Corpus Christi resident Chuck Burnett asked Ortiz to consider changing his mind on educational vouchers that would benefit taxpayers wanting to send their children to private schools. Burnett, who lives near Holly Road and Staples Street, said he pays thousands of dollars to send his three children to private schools because he is disappointed with the state of the public school system.

Ortiz said he is against the idea because it would take taxpayer money to do so.

Here’s an idea for Mr. Burnett: if you don’t like what is happening at your neighborhood school, why not go down and volunteer to help out? Or, better yet, quit complaining about your property taxes and realize that money is what our school system needs to get better.

Hilarious. Hilarious. Hilarious.

At issue is the DREAM Act, signed into law by Texas Governor Rick Perry in 2001, which allows Texas high school students who lack the proper citizenship papers to pay in-state tuition if they have lived in the state for at least three years, a period three times longer than that required for out-of-state students to gain in-state residency.

Berman’s opinion request could also stir up recent controversies related to the Hazelwood Act, which provides scholarships for qualifying military veterans. Previously, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott had ruled that the Hazlewood Act did not apply to undocumented immigrants who had been members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Abbott reversed his decision and withdrew that opinion earlier this year.

Berman inquires whether or not Texas is violating the law by allowing illegal immigrants in-state tuition based upon two things.

The first is a September 16 decision by a state appeals court in California that ruled that state’s in-state tuition for immigrants law conflicts with federal law and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The federal law in question, and the second tier of the basis for Berman’s request, is a provision in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 21996, authored by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith.

Section 505(a) of that act mandates that no postsecondary education benefit may be given to an illegal alien resident of the state unless a citizen is eligible for those same benefits.

There are numerous problems with Berman’s reasoning. First of all, the decision by the California appeals court sets no precedent for Texas. The decision was by a state appeals court, legally equivelant to a Texas state appeals court–not a federal district court or a federal appeals court. Second, citizens are eligible for in-state tuition benefits. In fact, they are eligible for them faster than non-citizens.

Speaker Tom Craddick today promoted spokeswoman Alexis DeLee to communications director and announced the hiring of James Bernsen as press secretary. DeLee will remain the speaker’s primary spokesperson and oversee the press office, while Bernsen will write and manage the speaker’s Web site.

Chris Cutrone, who has been DeLee’s assistant, will be the House’s media relations liaison.

Bernsen is a former correpondent for the Lone Star Report and former aide to several lawmakers, including former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Technorati Tags Tom Craddick

Texas again leads the nation with the highest percentage of uninsured residents, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released on Tuesday.

One out of every four residents, or 24.8 percent, was uninsured between 2006 and 2007, up slightly from 23.9 percent between 2004 and 2005.

You can read the full report from the Census Bureau here.

Of course, the Republicans in the Texas Legislature told us back in 2003 that the magical concept of tort reform would make insurance in Texas more affordable. Of course, that didn’t happen.

Those same GOP geniuses cut hundreds of thousands of children off of CHIP, which did nothing more than add to the crisis of uninsured Texans.

There are, of course, a number of GOP state Reps we could specifically thank for helping create this crisis, like Rep. John Davis (R-Clear Lake), Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston), and others who voted to gut CHIP in the first place.

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.

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.

Elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2006, Tom Hucker had previously made his mark as the founder of the influential advocacy group, Progressive Maryland, which helped boost spending on public schools, make health insurance more affordable and raise Maryland’s minimum wage. Since joining the legislature, Del. Hucker has made an early impact as a member of the Environmental Matters Committee and as the sponsor of bills to expand early childhood education and prohibit housing discrimination. He is the recipient of the Hispanic Democratic Club’s 2002 Friends of Latinos Award, the Maryland Trial Lawyer’s Association’s 2005 Defenders of Justice Award, and the Korean Americans of Maryland’s 2005 Public Service award.

Nan Orrock is a state senator from Georgia, where she formerly served as the first ever female House Majority Whip. Since first being elected in 1987, Sen. Orrock has been a tireless advocate for affordable health care, women’s rights, economic justice, and environmental justice. Sen. Orrock got her start in politics as a marcher in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice, an experience which led her to a life-long commitment to the civil rights movement, including participation in the Atlanta and Mississippi branches of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee. She currently serves as president of the national Women’s Legislative Lobby and sits on the board of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

Arizona Delegate Kyrsten Sinema joins the board in the midst of a rapid rise to prominence in the Arizona legislature. After being elected to the Arizona House of Delegates in 2004, Sinema has made a mark as a staunch advocate for disadvantaged and oppressed populations, environmental justice, and social justice. Recently, Del. Synema was championed an amendment preserving rights of gay and lesbian couples and has been a leader in the fight to push back on the spate of anti-immigrant bills moving through the Arizona legislature. In 2006, Del. Synema received the 2006 Legislator of the Year Award from both the Arizona Public Health Association and the Arizona chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in addition to being named the Sierra Club’s Most Valuable Player.

Ben Scott is the Policy Director at Free Press, where he has been a driving force in the battle for net neutrality and an influential crusader against media consolidation. He is widely noted for his ability to reinvent the tools of activism for the online age and for his ability to mount straightforward and effective messaging campaigns around complex technical issues. Before joining Free Press, Scott worked as a legislative fellow handling telecommunications policy for Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Scott is the author of several scholarly articles on American journalism history and the politics of media regulation, as well as co-editor of the books Our Unfree Press and The Future of Media.

PSN Executive Director Joel Barkin expressed delight at the organizational growth reflected in the board’s new make-up. “We’ve got some of the best and brightest legislators from all walks of life and all over the country uniting around the common goal of progressive change at the state level. When you get in a room with all these people at once, you can just feel the energy and potential. We’re excited to welcome our new members and our new Co-Chair and look forward to the work we will accomplish together in the coming years.”

One senator, Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen), went so far as to recommend making the Insurance Commissioner an elected official:

“…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…”

Senator Royce West (D – Dallas), expressed concern for continued high insurance rates following past legislative efforts, called on the Sunset Commission to investigate and discuss the merits of a prior approval system for insurance rate increases, and joined with several other Senate Democrats in opposing the staff recommendation to abolish the Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC).

Senator Kirk Watson (D – Austin) joined with West other Democrats in opposing the abolition of OPIC:

“…it is disconcerting that those recommendations seem targeted solely at making TDI easier for insurance companies to navigate with no regard for consumers.”

Senator Rodney Ellis (D – Houston), noting that nearly one out of four Texans – over 5.5 million people – do not have health insurance, said:

“if the private market in Texas operated at the national average in terms of coverage rates, an additional one million Texans would have health insurance – without any additional state funding.”

He also proposed a series of specific health and property insurance reforms designed to increase coverage and lower rates.

Senator Eddie Lucio (D – Brownsville), joined other Democrats in defending OPIC and in calling for prior approval for insurance rate increases:

“In 2003 the Legislature passed comprehensive insurance reforms in the hopes of balancing the insurance marketplace in Texas and stabilizing homeowners’ insurance rates. It is disappointing to me that given these reforms, Texans still pay the highest homeowners premiums in the nation and have only seen a 3.5% decrease in premiums for half the coverage they were receiving… the reforms have served to benefit the insurance industry’s bottom line, while the people of Texas continue to struggle with rising insurance premiums,” he said.

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.

“The Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) has played a tremendous role in the Rio Grande Valley. It is now time that a full-fledge, independent medical school be established”, Representative Martinez stated. “The population of the Rio Grande Valley exceeds 1 million people. We are one of the fastest growing areas not only in Texas, but the entire United States. A medical school along the border affords a unique learning experience that is not available at medical schools located in large metropolitan cities.”

Currently, only three doctorate programs are offered in the Rio Grande Valley. A medical school would expand the numbers of doctoral degrees as well as the education opportunities for South Texans.

“It was always a goal of my late uncle and former State Representative Renato Cuellar to establish a medical school in the Valley, and I vow to make it one of my goals, too,” Representative Martinez stated, “The medical profession, the business community, our citizens, and the entire Rio Grande Valley delegation will need to work together to make the dream of a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley a reality. It is possible. I have already made the initial step by sending letters to all of the members of the House Higher Education Committee and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus Higher Education Task Force requesting that a medical school be established in the Rio Grande Valley.”

This, of course,  got us to wondering if the Texas House (the same one that, in 1934, declared the writings of Lord Byron to be unfit for students at the University of Texas) has ever honored Rauschenberg with a proclamation as they do national championship football teams, war heroes, school teachers, and other worthy Texans.

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).

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.

Now, however, right-wing Republicans like Leo Berman (R-Tyler) are emboldened and ready for a fight. And, without a Democratic House and Democratic Speaker, chances are a heck of a lot of other state needs won’t be addressed as the House becomes paralyzed over stuff like this:

Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, told the committee that he wants to see legislative proposals in 2009 requiring voters to show photo identification to prove their citizenship, penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants, and paying for local law enforcement to train officers to enforce federal immigration laws.

We all know that Voter ID has about as much to do with illegal immigration as a pile of cow manure has to do with the price of Diebold stock. Even so, Berman and his colleagues throw this in along with everything else.

Worse than that, Berman and his colleagues evidently want the state to spend taxpayer money on programs that are the responsibility of the federal government. I’m not sure when the last time Leo Berman looked at the mosaic in the Capitol Rotunda, but last time I checked, it had the seal of the United States somewhere in there, meaning we’re no longer a sovereign nation and haven’t been since 1845. Therefore, spending state money on these programs isn’t only futile, it’s simply not our job. Is there a problem? Sure, but it is the federal government’s problem to fix, not the Texas Legislature’s problem.

The 81st Texas Legislature will have enough on its plate to deal with without Berman’s bills.

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:

“This was debated when the payroll deduction bill was passed,” Kouri said. “I think the legislative intent was clear, that adults can decide how to spend their money. And that the deduction system set up for things like the United Way and insurance and other things can be used for this purpose, too. Perhaps (Berman) doesn’t have as much legislative history as I do.”

Berman probably just wasn’t paying attention. Maybe he was trying to get another legislator to punch him over an insurance bill or in the back hall with James Leininger.

The kicker with the teacher’s unions–and what AG Greg Abbott may use to continue his union-busting tactics–is that they aren’t unions in the strictest sense of the word. Since it is against Texas’ public policy for school districts to collectively bargain with teachers, TSTA isn’t exactly the same as unions like CWA or IBEW. As such, their dues collection is probably a bit different and, since it isn’t a union in the strictest sense of the word, funds things differently than traditional union dues.

The fraction of an individual’s dues that may go to political action is a very stupid reason for Berman to jump all over TSTA. Of course, the real reason is because Berman doesn’t like the fact that TSTA doesn’t like him and his right-wing GOP colleagues who want to destroy public education in Texas.

Tags: Leo+Berman, TSTA

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.”

More info from the press release sent out by Sen. Lucio’s office is below:

Most notably, he authored Senate Bill 1485, which advocated for rural communities through establishing a rural development fund. While the bill sailed through the Senate, it ran out of time in the House and did not pass.

“I am very honored by this recognition,” said Sen. Lucio. “In return, I commend ARCIT for the support they offered during the legislative session and for all the work they do. Our rural communities cannot flourish unless we fund programs that help them develop economic activity, and I will continue to champion that cause.”

The intent of SB 1485 was to establish the Texas Rural Development Fund to enhance the state’s current rural-focused activities by using best practices and targeted activities, as well as to provide a coordinated approach to addressing the key areas of rural development.

“We are very thankful that Sen. Lucio authored SB 1485 in the Senate to promote the need for a rural development fund that would not only help his district, but help rural communities statewide. We are grateful for the Senator’s bold, visionary leadership,” said ARCIT Board President and Hughes Springs City Manager George Fite. ARCIT is a statewide association that represents over 300 rural cities, counties, utility districts and economic development corporations.

Congrats to Senator Lucio!

Tags: Eddie+Lucio

Technorati Tags Eddie Lucio