May 05, 2004
Not really worth analyzing after all

OK, I take it back. I'm not going to bother analyzing the current House bill, which was originally supposed to be on school finance reform but which is an unrecognizable mass of tax tradeoffs that no one likes and everyone knows won't do squat to help schools. The House has passed the buck to the Senate and taken its shot at Governor Perry for his utter lack of leadership, and yet still passed this completely useless bill, though it took two votes and a lot of arm-twisting to do it. No, I'm just going to boil it all down to its essence, which is captured nicely in this quote:


State Rep. John Smithee,R-Amarillo, said the bill, if it became law in its present form, would be "disastrous for the people of Texas." But he and other Republican leaders said there wasn't enough time remaining in the session, which must end May 19, to send the bill back to committee for a rewrite.

"I'm convinced this is the only way to move the process along," Smithee said.


So it's better to pass a "disastrous" bill in the name of process than it is to take no action at this time. Tell me again why it is that the Republican Party is associated with people who call themselves "conservatives". I don't recognize anything conservative in that statement.

The Quorum Report is a gold mine of info on this session, and of course one can read the various newspaper accounts (here, here, here, here, here, and here). And one can wish that the special session will expire with nothing passing other than thirty days. By far that would be the best option right now.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 05, 2004 to Budget ballyhoo | TrackBack
Comments

I've got to stop watching legislative proceedings. It makes me crazy. We were watching the House floor proceedings last night during dinner (one of the public access channels carried it) and the stuff coming out of their mouths about "just moving the process along" blew me away. How can these guys sleep at night? You're right - there's nothing conservative about what they did. Why don't Texans wake up and smell the freaking coffee?

Posted by: hope on May 5, 2004 1:53 PM

Why don't Texans wake up and smell the freaking coffee?

It may have something to do with the fact you were likely the only ones tuned into the public access broadcast.

Far more people are planning their "Friends Finale" watching party or breathlessly watching future has-been David Schwimmer's interview on ET, Dateline, and/or Access Hollywood than the Texas House proceedings.

Posted by: Patrick on May 5, 2004 2:04 PM

Tell me again why NOT dealing with school financing in this session is a bad idea? Wasting another $1mill++ on a special session that does nothing (along with the other two!) Ugh! Democrats...get some SPINE!

Posted by: Demogirl on May 5, 2004 4:12 PM