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Deanna Frisk, Advocacy Director
Brandon Spenrath, Editor
www.lwvtexas.org
Texas House
About Us
Texas
Senate
This is the wrap up
Legislative Newsletter for this session. Again, we thank all League members
who called, e-mailed and wrote their legislators when there were calls for
action. A special thanks to all the Program Chairs who contributed their
time to follow the many bills introduced during the 80th
Legislature and report on the status of the bills.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
-
PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
-
AIR QUALITY
-
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
-
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
-
CHILD CARE
-
CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM (CHIP)
-
ELECTION LAWS
-
ENERGY ISSUES
-
HEALTH CARE FOR OLDER TEXANS
-
IMMIGRATION
-
INCOME ASSISTANCE
-
JUVENILE
JUSTICE
-
LAND USE &
FUNDING FOR TEXAS PARKS
-
NUCLEAR WASTE
-
RECORDED VOTES
-
REDISTRICTING
-
REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE/WOMEN'S HEALTH
-
SERVICES FOR THE SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL
-
TRANSPORTATION
-
WATER
RESOURCES
Elaine Talarski (Vice President of Advocacy)
Sixteen Constitutional Amendments are proposed to be
placed on the ballot for the November 6, 2007 election.
Below is a glimpse of
each adopted amendment. The exact ballot language can be found on the
Secretary of State web site (www.sos.state.tx.us)
A Voters Guide with the language of the amendment along with pros and
cons for each amendment will be published by the League of Women Voters of
Texas in the fall prior to the election.
All of the amendments
start with the language “Proposing a constitutional amendment”
HJR 6
denial of bail to a person who violates certain court orders or conditions
of release in a felony or family violence case.
HJR 19
to require each house of the legislature to take a record vote on final
passage of a bill and publish the record vote on the internet.
HJR 30
allow purchase of real property acquired by a government entity through
eminent domain.
HJR 36
permit a state justice or judge who reaches the mandatory age of retirement
while in office to complete the justice’s or judge’s current term.
HJR 40
providing limitation on the maximum percentage increase in appraisal value
of residence homestead for ad valorem taxation established by the
legislature applies to a residence regardless of number of years since the
most recent tax appraisal.
HJR 54
exempt ad valorem tax on one or more passenger cars or light trucks owned in
the
course of the owners
occupation or profession.
HJR 69
to abolish the constitutional authority for the office of inspector of hides
and animals.
HJR72
clarify certain provisions of a home equity loan and use of home equity loan
proceeds.
HJR 90
establish a Cancer Research Institute of Texas authorizing the issuance of
general obligation bonds for scientific research of all forms of human
cancer.
HJR 103
providing for the continuation of constitutional appropriations for the
facilities and other capitol items at Angelo State University on a change in
governance of the university.
SJR 20
providing for the issuance of additional obligation bonds by the Texas Water
Development Board to provide economic assistance to economically distressed
areas.
SJR 29
authorizing the legislature to exempt all or part of the residence homestead
of certain totally disabled veterans from ad valorem taxation.
SJR 44
authorizing legislation to permit a municipality of a population of less
than 10,000 to provide that municipal ad valorem taxes imposed on real
property in or adjacent to an area that qualified for funding under certain
revitalization or redevelopment program not to be increased for a limited
period.
SJR 57
providing for the issuance of general obligation bonds to finance
educational loans to students and for authority to enter into bond
enhancement agreements with respect to such bonds.
SJR 64
providing for the issuance of general obligation bonds by the Texas
Transportation Commission to provide funding for highway improvement
projects.
SJR 65
authorizing the
issuance of general obligation bonds for maintenance, repairs, and
construction projects and for the salaries of related employees.
Laura Blackburn (Houston Area)
Only two of
the many air quality bills we were following were passed and signed by the
governor. Both were bills introduced by the committee chairmen. They are
excellent bills, however, and we are delighted that the governor signed
them:
SB 12 (Averitt)
updates the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) and the
Low-Income Vehicle Repair Assistance Program (LIRAP.) Senator Averitt is
chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. These programs were
both funded and will continue to have a positive impact on the air quality
of Texas. SUCCESS!
SB 1673 (Averitt)
was the companion bill
to HB 1252 (Bonnen). Representative Bonnen is chairman of the House
Environmental Regulation Committee. The value of this bill is that it
requires that not only should a pre-construction permit be reviewed every
ten years, it must also be reviewed during a permit amendment.
SUCCESS!
The other
bills we supported that did not pass include the “toxic hotspots” bills,
fence-line monitoring, California standards for cars and light trucks,
establishing an air pollutant watch list, and Senator Watson’s clean school
bus bill. These bills will come again, however, and we will continue to
watch and support!
SB 1855 (Gallegos)
SUPPORT and SB 1906 (Ellis) SUPPORT did not pass.
SB 529 (Watson)
SUPPORT did not pass is the
commonly-known “clean school bus” bill.
SB 1924 (Gallegos) SUPPORT Did not pass
Established an
Air Pollutant Watch List for various geographic areas of the state.
Maxine Barkan (Austin Area)
It was a mixed bag for
campaign finance reform. We won a few and lost a few. Even so, the 80th
session was disappointing because some important major campaign reforms
bills supported by the League never made it out of the Elections Committee.
These include bills that would place limits on contributions to candidates,
HB 110 (Strama) and HB 111 (Villarreal); HB 1085 (T. Smith),
would prohibit the use of corporate or union funds to pay for sham issue ads
before an election; HB 602 (D. Howard) would close the revolving door
by requiring legislators who leave office to wait two years before they
could become lobbyists.
However, the good news
was the passage of two disclosure bills: SB 129 (West) a measure that
will require elected officials to report the value of cash gifts. The Texas
Ethics Committee had ruled it had no authority to require such disclosure
unless the legislature passed the appropriate legislation. This bill
replaced HB 158 (Naishtat) which passed the Elections Committee and
was referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee was somewhat stronger
than SB 129. HB 158 would have required the fair market value of the
gift to an official. SB 129 is now passed into law without the
Governor’s signature.
The other disclosure
bill, SB 64 (Zaffirini) supported by the League, also passed both
houses. It is a clean-up bill that will require a general-purpose committee
to file additional reports nine days before an election until noon on
election day, if the political contribution exceeds $5,000. These
contributions were unknown to the public until after the election. It is now
passed into law without the Governor’s signature.
Gloria Suarez-Sasser (San Marcos Area)
HRJ 23 (Naishtat) Support Not
Passed. Calls for a moratorium on the execution of persons convicted of
capital offenses.
Marlene Lobberecht (Houston Area)
Approximately 50 early
childhood education/child care bills were filed, 6 passed. The final outcome
of bills tracked this session is as follows:
Senate Bill 50:
Portions amended to
other bills and budget.
Senate Bill 50 stalled in the
House and did not pass. First part of the bill that requires school
districts to report TPRI reading scores of the school readiness
certification system to the State Center for Early Childhood Development was
amended on to SB 1871 which passed.
Funding was secured to include a total of $35
million:
-
$15 million
to continue pre-k services through the Texas Early Education Model;
-
$18 million
to improve reimbursement rates paid to child care providers
participating in Texas Rising Star Certification Program, the Texas Early
Education Model, or the School Readiness Certification System; and
-
$2 million towards the creation of regional professional development
partnership projects to improve the recruitment, retention, and quality of
professionals working with young children.
Originally Senate
Bill 113, language was amended onto Senate Bill 758 and House Bill
1137. Both passed and provide children in the foster care system are
eligible for Pre-K ensuring that children who have been sexually abused,
physically assaulted and/or neglected have a leg up before kindergarten.
Julia Marsden (Austin Area)
Due to lots of hard work by
members of the CHIP Coalition and by a large number of committed legislators
HB 109 (Turner) passed restoring much of what had been lost in 2003.
HB 109 As Finally Passed (by Anne
Dunkleberg with the Center for Public Policy Priorities).
Section 1:
· Allows deduction of certain child care expenses when
determining if a family’s income qualifies their child for CHIP.
· The law calls for child care deductions “in accordance with
Medicaid” policy. The maximum dependent care deduction is $200 per month
for each child under age two, and $175 per month for each dependent age two
or older.
· The original 1999 Texas CHIP law allowed all income
deductions used in children’s Medicaid, e.g., adult care, work expense, and
child support payments.
Section 2:
· Restores language from Texas’ original 1999 CHIP law
requiring a community-based outreach program which includes contracts with
community-based organizations (had been deleted in 2003 as part of HB
2292).
· Also requires that outreach be conducted in both English
and Spanish.
Section 3:
· Increases the asset limit authorized in 2003 (for children in
families 150-200% federal poverty level ) from $5,000 to $10,000.
· Increases the exemptions for auto values (non-exempt amounts
count toward the $10,000 limit): the first $18,000 of most expensive car and
the first $7,500 of additional vehicles.
· The statute also clarifies that certain vehicles can be fully
exempt if they are modified to transport a person with a disability, or to
actually perform your job (e.g., a tow truck or taxi).
Section 4:
· Requires that CHIP use some method to verify the reported
income of CHIP applicants (not previously spelled out in law).
· The specific methods of verification to be used are not
defined, and thus could range from requiring paycheck stubs to checking
third-party computer databases to verify declared income.
Section 5:
· Provides for an eligibility period of 12 months for children
in families with incomes at or below 185% federal poverty level ($31,765 a
year or $2,647/mo. for a family of 3 in 2007).
· Children above 185% federal poverty level would have their
income (not assets) reviewed after 6 months by Health and Human Services for
Children (HHSC). A precise review process is not defined, but HHSC is
allowed to use “electronic technology if available and appropriate.” This
is designed to allow development of a process in which third-party computer
databases would be checked to see if the family’s income appears to have
increased above 200% federal poverty level since the child’s enrollment 6
months earlier.
· In the event that HHSC determines that the child’s family
income has exceeded 200% federal poverty level, the commission must contact
the family and give them an opportunity to correct that information if
necessary.
· HHSC must notify the parents at least 30 days prior to ending
coverage if a child is found ineligible due to income under one of these
6-month reviews.
Section 6:
· Returns to the original 1999 Texas CHIP law requirement that
a child may not have been covered by health insurance for the last 90 days
to be eligible for CHIP, unless the child qualifies for any one of a number
of exceptions (e.g., job loss, end of COBRA, leaving Medicaid, etc.). This
eliminates the 90-day delay in coverage which since 2003 has been imposed on
long-uninsured children, newborns, and worst of all on children whose CHIP
renewals or transfers from Medicaid were botched due to CHIP contractor
failures and under-staffed Medicaid offices.
Section 7:
· To ensure that the 6 month income review process for kids
over 185% federal poverty level is reliable and accurate, HHSC will phase in
the process over time, with full implementation to occur by September
1,2008.
Barbara Weinstein (Dallas)
In this session we count
our victories as those bills that we opposed that did not become law as well
as those we supported that did. Election Laws are an important part of our
LWV-TX agenda. We made progress in this session with the outstanding help
of our own Capitol Corps as well as being an active member of a powerful
coalition working on election issues.
I’ll start with HB
770 (Dutton) SUPPORT This bill required the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice to give notice to certain persons of the right to vote. This made
it to the Governors desk where he vetoed it.
Bills we SUPPORTED
that were signed by the Governor:
SB 90 (Van De Putte
et/al) Related to the
establishment of a pilot program to provide a ballot by electronic mail to
military personnel serving overseas. Effective 9/1/07
HB629 ( King)
Related to the consolidation of elections. It would lower the number of
elections for the voter. Effective 6/15/07
HB 945 (Herrero) Referred to the deadline for submitting a federal postcard application.
Effective 9/1/07
HB2823 (Bohac)
Related to provisional voting by a person who applied by mail. If you
didn’t receive your ballot, you could request a provisional ballot.
Effective 9/1/07
HB3105 (Anchia)
Related to a program allowing for countywide voting locations for elections.
Effective 6/15/07
Bills we SUPPORTED
that DIED in the legislature:
HJR 39 (Allen)
This bill is post-ratifying Amendment XXIV to the Constitution of the U.S.
the denial or abridgment of the right to vote for failure to pay any poll
tax or other tax.
HB186 (Hochberg) Relating to the regular procedure for not accepting voters. Written
criteria to give back to the voter to tell them why they are not accepted to
vote.
HB265 (Anchia)
Relating to the registration of voters at
a polling place and related procedures
HB266 (Anchia)
Relating to the designation of certain election days as state holidays.
HB384 (Kolkhorst) Relating to the use of direct recording electronic voting. Allowed for
a voter-verified permanent paper record.
HB928 (Davis, John) Relating to the deadline for submitting a federal postcard application.
HB1642
(Ortiz)
This bill related to the days on which early voting by personal appearance
is possible
Susan Barrick (Lubbock)
HB 1214 (Christian et
al.) SUPPORT Not Passed
HB 1415 (Leibowitz) SUPPORT Not Passed
SB 658 SUPPORT
Not Passed
CSSB 663 (Hegar)
SUPPORT Not Passed
CSHB 1000 (Burnam)
SUPPORT Not Passed
CSHB 1415 (Leibowitz,
Strama, Anchia) SUPPORT Not Passed
CSHB 2713 (Bonnen &
Hancock) SUPPORT Vetoed by
governor
CSHB 3693 (Straus)
SUPPORT Passed and effective 9/1/2007. Electric
utilities in Texas are required to achieve energy efficiency and
conservation. This bill reduces electrical consumption and demand and
thereby protects ERCOT's reserve generating margin and prevents crises
during peak load demand times. CSHB 3693 improves and expands
existing energy efficiency measures, allows better management of customer
demand, updates building energy codes, and requires state agencies to
utilize equipment and appliances that are more energy efficient. The
resulting reductions in electricity use should prevent short-term peak
demand shortfalls and help avoid costly new power plants and transmission
lines.
Maria Johnson (Austin Area)
The 80th Legislative
Session passed no major legislation for seniors this session. Three
bills are of interest.
HB52 (Chavez
)Companion Bill SB 96 was signed
by the governor and increased the personal needs allowance from $45 to $60 a
month for a person on Nursing Home Medicaid. This is the amount
of money a person is allowed to keep to pay for personal expenses that are
not covered by Medicaid. SB22 (Nelson) and companion bill HB 1834
passed to make long term care insurance issues for Medicaid consistent with
the federal law under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
SB 131 (Royce)
established the creation of nursing home family councils.
Linda Hanratty (Tarrant County)
The immigration issue
generated much sound and fury in this legislative session, but little
action. None of the three bills we followed in this session passed.
HB 28 (Berman)
would have excluded state services to
children born in this state whose parents who are not citizens or nationals
of the U.S. and who have entered the U.S. without inspection and
authorization of an immigration officer (illegal aliens). This bill was
widely reported in the media. However, Representative Swinford, Chair of
the House State Affairs Committee wisely let this bill die in committee.
HRC 11 (Solomon)
would have directed the Office of the Attorney General of Texas to
pursue all available remedies, including but not limited to initiating a
lawsuit or joining other states in a suit against the United States Attorney
General, to demand the enforcement of all existing federal immigration laws
by the federal government and to recover any money owed Texas by the federal
government for costs incurred by the state in dealing with illegal
immigration. We supported this bill, but it was still in the House
Calendars Committee at the end of the session.
SB 151 (Shapleigh)
would have prohibited discrimination relating to immigration status or
nationality of a person needing or receiving emergency medical care.
Although we also supported this bill, it died in the Senate Transportation
and Homeland Security Committee.
Jensie Madden (Comal Area)
Very little was
accomplished this session to improve the economic well being of families
living in poverty in Texas.
SB 168 (Ellis)
SUPPORT was signed by the
Governor. This bill continues a current law which uses fees collected from
members of the State Bar of Texas to provide legal services to the indigent.
Jayne Krawietz (Midland)
SB 103
was signed into law by Governor Perry. It is a comprehensive reform bill
for the Texas Youth Commission. (TYC) It received full support of both
houses of the legislature. It is a huge bill with many details, but the
major points are as follows:
- Only children
committing felonies may be sentenced to a TYC facility. The bill allows
the Juvenile Probation Commission to provide grants to larger counties who
will be taking over a greater number of offenders.
- Establishes a
feasibility study of a regional structure for TYC, with smaller, local
facilities conforming to needs of area. A study will also be performed on
the structure of TYC, with reports due by 9-1-2009.
- Establishes the
office of Executive Commissioner and Advisory Board for the TYC.
- Establishes authority
of a state auditor to review financial transactions of Commission and an
internal audit procedure, reporting to legislative committees.
- Provides for criminal
background checks for potential TYC employees.
- Allows advocacy and
support groups to provide on-site services at TYC facilities.
- Establishes the
office of Inspector General to investigate fraud committed by TYC
employees and crimes committed at TYC facilities, reporting to the
Commission, Governor, Advisory Board, and legislature, among others.
- Establishes the
office of Ombudsman to evaluate services to youth and review complaints,
reporting to Commission and legislature. Will Harrell, formerly with the
Texas ACLU, has accepted this job.
- Restrict placement of
inmates under 15 years of age to dorms for youths 16 years of age and
younger.
- Develops and
distributes a Parents’ Bill of Rights.
- Assigns a caseworker
to each child committed to the TYC.
- Allows a special
prosecutor to be requested to prosecute crimes committed on TYC property.
- This bill
specifically states the establishment of a zero-tolerance policy regarding
sexual abuse of inmates.
- Allows for equal
access to TYC facilities for female offenders.
- States that the TYC
will offer rehabilitation programs as recommended by the adjudicating
court.
This bill is a huge
achievement, and if the TYC is adequately staffed and the oversight works as
planned, the state will have made great strides in our juvenile justice
system.
Deanna Frisk (Comal Area)
HB 12 (Hilderbran) This bill passed and was signed
by the governor. It appropriates $170
Million more to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It also
transfers the following 18 Historical Sights to the Texas Historical
Commission.
(1) Acton State Historic Site
(2) Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site
(3) Casa Navarro State Historic Site
(4) Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site
(5) Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site
(6) Fannin Battleground State Historic Site
(7) Fort Griffin State Historic Site
(8) Fort Lancaster State Historic Site
(9) Fort McKavett State Historic Site
(10) Fulton Mansion State Historic Site
(11) Landmark Inn State Historic Site
(12) Levi Jordan State Historic Site
(13) Magoffin Home State Historic Site
(14) Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site
(15) Sam Bell Maxey House State Historic Site
(16) San Felipe State Historic Site
(17) Starr Family Home State Historic Site
(18) Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site
HB 3447 (Rose) This bill failed to pass. Would regulate land development in a county wholly
or partly located in a priority groundwater management area (PGMA) designated by the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality that contains territory from seven or more counties.
Melanie Barnes (Lubbock)
SB
1604 PASSED
Finally, LWV-TX has achieved our goals from the last three legislative
sessions. Activities associated with storage, processing, and disposal that
relate to uranium mining and radioactive waste will be regulated by the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Some of these activities
were previously regulated by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
Now activities at the permitted low-level radioactive waste disposal site
(the Waste Control Specialist site near Andrews, Texas) will be under the
watchful eye of TCEQ and monitoring these activities should be a bit more
straight forward for LWV-TX.
Other bills which passed and address hazardous waste issues
include:
HB 3837 (Gonzalez Toureilles/Hegar)
clarifies the Railroad Commission’s responsibilities in regulating and
permitting uranium exploration including a requirement to notify groundwater
conservation districts of exploration permit applications.
HB 3838
(Gonzalez Toureilles/Hegar) clarifies TCEQ’s responsibilities in
regulating and permitting in-situ uranium injection and production wells.
HB 1386 (King/Fraser)
requires new nuclear plant owners/operators to create and fund a
decommissioning trust fund, under PUC rules.
HB 2285 (Chism/Seliger)
addresses the renewal period for a license or
registration related to radioactive materials and other sources of radiation
issued by the DSHS.
HB 1956 (Hancock/Brimer)
clarifies that TCEQ may order an under ground storage tank out of service if
it does not have financial responsibility; requires insurance providers to
notify TCEQ when the insurer ceases to insure a UST owner or operator; and
the owner/operator must dispose of tank contents within 90 days of its
insurance being terminated.
HB 2546 (Noriega/Carona)
tightens regulation by the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service of
sales of ammonium nitrate.
HB 2654
(Puente/Duncan) allows TCEQ to issue a general permit for injection
wells for nonhazardous brine from a desalination operation or nonhazardous
drinking water treatment residuals (Class I).
HB 1742 (Giddings/West)
clarifies land bank and TCEQ responsibilities in relation to remediation
costs of contaminants on a site.
HB 2714 (Bonnen/Watson)
requires manufacturers of computing and monitoring devices to offer
consumers convenient recycling collection of their equipment at no charge.
Linda Camin (Dallas)
RECORDED
VOTES for TEXAS PASSES
History was made in the
80th Legislature when the House and Senate passed HJR 19
(Branch), a constitutional amendment to record all votes on final
passage and make the results easily accessible to the public. Proposals for
constitutional amendments do not require the Governor’s signature, so we
know that it will appear on the ballot in the November 6, 2007 election.
THIS
AMENDMENT WILL ALLOW ALL THE CITIZENS OF TEXAS TO VOTE ON WHETHER OR NOT
THEY WANT THEIR STATE CONSTITUTION TO REQUIRE THAT LEGISLATORS RECORD THEIR
VOTES.
This achievement
demonstrates again what the League can do when we marshal all our forces.
The League Presidents and all the members who communicated with their
representatives in the legislative interviews and then contacted them
throughout the session and who called and wrote their local media were
critical in making this happen.
Next two steps:
1.
Make sure the Constitutional Amendment passes to record votes on
final passage and make the results accessible to the public.
2.
Work in the next legislative session
to include record votes throughout the legislative process, e.g., on second
readings, amendments, etc.
The
stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport. (Barbara Jordan)
Nancy Wilson (Richardson)
Redistricting is a process that affects each
citizen’s fundamental right to vote. Since 1984, the League has been working
to ensure fair redistricting for the citizens of Texas. Over the decades,
never more blatantly than in recent years, Texas has seen partisan political
concerns take precedence and redistricting used to gerrymander or to protect
incumbents or the party in power. The people of Texas deserve a better
process.
In the 80th
session, the League gave strong support to bills that would improve the
redistricting process.
Sen. Wentworth again introduced a
bill, SB1068, establishing a commission with initial authority over
Congressional redistricting. While supporting a commission with authority
over Legislative as well as Congressional districts, the League chose to
support this bill with testimony and other strong advocacy by members across
the state. SB1068 easily passed the Senate, and was heard in the
House Redistricting Committee as HB3777 (Rose) which the League
supported with invited testimony.
The League also supported HJR31 (Ritter)
which would set limits on the times redistricting could take place.
In summary, even though a League-supported redistricting bill has
never made it this far in the process, as we recall, the redistricting
process in Texas is still unchanged.
Next:
The League expects to continue to support
efforts to change the redistricting process. The issue needs to be addressed
at a time when redistricting is NOT being done, i.e., prior to the 82nd
session in 2011. There was a rumor circulating that it is the intent of some
legislators to have a special committee work on redistricting in the '07-'08
interim. The League will be involved to urge action to achieve fair
redistricting – in the interim, in the 81st session, and whenever
else possible.
What you can do:
Get on the League’s Redistricting Information Exchange by
sending your email address to Nancy Wilson at
wilson972@aol.com. I plan to send updates on statewide redistricting
activity. Together we can give that extra push that will see fair
redistricting a reality.
Julie Lowenberg (Dallas)
Although there were a
couple of close calls, all of the bills filed in the 2007 Legislature that
would have imposed additional burdens on Texas women seeking abortions
and/or on abortion providers died. The most egregious of the defeated
measures included: HB 175 (Chisum) the so-called “trigger ban” that
would have made all abortions illegal in Texas if Roe v. Wade were
overturned; SB 785 (Shapiro) and its companion HB 1750 (Morrison)
that would have imposed onerous, intrusive reporting requirements on
abortion patients and providers and would have put at risk the job security
and personal safety of judges who hear judicial bypass cases; and SB 920
(Patrick) that would have required a woman seeking an abortion to review
with her doctor the ultrasound image of the fetus.
Unfortunately, several
measures supported by LWV-TX that would have increased access to
reproductive health care and reduced the incidence of unwanted pregnancies
also died. SB 837 (Watson) and its companion HB 1842 (Strama)
would have expanded access to preventive health care services through
education and outreach, required schools to inform parents about the content
of the school’s sex education program and required that contraceptive use be
taught in terms of accurate success and failure rates. Known as the Texas
Prevention First Act, this measure received a surprising and gratifying
level of support in the House, where it was actually scheduled for a vote
when time ran out.
Some of the “good” bills
that never made it out of committee included HB 268 (Anchia) that
would have required all insurance providers to include contraceptive
coverage in their health benefit plans; HB 301 and HB 306 (Farrar)
that would have exempted women seeking abortions from the mandatory
waiting period and informed consent requirements when the fetus is
determined to have a severe abnormality or when the woman seeking an
abortion is a victim of sexual assault; and HB 1760 (Coleman) that
would have removed from the informed consent to abortion statute the
currently required misinformation that having an abortion increases
one’s risk of contracting breast cancer.
The health of women and
girls also suffered a setback when HB 1098 (Bonnen), opposed by LWV-Texas
became law. Thus, the executive order issued by Governor Perry in February
2007 that sixth grade girls must receive the human papilloma virus (HPV)
vaccine before entering public schools was reversed by the legislature, with
the additional provision that the vaccine cannot be mandated until at least
2011. The Governor declined to veto the bill, allowing it to become law
without his signature, knowing that there were more than enough votes in the
legislature to override a veto.
Finally, the state
budget brought both good and bad news for proponents of women’s increased
access to preventive and reproductive health care. New language was added to
the rider passed in the 2005 session that diverted $20 million away from
proven providers of preventive health care and resulted in 33,000 fewer
women receiving family planning services; the new language restricts the
state health department from implementing the rider if it would adversely
affect the number of women who receive family planning services.
But the “alternatives to
abortion” rider enacted in 2005 remains intact. This provision allocates $5
million to agencies that provide no medical services and do nothing to
prevent unintended pregnancies. In fact, it has been documented that during
a two-year period, the agencies served only 1400 women with the $5 million
in funds.
Susan Majors (Richardson)
Mental health
services saw both successes and disappointments this legislative session. In
LWV-TX’s priority area, funding, there was something positive to report. A
request by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) for $82 million
for mental health crisis services was fully funded ($27.3 Million for Fiscal
Year 2008 and $ 54.7 Million for Fiscal Year 2009). A budget rider dictated
that the crisis services money be distributed around the state in such a way
as to achieve equity among local mental health authorities. The League also
advocated this session for health insurance “parity” (legislation to require
health insurance plans to cover treatment for serious mental health
disorders equal to coverage provided for physical disorders). Parity
legislation did not make it through the process, although bills this session
got further along than any such initiative has in some time. Both Senator
Ellis (SB568) and Representative Farabee (HB510) sponsored
bills that made it through their respective chambers and over to the other
side. The features of both pieces of parity legislation were attached to a
bill relating to health insurance coverage for individuals with brain
injuries (HB1919); however, at the last minute these were stripped
from the bill in conference committee.
Edie Jones (Tarrant Co.)
HB 1892 (Smith)
OPPOSE Bill vetoed by governor.
Moratorium Bill on Trans Texas Corridor (includes many other toll roads).
Highways 1604 and 281 were included in this moratorium. Some North Texas
roads which had been approved were not in the moratorium.
Julia Marsden (Austin Area)
HB 3
(Puente) SUPPORT Passed and is effective
06/15/2007
HB3 is a stand alone bill that addresses environmental flows.
Although state law recognizes the importance of maintaining the health of
the state’s rivers and estuaries, it did not address environmental flows.
The bill creates a basin-by-basin process for developing recommendations to
meet instream needs, requires TCEQ to adopt recommendations in the form of
environmental flow standards, and creates the Environmental Flows Advisory
Group to oversee the process.
HB 4
(Puente) SUPPORT, Passed and is effective 6/15/2007.
A water conservation bill that represents the consensus recommendations of
the state’s Water Conservation Implementation Task force established by the
legislature in 2003, establishes a statewide water conservation public
awareness program to educate Texas residents about water conservation; sets
forth legislative policy regarding the value of land stewardship for
conservation purposes; and creates a Water Conservation Advisory Council to
monitor the development and implementation of water conservation
strategies. The bill also requires the submission of water conservation
plans by retail public water utilities that provide potable water service to
3,300 or more connections and directs that the Texas Water Development
Board’s water assistance fund can be used for grants for water conservation.
SB3 (Averitt)
OPPOSE Passed and is effective
06/16/2007. Opposition and amendments focused on the designation of unique
reservoir sites. Although SB3 was originally an omnibus bill that
addressed environmental flows along with water conservation it became a
reservoir designation bill. Another big issue in the bill would be
protections and/or benefits for landowners whose land would be part of the
reservoir designation. SB 1342, known as the Edwards
Aquifer legislation was folded into SB 3 and establishes a
stakeholder process to obtain a consensus to ensure that flows of the Comal
Springs and the San Marcos Springs would be protected during droughts and to
encourage conservation and the development of new supplies of water to meet
the increasing demands of the region’s rapidly growing population. The
bill raises the cap on pumping from the Aquifer by a 100,000 acre feet in
the face of a statement in the author’s statement of intent that, “there is
no scientific evidence available on which the authority can base decisions
regarding caps for groundwater withdrawal permits, or interruptions of
regular permit withdrawals to protect the spring flows at the Comal and San
Marcos Springs and downstream surface water rights during low aquifer
conditions.” It would have been more reasonable and scientifically sound to
assess the impact before the current cap is raised.
SB 3
does not mean that reservoirs will be automatically built, but certainly
sets up conflicts that will take years to resolve.
#####
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