment until I just saw it and I was trying to understand it. This says state funds provided under the state section to a county must be, must be member equal to the amount of the actual payment. So instead of 90 percent, this amendment requires the state to pay 100 percent?

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: That's correct, Senator Nichols. Current statute requires counties are reimbursed -- current statutes require that counties are reimbursed at least 90 percent of the indigent eligibility health care expenses, once the health care spends more than 8 percent of its total budget. Currently DIHS is reimbursing the counties 100 percent up to the amount available in the budget. So it cannot exceed whatever amount issues appropriates, that the legislature appropriates to DIHS, and all we're trying to do is codify what their practice is.

SENATOR ROBERT NICHOLS: So it would have already have been appropriated by the state level. So it does not create a negative fiscal note?

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Absolutely not, does not create a fiscal note, if the money has been appropriated by the DIHS than they can only use that money to accomplish what's in this amendment.

SENATOR ROBERT NICHOLS: All right. Thank you.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Thank you.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Nichols. Members, the motion is to adopt floor amendment No. 1 by Uresti, acceptable to Zaffirini. Is there objection? Chair hears none, motion -- amendment is adopted. Senator Zaffirini, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JUDITH ZAFFIRINI: Thank you, Mr. President. I move House Bill 871 to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Zaffirini moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 871 as amended is passed to third reading. Senator Zaffirini is recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR JUDITH ZAFFIRINI: Thank you, Mr. President. I move to suspend the constitutional three day rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 29 ayes, two nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 871. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 871 relating to indigent health care services that may be provided by a county.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Zaffirini is recognized for a motion.

SENATOR JUDITH ZAFFIRINI: Thank you, Mr. President. I move final passage.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Zaffirini moves final passage of House Bill 871. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 29 ayes, two nays, House Bill 871 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Zaffirini.

SENATOR JUDITH ZAFFIRINI: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Whitmire. You wish to be recognized, Senator Whitmire? Senator Whitmire. You have a motion, Senator Whitmire?

SENATOR JOHN WHITMIRE: Yes, Mr. President and members, I would like to move that we reduce the writing and place in the journal the transcript of the discussion and debate on Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 31, the redistricting debate yesterday. I had more than one member request that that be reduced and put that transcript in the journal for future purposes.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, Senator Whitmire moves that we reduce the writing of the debate on the Senate redistricting bill. Is there objection? Chair hears none, so ordered. Thank you, Senator Whitmire. Senator Fraser is recognized for a motion to suspend the regular order of business on House Bill 1665.

SENATOR TROY FRASER: Thank you, Mr. President and members. 1665 clarifies the intent of legislation we passed last session. During the interim received consistent feedback about how the bill impacts property rights, the bill modifies the authority of certain municipalities to adopt ordinances and issue building permits by changing the procedures for interaction between the municipality of the defense base when an ordinance or issue of a building permit for a new structure is proposed. I would now move to suspend the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 1665.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, Senator Fraser moves suspension of the regular order of business to take up and consider House Bill 1665. Is there objection? Chair hears none, the rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on second reading House Bill 1665. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 1665 relating to a notification requirements regarding certain land use regulation.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Following amendment. Secretary will please read the amendment.

PATSY SPAW: Floor amendment No. 1 by Fraser.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Fraser to explain the floor amendment.

SENATOR TROY FRASER: Members, this amendment modifies interaction between municipalities on defense base on proposed ordinances, clearing and harvesting trees, vegetation on land within a municipality, TDJ within 3 miles of the defense base, the amendment permit a defense base to submit comments to the municipality on ordinance and the municipality would also be required to consider those comments in order to put buffer zones around defense bases, the amendment clarifies that the enforcement of a tree vegetation ordinances of municipalities, EDJ, is authorized if a portion of the municipality is EDJ is within miles of boundary of the defense base and defense base comments support enforcement of the ordinance of that portion of the EDJ. I move adoption of floor amendment.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Finally Senator Fraser moves adoption of floor amendment No. 1. Is there objection? Chair hears none, floor amendment No. 1 is adopted. Senator Davis, for what purpose?

SENATOR WENDY DAVIS: Mr. President, I'm sorry, I couldn't understand a word that Senator Fraser just said. Did anyone else understand a word that he just said? I have a hard time hearing particularly men wearing pink and red and blue ties voices.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: I think he made a motion to sign (inaudible), if I'm not mistaken. We adopted it. Senator Fraser is recognized for a motion. You're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR TROY FRASER: I would move adoption -- I'm sorry, I move passage to third reading.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Fraser moves passage to third reading. Is there objection? Chair hears none, House Bill 1665 is passed to third reading. Senator Fraser, you're now recognized for a motion to suspend the constitutional three day rule.

SENATOR TROY FRASER: I would now move to suspend the constitutional rule that bills be read on three several days.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 31 ayes, zero nays, rule is suspended. The Chair lays out on third reading and final passage House Bill 1665. The secretary will read the caption.

PATSY SPAW: House Bill 1665 relating to the notification requirements relating to certain land use regulations.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Fraser, you're recognized for a motion.

SENATOR TROY FRASER: I would now move final passage of House Bill 1665.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Fraser now moves final passage of House Bill 1665 as amended. The secretary will call the roll.

PATSY SPAW: Birdwell, Carona, Davis, Deuell, Duncan, Ellis, Eltife, Estes, Fraser, Gallegos, Harris, Hegar, Hinojosa, Huffman, Jackson, Lucio, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Rodriguez, Seliger, Shapiro, Uresti, Van de Putte, Watson, Wentworth, West, Whitmire, Williams, Zaffirini.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: 30 ayes, one nay, House Bill 1665 is finally passed. Congratulations, Senator Fraser.

SENATOR TROY FRASER: Thank you, Mr. President and members.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, the president's desk is clear. Are there announcements? Senator West, you're recognized.

SENATOR ROYCE WEST: Mr. President and members, I ask unanimous consent to suspend the posting rules Senate rules 11.10 and 18 so the Senate committee on intergovernmental relations may add the following bills to the posting for the day. House Bill 844 by Geren, Senator sponsor Nelson relating to the sale or lease of property by certain municipalities owning land near the shoreline of certain lakes. House Bill 3040 by Parker, Senate sponsor Nelson relating to the extension of the deadline for holding the confirmation and to show directors election of the tradition municipal utility district number two of Denton county. House Bill 3246 by Elkins relating to public improvement districts designated by municipality or county, Senate sponsor West. And also House Bill 3813 relating to the Hudson fresh water supply district House author Isaac, Senate sponsor Wentworth. I'd ask unanimous consent.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you have heard the motion by Senator West. Is there objection? Chair hears none, so ordered. Thank you, Senator West. Do you have an announcement?

SENATOR ROYCE WEST: Mr. President, the Senate committee on intergovernmental relations will meet at 2:30 in the same room that it was originally posted.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator West. Senator Jackson, you have an announcement?

SENATOR MIKE JACKSON: Motion and an announcement, Mr. President. I move to suspend the 24-hour posting rule in order -- for Senate rules 11.10 and 11.18 in order for the Senate committee on economic development to take up and consider House Bill 3275 by Coleman and sponsor Ellis. And would like to take that up today.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members you heard the motion by Senator Jackson. Chair hears none, so ordered. Senator Jackson, an announcement.

SENATOR MIKE JACKSON: Thank you, Mr. President. Members, the committee on economic development will be meeting here on the Senate floor 30 minutes upon or 30 minutes after adjournment.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Jackson. Senator Whitmire, you have an announcement? Senator Whitmire, you have an announcement? Senator Huffman, do you have an announcement?

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: I have a motion, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Please proceed.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Mr. President and members, I move to suspend the 24-hour posting rule Senate rules 11.10 and 11.18 in order for the Senate committee of health and human services to take up and consider House Bill 3197 and House Bill 710 in our hearing tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. in room E1.016.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator Huffman. Is there objection? Chair hears none, so ordered. Thank you, Senator Huffman.

SENATOR JOAN HUFFMAN: Thank you, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Whitmire, you have a motion?

SENATOR JOHN WHITMIRE: I have a motion to suspend the 24-hour posting rule in accordance with with Senate rules 11.10 and 11.18 in order for the Senate committee on criminal justice to meet at my desk upon adjournment for purposes to consider pending business. Please, please.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator Whitmire. Is there objection? Chair hears none, he's begging. Motion adopted. Thank you, Senator Whitmire. Senator Carona, you're recognized.

SENATOR JOHN CARONA: Thank you, Mr. President. Members, I have a motion, move to suspend the Senate rules 11.10 and 11.18 so the Senate business and commerce committee can meet at my desk upon adjournment, members, to take up pending legislation and the following additional bills: House Bill 1020 by Sid Miller and House Bill 2603 by Smithee. Again this will be at my desk immediately upon adjournment.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator Carona. Is there objection? Chair hears none, so ordered. Senator Uresti, you're recognized for an announcement.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Thank you, Mr. President and members. I'm giving notice that the local and uncontested calendar session will be held Thursday May 19th at 8:00 clock a.m. a copy of the certified calendar has been furnished to each of you. Also I move to suspend Senate rule 11.13 so that committees can meet tomorrow morning during the local and uncontested calendar session. Thank you.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator Uresti, Is there objection? Chair hears none, so ordered. Senator Watson, for what purpose?

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: An announcement.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Please proceed.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: The Senate committee on transportation and homeland security will reconvene minutes upon adjournment in E 1.016. Chairman Williams advises that the committee will be voting on pending business and then take up HB12.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Watson. Senator Deuell, for what purpose?

SENATOR BOB DEUELL: I have an announcement on state affairs committee.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Please proceed.

SENATOR BOB DEUELL: I move to suspend the 24-hour posting rule in accordance with Senate rules 11.10 and 11.18 in order for the Senate committee on state affairs to take up the following bills tomorrow morning Thursday May 19th at 9:00 a.m. here in the Senate chamber. House Bill 1046, House Bill 1129, House Bill 1528, House Bill 2098, House Bill 2190, House Bill 2425, House Bill 2449, and House Bill 2728. Members, if there are no questions I move suspension of the rules.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator Deuell, is there objection? Chair hears none, so ordered. Senator Van de Putte, for what purpose?

SENATOR LETICIA VAN DE PUTTE: An announcement, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Please proceed, Senator Van de Putte.

SENATOR LETICIA VAN DE PUTTE: Thank you. The Senate committee on veteran affairs and military installations will meet 15 minutes upon adjournment in the Betty king room.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Van de Putte. Are there any other announcements, members? Chair recognizes the Dean of the Senate for a highly privileged motion. One second, Dean. Senator Van de Putte, for what purpose?

SENATOR LETICIA VAN DE PUTTE: Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which we passed House Bill 1665 in that the amendment placed by Senator Fraser is the tree ordinance that has a very negative effect on Camp Bullis and the bill that was passed on this was only for the city of Abilene.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senator Van de Putte, it's -- without Senator Fraser on the floor, it's not appropriate to recognize you for that motion. He's not on the floor.

SENATOR JEFF WENTWORTH: Mr. President, he's in the lounge just about a minute ago, let me try to find him. Senator Fraser couldn't explain this amendment to me.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: If you could get Senator Fraser on the floor shortly, we could consider it. But if he's not on the floor, we can't consider it. Senator Ellis, for what purpose?

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: To make an announcement.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Please proceed.

SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS: The Black Caucus will be meeting at my desk to discuss our next actions on the redistricting plan immediately upon adjournment.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Ellis. Senator Watson, for what purpose?

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Parliamentary inquiry.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: State your inquiry.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Mr. President, there's a motion before the body to reconsider a vote by which House Bill 1665 was passed as amended. You have ruled that without the sponsor of House Bill 1665 on the floor the motion to reconsider would be out of order. My inquiry is whether the -- a motion to reconsider would be appropriate tomorrow at the beginning of session and if that is the case how would we prevent having the bill sent over to the House so the motion would be appropriate?

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: First of all, Senator Van de Putte was not recognized for the motion because the bill sponsor was not on the floor.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: I see.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: The motion to reconsider will be eligible the next legislative day which will be tomorrow.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Another parliamentary inquiry.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: State your inquiry.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: For purposes of assuring the bill does not go to the House and therefore make a motion to reconsider inappropriate in some way, how do we assure that the bill does not go over to the House?

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: We'll make sure that the bill is not sent over, but the motion will have to be made and taken up tomorrow.

SENATOR KIRK WATSON: Thank you, Mr. President.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Thank you, Senator Watson. Senator Uresti, for what purpose?

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Parliamentary inquiry.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: State your inquiry.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to be clear. Can the Chair tell us what the rule is that requires the author of the bill to be present on a motion to reconsider?

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Senatorial courtesy.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Okay.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: I know that's hard to believe in this body, but it's true. Senatorial courtesy.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Parliamentary inquiry.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: State your inquiry.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Thank you, Mr. President. And I think we all appreciate that but it's clear that Senator Fraser has left the building and is not here and there is a motion before the Chair and so my parliamentary inquiry is what is the Chair's intent with regard to the ruling on Senator Van de Putte's?

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Well, Senator Uresti, let me put it this way, as presiding officer, I would not take up this motion without any member not on the floor for their bill. So we've said that we will take up the motion tomorrow.

SENATOR CARLOS URESTI: Very well. Thank you.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: And the bill will not be sent to the House and will still be eligible tomorrow and we would do the same for any member that's not here. Any other announcements? We're clear. Dean Whitmire, you're recognized for a highly privileged motion.

SENATOR JOHN WHITMIRE: I move that the Senate recess until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow so that we may consider a local and uncontested calendar at that time and at the conclusion of that calendar, the Senate will adjourn until 11:00 a.m. Thursday May 19th.

SENATOR KEVIN ELTIFE: Members, you heard the motion by Senator Whitmire. Is there objection? Chair hears none, the motion is adopted. The Senate stands in recess until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow to consider the local calendar and upon the conclusion of the local calendar the Senate will stand adjourned until 11:00 a.m. Thursday May 19th. Thank you, members.

(Adjourned.)