A Look At The Last Batch Of Interim Charges
At long last, the Speaker’s Office released the third batch of Interim Charges on Friday. So, without further delay, we’ll take a look at those (or at least the ones we find interesting) starting with County Affairs:
3. Study policies and procedures related to illegal immigration and border security
of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, county probation departments, and
local and county jail facilities, and make recommendations to improve
coordination with international, federal, state, and local authorities. (Joint Interim
Charge with the House Committee on Corrections)
Translation: let’s figure out how we can make it easier and more popular for local authorities to arrest and deport illegal immigrants for traffic violations and misdemeanor arrests because God knows law enforcement has nothing better to do than enforce immigration law at the cost of billions of dollars to the Texas taxpayer.
Next, let’s look at the Energy Committee:
2. Examine whether the Railroad Commission of Texas should regulate carbon
capture.
That’s a no-brainer. Of course the answer is, ‘yes.’ But, the right-wingers who believe that global warming isn’t a result of anything man has done (except for excessive flash bulb emissions every time Brittney Spears poses for another crotch shot) will manage to screw this one up royally.
Here is an interesting one from Natural Resources:
Study issues related to the current efficacy of flood control devices in Texas,
including the condition of aging infrastructure, liability issues, and the legal
authority and financing needed to make repairs.
This, of course, relates to the levees in the Rio Grande Valley, I am quite sure (as well as coastal areas). While it is good to see this in the interim charges, if Craddick had any true leadership skills, he would have addressed this some time ago when Valley lawmakers started raising the issue in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
There were many others in this third batch, but I found these the most interesting.
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