Tag Archives: John Whitmire

Senate committee restores some money to public education

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Emphasis on the “some”. Texas public schools would get back a chunk of the $5.4 billion in state funding they lost two years ago under a budget proposal adopted by the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. But they probably should … Continue reading →

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Here come the craft beer bills

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From Brewed and Never Battered. Senator Kevin Eltife (R-District 1) introduced bi-partisan legislation along with Co-Authors, Senators Brian Birdwell (R-District 22), John Carona (R-District 16), Eddie Lucio (D-District 27), Leticia Van de Putte (D-District 26), Kirk Watson (D-District 14), and … Continue reading →

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How would you pay for extra school security?

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Would you be willing to tax yourself for it? Texas school districts could create special taxing districts to fund more security under a proposal unveiled Tuesday by three Houston-area lawmakers. The Texas School District Security Act would allow school boards … Continue reading →

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January finance reports for area legislative offices

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Just to complete the tour of semiannual finance reports, here’s a look at the cash on hand totals for area legislators. First up, the Harris County House delegation. Patricia Harless, HD126 – $308,221 Dan Huberty, HD127 – $69,058 Wayne Smith, … Continue reading →

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White Ds and non-white Rs

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A few points to make about this. White Democrats are an increasingly vanishing species in the Texas Legislature, where there will be only 10 when the new legislative session starts in early January. The face of the Legislature has undergone … Continue reading →

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The Lege will take another crack at payday lending

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’m glad to see this, because the Lege definitely left business unfinished last time. About 83 percent of customers in Beaumont and 75 percent in the Houston and San Antonio metro areas are locked in a loan renewal cycle, latest … Continue reading →

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The felony mental health court

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’d celebrate, too. [State District Court Judge] Krocker and others celebrated the official opening of Harris County’s felony mental health court, which started putting mentally ill defendants on probation instead of sending them to jail in May. Krocker has been … Continue reading →

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On locking up prostitutes

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It doesn’t make much sense. Busted 32 times in 17 years for prostitution in Austin and other places, Beatryce Hall’s rap sheet reads like a frequent-flier ticket for Texas prisons: 11 times in 11 years. Many of those trips were … Continue reading →

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Rethinking school discipline

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Nearly 60 percent of junior high school and high school students get suspended or expelled, according to a report that tracked about 1 million Texas children over a six-year period. About 15 percent of the Texas seventh- through 12th-grade … Continue reading →

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“Sanctuary cities” bill passes the Senate

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Once it was added to the call, this became inevitable. Senate Republicans finally passed a priority issue for their party early Wednesday morning when they outmuscled their Democratic colleagues on an immigration-related bill intended to make it easier for law … Continue reading →

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Anti-bullying bill passed

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There hasn’t been a whole lot of good news this session, but this certainly qualifies. Eight months after Cy-Fair middle school student Asher Brown’s suicide, the Texas Senate unanimously approved “anti-bullying” legislation aimed at giving school administrators authority to prevent … Continue reading →

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Will Perry call a special session to force the Lege to draw a Congressional map?

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. Gov. Rick Perry today said state lawmakers should be the ones to draw new congressional districts, not judges. “I do think that the responsibility is with the members of the Legislature,” Perry said this morning. “To allow the courts … Continue reading →

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Sugar Land prison to be closed

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. Lawmakers trying to settle on the state’s budget for the next two years have agreed to shutter a 102-year-old state prison in Sugar Land. Under the proposal adopted this week by negotiators from both chambers of the Legislature, … Continue reading →

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Two forensic bills

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Texas has thousands of untested rape kits in it, and a bill to try to make something happen with them. The bill, by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, would require a police department to submit a rape kit to a … Continue reading →

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Smaller cuts from the Senate

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Trail Blazers: The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday adopted a school funding plan for the next two years that would cut basic funding for school districts by nearly 6 percent – or $2 billion a year – to handle a … Continue reading →

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Should we do away with school police forces?

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Grits makes the case. If public school budgets will be radically cut in Texas, a prospect which for the moment appears all but inevitable, which employees should be eliminated first? Judging from the ongoing debate, maybe campus cops. Jason Embry … Continue reading →

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Time for the Senate to go after John Bradley

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Grits: Governor Rick Perry’s appointees to the Texas Forensic Science Commission are up in the Senate Nominations Committee [today]. Senators should use the forum to force Commission Chairman John Bradley to answer all the questions he’s dodged in the past … Continue reading →

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Keeping track of innocence-related bills

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From Grits: The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee has posted an agenda which includes three important pieces of innocence legislation carried by Chairman Pete Gallego: HB 215 Relating to photograph and live lineup identification procedures in criminal cases. HB 219 Relating … Continue reading →

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Sacrifice is for the little people

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

You almost have to admire the gall. Milton Rister, director of administration in Gov. Rick Perry’s office, just asked Senate budget writers for a net increase of $81.5 million in state funds for the next two years. If I took … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Ellis and Whitmire

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron finally turns to legislative races by endorsing two Senate Democratic incumbents in a pair of lightly contested races. [Sen. Rodney] Ellis, the longtime Democratic incumbent in Texas Senate District 13, has made his mark in many legislative areas, … Continue reading →

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Interview with State Sen. John Whitmire

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Next up is State Sen. John Whitmire of SD15. Known as the “Dean” of the Senate, Whitmire was elected to the House in 1972 – the same year as Rep. Senfronia Thompson – and moved to the upper chamber in … Continue reading →

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The TYC still has problems

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Three years after the Texas Youth Commission was rocked by a sexual abuse scandal, there are still major problems at its facilities. In a formal complaint asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate, Texas Appleseed, Advocacy Inc., the Center for … Continue reading →

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So what did the Forensic Science Commission do?

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I guess I wasn’t expecting this. A majority of the Texas Forensic Science Commission has tentatively concluded that there was no professional negligence or misconduct by arson investigators whose flawed work in a fatal Corsicana fire contributed to the conviction … Continue reading →

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Some budget cuts can be a force for good

Posted on June 6, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

If there’s one place where something good can come out of the current budget mess, it’s with the criminal justice system, where recent trends, economic realities, and the hard-won lessons of 2003 are contributing to an environment where good policies … Continue reading →

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No mention of Willingham

Posted on January 31, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Forensic Science Commission had its first meeting since Williamson County DA John Bradley was named Chair by Governor Perry. Bradley did the job Perry picked him for by preventing any official discussion of the Cameron Todd Willingham case … Continue reading →

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Getting smarter about crime, state prison edition

Posted on December 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news on the criminal justice front. Texas has a new swagger that comes from a recently released U.S. Justice Department report showing the growth of the state’s prison population is slowing to the extent that three new prisons … Continue reading →

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Bradley’s penchant for secrecy

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know what John Bradley’s goals are as the Chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. But if one of them is to dispel the notion that he’s Rick Perry’s stooge, who was installed for the purpose of covering … Continue reading →

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Grits on the Whitmire/Bradley hearing

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

When I posted a roundup of reporting and commentary on the Senate hearing chaired by State Sen. John Whitmire to inquire with John Bradley about the status of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Scott Henson hadn’t yet posted his thoughts. … Continue reading →

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The Whitmire/Bradley hearing

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As noted, today was the day for the Senate hearing chaired by State Sen. John Whitmire to inquire with John Bradley about the status of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The main data point to note is that Bradley says … Continue reading →

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Meet John Bradley

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So today is the day that Sen. John Whitmire gets to grill Williamson County DA John Bradley, the new Chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, about his plans for the Commission and the status of the Willingham case. I … Continue reading →

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Bradley speaks

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

John Bradley, the hang-em-high Williamson County District Attorney who was appointed to chair the Texas Forensic Science Commission by Governor Perry in August, tries to reassure us that there will be no Perry-saving monkey business on the Commission. He has … Continue reading →

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Perry goes on the attack as evidence of a coverup mounts

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The evidence keeps coming in. Lawyers representing Gov. Rick Perry on two occasions grilled Austin lawyer Sam Bassett on the activities of his Texas Forensic Science Commission, telling him its probe into a controversial Corsicana arson case was inappropriate and … Continue reading →

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Perry fills out rest of Forensic Science commission

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Sam Bassett, the now-former Chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission whom Rick Perry abruptly replaced with Williamson County DA John Bradley, wasn’t the only member of the Commission that got the ax, but his was the only slot that … Continue reading →

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Whitmire pushes Bradley

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

State Sen. John Whitmire, who has previously indicated that he will hold a hearing to inquire about the current status of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, has reiterated that intent for the near future. “I’m concerned about the process,” said … Continue reading →

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