Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

20 January 2012

SCOTUS Send Maps Back To San Antonio

“The Harris County Democratic Party continues to hold that the State maps ignore the realities of voter demographics,” said County Chair Lane Lewis.

“Every court that has looked at the Republican gerrymandered maps has smelled something fishy.  The Supreme Court today did not dismiss the Court drawn maps that returned fair play to the voters, they simply said that they wanted the San Antonio court to be more clear as to how they arrived at their conclusions. We are confident the San Antonio court will accomplish this.”

“Meanwhile,” said Lewis, “HCDP continues to focus on building a strong grassroots and advocacy organization that works toward making better lives for all folk in Harris County.”

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Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie issued the following statement on the conclusion of the Texas legislative special session:

“After meeting for 170 days, the Republican-led 82nd Texas legislature adjourned without solving the most critical problems facing Texans. Instead of adequately funding our children’s schools or correcting a revenue system that will lead to future deficits and shortfalls, the regular and special sessions were dominated by ‘red meat’ partisan wedge issues that divide Texans at a time when we should be working together to secure our future. Read More »

Dear Friends:
Guided by misplaced priorities, Republicans have betrayed our children by dangerously underfunding education and proposing permanent changes to public education for a temporary fiscal crisis. They have opposed numerous attempts by Democrats to properly fund public education. However, in the sunlight of a special session, with all eyes focused on public education, we Democrats have been able to score victories to limit the damage to our educational system and secure additional funding for public education.

PRESERVING THE CLASS SIZE LIMIT

In April, I used a floor maneuver to force the House to stop consideration of HB 400, the bill that would have permanently eliminated the 22-to-1 class size limit. I did it because I felt that we should not be passing a permanent solution to a temporary budget problem. I told you back then that I would to continue to fight the passage of HB 400. Read More »

Senator Ellis releases the following statement upon the Senate’s passage of SB 9, the sanctuary cities bill, 19-12, along party lines following hours of debate:

“Not one proponent of this legislation has been willing to identify one single Texas city as a “sanctuary city”. Maybe that is because there are no sanctuary cities in Texas. The term is a paper thin distraction from the state’s unaddressed economic crisis. Instead of finding solutions to even come close to fulfilling our moral obligation to provide an adequate education to our children, we point the finger at one of our most vulnerable populations and say they are at fault. This is a blatant abdication of responsibility by the Texas legislature. Read More »

The 82nd Regular Legislative Session came to an end yesterday. This was easily the most devastating session of which I’ve been a part. The Republican supermajority passed a budget and several policies that betray Texans. Instead of improving public schools, Republicans wasted time on legislation meant to impede a woman’s choice and to suppress voters.

Even with a supermajority, Republicans couldn’t pass a bill to adequately fund our children’s schools. They drafted an inequitable school finance formula, which determines how much money goes to our children in schools, forcing us to a special session to address school finance. Texans will feel the devastating consequences of the poor policy choices made by those in charge. Read More »

Welcome Note

This is a historic week for Americans and Texans. The Texas House of Representatives stood together to pass House Resolution 1694, commending President Obama, members of the armed forces, and military intelligence personnel for killing Osama Bin Laden. President Obama noted that no matter where we come from, what God we pray to, or what our race or ethnicity is, we are united as one American family. Read More »

Last week, the Texas House of Representatives considered three budget bills. HB 4 and HB 275 were supplemental appropriations bills designed to cover the $4.3 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year. HB 1 concerns the harsh fiscal realities of the next biennium. I rallied fellow legislators to oppose HB 4 because it authorized arbitrary, across-the-board cuts of 7.5%. Read More »

HARRIS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR GERRY BIRNBERG CONDEMNS INTOLERANCE AND HOMOPHOBIC RHETORIC – AGAIN

One of the things I cherish most about the Democratic Party is that there is room for all kinds of folks in this political assemblage. We embrace Latinos, and African Americans, and Asians, and Anglos, and men and women, and Christians, and Jews, and Muslims, and gays, and straights, and liberals and progressives, and “blue dogs” and anybody else who believes, as we do, in the core values of the Democratic Party – equal treatment for all persons, respect and dignity for all individuals, fairness and opportunity for all people, discrimination against no one.

But we don’t have room for bigots! Read More »