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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“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.

“The misguided GOP agenda was dictated by the political ambitions of Rick Perry and David Dewhurst. Their insistence on appealing to the most extreme Republican Primary voters as they run for President and U.S. Senate caused the real issues facing our state to be kicked down the road to fester for another two years.

“The consequences of this session will impact Texans for the next two years – but hopefully not for generations. Texas Democrats will force the Republican politicians who failed to stand up for our values to be accountable for the harm they inflicted on our state.”

As a result of GOP partisanship, the lowlights this legislative session include:

• The two year “deficit budget” will result in at least $17-18 billion in debt and deferrals being passed on to next legislature.

• For the first time in 62 years, state education funding was cut below the level needed to provide for projected school enrollment, with cuts totaling $5.3 billion.

• Teacher salaries, already below the national average, were cut further, making it more difficult to keep the best teachers in the classroom.

• Almost $5 billion in Medicaid funding was deferred to the next legislature, part of a dangerous health care agenda which could also threaten Medicare, nursing home care for seniors and basic health care for children.

• An anti-Hispanic agenda persisted through the regular session and into the special session, including so-called “sanctuary cities” legislation, voter ID and eliminating grants for pre-K and college grants for incoming freshmen

• Drastic health care cuts will reduce access to prenatal care and basic health care for millions of Texas women, while the GOP legislature placed a higher priority on requiring sonograms of women who make a difficult personal choice.

• An anti-consumer agenda made it more difficult for Texans to seek justice in the court system.

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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.

Fortunately, HB 400 did not pass during the regular session, but a bill was filed during the special session that contained the language from HB 400 permanently eliminating 22-to-1. I am pleased to report that last week, the chairman of House education changed this bill to only say that class size waivers could be granted if the state cuts education funding, like this year. This prevents the permanent elimination of the class size limit. As a result, the class size limit has been saved.

MORE FUNDING FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Republicans have continually refused to use any of the money currently in the Rainy Day Fund, our state’s emergency savings account for the new budget. However, Democrats added an amendment to the school finance plan that could result in billions more being added to the education budget over the next two years. The amendment would invest any additional money generated from the Rainy Day Fund above projections into public education. With the economy in recovery, some experts believe this could be more than $2.2 billion. This money would lessen the $4 billion in education cuts passed by the Republican legislature.

If we can keep these victories intact, then this special session will have been a success. Unfortunately, these changes are not yet certain as the bills continue through the legislative process. I will continue to fight to keep these essential changes intact.

Keep the Faith,

Borris L. Miles
State Representative
512-463-0518
512-463-0941 Fax
Borris.Miles@house.state.tx.us

“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.

Law enforcement leaders from Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and El Paso testified that the passage of this bill would make their jobs more difficult, that it is an unfunded mandate, and would erode the public safety they are charged with keeping. Attorneys, both members of the Senate and witnesses, attested to the bill’s dangerous lack of clarity. If we did not hear the pleas of the overwhelming number of religious leaders, advocates, students, and victims of domestic violence that testified in opposition to the bill, how can we not hear the grave concerns of those charged with keeping us safe?

The so called “sanctuary cities” bill failed to pass during the regular session because it failed to achieve anything resembling a consensus. It was bad bill then and it is a bad bill now; the only difference is that they don’t need 21 of us to get it through.”
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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.

Below I’ve included some of the major policies passed this session that could adversely affect Texans. In the darkness, there were a few bright moments.

Misses of the 82nd Legislature:

• Budget - The 82nd Legislature passed a budget that cut $18.3 billion from current state services. HB 1 failed to fund growth of enrollment in public education, Colleges and Universities, Community Colleges and Junior Colleges, or caseload growth in Medicaid or the Department of family Protective Services. HB 1 didn’t fix the $10 billion structural deficit created in 2006, which means we are likely to have to face the same budget problems in the next biennium.
• Nursing Homes - Medicaid nursing home funding is cut by 37% from FY 2010-11 levels, leaving it over $1.6 billion shy of the requested amount for enrollment growth and cost increases.
• Public Schools - $4 billion cut from public schools for Texas children.
• Decreased Financial Aid - 43,000 fewer students will receive state aid, including 29,000+ fewer receiving TEXAS Grants. The remaining 14,000 students will not receive student aid as a result to cuts to the TANF Scholarship Program, College Readiness Grants, Texas Career Opportunity Grants, and Hospital-Based Nursing Education Grants.
• Medicaid - The legislature failed to fund 4.8 billion in Medicaid services, which children, elderly, pregnant women and individuals with disabilities rely on to access health care.
• Government Imposed Sonograms - The legislature passed a bill that will force doctors to perform a vaginal sonogram on a woman electing to terminate a pregnancy. This places government between a woman and her doctor and impedes a woman’s choice.
• Voter Suppression Legislation - Requiring voters to present a photo identification at the ballot box will place an obstacle between Texans and the ballot box and could disenfranchise women, seniors, individuals with disabilities, communities of color, and low income Texans.
• Retrogressive Redistricting Map - Although 89 percent of the population growth in Texas over the last decade was non-Anglo, the House redistricting map reduces the number of districts where a voter who is protected under the Voting Rights Act can elect his or her candidate of choice.

Hits of the 82nd Legislature:

• Direct Employment of Physicians – The legislature passed a bill that will allow hospitals in rural Texas to hire doctors directly, helping to ensure that these hospitals continue to exist. Rural hospitals will be able to bring quality physicians into the community, save physicians the cost of opening a practice, and increase access to quality care for the Texans who live in rural communities.
• Bill Diminishing Quality of a Public Education Failed - The House of Representatives on procedural points stopped legislation that would have eliminated the 22:1 maximum student-teacher ratio for K-4 classes, eliminated minimum salary guarantees for classroom teachers, and would have allowed a district to inform an employee that they are being fired on the last day of school.
• Prohibition of “Sanctuary Cities” Failed – The Senate did not have the necessary votes to bring up a bill to end so called sanctuary cities, which the Governor dubbed one of his emergency priorities. This bill would have prevented local communities from enacting the policies they feel are best to keep their communities safe, and could have led to racial profiling.
• Texting While Driving - The legislature passed a ban on texting while driving, an unnecessary distraction that can lead to an accident which can cause death.
• Pay day reform – The legislature passed legislation to safeguard consumers by requiring payday lenders to disclose interest rates and fees associated with the loans.
• Human trafficking - The legislature passed legislation to crack down on human traffickers by creating harsher penalties and stronger parole requirements for individuals who are found guilty of this heinous crime.
• Access to Justice- Individuals who have been convicted of crimes will have better access to post-conviction DNA testing, which has exonerated 40 inmates in recent years.

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.

Unfortunately, this unity has not lasted long in Texas. Yesterday, the House began to hear HB 12, an Arizona-style measure that will allow police officers to engage in racial profiling. While the country is moving forward, Texas is moving backward. HB 12 forbids police departments from prioritizing any objective over immigration enforcement. Under this bill, police officers will have the right to investigate a person’s immigration status, even when higher-priority calls are pending.

In order to ensure that the public remains protected against burglaries, assaults, and gang violence, police departments will need to hire extra officers to make up for staff time being wasted on petty immigration inquiries. By promoting this bill, Republican legislators have shown a lack of respect for law enforcement professionals, a reckless disregard for public safety, and a willingness to resort to unfunded mandates on local governments to accomplish their goals–their prior rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding. Fortunately, the bill was derailed by a procedural objection late yesterday evening.

Legislative Update

Loser Pays
Today, HB 274 also known as “Loser Pays,” was procedurally ramrodded and passed without amendments. Governor Perry declared this measure as an emergency item, making it a priority. The measure requires the losing party in a lawsuit to pay the attorney’s fees of the other party. This discourages small businesses and working individuals from suing to protect their own legal rights. An injured person may be disuaded from pursuing legal action because even if they win in court, under the legislation they could end up paying the legal bills of the defendant that injured them. The bill also makes it easier for a judge to dismiss a lawsuit without hearing any evidence. I was opposed to this bill because it is designed to intimidate families and small business owners into foregoing their day in court, allowing corporate defendants to escape from their responsibilities.

Bullying Bill
Full of budget problems and bad bills, the 82nd Texas Legislature has been a disaster for public school students. This week offered a brief but welcome change of pace with the passage of HB 1942, a bill to address bullying in public schools. This bill allows a bully to be transferred out of the classroom or campus where the bully has caused persistent harm to a victim. Under the previous statute, only the victim could be transferred, further victimizing him/her. HB 1942 also gives teachers and school administrators legal authorization to guard students against cyber-bullying, in which electronic media such as text messages and social networks are used to harass or degrade a fellow student. I am hopeful that the passage of this bill will help Texas to move past the bully-related suicides and wrecked lives that have grabbed headlines in recent years. I’ve been honored to join State Representative Garnet Coleman in joint authoring anti-bully legislation over several sessions. He has sponsored such legislation for many years before that.

Social Worker Immunity
In my legislative office, I began many years ago to hire professional social workers after witnessing their work in the office of State Rep. Coleman. I have come to respect their work immensely. These individuals give of themselves daily to help others deal with serious health, family, and economic issues to find appropriate assistance. This session, I was proud to carry HB 823, which encourages social workers to volunteer in disaster areas by limiting liability from lawsuits that arise out of a social worker’s volunteer assistance. This week, the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence unanimously approved this measure, sending the bill on to House Committee on Calendars. The bill can still be considered by the whole House if it is set on a calendar before next Thursday.

Environment
Success came on the floor on Tuesday when I was able to amend two environmental bills to create better policy for Texas. The first was HB 3395, a bill that attempted to remove the mandate for state agencies to give preference to recycled or environmentally sensitive products. I offered a compromise to the bill’s author: leave the mandate in place provided that the preferred products were not more than 10% more expensive than their less environmentally-friendly counterparts. I argued that other costs exist besides price, such as the cost involved in needlessly filling up landfills.

The second bill was HB 2663, which would have preempted local governments’ ability to regulate the liquefied petroleum gas industry. Again, I worked out a compromise with the bill’s author. Now, state agencies will look to see what county and city governments want in terms of regulations on the industry that are more protective of health, welfare, and the safety of the general public than those imposed by state law.

Budget
Passage of the Senate version of the budget earlier this week ensures that the state will not fund the priorities that are important to the future of Texas. The Senate dispensed with its usual tradition of not passing bills without the support of two-thirds of the membership. This maneuver will have the consequence of cutting off further spending from the state’s Rainy Day Fund this session. Taken together with the refusal of state leaders to consider new revenue sources, this means that whatever budget is passed will be billions of dollars short of properly funding education, health care, and other critical needs.

This budget will be devastating for the state of Texas. Public school spending per student will decrease by hundreds of dollars per year. TEXAS Grants and Tuition Equalization Grants, which have helped thousands of young men and women to afford a college education, will be scaled back to a small fraction of current funding levels. Up to 500 nursing homes will close, leaving elderly and disabled Texans with no place to go.

In the interest of achieving short-term savings, this budget mortgages the state’s future. Cuts to education, criminal justice intervention programs, and home care for the disabled will result in even greater costs down the road. In addition, Texas has still not solved the problem of its structural budget deficit: revenue in future years will still fall short of this fast-growing state’s basic needs. The winding down of the budget process ensures that future legislatures will not only have to content with a shortage of revenue, but will be faced with the challenge of repairing the damage done by the shameful budget decisions made in 2011.
The effects of the cuts will also affect local taxpayers, onto whom these costs will be imposed without state and federal contributions. Local taxpayers solely will foot the bill for sick children and elderly. Just because cuts are made doesn’t make costs go away. The only difference is how the costs will be paid for. The Legislature can decide to spend resources wisely and smartly, or it can kick the can down the road, which almost always results in cost escalation.

The Coming Weeks
A bill scheduled for a vote on the House Floor on Monday deals with a series of reforms to the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency. TWIA helps to cover the high costs associated with insuring coastal homes and businesses. This bill is likely to be very controversial, as legislators try to achieve a difficult balance between the desire to promote coastal development and the equities of asking non-coastal residents to pick up part of the tab with their tax dollars.

The final weeks of the legislative session always bring a heavy work load. The rush to meet deadlines often results in the passage of bad bills as legislators fail to pay close attention to the rapid-fire debate. My responsibility in the coming weeks will be to work with my colleagues to ensure that every measure is carefully considered and that the best possible policy is created for Texas.

HB 275 authorized spending of $3.2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund. I supported HB 275, but called for more of the Fund to be used to support education, save nursing homes, and create jobs in the upcoming budget for 2012-2013. Governor Perry and House Republicans oppose the use of any more of the Rainy Day Fund for 2012-2013.

HB 1, the budget proposal for 2012-2013, passed late Sunday night without a single Democratic vote. Hundreds of amendments were proposed for the bill. The rules for the bill forbade the adding of funds for any purpose without removing first money from another source. This rule forced Democrats to make difficult choices. Republicans used the rule to offer unusual and often contradictory funding swaps. One proposal gutted welfare and family planning programs to fund children’s programs that Republicans have previously opposed in other budgets. Another Republican took money from the Commission on the Arts to fund the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS). This was a cynical move by a legislator who had voted just the day before against additional DADS funding.

The Governor’s refusal to use more of the Rainy Day Fund led to a night full of votes that forced legislators to make preposterous choices. Perhaps the worst example was an amendment that yanked funding from preventative health care services for women in order to fund services for children with autism. Considering how important pre- and post-natal health care can be in preventing developmental and intellectual disabilities, this amendment presented an almost impossible choice.

These and other Republican amendments presented false choices. Other options were available: closing corporate tax exemptions, fixing the margins tax/property tax structural budget shortfall, and using more of the Rainy Day Fund. I regret that these options were not seriously discussed. Texas cannot afford to forego investing in its own future.

A recent poll from the public opinion firm Lake Research Partners sheds some light on what ordinary Texans think about the budget process. A majority of Texans (53%) support a budget plan that funds important state priorities with spending cuts and new sources of revenue. A similar number of Texans (52%) support the use of the Rainy Day Fund to further fund state programs. Texans overwhelmingly oppose balancing the budget through deep cuts to education (82%), health care for the elderly (86%), and health care for children (79%). They also oppose reductions in college financial aid (61%) and in funding for roads and bridges (56%). Unfortunately, these are some of the methods used by HB 1.

HB 1 still fell $24 billion short of funding the needs of the state. Texans from all walks of life will feel the pain of the state’s fiscal mismanagement. Due to Medicaid provider rate reductions nearly half of the state’s nursing homes will close, leaving thousands of senior citizens with nowhere to go, and the local taxpayer to pick up the cost alone, without federal and state contributions. Financial aid for college students will decrease by more than $400 million over two years. Over 100,000 children will lose the chance to attend full-day pre-kindergarden, and public school students of all grade levels will face worse student-teacher ratios. This failure to fund critical services at the local level will lead to increased property taxes for Texas families.

Legislative Update

Of all the bills I have proposed this session, HB 3450, the Texas Companion Animal Protection Act (CAPA), has received the most enthusiastic support of any bill I’ve even filed. I have received hundreds of letters, e-mails, phone calls, and Facebook messages supporting the bill. CAPA would protect the lives of cats and dogs by promoting spaying and neutering and by encouraging animal shelters to reduce euthanasia. If you have interests or concerns about this legislation, please continue to collaborate with me. Together we can take effective steps to save the lives of four-legged Texans.

On Tuesday, the House Committee on Licensing and Regulation voted unanimously to approve HB 602, my bill to allow small brewers to include samples of beer for off-premises consumption in the cost of a brewery tour. This bill will allow Texas craft brewers, such as District 148′s own St. Arnold’s Brewing Company, to market their products more effectively. HB 602 has received support from the Texas Craft Brewers’ Guild, the Texas Beer Alliance, the Wholesale Beer Distributors, and the beer-drinking public. When the bill becomes eligible for consideration on the House floor, I’ll be wearing my St. Arnold’s beer cap earrings again for good luck!

The House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence held a public hearing on Tuesday to hear my bill, HB 604, repealing the Texas criminal statutes on homosexuality. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that Texas could no longer criminalize the private behavior of consenting adults. This decision, Lawrence v. Texas, stated that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave individuals a right to privacy that included privacy in conjugal relations. Unfortunately–due to lingering prejudice–the state has failed to take the laws off the books in the intervening eight years. As American values evolve, so too must Texas. The removal of these unconstitutional statutes is supported by the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Psychological Association, Equality Texas, and the American Civil Liberties Union. I am proud to stand with the LGBT community to insist that Texas respect the U.S. Constitution and the principle of equality under the law.

On Wednesday, the Environmental Regulation Committee heard what will surely be its most significant bill of the session: HB 2694. This bill reauthorizes and continues the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for twelve years. On balance, I support this bill. It does some good things, such as authorizing needed increases to penalties. Still, I and fellow Democrats on the committee have some concerns about this bill. It doesn’t address the TCEQ’s historical problem with responding to public concerns. It also weakens the procedure by which TCEQ rates permitted entities as good, neutral, or bad actors. My hope is that some of these concerns can be addressed before the bill is voted out of committee.

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!

And Dan Ramos, chair of the Democratic Party of Bexar County is a bigot. And apparently a pretty stupid one at that, who believes that gays and lesbians have “taken over” the Democratic Party. (Glen Maxey will probably be surprised to learn that Boyd Richie’s defeat of Maxey for the party chairmanship was part of a coup of the TDP by Stonewall Democrats.)

Ramos reportedly called Richie a “racist bastard” and an “idiot” because he called for Ramos’ resignation as Bexar County Chair on account of Ramos’ outrageous and totally unacceptable homophobic remarks. Well, I guess that makes me a “racist bastard” and an “idiot,” too, because I, too, am condemning in the strongest terms possible the despicable and utterly deplorable conduct of Mr. Ramos and his shameful utterances. They betray a value system totally at odds with what Democrats stand for and they are reprehensible and inexcusable.

And they do not reflect the ideals of the Party I believe in and work so tirelessly to advance. In the past I have repeatedly called on all good Democrats – and for that matter, on all people of good will everywhere, regardless of party – to renounce and repudiate intolerance, hate-mongering, and gay-baiting of the kind so virulently spewed by the Bexar County Democratic Party chair. I do so again.

Gerry Birnberg
Chair, Harris County Democratic Party
March 17, 2011