Two-thirds (67%) also believe that annual tuition and fee increases at State colleges should be capped so they do not exceed the national rate of inflation.
Yet another example of the failed leadership of the Republican Party in Texas. Remember, the Republicans led the charge to deregulate tuition in 2003.
The national policy and advocacy group Progressive States Network announced a new Co-Chair for its Board of Directors today. Longtime PSN board member Representative Garnett Coleman of Houston, Texas will take up the position of Co-Chair alongside PSN Founding Co-Chair David Sirota. Wisconsin Senator Spencer Coggs, Maryland Delegate Tom Hucker, Georgia Senator Nan Orrock, Arizona Delegate Kyrsten Sinema, and Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott will all take on new roles as PSN board members. Steve Doherty, former Montana State Senator and founding co-chair of the Progressive States Network, is stepping down as co-chair but will remain an active member of the board.
Garnet Coleman assumes the helm of PSN’s board after a long history of championing progressive change in his own state and across the nation. As a Representative of Texas’s 147th District for the last 17 years, Coleman has garnered a reputation as a formidable champion for working families and communities of color, spearheading major victories for his constituents in the areas of education, health care, and economic development. As a member of the Texas House Committee on Public Health, Rep. Coleman has helped expand access to Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of low-income children and increase access to services for the mentally ill. He has twice been named to the prestigious Texas Monthly Ten Best Legislators list, and in 2004 he was recognized as Outstanding Black Caucus Chair by the Congressional Black Caucus.
Recently, Rep. Coleman has played an instrumental role in organizing the State Legislators for Progressive Immigration Policy network, a PSN-sponsored coalition that is coordinating a national state-based legislative campaign to counter the right’s attack on immigrant families while protecting all workers and fostering strong, integrated communities.
According to Coleman, “The work that we’re doing in this organization is crucial to building a progressive movement across the nation. When you look at the day-to-day work that actually builds the progressive agenda, it happens in the states. What we need is more coordination between legislators so that gains in each state don’t stay isolated but rather coalesce into a national movement. That’s precisely what we’re doing at PSN, and I am proud to count myself as a contributor to that work.”
Spencer Coggs has been a member of the Wisconsin legislature for the last 26 years, serving as a state senator since 2002, during which time he has fought to improve public education, expand affordable health care coverage to all Wisconsinites, protect tentants’ rights, and reform the prison system. Sen. Coggs currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, is National President of the National Labor Caucus of State Legislators, and is Chairman of the Board of the Martin Luther King Heritage Health. Before going into politics, Sen. Coggs worked as a health officer, an industrial printer, and a postal worker. He remains a proud member of AFSCME Local 1091. → continue reading
State Rep. Dianne White Delisi (R-Temple), who had previously announced her retirement and did not seek re-election this year, resigned form the Texas House of Representatives effective today. More at Quorum Report.
As the Sunset Commission review of the Texas Department of insurance continues, several Senate Democrats have made it clear that the Texas Department of Insurance should do more to focus on consumer rights and the high cost of property and health insurance during the upcoming debate surrounding reform of the agency.
“…after careful consideration, I think we should make the Texas Insurance Commissioner and elected position. I appreciate the Sunset Staff’s Recommendation9.2 that includes consumer protection as part oft he Department’s duties, but as Commission Members, we should go further and make the commissioner directly accountable to Texans.
Other Senate Democrats also had strong words for the Sunset Commissions staff:
Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D – San Antonio) recommended holding insurance companies accountable for high homeowner rates in her letter to the Commission:
“Texans are paying the highest homeowner rates in the nation, while profits for insurance companies continue to rise…”
The issue of a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley is one we’re particularly interested in, so we’d like to share with you an important release from State Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez (D-Weslaco).
State Representative Armando “Mando” Martinez (D-Weslaco) announced today his commitment to have a medical school located in the Rio Grande Valley. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) currently oversees the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) in the Rio Grande Valley. RAHC is an outreach effort of UTHSCSA and is not an independent, stand-alone campus.
Based on our searching of the Texas Legislature Online website, we couldn’t manage to find one that had been authored since 1995. Perhaps it got lost in the shuffle last year when State Rep. Norma Chavez (D-El Paso) had honorary resolutions honoring all 58,208 precinct chairs in El Paso County on the last day of the 80th Texas Legislature. We suspect there may have been one done when Mr. Rauschenberg was roasted by the Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce some years back.
Since we know we have so many readers in the Capitol, we thought we’d issue a special challenge to our Capitol Annex readers who enjoy spending their days in the Texas State Archives and Legislative Reference Library (and, let’s face it, isn’t that everybody’s idea of how to spend a great afternoon in Austin?): If you can find and email us a .pdf of a resolution passed by the House or Senate (or both) honoring Robert Rauschenberg, for an entire week, we’ll donate ad space on Capitol Annex (between the posts and in the blog’s masthead) to the charity of your choice (if you happen to be a Republican, please be advised that the Tom DeLay Legal Defense Fund does not count). The deadline is Friday, May 23 at midnight, and the first entry mailed to pressroom@capitolannex.com will be declared the winner.
If there happens not to have ever been such a resolution passed, we’ll up the ante: if some enterprising state legislator decides to author one (since this can be done in the “off-season” so to speak), Capitol Annex will give the first legislator to do so guest blogging privileges for a week to promote the charity of their choice (again, the Tom DeLay Legal Defense Fund doesn’t count).
If you happened to be sitting around wondering just how important it really is to have a Democratic House and Democratic Speaker during the 81st Texas Legislature, consider this:
Conservative Texas legislators made it clear Monday that they’ll again push for strict state laws to crack down on illegal immigration when lawmakers convene in January.
A chief area they’re likely to concentrate on is encouraging local police departments to work with U.S. officials to enforce federal immigration laws, which the House State Affairs Committee is studying.
Believe it or not, we only barely avoided paralyzing the Texas House with a boat-load of anti-immigrant bills last session–everything from denying immigrant children education plus more–thanks to some behind-the-scenes maneuvering and a lack of desire to make the legislative process ten times more contentious than it already was.
State Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) is at it again. This time, he’s raising hell with teacher’s unions, claiming that their payroll deductions (allowed, mind you, by the Texas Legislature, are unlawful. From Berman’s hometown paper:
State Rep. Leo Berman has requested an attorney general’s opinion on whether it’s lawful for teachers unions to use payroll deductions to fund political campaigns.
The Tyler Republican and chairman of the House Elections Committee says it’s a direct challenge to the Texas State Teachers Association Political Action Committee, which tends to contribute to more Democrats than Republicans.
The payroll deductions are voluntary, but Berman says it takes state time and resources to administrate the deduction system - and that’s what he objects to.
“The Democrats have raised a lot of their money through the teachers’ unions,” Berman says. “So through using the payroll deduction process, they’re using state funds, state equipment and state time to raise political money. That doesn’t fit with Texas state law.”
It’s pretty clear that Berman’s request was more politically motivated than anything related to his duties as Chair of the House Elections Committee.
Typical with most idiocy that springs from Berman’s office, he gets quickly put in his place. Here is what TSTA’s Richard Kouri had to say about Berman’s idiocy:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas will deliver the Democratic Address on the State of the Union following the President’s speech to Congress on Monday, January 28. Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, immediate past president of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), will deliver the Spanish language address.
Reid and Pelosi praised state Senator Van de Putte as an effective state and national leader. “As the first Latina to head NCSL and chair her caucus in the Texas Senate, Senator Van de Putte has demonstrated tremendous leadership and a commitment to improving the lives of all Americans, Reid and Pelosi said. “As a national Hispanic leader for nearly 20 years, she has a proven record of advocating for Latino families. Senator Van de Putte is uniquely positioned to articulate the Democrats’ leadership on issues affecting the Hispanic community.”
Senator Van de Putte said: “Latinos in this country share all Americans’ anxiety about the direction of our nation. We want responsive government and committed leaders. We want opportunities for our communities to grow and prosper. We want a brighter future for our children. I am especially honored to be able to share these sentiments in response to our President’s State of the Union Address.”
Do you know that you can 
