80th Legislature: Why Is The Media Swallowing The Republican Line On HR 4

Check this from the Houston Chronicle:

House members will be collecting $132 a day for expenses while doing little work on legislation until Feb. 8 because a routine rules suspension fell victim Tuesday to partisan acrimony.

Evidently, in trying to be a “consumer watchdog” over taxpayer money, the Houston Chronicle failed to recognize the legislative reality of the first 30 days (and first 60 days) of the legislative session.

So, for the 123rd time this morning, I shall quote from the Book of Dunnam:

“We are told if we don’t pass this, the whole House will come to gridlock. I have the calendars from the last several sessions. In the 76th legislature, do you know how many were brought up in the first 60 days? Two! IN the 77th, we brought up six. In the 78th session, six came to the House floor, and in the 79th session, ten bills. Those include the emergency bills. So you are being told if we can’t bring up ten bills in the next 60 days the Senate is going to rule the world and the sky is going to fall. If we can’t take up 6-10 bills in the next 60 days, nobody’s bills are going to be passed. That’s not credible. You know that.”

Evidently the Chronicle’s entire Austin buereau was asleep when that was mentioned.

And, if I hear one more person talk about how this provision has existed since 1930, I will scream. I will…oh, wait…[insert scream here]:

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, said the constitutional provision dates to 1930 when the public wanted to make sure that lawmakers gave due deliberation to new laws. He noted that now Texans are able to watch committee hearings on the Internet and are more aware of the contents of bills.

And, like a three-year-old who just took a Crayola to a freshly painted living room wall, Craddick bears “no responsibility” for the fact that the Texas House has become more contentious than 32 feral cats crammed in a burlap sack:

Craddick said he doesn’t bear any responsibility for the breakdown in the House. He blamed “a group that wanted to slow the process down.”

Come on! The process is already slow. Unless, of course, you paid millions into the coffers of campaigns to elect yourself an anti-consumer majority to the Legislature.

Oh, wait! Maybe the Chron (kind of) gets it after all. This was buried deep in the story:

In reality, little work gets done in the first month of the session as lawmakers take time to organize their committees and get to know the new members. The long hours and heavy lifting come near the end of each 140-day session.

As Charles Kuffner noted, the Legislature is constitutionally designed to prevent it from doing too much anyway. As someone who has always disliked the “140 days every other year” manner the constitution provides, which is a holdover from the days of Reconstruction, I have no sympathy for those who cry crocodile tears bemoaning the defeat of HR 4.