Capital Highlights
Speaker picks chairs, members for House committees
Ed Sterling

A USTIN - It took a couple of weeks to see

how House

Speaker Tom Craddick's somewhat contentious re-election would play out.

Craddick announced his picks for chairs and committee assignments on Jan. 26.

The Midland Republican sur-vived a challenge that vaporized on Jan. 10, the second day of the 80th Texas Legislature, and was elected to a third term.

Rep. Jim Pitts, RWaxahachie, made a run against Craddick but bowed out in the 11th hour, before a final vote. Craddick reassigned Pitts and and rewarded loyalists. Pitts served at

Craddick's pleasure in the 2005 session as chairman of the state budgetwriting House Appropriations Committee. Craddick named Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, to replace Pitts as chair and kept Rep. Jim Keffer, REastland, as chairman of House Ways & Means, the committee charged with raising revenue.

Without Craddick's postchallenge support, Pitts used his own seniority to secure a non-leadership post on Ways & Means.

Here are a few of Craddick's other chair appointments:

t Beverly Woolley, RHouston, Calendars, the committee that serves as gatekeeper for bills to move to the House floor;

t David Swinford, RAmarillo, State Affairs;

t John Smithee, RAmarillo, Insurance;

t Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, Public Education;

t Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock; Transportation;

tAaron Pena, DEdinburg, Criminal Jurisprudence; and

t Patrick Rose, D - D r i p p i n g Springs, Human Services.

Perry applauds appraisal ideas

Gov. Rick Perry on Jan. 23 praised his Task Force on Appraisal Reform on the release of its report recommending that lawmakers pass five statutory changes and two constitutional changes to fix what some have called a "broken system."

The recommendations, from a governor's office news release:

t Require voter approval for any local taxing entity (excluding schools) to charge or collect revenues from ad valorem taxes in excess of the approved prior year's budgeted tax revenue, plus five percent;

t Improve fairness and consistency in the appraisal process. Appraisal boards would be comprised of five members, including two taxpayer representatives, and taxpayers would have new options in challenging property valuations.

t Change the comptroller's property valuation study, which is used to equitably distribute state funding to schools and provide uniformity in local property appraisal practices.

t Prohibit the state from passing unfunded mandates to local governments.

t Require sales price disclosure.

t Pass legislation to change the state constitution to allow taxpayers the option of calculating their property taxes using a fiveyear rolling average of the property's appraised value.

t Pass legislation to change the state constitution to lower the residential appraisal cap on city and county taxes from 10 percent to five percent, double the local property tax homestead exemption to $6,000, and allow local governments the option of conducting an election to enact a half-cent countywide sales tax constitutionally dedicated to property tax reduction. The appraisal cap could be lowered to five percent only in counties that vote for a half-cent countywide sales tax increase. More from governor's office

Gov. Perry announced Jan. 22 that FEMA will extend by six months the housing aid deadline for people displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The aid was due to expire in February.

Also on Jan. 22, Perry announced the expansion of Operation Wrangler, a border law enforcement project teaming local, state and federal law enforcement. Perry said the effort is structured to stem crime, illegal international drug trafficking and human trafficking.

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.