Governor grants Christmas season pardons
Ed Sterling

A USTIN - Gov. Rick Perry on Dec. 20 pardoned

Billy

Wayne Miller of Dallas after DNA testing proved his innocence and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended his case for clemency.

Miller, who was released from the prison system seven months ago after having served 22 years, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in Dallas County in 1984 and received a life sentence. Post-conviction DNA testing showed that Miller was innocent. The district attorney, district judge, sheriff and police chief all supported the pardon.

Perry also pardoned 14 other current or former Texas prison inmates - 11 from Dallas County, counting Miller - following recommendations by the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Most were in their teens or early 20s more than a decade ago when convicted of minor offenses. AG files suit against polluters

Texas Attorney

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Dec. 20 sued four Houston-area chemical plants owned by Lyondell Chemical Co. and subsidiaries.

Court papers filed in Travis County say the plants repeatedly failed to prevent harmful air emissions and are in violation of Texas environmental laws.

Negotiations to settle with the four chemical plants reached an impasse earlier this year. In its lawsuit, the state is seeking civil penalties ranging from $50 to $25,000 per day, per violation.

Abbott’s office said the lawsuit is the first in Texas arising out of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s initiative to cut air pollution at chemical plants across the nation.

Future

comptroller hires deputy

Newly elected State Comptroller Susan Combs, who will be the state’s chief accountant, named Martin A. Hubert deputy comptroller.

In joining the Combs administration, Hubert, 43, follows Billy Hamilton, who resigned recently after serving as deputy under departing Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

Hubert is currently serving as a member of the the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Combs and Hubert will be sworn into office on Jan. 1. Gaming group to make proposal

The lobbying group Texas Gaming Association announced a plan to use casino revenue to pay college tuition for high school graduates.

Details of the plan have not been finalized by the group, but a tuition-paying plan would be tied to the Legislature’s acceptance of the group’s proposal enabling the construction of casinos.

The idea is to embed casinos in 12 “casino destination resorts,” three of which would be located on Indian reservations within the state.

For the plan to come to fruition, the Texas Legislature would have to pass legislation requiring an amendment to the state constitution, and Texas voters would make the final decision at the ballot box. Officials’ training deadline to hit

Each elected or appointed public official who is a member of a governmental body must have completed a course of training in the Texas Open Meetings Act and the Texas Public Information Act before Jan. 1.

Passed in 2005, the law also requires public information coordinators to take the training.

Anyone who wishes to do so may view the training videos online via the Web site www.oag.state.tx.us. Restroom opening effort begins

A 10-year-old Austin girl has begun an effort to convince lawmakers to consider legislation requiring businesses to make restrooms available to the public.

She wants businesses to be more accommodating to people who suffer from digestive ailments and other conditions.

New cigarette tax to take effect

The state sales tax on cigarettes will increase a dollar on Jan. 1 to $1.41 for a 20- pack. Inaugural scheduled for top execs

The second inauguration of Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will be on Jan. 16.

The full report is available online at window.state.tx.us. Ed Sterling is director of member services for the Texas Press Association in Austin.