ACRE

CDA Corridor funding mechanism killed by the Lege

2009-07-02T22:32:00.004-05:00

Today the mechanism that would have funded the Trans-Texas Corridor was not renewed by the Legislature. Gov. Perry had asked legislators to pass three things during the special session: (1) continuing the existence of a few state agencies including TxDOT until the 2011 session; (2) allowing the state to issue $2 billion in transportation bonds; and (3) extending the ability to fund toll roads through comprehensive development agreements (CDA’s) by public-private partnerships (PPP’s).

CDA’s to die on August 31

The House and Senate passed the bill to keep TxDOT alive until they can consider reforms in the 2011 session, and they allowed the $2 billion in transportation bonds. They did NOT extend the CDA’s, and the authority to do CDA’s will expire August 31.

TURF says, “Taxpayers want Perry’s controversial and virtually universally detested road privatization schemes to die a natural death August 31 as scheduled, which will also KILL the mechanism to build the Trans-Texas Corridor.”

Why did Perry try for CDA’s in the special session?

Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka says, “The governor’s fight for more toll roads and more Comprehensive Development Agreements makes no sense politically. It puts the spotlight directly on his most controversial policy.”

Since renewing the CDA’s was in trouble from the beginning in the Legislature, why did Perry include CDA’s as part of the call for the special session? What was in it for him to put CDA’s up to the legislators, only to be swatted down? Was it to show his major construction contributors that he was doing his best for them, and he couldn’t help it if the recalcitrant legislators wouldn’t go along?

Is Krusee STILL TALKING?

The Statesman’s Ben Wear says, “For supporters of such contracts, which were touted earlier this decade as a way to bring in large upfront payments to TxDOT from private companies, the issue is not so much the next two years. Rather, if the existing authority in state law expires, reviving it may be politically impossible.”

He quotes our erstwhile representative Mike Krusee: "It means the potential loss of billions of dollars for road construction." It was Krusee’s legislation in the 2003 session that made the CDA’s legal, among other things,that started off the entire Trans-Texas Corridor fiasco, causing so many people to spend so much time and energy trying to save rural Texas from being paved over. Thanks, Mike! Can you stop talking now that the Corridor funding method is dead?

Overriding late Gov. veto fails--Gov. VETOES ban on toll advertising

2009-06-25T10:19:00.005-05:00

Constitutional amendment to let the legislature return to override a Governor's veto fails

One of the things that didn’t make it through this last session was a constitutional amendment that would have allowed the legislature to come back after the regular session to override gubernatorial vetoes of bills that had been passed by both houses. As it is now, if a bill is passed toward the end of the session, time runs out before the legislature can try to override the governor’s veto, even if the votes are there to override.

The override amendment was introduced in both the House and the Senate. HJR 29 by Representative Elkins was voted out of the House State Affairs Committee, but didn’t pass the House. SJR 14 by Sen. Wentworth was voted out of the Senate State Affairs Committee, but was not allowed to be considered by the full Senate by Lt. Gov. Dewhurst. There is an informative explanation of this in the Statesman:

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/06/24/0624veto.html

Governor vetoes the ban on promoting toll roads

A prime example of why we need the constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to come back to override a veto is the fate of HB 2142.

During the last few years, TxDOT spent millions in taxpayer money for advertising and lobbying to actively promote toll roads, including the Trans-Texas Corridor. The TURF organization sued TxDOT to stop this practice. While the lawsuit was pending, Representative McClendon introduced HB 2142 this session, which would have banned the use of our money in this way.

HB 2142 easily passed both houses and was on its way to protect us from having our own money used against us, when Gov. 39% vetoed it. As Sen. Kirk Watson said, “This shows so much chutzpah that I still can’t believe it, the Governor vetoed a bill prohibiting TxDOT from actively advertising their toll roads. The bill passed unanimously at nearly every step (it passed 132-1 on the House floor). And all it says is TxDOT can’t spend taxpayer money influencing public opinion about toll roads.”

TURF’s Terri Hall said that a judge had been on the verge of dismissing TURF’s lawsuit against TxDOT because it looked like HB 2142 had put this protection of taxpayer funds into statute. However, with Perry’s veto, TURF’s lawsuit now may have a better chance of proceeding.

Perry's vetoes show need for veto override

Perry’s veto of eminent domain protection in the 2007 session, and now his veto of the ban on using our money to promote toll roads, including the Corridor, are both reasons why legislators should be able to come back to consider overriding vetoes of bills that are overwhelmingly desired by the people and their representatives.

More between-session news--eminent domain; Perry signs non-existent document

2009-06-16T22:12:00.006-05:00

As the end of the session approached, there were two pieces of eminent domain legislation that had a chance of getting through—SB 18 and HJR 14.

SB 18 WITH SEVERAL EMINENT DOMAIN PROTECTIONS DIED

SB 18 was the bill desired by organizations like the Texas Farm Bureau. It called for more transparency in the condemnation process, compensation for diminished access, and the right for the owner to buy back property at its selling price if it was not used for the stated purpose within a certain time period.

SB 18 passed the Senate, passed out of committee to the full House, and was caught in the last-minute logjam caused by the delaying tactics on the House floor to avoid bringing up the voter ID bill.

HJR 14 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PROHIBIT PRIVATE-TO-PRIVATE PROPERTY TAKINGS WILL BE ON THE BALLOT

Even though SB 18 died, HJR 14 calling for a constitutional amendment passed the House and the Senate and will appear on the November ballot. If approved by voters, it would prevent in Texas the situation that happened in the Kelo case, where the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the process of taking property from one private owner and giving it to another private owner. HJR limits the taking of private property to a public taking.

GROUPS CALL FOR EMINENT DOMAIN TO BE IN SPECIAL SESSION

Some, including Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers, and the Texas Farm Bureau, are calling for stronger eminent domain protections to be addressed in a special session. Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke said, “We have to guard against the possibility that some may declare the job done on eminent domain reform. If there is a special session, we hope Governor Perry will add it to the call. If there is not, this has to be a top priority for the next regular session.”

PERRY ALAMO SIGNING A SHAM

There have been several news accounts of Gov. 39% signing the authorization in front of the Alamo for HJR 14 to be on the ballot this November. The only account I saw that explains that the whole ceremony was a sham is from Ken Herman in the Statesman.
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/2009/06/06/16/0616herman_edit.html

“Who amongst us does not enjoy political theater? . . . The only thing better than political theater is the subcategory of political theater/fiction. This would be when a politician performs in a little show that is fully make-believe. . . .

“A real trouper, Gov. Rick Perry showed up at the Alamo, right arm in sling from a recent bike wreck, and used his left hand to sign House Joint Resolution 14, a proposed constitutional amendment concerning eminent domain. . . .

“Beautiful. Perfect. Inspiring. And as phony as they come.

“Here's why: Texas governors have nothing to do with proposed constitutional amendments. When a proposed amendment gets the necessary two-thirds vote in each chamber — as HJR 14 did this year — it goes to the secretary of state, who puts it on the statewide ballot. Unlike proposed laws, proposed constitutional amendments are not routed through the governor's office.

“No vetoes allowed. No signature required. No signing ceremony needed. . . . It's all about re-establishing Perry as a private property-rights kind of guy, a credential he covets as he heads toward a 2010 renomination battle against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. . . .

“Exactly two years ago Monday, Perry invited questions about his dedication to private property rights by vetoing a bill dealing with the concept of ‘diminished access.’ . . . the veto did not sit well with some, including the Texas Farm Bureau, holder of a potentially pivotal endorsement in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary.

“The 2007 veto came on the heels of Perry's ill-fated Trans-Texas Corridor highway project, one that also attracted the ire of folks who fear government taking of private property.

“Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, stood with Perry on Monday. After the ‘signing’ ceremony, the 21-year legislative veteran could not immediately recall previously attending a ceremony where a governor signed something a governor has no business signing.”

Since there is no provision for such a signing, I wonder what Perry actually signed. Did his office make up an official-looking document that would be a fake with no significance? Then what happened to the signed fake document? Maybe it will become a collector’s item.

Between regular and special sessions--recap of TTC and TxDOT bills

2009-06-12T16:39:00.005-05:00

Now that we are between the end of the regular session of the Legislature and the beginning of a special session that Gov. Perry may call for later this summer, this is a good time to recap what happened to the main bills related to the Corridor and the TxDOT Sunset process (HB 300).

The last day of the regular session, the House acted to keep some state agencies, including TxDOT, in business by including them in legislation related to stimulus funding. This action would have caused TxDOT reorganization to be brought up in the 2011 session. However, the evening of the last session day, the Senate did not act on the House solution, thus leaving the future of TxDOT officially up in the air. Technically, if nothing further is done, TxDOT could begin a one-year process of shutting down on September 1 and go out of existence in September 2010.

Practically speaking, no one expects this to happen. Perry has said he will call a special session, although he has not said when or what issues would be included. Some expect that keeping the agencies going will be the bare minimum that will be in the special session.

BILL TO KILL THE CORRIDOR LEFT IN COMMITTEE

HB 11 by Leibowitz (D-San Antonio) would have repealed TxDOT’s “authority for the establishment and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor.” HB 11 received a hearing in the House Transportation Committee, but was left pending in committee. During the House debate on HB 300—the omnibus TxDOT Sunset bill—Leibowitz succeeded in adding repealing the TTC to HB 300. Unfortunately, with the death of HB 300, repealing TTC also died for the regular session.

TxDOT SUNSET BILL DIED AS TIME RAN OUT

HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset bill was voted out of the House and the Senate in two different forms. The House/Senate conference committee that was supposed to reconcile the two versions could not come up with a final bill that was readily acceptable by the membership of both houses, and HB 300 died when time ran out in the session.

Isett (R-Lubbock) authored HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset bill, and was the manager of it as it went through the House. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports: “Isett said that since Perry said he will call a special session, he hopes the lawmakers finish the entire legislative package left on the table when the clock ran out. . . . ‘My preference is that we give that agency legislative direction,’ Isett said. . . . I still believe that it is an agency that needs to be updated and reformed at many different levels.’”

REPLACING TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION FAILS

HB 565, by McClendon (D-San Antonio) attempted to abolish the Texas Transportation Commission and replace it with an elected state Transportation Commissioner. This bill was left pending in the House Transportation Committee.

While the House was debating TxDOT Sunset, some representatives tried again for some sort of elected Transportation Commission, and the final language called for an elected state-wide Commissioner plus 14 commission members elected from districts around the state. The Senate’s version kept the five governor-appointed commissioners, but reduced terms from six to two years and mandated commissioners leaving when their terms are up.

With the death of the TxDOT Sunset bill, efforts to change the Transportation Commission are stalled for now.

BILL TO PROHIBIT TxDOT FROM PROMOTING TOLL ROADS, INCLUDING TTC, PASSES BOTH HOUSES—SENT TO GOVERNOR

Another bill from McClendon was HB 2142, which prohibits TxDOT from spending our taxpayer money to actively promote toll roads, including the Corridor. TxDOT spent millions on their Keep Texas Moving campaign, which used advertising and lobbying to advocate the building of the Corridor and other toll roads. Terri Hall’s TURF organization sued TxDOT, saying that Keep Texas Moving was an improper use of taxpayer funds. The suit is still pending. In the meantime, McClendon’s bill puts an end to this type of campaign statutorily. It does not forbid putting out neutral informational material. HB 2142 passed both houses and has been sent to the Governor.

Ag Commish calls for eminent domain in special session

2009-06-04T12:53:00.004-05:00

Many of you might have already seen the column from Ag Commissioner Todd Staples in today’s Statesman. In case you haven’t . . .

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/editorial/stories/06/04/0604staples_edit.html

SB 18, the bill to provide more protection from eminent domain, the bill that was strongly supported by the Texas Farm Bureau, passed the Senate, although it was held up in the Senate far longer that it should have been. It reached the House so late that it was caught up in the end-of-session slow-down effort in the House, so never passed.

HJR 14 did pass both houses and will be on the November ballot as a constitutional amendment saying that condemnation proceedings must be for a public purpose.

Staples’ column asks that eminent domain protection be one of the subjects in a special session. He says: “The passage of HJR 14, a constitutional amendment that will be sent to the voters in November, provides much needed protection to ensure that, in the unfortunate instance that government must exercise condemnation powers, that it is for a clear public use and purpose.”

“Painfully absent from our laws in Texas . . . are fundamental protections to the owners of private property. A series of loopholes in the law and court decisions have eroded our rights. . . . [SB 18] would have established stricter penalties for not negotiating in good faith; demanded adequate compensation for loss of access; and clarified that eminent domain must only be exercised for public use. We know there are several matters that were casualties of the regular session that need to be tackled — eminent domain reform is without a question or doubt one of these essential topics.”

TxDOT Sunset dead; TxDOT lives until 2011; what about the Trans-Texas Corridor?

2009-06-01T21:50:00.005-05:00

After the last several months of the TxDOT Sunset process and the 2009 session, it looks like both the good reforms and the bad additions have NOT made it through. Lots of time and energy expended for nothing, as far as TxDOT reforms go. TxDOT Sunset crept “in this petty pace . . . a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

TxDOT NOT SAVED BY ‘SAFETY NET’

Not only did TxDOT Sunset not pass, but also TxDOT was not even saved by the usual method of placing TxDOT survival in the “safety net” legislation.

As reported by the Statesman political blog, the House added keeping TxDOT open “to a bill authorizing state agencies to receive federal stimulus dollars. Agencies have to be open in order to get stimulus dollars . . . So the House corrected the stimulus bills to say that the departments at risk [including TxDOT] would stay open.”
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/06/01/house_votes_to_keep_txdot_aliv.html

SUNSET REVIEW IN 2011

One interesting aspect of doing it this way is that if TxDOT had been continued by the usual “safety net” process, it would have been up for Sunset review in 2013. Now, the TxDOT Sunset Review will happen again in the 2011 session. See the explanation on the Star-Telegram political blog.
http://startelegram.typepad.com/politex/2009/06/after-some-debate-house-members-make-vote-to-bypass-special-session.html

CAN THE HOUSE REALLY DO THIS?

The Statesman political blog reports that the Senate may not agree that the House action is allowable.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/06/01/problem_with_the_house_res.html
“Word is there could be a problem with the House wording: It may not allow TxDOT to issue the $2 billion in bonds it needs to continue road-building projects. Big problem that would be. And a bigger one: The House adjourned sine die about 20 minutes ago. So they’ve left the Capitol for good, at least in this legislative session. No way to fix any mistake now.”

NO FILIBUSTER

Of course, since HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset Bill, died in the House, there was no need for Sen. Carona to filibuster it in the Senate. The Dallas Morning News political blog says, “A smiling Sen. John Carona said Monday he didn’t have to bring his tennis shoes to the Senate floor on Monday after his filibuster threat . . . was made moot by the House decision . . . to let the proposal die.”
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/

SPECIAL SESSION?

The Senate has just adjourned “without approving a key measure to keep five agencies in business—including TxDOT,” according to the Statesman political blog.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/06/01/senate_adjourns_calls_out_hous.html
“Senate leaders said they expect Perry will call the Legislature back into session to deal with the new crisis. . . . Short of a special legislative session the agencies will begin shutting down in coming months.”

WHAT ABOUT THE TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR?

Unfortunately, since HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset Bill, is dead, the language that repealed the Trans-Texas Corridor is also dead. At the beginning the session, Rep. Leibowitz of San Antonio filed HB 11 that specifically repealed TxDOT’s authority to create the TTC which was left pending in committee. However, the language was added to HB 300, where it has died.

Fortunately, the Comprehensive Development Agreements/Public Private Partnerships may also have died. These CDA/PPP were the building blocks of the TTC “vision.” The TTC would have been built by private corporations like Cintra of Spain, who would have been working under comprehensive development agreements. These CDA/PPP’s were added to HB 300, thus allowing segments of the TTC to be built in this way, even if the name TTC was removed.

Without the passage of HB 300, these CDA/PPP’s are due to expire in September. So the language repealing the TTC did not pass. However, the foundational building blocks of the TTC, CDA/PPP’s, also did not pass, and this method of highway construction will expire.

All in all, at this point, we have made further progress against the TTC during this session.

HB 300 TxDOT Sunset Bill--filibustered?

2009-05-30T21:15:00.005-05:00

Patricia Kilday Hart reports on the burkablog

http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=4012

that Sen. Carona is considering filibustering HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset Bill, because earlier today the House-Senate conference committee stripped out of it Carona's local option transportation tax. Hart says the final committee report "was not shown to Transportation Chair Carona or Vice-Chair Kirk Watson, but signed and filed by Senate conferees Glenn Hegar, Chuy Hinojosa and Robert Nichols." How does this happen? Did the rest of the committee just wait until the chair and vice-chair of the Senate Transportation & Homeland Security Committee were both out of the room at the same time, sign the thing real quick, and then take off at a run to file it? I'm having trouble picturing this.

In addition to Hegar, Hinojosa, and Nichols signing for the Senate, Linda Harper-Brown, Joe Pickett (Chair of the House Transportation Committee), Wayne Smith, and Carl Isett (author of HB 300), signed for the House. The only House conferee not to sign was Ruth Jones McClendon.

Previously, Carona has said he will not accept the TxDOT Sunset Bill if it does not contain his local option plan. From this point, the signed bill without his local option plan will be printed and distributed to the Senate and the House to be voted on by all members. It is not clear how soon the 1,000-plus-page bill call be printed and distributed, so it is uncertain when the votes in both houses will occur. It has to be before the session ends on Monday, June 1. Is it feasible for a Carona filibuster to prevent a Senate vote and thus kill HB 300? If this happens, TxDOT will have to be continued for two years by the "safety net" bill and its Sunset process taken up by the next session

SB 18 eminent domain protection is dead

2009-05-30T12:03:00.005-05:00

While we are breathlessly awaiting word from the HB 300 TxDOT Sunset conference committee, let's use this time to consider some instructive insights from Martha Estes about another bill that we had high hopes for this session--SB 18, more protection from eminent domain.

See the most recent ACRE post on this issue:

http://acretexas.blogspot.com/2009/05/has-time-run-out-for-eminent-domain.html

For other ACRE eminent domain posts, click on the "eminent domain" tag at the bottom of that post.

Re SB 18, Martha laments:

"IT IS DEAD: About the EMINENT DOMAIN bill & SB 18 by Estes.. IT IS DEAD

". . . the Eminent Domain BILL was used as a 'bargaining position' to exact support for other bills. SO... holding it up in the Senate State Affairs Cmte. & Senate was necessary to maintain the upper hand in the backroom deals.

"RULE: What you FIRST see is OFTEN NOT what you get.. it is likely disguised or likely to undergo transformational surgery through amendments or committee substitutes & often BOTH.

"STRATEGY: Sending bills through CERTAIN committees guarantees their outcome & controls their "speed". Obvious Example: Rep. Mike Krusee as Chair of the Transportation Cmte. until this session.

"TEASER: The Eminent Domain bill was hyped statewide MORE than any OTHER transportation related bill (to 'please or appease the masses') with the Local Option having a big, COSTLY public relations roll-out (HillCo lobby firm) at first & then growing quiet (but working feverishly behind the scenes) when there was some loud opposition.. as WE well know.

"KEYHOLE MOMENT on a resolution of interest to the masses: The revelations in the Dallas paper related to the VETO OVERRIDE resolution HJR 29 is a good example of what you DON'T ordinarily SEE behind the scenes."

[See the end of ACRE post
http://acretexas.blogspot.com/2009/05/has-time-run-out-for-eminent-domain.html
which discusses HJR 29 and Wentworth's unusual candor.]

Martha concludes, "Senator WENTWORTH's candor WILL cost him dearly in his next Republican primary. I'll take any bets on it.. and I am NOT a gambler."

TxDOT Sunset HB 300--down to the wire

2009-05-30T11:10:00.003-05:00

According to leaders in the lege, if conferees don't reach agreement on HB 300, TxDOT Sunset, by about noon today, TxDOT will have to be continued under "safety net" legislation for the next two years, to be dealt with in the 2011 session. The latest from the Newspaper Tree doesn't sound like an agreement is immenent:

http://www.newspapertree.com/news/3881--tempers-fray-over-last-minute-play-to-keep-local-option-tax-in-txdot-sunset-bill

Sen. Carona still won't accept HB 300 in the Senate if it does not include the local transportation tax option. Both Pickett, House Transportation Chair, and Isett, author of HB 300, say the House will not go with HB 300 if it does include the local option.

We should know the outcome later today.

TxDOT Sunset HB 300--internal and external attacks

2009-05-29T08:51:00.005-05:00

House and Senate conference committee members are now negotiating to see if the two different versions of the TxDOT Sunset bill can be reconciled. Given some issues that it seems that they will never agree on, will this HB 300 collapse from its own weight? A good explanation in the Star-Telegram:

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1402048.html

The House has declared that it will never accept the local option transportation tax plan desired mainly by the DFW area, and the Senate has declared that it will not accept HB 300 without this plan.

The Star-Telegram reports a possible compromise: "Senate negotiators are offering to reduce two proposed fees on motorists and delay countywide elections by two years in a proposed compromise to keep a local transportation funding plan alive . . ."

While negotiations go on behind closed doors, there will be a very public rally and press conference: "Several hundred business and community leaders from Arlington, Burleson and other area cities planned to descend on the state Capitol today to show support for the local-option transportation provision, regarded as crucial to resolving worsening traffic congestion in North Texas."

In addition to the local option tax plan, the other major point of disagreement is red-light cameras. The House has placed a phase-out of the cameras in its version, but it is not in the Senate's.

Senate Transportation & Homeland Security Chair John Carona says that "local-option provisions are not negotiable." House Transportation Chair Joe Pickett says, according to the Star-Telegram, that he is "concerned that a provision widely opposed by the House membership could endanger the entire bill."

TURF, Liberty Matters, Texans Against Tolls, Independent Texans, and others are working to kill HB 300. They argue that the current version does not contain the desirable changes developed during the Sunset process and does contain most of the undesirable provisions that could not stand on their own and have been added under the table at the last minute. It could be that their efforts, plus the inability of the House and Senate to agree, will accomplish what seemed unlikely until recently--the death of HB 300, resulting in a TxDOT Sunset re-do, to be tackled in the 2011 session.

Kill HB 300 and start over

2009-05-28T17:00:00.003-05:00

Analysis of the current HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset Bill, by Liberty Matters, TURF, Texans Against Tolls, Independent Texans, and others leads to the conclusion that the many amendments added to the original HB 300 by the House and the Senate have destroyed the original Sunset provisions that were carefully developed by the Sunset Commission staff and legislators that made up the original HB 300. These organizations are asking citizens to call their representatives and ask them to kill HB 300, pass "safety net" legislation that will allow TxDOT to continue for the next two years, and then prepare to do a new, clean TxDOT Sunset Bill in 2011.

Here are TURF's directions for contacting your Representative.

Contact your Texas STATE representatives and tell them:"KILL HB 300, and pass a safety net bill."

Find your STATE Representative here...Call the Capitol switchboard (512) 463-4630 between 8 AM - 5 PM. Most are there late into the evening, to get your reps direct phone numbers, go here...

You can also email your STATE Representative by using this formula: Plug in the name of your STATE Representative to: firstname.lastname@house.state.tx.us

You can also email your STATE Senator by using this formula: Plug in the name of your STATE Senator to: firstname.lastname@senate.state.tx.us

Phone calls are best at this stage of the game...if you can't get through, keep calling and email.

Has time run out for eminent domain protection and veto override?

2009-05-27T09:52:00.004-05:00

Last night, time may have run out on two important bills.
First, the Statesman’s Jason Embry reports on eminent domain legislation. SB 18 was passed by the Senate and was before the House when it shut down at midnight with many bills left on the calendar.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/firstreading/entries/2009/05/27/can_this_session_be_saved.html

Embry says, “Many thought the chubbing might ease up enough Tuesday for some big non-voter ID bills to pass, such as the bill authorizing the state to get federal stimulus dollars for unemployment insurance and the eminent-domain legislation. But Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, had other ideas, launching his own talk-a-thon that ate up most of the day . . .

“So there are six days left in the session and some major Senate bills are (at best) in serious jeopardy because they did not pass the House: . . . eminent domain . . . If any of this is going to be salvaged, there is going to have to be major triage in the Senate . . . "

Let’s hope some “major triage” can save SB 18--stronger protection against eminent domain for landowners.

The second good bill in danger is HJR 29 that would allow the Legislature to come back after the regular session to override a governor’s veto. As reported by Christy Hoppe, Dallas Morning News, Sen. Jeff Wentworth says that Gov. Perry and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst “are conspiring to kill” this constitutional amendment.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/DN-vetofight_27tex.ART.State.Edition1.511dd6a.html

From Hoppe’s article: “Sen. Jeff Wentworth, speaking with unusual candor against powerhouses in the Capitol, said Dewhurst betrayed a trust as the Senate's presiding officer to deal fairly and address bills that have the support of two-thirds of the 31-member Senate. Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said he had collected the signatures of 26 Senate supporters for the constitutional proposal, but Dewhurst told him that at the behest of the governor, he would not call up the bill for debate."

Wentworth said, "[Dewhurst] made a deal with the governor and gave his word he'd kill the bill. He told me that the governor has talked to him 20 times about it." The veto override passed the House easily and has been sitting in the Senate since May 15—more than enough time for it to be debated and passed by the 26 Senators that have signed up for it.

To allow Texans to vote on this amendment is overwhelmingly favored by their representatives in the House and the Senate. It is being killed by Perry and Dewhurst. What does this tell us about the need for this amendment?

Senate has passed TxDOT Sunset Bill--what might happen next?

2009-05-26T16:41:00.003-05:00

The Statesman's Ben Wear discusses where TxDOT Sunset stands now and its possible future.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/05/26/txdot_sunset_now_what.html

HB 300 started out in the House as a huge bill and it has grown. Wear says:

"The thing had gotten so big by the time it reached the Senate floor that staffers printed it in an unusual single-spaced, legal-size paper format just to keep the height of the stack down. . . . The rough estimate is that in normal format HB 300 was a 700-page bill at least when it hit the Senate floor."

There are important differences between the House and Senate versions, and Wear discusses what might happen now and the timing:

"First, the 15 or so Senate amendments have to be incorporated and it has to be printed. This alone could take 24 hours. But we’re told that in the meantime, or perhaps after this is done, the bill would then go back to the House for concurrence.

"[S]tep two, the House declines to concur and appoints its five conference committee members. The two leaders of this almost surely will be Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, the bill sponsor, and Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, the House Transportation Committee chairman. . . . [The Senate] will then appoint its own conference committee members. The leaders there will be Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, the Senate sponsor, and Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.

"Both the House and Senate must vote for final bills emerging from conference committees by midnight Sunday, the session’s penultimate day. . . . Realistically, then, negotiations have to be done by sometime Friday."

Some sort of measure to keep TxDOT going, rather than Sunset it, must be passed. It sounds like it will be difficult to go through all these steps in time to complete all the reorganization contained in HB 300. If the House and Senate can't get this bill out in time, or if they complete their work, but Perry vetoes it, I assume there will be some mechanism to keep TxDOT going the way it is for two more years and start the whole Sunset process over again for the 2011 session. If this is the case, untold hours of work by the Sunset staff, legislators, and citizens giving input will have been for naught, at least at this point.

HB 300--TxDOT Sunset Bill--what if it doesn't pass?

2009-05-25T08:47:00.004-05:00

A very clear explanation by Michael Lindenberger of the Dallas Morning News about where the TxDOT Sunset Bill started out in the House, how it was changed and weakened in the Senate, and where it stands now.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-transportation_25ttex.ART.State.Edition2.517f53a.html

He concludes that it is even possible that the House and Senate are at an impass on this HB 300 and that it will not pass. If it does not pass, being a Sunset Bill, it could mean that TxDOT would cease to exist. Since that is not something that legislators would allow, they might pass something that would kick the can on down the road--continue TxDOT for only two years and try for reorganization again in two years.

I would hate for HB 300 to go down the drain, since it does now contain language that repeals the Trans-Texas Corridor. However, this could be taken out before final passage, if any, so everything is up in the air.

Thanks to Roger Baker for sending this around.

Yes to SB 18 for more protection against eminent domain

2009-05-22T16:53:00.003-05:00

SB 18, the eminent domain bill by Estes is now on the House’s Major State Calendar. It was expected that it would go before the House today, but because the House has been clogged up for most of the day with delaying actions, this bill has not been acted on yet.

SB 18 has been changed somewhat since it was introduced. Some are saying that it has been fatally weakened, but others believe that it still gives property owners more rights than we have currently, including compensation for “diminished access” without using that exact phrase and providing for more transparency in the condemnation process.

The Texas Farm Bureau has been working on behalf of more protection against eminent domain throughout this session, and the Bureau is still strongly in favor of SB 18. To find your representative to ask him or her to vote for SB 18 go to

http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

TURF alert about SB 17 and SB 404

2009-05-22T14:17:00.002-05:00

See many more details below about SB 17 and SB 404 enabling the Trans-Texas Corridor even though legislators have tried to repeal it through an amendment in the TxDOT Sunset Bill. This letter from TURF's Terri Hall is a guest post on Eye on Williamson County.

http://eyeonwilliamson.org/?p=4854

Oppose SB 17 and SB 404

2009-05-22T14:09:00.003-05:00

Liberty Matters, TURF, and Indy Texans have sent messages asking us to contact our representatives to vote against SB 17 and SB 404. Taken together, SB 17 by Nichols and SB 404 by Carona would enable Comprehensive Development Agreements/Public Private Partnerships and allow some of the Trans-Texas Corridor and other toll roads to be constructed, even though the TxDOT Sunset Bill still contains the amendment to repeal the TTC.

Right now, the House is bogged down with other matters, and as far as I can tell, has not gotten to these bills. Please contact your representative and ask him or her to vote against SB 17 and SB 404.

Rep. Maldonado issues report on legislative session

2009-05-19T18:27:00.004-05:00

As the session draws to a close, our HD 52 Representative Diana Maldonado has issued a legislative round-up.

She said, "I am proud to have moved several key pieces of legislation through the House that will benefit District 52." She passed a bill to fund the Eastern Williamson County Higher Education Center in Taylor. She also passed legislation to help schools get electronic materials returned by students.

Rep. Maldonado passed a bill to allow Taylor and Hutto to use money from their hotel-motel tax revenues to fund recreational facilities, including the Eastern Williamson County Park in Taylor. She also succeeded in passing a "green" bill, that would require TxDOT to use recycled glass in new road projects. She said, "This will help reduce the amount of glass that goes into our landfills, and provide contractors with an environmentally friendly alternative."

She coauthored several bills to benefit especially her rural constituents. She was a coauthor on HB 11 to repeal the Trans-Texas Corridor. It was left pending in committee, but a similar measure made it into the TxDOT Sunset Bill, which passed the House and is before the Senate.

She also coauthored HB 13, which would have prevented free land to toll lane conversions, which was left pending. She was a coauthor on HB 1483 which provided greater protection from eminent domain. HB 1483 was left pending, but a similar Senate bill is still under consideration

Rep. Maldonado has achieved a large body of work this session, especially for a freshman legislator. She said, "I greatly appreciate all of the input and suggestions that have come in from thousands of constituents during this session. Your correspondence keeps me informed on your views and helps me to make decisions each day."

To see more information about legislation or to contact her office, go to her House website at
http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/dist52/maldonado.php

Gov. 39% not the brightest bulb . . uh, the brightest political future

2009-05-17T15:39:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, the National Journal asked their group of Republican insiders "Who among your party's current crop of governors has the brightest political future?"

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/ip_20090516_8934.php

Winning with 21 % was Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, followed by:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour 20 percent
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty 17 percent
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist 13 percent
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford 8 percent
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. 6 percent

National Journal noted, "Also receiving votes: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 5 percent each; no one, 2 percent; California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and "Pawlenty and Sanford," 1 percent each.

Rick Perry received no mention whatsoever.

Perry has been busy with more important things

. . . like having his spokesman criticize Kay Bailey Hutchison's bumper sticker contest. As reported by the Houston Chronicle

http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2009/05/no_detail_too_s.html

"You might think the winners of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's bumper sticker contest would be of little interest to Gov. Rick Perry's camp as the legislative session enters its final days with major issues still up in the air.
You'd be wrong on that."

Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman, found fault with the contest and the winners. He is quoted as saying, "They should apologize to the three other people who may have participated in this questionable contest."

For the Hutchison campaign, Hans Klinger asked: "Why is Rick Perry's taxpayer funded mouthpiece more concerned about bumper sticker contests than he is the work of the legislature?"

It seems to me that people on the Governor's staff should be working on the business of the people of Texas, not officially commenting on Hutchison's contest that was solely a function of her campaign and that did not make any mention of Perry whatsoever that might have necessitated a response from his office.

Meanwhile, the Governor was busy writing his op-ed

First, I'll never believe that Rick Perry actually writes anything. Let us say that one or several ghostwriters came up with the piece that is in today's Statesman:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/editorial/stories/insight/05/17/0517perry_edit.html

I think it's interesting that this explanation appears so long after the fact. Does he write very slowly? As a work by committee, did it take this long for it to go through several drafts and approvals?

Given Perry's attempt since the creation of the Trans-Texas Corridor in 2003 to disempower the rural landowners of Texas, he has a nerve talking about the powers reserved to the people.

He criticizes the federal government for "passing trillion-dollar bailouts [think $183.5 billion for the TTC, according to Corridor Watch], bullying states [think bullying of Texans by Perry's TxDOT], and even taking control of private companies [think taking the land of Texans FOR Cintra, a private company].

Then he praises "the concept of limited government," and he claims that "citizens and taxpayers should be outraged" by what the federal government is doing.

Do you think that he still doesn't know what we are outraged about? It is Perry and his friends, the big government/large private corporation partnerships that are working against the landowning citizens of Texas, the small businesses, the farm and ranch families, the people who are the backbone of the state. Perry has tried to institute a corporative state where large private concerns are able to take over and use the power of government to oppress the individual and take his private property.

With his op-ed, Perry is not going to win over the voters who know his true colors, and he's lost some of the folks who thought he WAS speaking favorably about secession and agreed with him. Now, as far as they're concerned, he's "gone wobbly" on the issue. As Peter Stern comments, "Confucius once stated, 'Beware of the man who blows hot and cold with one breath.' He must have been speaking with Gov. Rick Perry in mind."

Legislative update--some Corridor and Rail bills

2009-05-15T18:10:00.004-05:00

The deadline for the House to pass House bills was reached at midnight last night. If a representative’s legislation was not passed by then, it is dead, unless the representative can attach it, or pieces of it, to appropriate Senate legislation.

An update on some bills we have been following:

HJR 29 by Elkins proposes a constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to override a veto of the governor following a legislative session, thus making sure that the governor can’t solely override the will of the people and their legislators after a session—too late for the veto to be overridden, no matter how many votes it might have--which is what happened to eminent domain legislation in the 2007 session. HJR easily passed the House and is on the calendar for a second vote by the Senate on Monday, May 18. Hope this amendment passes and is put on the ballot for us to vote on.

SB 1923 by Watson would use certain fees to put money into the Texas Rail Relocation Fund. Since many of the officials and lobbyists who want to fund rail relocation want to expand the rail line through Coupland or build a new big route through the Coupland area, I hope this bill does not pass the Senate. It is on the Senate calendar for second reading.

HB 2142 by McClendon would prohibit TxDOT from using taxpayer money to promote the Trans-Texas Corridor and other toll roads. You may remember the annoying multi-million- dollar Keep Texas Moving advertising campaign. TxDOT also used our money for lobbying for toll roads. This campaign resulted in TxDOT being sued by TURF—case still pending. HB 2142, which forbids such campaigns, has passed the House and heads to the Senate, where the same legislation (by Sen. Carona) has already passed. Looks promising for this good legislation.

HB 300, the large TxDOT Sunset Bill that passed the House WITH an amendment repealing the Trans-Texas Corridor has gone to the Senate, where it is scheduled for a public hearing on May 18, in Transportation & Homeland Security Committee. Pundits are saying that the final form of HB 300 will be determined by the upcoming House and Senate conference committee.

Thanks to Martha Estes for helping us follow what is going on at the Capitol.

Contact your senator to support HJR 14

2009-05-14T16:19:00.002-05:00

The Institute for Justice is the public interest law firm that represented Suzette Kelo in her fight to keep her home that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court Kelo decision IN FAVOR OF TAKING PRIVATE PROPERTY from individuals and giving it to others for economic development purposes. They are asking that we contact our senator to support HJR 14--the constitutional amendment to put better protection against eminent domain abuse into the Texas constitution.

HJR 14 has passed the House. If the Senate passes it with a two-thirds majority, it will appear on the November ballot so that we can vote FOR more protection of private property. Now is the time to contact your senator to support of HJR 14. For many of us, our senator is:
Steve Ogden
steve.ogden@senate.state.tx.us

If he is not your senator, please click on the link in the message below to find your senator.

From: the Institute for Justice

On Monday, the House unanimously passed H.J.R. 14, a constitutional amendment that would end eminent domain abuse in Texas. If the Senate passes H.J.R. 14 by a two-thirds vote, it will appear on the November ballot, and you - the voters of Texas - will be able to vote for better property rights protections. Now, more than ever, it is critical that you make your voice heard and support H.J.R. 14. Call your Texas Senator and tell them you support H.J.R. 14 TODAY. You can find their contact information here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

Forward this link to all of your friends and family: http://www.NoMoreKelosInTexas.com. Encourage them to take a few minutes today to call their Texas Senator.The Senate will vote soon. Please call immediately. This is it. It's been four years since the Kelo decision. The future of property rights in Texas rests in the hands of the Texas State Senate. We have to let them know how important stopping eminent domain for private gain is to Texans.

Thank you for continuing to stand on the frontlines of the battle against eminent domain abuse. Christina Walsh
www.ij.org www.castlecoalition.org
Institute for Justice TEXAS CHAPTER
816 CONGRESS AVE, SUITE 960 AUSTIN, TX 78701 (512) 480-5936 FAX (512) 480-5937

Burka asks: What does killing the Trans-Texas Corridor mean?--ACRE answers

2009-05-10T23:08:00.006-05:00

Paul Burka has posted and received comments about HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset Bill.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=3792

I commented that one of the things that should be kept in HB 300 is killing the Trans-Texas Corridor. Burka asked what did people mean by killing the TTC. Below is my reply to his question:

I would say that killing the Trans-Texas Corridor is what is intended by HB 11 by Rep. Leibowitz, which is the “repeal of authority for the establishment and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor.” I don’t know if this is the language of the amendment that was added to HB 300. It is my understanding that the amendment to HB 300 would be something like HB 11. The purpose would be to take away the authority to create and operate the TTC that was given to TxDOT by HB 3588 in 2003.

As long as this authority to create an entity with the name of TTC is still in statute and still in other official documents such as the Environmental Impact Statement (which is still stuck at the Federal Highway Administration), there is the danger that the project will be resurrected.

The project itself is as described in the document “Crossroads of the Americas” which lays out the design of the TTC as a multi-modal, almost quarter-mile wide swath of routes in a network that criss-crosses Texas—ten vehicular lanes, six rail lines, pipelines, and utility zone, with all concessions within the TTC boundaries—that would sweep through the state, bypassing cities, thus depriving them of trade as well as tax base, because of all the acreage taken out of the local taxing districts.

As it unfolded, it was intended that the TTC be a public-private partnership, giving Cintra (a Spanish corporation) the right to profit from land taken from Texas landowners through eminent domain by the state and turned over to Cintra.

For years, our family and our neighbors have been fighting the TTC. Considering all our efforts added to the efforts of other grass-roots groups along the Corridor routes, there is no telling how many hours, days, years of time and energy we have had to take away from other endeavors to spend in the effort to save our land. These efforts required our time and money, while the people who have been trying to take our land away from us have been well-paid with our own tax money.

Over the years, those of us working against the TTC have had gradual and hard-won success. Not that it was totally due to anti-Corridor efforts, but one instance that I would like to point out is that it was “our Representative” Mike Krusee who authored HB 3588 to create the TTC. Now, our current Representative Diana Maldonado is a coauthor of HB 11 that would abolish the Corridor.

We have made progress, and the TTC name has been disavowed, but the TTC is not dead. So many Texans have spent so many hours fighting the Corridor—hours that could have been put to more productive use—it would be great if this burden could be lifted from the shoulders of rural Texans once and for all, either by HB 11 being voted out of committee and being passed by the Legislature or by keeping language totally repealing the authority for the TTC in HB 300 as it is passed by the Legislature.

Kill the TTC is in HB 300, the TxDOT Sunset Bill

2009-05-09T23:36:00.002-05:00

The very big, very complicated TxDOT Sunset Bill, HB 300, seems to be passing the House with 160-180 amendments--with amendments to amendments--so it has been hard to find news about what did and did not make it into this bill. Also, there will need to be a third reading of the bill and one more vote before it goes from the House to the Senate.

Many, many thanks to Terri Hall and the folks at TURF who have the only reporting on the repeal of the Trans-Texas Corridor that I have been able to find. To see TURF commentary on many aspects of HB 300, go to the TURF news at
http://texasturf.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=664&Itemid=2

Regarding the main issue that we have been following at ACRE—fighting the Trans-Texas Corridor—an amendment repealing the TTC has been added to this version of HB 300.

At least two other provisions that we have been supporting also are in HB 300 at this point: prohibition on tolling existing roads (don’t know yet how this affects tolling 290 East) and elected leadership at TxDOT (a single statewide elected commissioner as head plus 14 regional elected commissioners).

TURF says, “A huge hats off to the leadership of Rep. David Leibowitz of San Antonio and Rep. Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham for leading the charge to get these MAJOR amendments into HB 300. Texans owe them a HUGE debt of gratitude.”

TURF is warning of a provision that allows public-private partnerships (such as Cintra’s with the TTC) to continue: “WE MUST STRIP OUT Phillips’ private toll contract provision that sells our highways to the highest bidder UPON THIRD READING OF THE HOUSE BILL, HB 300, Monday!”

For more details on all these provisions, good and bad, click on the link above.

To keep in our good amendments and to strip out the private toll contracts, TURF asks:

“CALL NOW. Repeat this message:
1) No private toll contracts that sell our highways to foreign corporations (strip Phillips’ sneaky amendment to extend these contracts that end the moratorium!)
2) YES to Leibowitz’ version of BAN on tolling existing roads (freeway to tollway conversions) (may save us from tolling 290 East)
3) NO Trans-Texas Corridor
4) YES to elected leadership at TxDOT
Find your legislator here:
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/
Call the Capitol switchboard 512-463-4630 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. You can also email your legislator by using this formula:
Plug in the name of your state representative to: firstname.lastname@house.state.tx.us
Plug in the name of your state senator to: firstname.lastname@senate.state.tx.us
But at this stage of the game, PHONE CALLS ARE BETTER!”

You can pick and choose from the above issues to talk to your legislator's office about, but please ask him or her to keep the repeal of the Trans-Texas Corridor in HB 300!

Report on House debate of TxDOT Sunset Bill--live Thursday night

2009-05-07T22:29:00.003-05:00

Leibowitz amendment 57 to not allow conversions of free to toll lanes unless on MPO plan prior to September 2005.
Approved amendment to amendment 57 to allow Grayson Co. project that is started to continue.
House considering allowing members to register opposition to controversial amendments until 5 p.m. tomorrow. Don't know if repealing TTC is considered controversial.
Now they have gotten into red-light camera issue. Amendment to give TxDOT authority over these cameras. Amendment to the amendment proposed that sounds like weakening the red-light camera situation. Fussing breaks out. Amendment to amendment adopted. Menendez objects. Said cameras are in place as local control, shouldn't give state authority. As I understand it, the camera situation IS controversial in the Legislature right now, so this discussion could go on for some time.
Possibly tomorrow, there will be some news on the amendment to repeal TTC. Over and out for now.

House votes for single Transportation Commissioner--no news on killing TTC

2009-05-07T22:08:00.005-05:00

I watched as much as I could of the live stream coverage of the House debate today of the massive TxDOT Sunset bill hoping to see if Rep. Kolkhorst's amendment to repeal the Trans-Texas Corridor made it in. I didn't see that this was brought up yet, and I haven't been able to find any coverage of it.

I did find an AP report that the House did adopt an amendment that would change the five-member Texas Transportation Commission (the current one appointed by Gov. 39%) to one Transportation Commissioner who would be elected statewide like the Agriculture Commissioner.

Another proposal being considered is the addition of 14 regional commissioners that would address the concern that the different constituents and needs of different areas of the state be represented.

The Legislature Online site shows that the House is still in session (10:20 p.m.) debating HB 300. They have just allowed amendments to the amendment against concession agreements to allow projects in progress to go forward, the best I can tell.

I would appreciate any news on killing the Corridor, if anybody has any.