The strip club fee story has a little sidebar on it entitled “Other bills of particular interest in the Houston area”, which includes this tidbit:
Clean air
- The measure: To prohibit Houston and other cities from using city nuisance laws against plants outside the city limits that pollute city air.
- Status: Senate Bill 1317 did not pass the House. But it could be revived as an amendment to another bill.
Looking at the history of this bill, it’s a little weird that it took two weeks to get from Environmental Affairs, the playground of Dennis “Dirty Air” Bonnen, to Calendars, from which it apparently never emerged. One can only presume that if the House had been working on a more traditional schedule – which is to say, had they been in session through the weekend – this one would have made it to the floor. Chalk this up as a victory for the anti-Craddick rebellion. Now let’s keep an eye on amendments and hope for the best.
It’s my understanding that a lot of GOP members in the House — especially those in urban areas — didn’t want to be on the record voting for this. The public is now about 80% for passing pro-environmental legislation, so voting for polluters is not pallatable.