Liveblogging Today’s Session

OK. I finally got the feed to work, so I’m going to live blogg as much as possible. [HIT REFRESH FREQUENTLY]
Right now, we’re on the second reading of HB2 Amendment 6. Sylvester Turner is speaking on the Texas prison system. It’d be nice to know what the heck this amendment deals with, but the Legislative Council doesn’t have it online…

All after the jump…this one is long, so starting a new one.

HB 2 Second Reading
Sylvester Turner: “What my amendment does is strike section five and allow the other bills to stand on their own.”

He’s yielded to Helen Giddings (DeSoto, 109). “Section five in house bill 2 comes at the wrong time?” Yes, he replies…

Giddings: “Would you say that this is something akin to asking me to give you a check without telling me what I’m buying?”

I assume she’s talking about HB 2.

Turner just said he’d vote for HB 2 if this amendment passed. Must be a heck of an amendment. Asking members to vote no on the motion to table.

Klokhorst (R-Brenham) is now asking a question about the amendment.

Turner: “What it will do is allow you and Chairman Pitts, to bring tup this particular amendment and attach it to, HB 3, HB 4 and HB 5…I don’t keep you from getting there…”Tu

Turner: The effect of my amendment goes directly to the heart of HB 2…I want to shift the debate back to the bills that are back on the floor…HB 3 is not on the floor right now, but by voting on HB 2, I’m voting on HB 3…”
Turner: In the interest of public policy and the way we operate on each bill, each bill should stand on its own. As a lawyer, I would not ask you to sign on anything you have not seen…

Vote on Motion to Table, HB 2 Amendment 6: 80 yes, 66 nay, motion to table passed.

Dunnam just asked what happened to a couple of amendments and Craddick read a prepared statement saying that they were out of order based on the bills adopted Friday. Craddick said they reallocated revenue and were therefore out of order.

Craig Eiland (D-Galveston), Dist. 23: “If we pass this amendment we are reducing future legislative discretion.”

Now he’s talking about HB 73 and the Teacher Retirement System. He says that this bill will severely hamper the ability to increase TRS.

Eiland’s talking about the underfunding of the Texas Grants program from the 2003 session.

Eiland: “Next year…there’s 35,000 kids that are eligible that we’re not going to pay for their tuition and their scholarship…they’ve done all we’ve asked them to do…but we’re not funding them. If we pass this dedication of future funding we’re not going to come close to making these Texas Grants and that’s a promise we’ve already broken.”

He’s yielded to Scott Hochberg (D-Houston, 137).

Hochberg: “What happens in a year when the franchise tax collections drop? Where’s the money going to come from for the property tax relief? wouldn’t that automatically increase local property taxes anytime we had a shortfall or a downturn?”

Eiland notes taxpayer groups support it because they know the Lege will do whatever’s necessary to maintain property tax relief and just increase business taxes.

Senfronia Thompson now asking questions of Eiland:

Thompson: “Is it your understanding that House Bill 3 would be the largest tax bill we would vote on in the state?”

Eiland: Yes.

Thompson: she asks if there is a mechanism for ISDs to increase taxes w/o citizen vote?

Eiland: yes

Thompson: So, we’re telling citizens we’re going to lower [their] taxes when they can go back up, correct?

Eiland: yes.

Rep. Garnet Coleman is now speaking. He’s distributed copies of op-eds and political cartoons to members of the Lege.

Coleman: “The reality is that all of the debates…should be about Texas schoolchildren and what helps them into the future. And that’s the reason I stand in opposition to the bill.”

Cites Chron and DMN editorials that say HB2 is a bad thing. Also, one from the Waco Trib.

He notes that this bill will mean a lot of new revenue will be blocked from funding school improvements.

Coleman: “This is the bill that actually dedicates those taxes so that they only go to reduce taxes on the local level. If you want to provide both school improvement and tax relief, those amendments were out of order.

Coleman: “It essentially starves the public school system into the future.”

Jim Pitts is now closing.

Here’s the vote: 81 yes, 65 no, passed to engrossing.

Related posts:

1. 81st Session: Liveblogging SB 1 In The House
2. 81st Session: Appropriations Liveblogging Part II