Texas House Moving Conservative Efforts Forward with 26 Days to Go

Franchise-Margins Tax Cuts scheduled for Friday Vote By Jim Cardle Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas With under 30 days remaining in the 2013 Texas Legislative Session individual legislators in Austin are now noticeably aware of the thresholds and quickly approaching deadlines through which their bills need to move in order to have a chance of passing before the end of the Session. Dcor & congeniality are becoming part of the process that is monitored with the expiration of each passing Legislative Day.   As both House & Senate bills start moving more rapidly through the process here are a few important things to remember about the Houses work so far. To date the House has:

1. Passed State Rep. Cindy Burketts HB 148 making the practice of ballot harvesting illegal in order to protect the integrity of the Ballot Box.
2. Overwhelmingly passed a Balanced Budget that all Republicans but one supported.
3. That Budget did not tap the Rainy Day Fund and kept the increase in spending beneath the growth of population and inflation a key accomplishment to fiscally conservative Texas voters.
4. The budget targeted money to many of the most important priorities voters have focused on including public education and mental health.
5. The House passed an Education Reform Bill (HB 5 supported by all but 2 House members) that reduces Standardized Testing & increases local control while taking important steps to prepare students for college and the workforce.
6. As Senator Dan Patrick Chair of that bodys Education Committee (right)noted when the bill was debated in committee this effort is backed by groups representing 100s of thousands of businesses and does not reduce rigor.
7. The House passed HB 4 to address the states water needs which is critical to continued success as the nations job leader. This is a major economic development issue. (While the Senates approach is markedly different progress is being made.)
8. On Wednesday the House passed Phil Kings HB 6 as well as House Bill 7 major steps toward increasing budget transparency by using more fees for their intended purpose. These bills actually reverse the trend of collecting fees for one purpose and spending them on something else a practice that has grown consistently for the last 20 years.
9. The House Public Education Committee earlier this week moved the Senates CSCOPE Overhaul Bill one step closer to an all but certain House vote for passage.
10. It passed Charter School legislation earlier this week (Senate Bill 2) supported by many conservatives after it came over from the Senate and Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock has indicated he plans to move it quickly to the House Floor.
11. Two important 2nd Amendment bills have passed out of committee and are moving their way through the process:
    • House Bill 972 is a Campus-Carry Bill and
    • House Bill 1304 clarifies that unintentionally displaying a Concealed Handgun is not a crime.
12. Two bills currently moving through the Legislature have the potential to solve a significant part of the often-feared electric shortage issue many Texans have come to be concerned about. PACE or the Property Assessed Clean Energy programs in SB 385 by Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas) and HB 1094 by Rep. Jim Keffer (right R-Eastland) provide workable options for Texas businesses municipalities and counties addressing a key economic development concern.
13. The House is making steady progress on moving important Sunset bills such as the Public Utility Commission.
14. And finally but certainly crucial to Texans Privacy Rights legislation to limit the governments ability to spy on users cell phone data without a warrant (HB 1608) has 100 co-authors and may come up for a vote soon.

The details of your life your employer your hobbies your relationships your religion political meetings you attend all can & are gleaned from personal data stored by your phone company … And police dont need a warrant to get it" says Greg Foster of the Electronic Frontier Foundations Austin Texas office. With less than 30 days now remaining in the 2013 Session these are a few highlights from the legislative activities to date focused primarily here on the House of Representatives. It should also be noted that the House is scheduled to vote Friday on one or two Franchise & Margins Tax Reform Bills moving tax cuts forward for the smaller businessmen & women of Texas as well as the Texas economy as a whole. There is little dispute major pieces of legislation are moving forward or in some cases have already been acted upon. But reserve ultimate judgment until Legislators get closer to the end of the process or to the end of the process. Expect the pace to increase dramatically with the expiration of each passing Legislative Day.