The Mignon Memo

For those interested in legislative statistics, bill filings are down this session. According to the Texas Legislative Council, 2462 House and Senate Bills have been filed so far. 110 Joint Resolutions (otherwise known as constitutional amendments) have been filed. After today, there are 12 filing days remaining before the March 11 deadline. During the last regular session in 2009, a total of 7419 bills were introduced and 190 joint resolutions. Members can file bills after the filing deadline but it takes special permission from the members of that chamber in the form of a vote of four-fifths of the members present.

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst announced the new Senate Select Committee on Open Government. The committee will review issues relating to transparency in state government, public information and open records. Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) will serve as chair, and Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) will serve as vice-chair. Other members of the committee include Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston); Sen. Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler); and Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano).

In his biennial State of the Judiciary address on Wednesday, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson urged the Texas Legislature to protect legal aid funding and renewed his call for the reform of judicial elections.

House and Senate Committees have begun meeting and hearing bills. To find out the latest committee schedules or to listen to budget hearings, go to the Texas Legislature Online website at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/. For those of you who use iPhones or other smart phones, enter www.txlegis.com in your browser.

Here are some interesting facts about last week’s House committee appointments. Last session there were 19 Republican chairs and 16 Democrats. This session, that split is 27 to 11. Democrats who lost prominent chairmanships include Reps. Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville) – Ways & Means; Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) – Transportation and Yvonne Davis (D-Dallas) – Urban Affairs. Oliveira will now chair Land & Resource Management and Pickett will head up Defense & Veteran’s Affairs. Republicans that saw their fortunes rise include Rep. Beverly Woolley (R-Houston) who will serve as speaker pro tempore; Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) who will head the all important Calendars Committee, and Rep. Harvey Hilderbran (R-Kerrville) who replaces Oliveira as head of Ways & Means.

Brian Guthrie will take over as executive director of the Teacher Retirement System when Ronnie Jung retires in September. Guthrie has served as the deputy director at TRS since 2008.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed three members to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. The new members include Judy Morgan of Texarkana; Elaine Mendoza of San Antonio; and Cliff Thomas of Victoria.

The wait is over. The Speaker has announced House Committee appointments. Follow this link to see where your favorite members landed: http://www.house.state.tx.us/_media/pdf/committee.pdf

Governor Rick Perry gave his State of the State address yesterday. The text of the speech may be viewed here: http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/15673/. Governor Perry also released his suggested budget for the 2012-2013 bienium. You can view his suggestions here: http://governor.state.tx.us/files/press-office/Governor-Budget-2012-13.pdf .

Speaking of budgets, are you still confused about how Texas legislators actually write the biennial budget? The House Research Organization has once again published an excellent summary of the steps that go into the writing of the budget in Texas. Follow this link: http://www.hro.house.state.tx.us/pdf/focus/writing82.pdf

If you are wondering how many bills have been filed thus far, the magic number is 1714 according to statistics maintained by the Texas Legislative Council. 1158 House Bills and 556 Senate Bills have been filed. With four and a half weeks to go until the March 11th filing deadline, legislators will have to step up the pace to get close to the number of bills filed during the last regular session – 7419.

Wm. Eugene “Gene” Powell of San Antonio was named chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents. Powell succeeds Colleen McHugh of Corpus Christi, who has served as chairman since March of last year.

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst named the remainder of the Senate Committees on Friday. Some of the membership of the committees was reshuffled but the chairs remained the same. You can view the committee list for the 82nd Regular Session by following this link: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/assets/pdf/TXSenCmtes82R.pdf

The Senate Finance Committee has begun taking testimony on Senate Bill 1, the appropriations bill. Other committees are scheduling organizational meetings and Senate State Affairs will tackle one of Governor Perry’s emergency items when the committee considers Senate Bill 18 relating to eminent domain at a hearing this Thursday.

House members turned in their committee preference cards last week. Committee announcements are expected late this week or next week.

The House Democratic Caucus has elected its officers for the 82nd Legislature. Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston will serve as House Democratic Leader. Other officers include Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) as caucus chair; Rep. Hubert Vo (D-Houston) as caucus chair pro tempore; and Rep. Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) as treasurer.

Governor Perry has made several key appointments in the last week. Alex Cranberg of Austin, Wallace Hall of Dallas, and Brenda Pejovich of Dallas were appointed to the University of Texas Board of Regents for terms to expire Feb. 1, 2017. Perry also made several reappointments. Gail Lowe was reappointed as chair of the State Board of Education for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2013. Robert Scott was reappointed as Texas Commissioner of Education for a term concurrent with the term of the governor. Thomas Suehs was reappointed as executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission for a term to expire Feb. 1, 2013. All of these appointments are subject to confirmation by the Texas Senate.

The Senate has issued its own “base-line budget” as a starting point for budget negotiations. The two-year, $158.7 billion budget would cut current spending of state and federal funds by $28.8 billion, or more than 15 percent. Like the House version, the Senate’s draft budget assumes no new taxes and does not tap the “Rainy Day” fund. In its initial budget for 2012-13, the Senate estimated that Texas would receive $1 billion more in federal Medicaid funds than the House does. The Senate draft would also put more money into public education than the House but still falls $9.3 billion short of current school funding formulas that pay for items.

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst names the members of the Senate Finance Committee Monday. The committee will remain mostly the same with Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) serving as Chair and Sen. Juan Hinojosa (D-McAllen) serving as Vice-Chair. Other members include: Sens. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville), Robert Duncan (R-Lubbock), Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler), Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls), Eddie Lucio Jr. (D-Brownsville), Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), Dan Patrick (R-Houston), Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo), Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), Royce West (D-Dallas), John Whitmire (D-Houston), Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands), and Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo). They will get to work next week.

The Senate has passed the first piece of legislation for the 82nd Session. Senate Bill 14, the “Voter ID bill” would require most residents to present photo identification before being allowed to vote. The bill now moves to the House.

The House adopted rules for the current session. The most significant change dealt with the procedures for handling routine and non controversial bills on the so-called “local and consent calendar.” Bills on a local and consent calendar that aren’t heard on one day will spill over to the next local and consent calendar while the House moves to the next regular calendar, or agenda. This change will prevent a repeat of last session when House Democrats used the local and consent calendar to stall debate on Voter ID legislation.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones announced that she will join the race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Jones joins a crowded Republican field that currently includes former Secretary of State Roger Williams, Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams, and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is also a likely candidate. Congressman Ron Paul is also said to be considering the race.

The “base-line budget”, prepared by the Legislative Budget Board, was released yesterday. The draft budget which serves as the starting point for determining spending over the next two years would reduce spending by 16 percent and cut 9,610 positions from state government. The recommendations showed reductions in every category, including a 24.6 percent drop in health and human services and 13.1 percent in public education, which form the bulk of state spending. The plan calls for a 10 percent rate cut for providers of Medicaid, the fast-growing program providing insurance coverage to indigent children, elderly and disabled people. The budget also called for a 23.8 percent reduction in general government and a 12.7 percent reduction in public safety and criminal justice operations, including the state prison system. Higher education would face a 7.6 percent cut. The base-line budget calls for a total of $156.4 billion for spending from federal and state revenue, a reduction of $31.1 billion, or 16.6 percent. The state funds come from dedicated and discretionary general revenue totaling $79.3 billion, a decrease of $9.2 billion, or 10.4 percent, according to the summary report. The draft budget does not tap the “Rainy Day” fund.

Last Thursday, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced that she would not seek another term in the U.S. Senate. Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams is expected to resign his position to run for the U.S. Senate seat. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has also expressed his interest in running. Other candidates include Republicans Ted Cruz and former Secretary of State Roger Williams who was endorsed yesterday by Former President George H.W. Bush. Previously, Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones and Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) as well as Democrats Bill White and John Sharp have expressed interest in running for the seat. Current Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is also said to be considering the race.

Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst were honored at the 2011 Texas Inaugural festivities yesterday. After the ceremony, a free barbeque lunch was served on the grounds of the Texas Capitol.

This week began with the biennial revenue estimate. According to Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, Texas will collect $77.3 billion in general revenue during the next two-year budget cycle. The comptroller estimated the Rainy Day Fund will have $9.4 billion in it at the end of the 2012-2013 biennium and that the size of the current deficit is $4.3 billion. This leaves lawmakers with a net of $72.2 billion to spend. This official announcement of the biennial revenue estimate kicks off the budget negotiations for the upcoming legislative session.

The 82nd regular session of the Texas Legislature is underway. After a favorable Republican Caucus vote on Monday, Speaker Joe Straus was reelected on Tuesday by a vote of 132 to 15 with one member absent and two present not voting. Over in the Texas Senate, Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) was elected President Pro Tempore, a largely ceremonial position.

In his remarks to the Texas House and Senate on opening day, Governor Rick Perry designated two emergency issues for legislators to take up immediately: eminent domain and the abolishment of sanctuary cities. The term sanctuary city is used to refer to areas where local law enforcement authorities are generally not allowed to inquire about a person’s immigration status.

Speaker Joe Straus has appointed a Select Committee on Election Contests to hear the election contest involving Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) and Republican Dan Neil. Rep. Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) will chair the committees and members include Representatives Craig Eiland (D-Galveston); Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton); Helen Giddings (D-Dallas); Ryan Guillen (D-Rio Grande City); Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham); Tyron Lewis (R-Odessa); Jerry Madden (R-Plano) and Wayne Smith (R-Baytown).

At this point, a little over 900 bills and joint resolutions (constitutional amendments) have been filed. Members have until March 11th to raise that total. During the last session in 2009, over 7400 bills and resolutions were filed. If you are interested in statistics from past sessions, follow this link to the Texas Legislative Reference Library: http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/sessions/billStatistics.cfm

Texas Commissioner of Insurance Mike Geeslin announced today that he will not seek another term. His current term ends Feb. 1st but he stated he will stay on for a transition period. Governor Perry has not made any announcement about a replacement for this appointed position.

Speaker Joe Straus has appointed Rep. Will Hartnett (R-Dallas) to serve as the master of discovery in the election contest filed by Republican Dan Neil against Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) in House District 48. Hartnett previously served as master of discovery in the 2005 election contest between former state Rep. Talmadge Heflin and current state Rep. Hubert Vo, both of Houston.

Governor Rick Perry announced several new assignments in the governor’s office. Former Perry campaign manager Rob Johnson is going into the governor’s office as a senior advisor. Jeff Boyd will be the governor’s general counsel; Brandy Marty will be the director of Budget, Planning and Policy; Milton Rister will serve as director of Administration; and Sarah Floerke was named deputy legislative director and House liaison.

We wish you Happy Holidays and hope you celebrate the end of 2010 in style. The Mignon Memo will take a short break next week and return on January 5th, 2011.

Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) has been advocating for the Republican Caucus in the Texas House to meet and chose a speaker candidate. On Tuesday, Chisum announced that he will provide Caucus Chairman Larry Taylor with a letter on December 29, signed by ten caucus members, requesting a meeting and caucus vote on the speaker’s race. His hope is for a January 5th meeting in Austin to give members time to plan to attend.

2010 census data released Tuesday indicates that Texas will gain four new congressional districts for a total of 36 districts.

Republican Dan Neil, who ran against Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) in House District 48 and lost by 12 votes, has filed a contest with the Texas Secretary of State to have a Texas House-appointed special master determine if irregularities changed the outcome of the election. The appointee will gather evidence, and a special House committee will convene to consider the evidence. Ultimately, the members of the House would decide the matter by declaring a clear winner or sending the issue back to the voters of the district.

Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) announced the formation of the Tea Party Caucus of Texas with 48 fellow legislators joining him. Members must agree to uphold the fundamental Tea Party principles of limited government, lower taxes, defend the U.S Constitution as written by our founders, and defend the sovereignty of Texas. Members must also agree to sign and support the Texas Conservative Coalition Pledge with Texas.

Texas gave notice to IBM this week that it will terminate their $863 million data center consolidation contract. The process could take up to two years as the Department of Information Resources finds companies to finish the job of completing the merger of 28 state agency data centers. In the meantime, the existing contract requires IBM to provide “termination assistance” by maintaining staffing and providing the necessary information to ease the transition.

Seguin Republican John Kuempel won the House District 44 Special Election with 66% of the vote on Tuesday against nine opponents. He will fill the seat left vacant when his father, former Rep. Edmund Kuempel (R-Seguin) passed away in early November after suffering a heart attack.

On Tuesday, Rep. Allan Ritter (D-Nederland) and Rep. Aaron Pena (D-Edinburg) announced that they will switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party, giving Republicans a super majority of 101 seats in the Texas House.

The Mexican-American Legislative Caucus elected its officers: Trey Martinez-Fischer (D-San Antonio), chairman; Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin), vice chairman; Armando Martinez, (D-Weslaco), secretary; Roland Gutierrez, (D-San Antonio), treasurer; and Veronica Gonzales, (D-McAllen), general counsel.