Capital Highlights
House 'busts' cap with senior citizen property tax break
Ed Sterling Texas Press Association

A USTIN - The Texas House of Representatives concurred

with the state

Senate in passing Senate Concurrent Resolution 20, a measure guaranteeing a property tax break for senior citizens by "busting" the state-spending cap.

Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said it wouldn't be a problem to devote $14 billion to tax relief for seniors now, before the House gets any deeper into the budgeting process.

SCR 20 passed on a vote of 95- 50, drawing opposition from House members who felt it would be better to wait until:

(1) State Comptroller Susan Combs delivers a revenue estimate, and

(2) The House Appropriations Committee prioritizes and funds all of the demands in the state budget.

Reps. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, and Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, said passing SCR 20 was putting the cart before the horse. Both lawmakers said the House, like a family, has to know how much money is in the bank before deciding how to spend it.

Coal plant plan slows down

Austin State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky in effect said "not so-fast" to Gov. Rick Perry's executive order to speed up by six months the permit process for the building of 11 coal-fired power plants on sites across Texas.

Yelenosky instructed judges with the State Office of Administrative Hearings to ignore Perry 's executive order. That office conducts the public hearings, and the input from those hearings is supposed to go into the decisionmaking process. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has the final say.

Groups of citizens have been protesting the construction of new coal-fired power plants, arguing that the plants pose health hazards by dumping toxins and particulate matter into the air.

Activists staged anti-coal demonstrations downtown and a small plane putted along in the sky above the Capitol dome, dragging a banner picturing a child 's coalsmeared face with the words "Coal Is Dirty." Lawmakers fight HPV order

Gov. Perry's early February executive order requiring girls entering the sixth grade to get vaccinated against Human papillomavirus raised a ruckus in the Texas Legislature.

Lawmakers are moving toward passing legislation to override Perry's executive order.

Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, and others, criticized the chief executive for trying to legislate and for trying to seize parents' authority to make decisions concerning the health of their children.

The governor's connection to pharmaceutical giant Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil, the vaccine for HPV, has prompted questions on his motive for issuing the executive order.

Defibrillator legislation is filed

Texas schools that don't already have Automated External Defibrillators would be required to get them under legislation sponsored by Rep. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen.

Hinojosa's Senate Bill 7 is part of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's sweeping "Texas Children First" package of legislation.

The devices, which cost about $2,000, are capable of restarting a stopped heart. The need for them at school athletic functions has been widely publicized.

Co-authors of SB 7 include Sens. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville; Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio; Bob Deuell, R-Greenville; and Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.

About half of the state's 8,000 public school campuses do not have the lifesaving devices, the Texas Education Agency reported. Bill addresses future water needs

Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, on Feb. 22, filed legislation to develop, manage and preserve the state 's water supply decades into the future.

Senate Bill 3 addresses flow requirements and water rights permitting and includes measures to manage existing and future water supplies.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, lauded Averitt for filing SB 3, saying, "By the year 2060 our population will have more than doubled, yet the amount of available water will remain the same.

"That means unless we take the necessary steps today, we will lack the water we need to support our fast growing population tomorrow."

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.