Rounding Up The Bills Filed On Day One Of Pre-Filing

Since searching the Texas Legislature Online tells us there were no bills prefiled on Tuesday, we’re going to take this opportunity to finish rounding up some of the bills that caught our attention from the first day of pre-filing.

HB 84 by State Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez (D-Weslaco). This bill provides for the creation of cost-of-living adjustments for annual cost-of-living adjustments for retired Texas teachers whose benefits are paid by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

HB 107 by State Rep. Larry Phillips (R-Sherman). This bill creates provisions to allow for the sentencing of a defendant on felony charges without the defendant actually being in court. Reading the caption, one would think this is a bill that allows defendants to be convicted in absentia, but it is not that. The bill allows judgment and sentence to be entered in a felony case without the defendant present if the following conditions are met:

(b)  In a felony case, the judgment and sentence may be rendered in the absence of the defendant only if:
(1)  the defendant is imprisoned in a penal institution;
(2)  the defendant in writing before a district court having jurisdiction in the county where the defendant is imprisoned:
(A)  waives the right to be present at the rendering of the judgment and sentence or to have counsel present;
(B)  affirms that the defendant does not have anything to say as to why the sentence should not be pronounced and that there is no reason to prevent sentence under Article 42.07;
(C)  states that the defendant has entered into a written plea agreement with the attorney representing the state in the prosecution of the case; and
(D)  requests the judge to pronounce sentence in the case in accordance with the plea agreement;
(3) the defendant and the attorney representing the state in the prosecution of the case have entered into a written plea agreement that is made a part of the record in the case; and
(4)  sentence is pronounced in accordance with the plea agreement.

Given that there are no “or’s” amongs (A) through (D), this bill is actually more narrowly crafted than it might appear at first blush.  This bill would only come in to play for defendants who are incarcerated and have entered into written plea deals.

We would expect that there will be a lot of opposition to this bill from victim’s rights advocates. After all, Texas law allows victims in certain instances to address the court in what usually become long, drawn-out, tear-streaked affairs that often get more media coverage than anything else in a case put together. This bill, it seems, would keep incarcerated defendants out of the courtroom if they were pleading and desired not to be present. While it wouldn’t necessarily deprive victims of their right to address the court, much of the drama would be gone because the defendants would be absent.

HB 120 by State Rep. Joe Heflin (D-Crosbyton) would allow peace officers to obtain driver’s licenses with addresses that are in the areas in which they live but aren’t their own addresses. This is presumably a protection measure to keep their real addresses out of the hands of criminals, since services like PublicData.com provide that information to anyone with a credit card.

HB 133 by State Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio) would require that, except in limited circumstances, it be mandatory to disclose the sale price of real property upon filing a deed. There are certain exceptions, however:

(1)  the sale is made under a court order;
(2)  the sale is made to or from a trustee in bankruptcy;
(3)  the sale is made under a power of sale under a deed of trust or other encumbrance secured by the property;
(4)  the sale is made by a deed in lieu of foreclosure;
(5)  the sale is made by one co-owner to one or more other co-owners;
(6)  the sale is made to a spouse or to a person or persons in the first degree of lineal consanguinity of one or more of the sellers or grantors;
(7)  the sale is made to or from a governmental entity;
(8)  the sale is made under the power of eminent domain;
(9)  the sale is made to a utility company and the real property is an easement, license, or right-of-way;
(10)  the sale represents a transfer of title resulting from a merger or combination of corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, or other entities under common control;

(11)  the sale represents a transfer among entities under common control…

(12)  the real property is a severed mineral interest;
(13)  the property is regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Railroad Commission of Texas, the federal Surface Transportation Board, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the purchaser provides to the chief appraiser, on written request of the chief appraiser:
(A)  a copy of the annual regulatory report covering the property; and
(B)  sufficient information to enable the chief appraiser to allocate the value of the property among the appropriate taxing units for which the appraisal district appraises
property;
(14)  the property is subject to appraisal by a third party retained by the appraisal district and the purchaser qualifies for an exemption under any of Subdivisions (1)-(13) or
(15) and provides information substantially equivalent to that required to demonstrate an exemption under the applicable subdivision directly to the third party appraiser; or
(15)  the property is exempt from taxation

Expect there to be a lot of opponents to this legislation as well as a lot of folks in favor of it. One argument in favor of the legislation is that it would bring about more realistic appraisals.

HB 141 by Yvonne Gonzales Toureilles (D-Alice): This bill makes some changes to the “financial responsibilty” section of the Transportation Code with regard to penalties and administrative fees upon dismissal. More importantly, however, the legislation would put a big crimp in the efforts of some major metropolitan areas that have passed ordinances allowing for the mandatory impound of vehicles if the operator of the vehicle can’t provide proof of insurance on the spot:

(b)  Notwithstanding any other law, the owner or operator of a storage facility shall release a vehicle impounded at the facility because the vehicle had been operated by a person without evidence of financial responsibility and waive the impound and storage fees if the owner of the vehicle provides to the owner or operator of the facility not later than 48 hours after the vehicle was impounded evidence of financial responsibility for the vehicle that was in effect on the date the impoundment began.  The municipality that authorized the impoundment shall pay any impoundment or storage fee waived under this section.

Cities, clearly, aren’t going to want to get stuck with a bunch of $200 storage and towing fee bills just because someone couldn’t put their hands on their insurance card.  Keep in mind, though, that provision would only relate to municipalities over 1 million in population with rapid transit authorities, which narrows it down.

HB 147 by State Rep. Todd Smith (R-Bedford) would add language to the property code to outlaw the enforcement of restrictive covenants by property owners’ assocaitions that prohibit the display of the U.S. Flag so long as the flag is displayed properly and isn’t any bigger than 3 feet by 5 feet. Given that this is the TEXAS Legislature and all, we wonder why the legislation doesn’t protect the display of the state flag.

SB 51 by State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) prohibits bus drivers operating buses that are carrying minors (namely school buses) from using cell phones. It would also outlaw reading, writing, or sending text messages by motorists. We expect at least one State Representative to introduce a bill later on that would actually prevent motorists from talking on a cell phone unless they have a hands-free device, which is probably what we need most.

SB 52 by State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) increases the financial penalties and commuity service penalties associated with parking in a handicapped parking spot without a permit for first and subsequent offenses.

SB 111 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) allows the Governor, by Executive Order, to suspend the waiting period for unemployment insurance benefits under the Texas Labor Code for persons unemployed as a result of a disaster.

SB 121 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) requires that vendors the state does business with certify that they aren’t doing business in Sudan.

SB 126 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) creates a two-year moratorium on the permitting of new coal-fired electtric generation plants as well as modifications to coal-fired electric generation plants. “Clean Coal” plants where carbon dioxide is pumped underground are exempt from the moratorium.

SB 146 by State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) requires that pharmacies post the retail prices of prescriptions.

SB 190 by State Sen. Elliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) provides for a rebate of sales taxes to taxpayers who qualified for Earned Income Credit on their federal tax refunds.

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