Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Once when I was Mayor of Austin a constituent got agitated that I was moving a little too fast with an initiative that was before the city. In a public hearing she profoundly suggested that I needed to be taught how to walk since as she said in a rather derogatory tone I only ran.
My mother happened to be staying at our house and heard this on the City of Austin public access station. When I got home my mother was now agitated her ownself by what she considered an assault on her boy. And she said without a hint of sarcasm Tell her its not that you never walked; its that you never crawled. Ah a mothers love
Right now I am in fact motivated about running. Im scheduled to run in a half-marathon this coming Sunday.
For several weeks Ive drawn some pretty serious motivation for this race since it falls around an anniversary of sorts the date I was originally diagnosed with cancer. In one of my endorphin stupors I got myself all worked up about running this silly thing 20 years after my diagnosis.
In order to stay pumped up I kept thinking about how neat it was going to be. I rolled it over and over in my mind mile after mile. And as sometimes happens with me I ended up over-thinking the whole thing.
I made the mistake of checking my math or maybe more accurately my 52-year-old memory. After what really shouldnt be high-level math I realized this is only the 19th anniversary of my diagnosis. (By the way I have no clue where our 15-year-old Cooper gets his really excellent math skills.)
Which means I got myself all psyched up and motivated for a run that doesnt even happen for another 12 months.
So for this Sunday I got nothin. Its going to be a long 13.1 miles.
A legislative session to numb the pain.
Lets see. Were two weeks into the session; 18 to go. And by my count weve got one big accomplishment on the books a budget mess thats finally quantifiable and one bit of parliamentary chicanery thats become a handy distraction from said budget mess.
And if history is any guide I probably have something to say about the unfortunate use of time were facing.
But first some good news ...
Good day for honesty
Last week my colleagues in the Senate adopted an important part of my Honesty Agenda for fiscal transparency in the state. The Senate voted to require a vital budget document to be public for 48 hours before senators finish their work on the Texas budget opening an important window into that huge bill.
The rule change deals with whats known as the Outside the Bounds resolution for the conference committee report on the budget. Its a wonky name for an essential budget document that isnt nearly as well-known to Texans as it should be. Hopefully thats about to change.
The resolution is a legally required summary of actions taken by the conference committee a group of legislators who meet late in the session (usually in private) to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget. And that final budget they draft the conference committee report must then be passed unchanged by both chambers.
The Outside the Bounds resolution describes all of the changes that were made by the conference committee. In the past that important road map frequently wasnt available for as long as the draft of the final budget itself.
That translates into confusion about whats actually in the final budget. The public and the senators couldnt be certain. My proposal to do things differently won bipartisan support.
As Senator Ogden who chairs the Senate Finance Committee said Our rules are silent about how long that out-of-bounds resolution should lay out. I think Senator Watson rightly pointed out that the potential for a lot of confusion and uncertainty about the out-of-bounds resolution is it just kind of shows up when the chairman is recognized on conference committee report.
So now under the Senates new rules the public will have at least two days to go through this document and really know whats in that final budget draft.
For more on the issue check out my statement and summary of what happened here.
As for good news regarding either the budget or the Senate rules ... thats pretty much it.
The Bad News Budget more than one deficit
The House of Representatives put out their preliminary budget last week and the Senates came out Monday. Those dreary documents should end the denial about the fiscal crisis Texas faces.
Its now clear that for years the budget has been poorly managed and those poor financial decisions will mean school closures and more kids packed into classrooms; unaffordable health cost spikes for our seniors and their families; dangerous choices about whether to cut border security prison staffing or community protection; and a likelihood that the Texas economy will become weaker and less competitive.
The truth is that the state should have been better prepared for these challenges and Texans should have known much more much sooner about the life-changing challenges they now face.
We face not only a staggering fiscal deficit but also a deficit of honesty and openness. Texans have to be told starting now exactly how the state will spend their money in this difficult time.
Obviously no matter what the state will have to cut spending. But as long as those in control refuse to provide this basic common-sense transparency I wont and Texans shouldnt support a budget that undermines the Texas economy and our ability to remain competitive. Thats exactly what this budget proposes.
Its bad for business bad for the middle class and bad for Texass future. Luckily theres still time to work on it.
On the subject of time ...
That budget situation sounds pretty serious right? Like something we should be yknow working on right now right?
So how is it that the Senate instead is tied up in its biannual knots over the once-every-two-years very partisan debate about whether the state should restrict voting access?
Last week the Senate Republicans voted to re-adopt a set of rules that treat legislation dealing with voting requirements differently from every other bill we work on allowing those bills to be brought to a vote more easily than any and all other bills. Among other things this allows the majority to ram the bill through without even attempting to negotiate improvements that might make it better for all Texans.
On cue the Governor put the issue near the top of the list of so-called emergencies allowing the legislature to take it up sooner. And then also on cue the Lieutenant Governor late last week announced a hearing for the bill this week teeing it up for incredibly quick passage.
Now as I suggested I think this bill is an unfortunate bit of legislation that distracts us from things that need our attention and ignores the tough issues facing hard-working Texans.
So in that spirit Im just going to link to something I wrote about the issue a couple of years ago. It pretty much still applies (though this years version will take an even bigger bite out of Texans voting rights).
This bill still makes it harder for honest people to vote. And its still wrong no matter what happens this week.
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Once when I was Mayor of Austin a constituent got agitated that I was moving a little too fast with an initiative that was before the city. In a public hearing she profoundly suggested that I needed to be taught how to walk since as she said in a rather derogatory tone I only ran.
My mother happened to be staying at our house and heard this on the City of Austin public access station. When I got home my mother was now agitated her ownself by what she considered an assault on her boy. And she said without a hint of sarcasm Tell her its not that you never walked; its that you never crawled. Ah a mothers love
Right now I am in fact motivated about running. Im scheduled to run in a half-marathon this coming Sunday.
For several weeks Ive drawn some pretty serious motivation for this race since it falls around an anniversary of sorts the date I was originally diagnosed with cancer. In one of my endorphin stupors I got myself all worked up about running this silly thing 20 years after my diagnosis.
In order to stay pumped up I kept thinking about how neat it was going to be. I rolled it over and over in my mind mile after mile. And as sometimes happens with me I ended up over-thinking the whole thing.
I made the mistake of checking my math or maybe more accurately my 52-year-old memory. After what really shouldnt be high-level math I realized this is only the 19th anniversary of my diagnosis. (By the way I have no clue where our 15-year-old Cooper gets his really excellent math skills.)
Which means I got myself all psyched up and motivated for a run that doesnt even happen for another 12 months.
So for this Sunday I got nothin. Its going to be a long 13.1 miles.
A legislative session to numb the pain.
Lets see. Were two weeks into the session; 18 to go. And by my count weve got one big accomplishment on the books a budget mess thats finally quantifiable and one bit of parliamentary chicanery thats become a handy distraction from said budget mess.
And if history is any guide I probably have something to say about the unfortunate use of time were facing.
But first some good news ...
Good day for honesty
Last week my colleagues in the Senate adopted an important part of my Honesty Agenda for fiscal transparency in the state. The Senate voted to require a vital budget document to be public for 48 hours before senators finish their work on the Texas budget opening an important window into that huge bill.
The rule change deals with whats known as the Outside the Bounds resolution for the conference committee report on the budget. Its a wonky name for an essential budget document that isnt nearly as well-known to Texans as it should be. Hopefully thats about to change.
The resolution is a legally required summary of actions taken by the conference committee a group of legislators who meet late in the session (usually in private) to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget. And that final budget they draft the conference committee report must then be passed unchanged by both chambers.
The Outside the Bounds resolution describes all of the changes that were made by the conference committee. In the past that important road map frequently wasnt available for as long as the draft of the final budget itself.
That translates into confusion about whats actually in the final budget. The public and the senators couldnt be certain. My proposal to do things differently won bipartisan support.
As Senator Ogden who chairs the Senate Finance Committee said Our rules are silent about how long that out-of-bounds resolution should lay out. I think Senator Watson rightly pointed out that the potential for a lot of confusion and uncertainty about the out-of-bounds resolution is it just kind of shows up when the chairman is recognized on conference committee report.
So now under the Senates new rules the public will have at least two days to go through this document and really know whats in that final budget draft.
For more on the issue check out my statement and summary of what happened here.
As for good news regarding either the budget or the Senate rules ... thats pretty much it.
The Bad News Budget more than one deficit
The House of Representatives put out their preliminary budget last week and the Senates came out Monday. Those dreary documents should end the denial about the fiscal crisis Texas faces.
Its now clear that for years the budget has been poorly managed and those poor financial decisions will mean school closures and more kids packed into classrooms; unaffordable health cost spikes for our seniors and their families; dangerous choices about whether to cut border security prison staffing or community protection; and a likelihood that the Texas economy will become weaker and less competitive.
The truth is that the state should have been better prepared for these challenges and Texans should have known much more much sooner about the life-changing challenges they now face.
We face not only a staggering fiscal deficit but also a deficit of honesty and openness. Texans have to be told starting now exactly how the state will spend their money in this difficult time.
Obviously no matter what the state will have to cut spending. But as long as those in control refuse to provide this basic common-sense transparency I wont and Texans shouldnt support a budget that undermines the Texas economy and our ability to remain competitive. Thats exactly what this budget proposes.
Its bad for business bad for the middle class and bad for Texass future. Luckily theres still time to work on it.
On the subject of time ...
That budget situation sounds pretty serious right? Like something we should be yknow working on right now right?
So how is it that the Senate instead is tied up in its biannual knots over the once-every-two-years very partisan debate about whether the state should restrict voting access?
Last week the Senate Republicans voted to re-adopt a set of rules that treat legislation dealing with voting requirements differently from every other bill we work on allowing those bills to be brought to a vote more easily than any and all other bills. Among other things this allows the majority to ram the bill through without even attempting to negotiate improvements that might make it better for all Texans.
On cue the Governor put the issue near the top of the list of so-called emergencies allowing the legislature to take it up sooner. And then also on cue the Lieutenant Governor late last week announced a hearing for the bill this week teeing it up for incredibly quick passage.
Now as I suggested I think this bill is an unfortunate bit of legislation that distracts us from things that need our attention and ignores the tough issues facing hard-working Texans.
So in that spirit Im just going to link to something I wrote about the issue a couple of years ago. It pretty much still applies (though this years version will take an even bigger bite out of Texans voting rights).
This bill still makes it harder for honest people to vote. And its still wrong no matter what happens this week.
