Daily Archives: May 17, 2007

Uh oh

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Dammit. Sen. Mario Gallegos is headed back to Houston for a surgical procedure and is not sure whether he will return to Austin for the remainder of the session, according to his spokesman Harold Cook. Gallegos, who received a liver … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 1 Comment

Last chance to support SB419

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Pete says that SB419, which is the bill that would greatly help autistic children and their parents (see here, here, and here for more), is languishing in committee and may not make it to the House floor. With sine die … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 1 Comment

Hopefully the last thing I’ll have to say about Dewhurst and HB218

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron follows up on yesterday’s late report that David Dewhurst had basically given up on forcing HB218 through the Senate. This is very good news, to be sure, but as the man once said, it ain’t over till it’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Budget yes, pension plan not yet

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

We have a city budget, but we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see what kind of pension fund plan gets hashed out. After proposing a $3.8 billion city budget Wednesday, Mayor Bill White’s administration today begins wrestling with … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Comments Off on Budget yes, pension plan not yet

Another delay from Bonnen

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

I said yesterday that SB12, one of the very few clean air bills to make it through the committee process this session, was supposed to finally come up for final passage last night. Unfortunately, Rep. Dennis Bonnen struck again: For … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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“Bill Ceverha bill” passes the House

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

The “Bill Ceverha bill”, which passed out of the Senate in March, has now passed out of the House, and should be signed into law. While there were multiple bills with the same intent that got filed, in the end … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Journey for “Jessica’s Law” nears its end

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Grits reports that the conference comittee has done its work on HB8, also known as “Jessica’s Law”, meaning that the final version can be voted on and sent to Governor Perry. He has a link to a report on how … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 2 Comments

Watch out for shifting taxes

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

From the CPPP: SB 407 by Eltife would permit cities and counties to levy an additional 1/4% sales tax each to offset property taxes. These sales taxes could be in addition to the state sales tax of 6 1/4% and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

The strangest press release I’ve ever gotten

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

After 5.5 years of blogging, mostly on political stuff, I’m on every mailing list known to humankind, and I get more press releases than you can shake a keyboard at. In all that time, I don’t believe I’ve ever gotten … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Amended Carona bill passes out of the House

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Back in April, a bill passed out of the Senate that would explicitly give cities the right to operate red light cameras, while simultaneously putting restrictions on their use. Now an amended version of that bill has passed out of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment