Election results: Texas

Short and sweet: All nine constitutional amendments passed, all by substantial margins. Here’s The Observer on Prop 6.

The Texas Water Development Board will now oversee a $2 billion water bank, seeded with capital from the Rainy Day Fund, to help pay for water supply projects and water conservation across the state. The large margin of victory is testimony to the growing public awareness of the state’s serious water problems. (And so much for those silly predictions that “the rain” would dampen enthusiasm at the polls.)

Boosters, including many of the industrial interests that have the most to lose from water scarcity, did a good job positioning Prop 6 as the solution. The message was basically, “Want to do something about our water problems? Here’s the solution. Got a better idea?”

I did notice that a few rural East Texas counties posted large margins against Prop 6. Of course, that’s where the water is and the people aren’t. It’s not unreasonable for East Texans to worry that a multi-billion-dollar water bank will fund projects to move water from east to west. Indeed, they need only look at Dallas’ official plans. In Red River County, where the long-contested Marvin Nichols Reservoir is proposed, the vote on Prop 6 was 57 percent opposed to 43 percent in favor.

Gov. Rick Perry hailed Prop 6’s passage. “Today, the people of Texas made history, ensuring we’ll have the water we need to grow and thrive for the next five decades, without raising state taxes.”

Most large environmental groups supported Prop 6, in large part because of a target that at least 20 percent of the funding from the state water bank will go toward conservation and water reuse projects. Ken Kramer, the former director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, was instrumental in lining up the conservation earmark and was one of the most persuasive voices in favor of Prop 6. He celebrated the victory tonight but sounded a note of caution too.

“Now the real work begins,” Kramer said in a statement. “Texans need to become actively involved in regional water planning and in local government water supply decisions to make sure that the potential for Prop 6 to advance water conservation and enhance water planning is achieved.”

That more or less sums it up for me. See here for more about the other amendments, if you’ve already forgotten what they are.

The only other result of interest is the special election in HD50 to fill out the remainder of former Rep. Mark Strama’s term.

Republican Mike VanDeWalle and Democrat Celia Israel advanced to a runoff Tuesday in the race to replace state Rep. Mark Strama in the Texas House.

Incomplete returns showed VanDeWalle with nearly 39 percent to Democrat Celia Israel’s 32 percent. Democrats Jade Chang Sheppard and Rico Reyes were far behind in the Democrat-leaning district that covers parts of North Austin and eastern Travis County.

Celia Israel is backed by the Victory Fund and would join Rep. Mary Gonzalez as the second LGBT member of the Legislature if she wins. Of course, even if she survives the runoff she would still have to win a Democratic primary in March and then the 2014 general election. Regardless, I’ll be rooting for her in December.

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