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M E M O R a N D 84th Legislative Session Weekly Recap Week of January 19-23 STATEWIDE: This week’s activities of the 84th Texas Legislature were largely ceremonial. Monday was a state holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On Tuesday, Greg Abbott was sworn in as the 48th Governor of Texas and Dan Patrick took the oath of office as the state’s 42nd Lt. Governor. GOVERNOR: Governor Abbott’s First Appointments – On Wednesday, his second day in office, Governor Greg Abbott formally submitted four appointments. All of them are subject to confirmation by the Texas Senate. Secretary of State – Carlos Cascos is the current Cameron County Judge, a position he was elected to in 2006. Judge Cascos is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Government Financial Manager, and a Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Accounting. Prior to becoming Cameron County’s top elected official, Judge Cascos was a member of the Texas Public Safety Commission. Office of State-Federal Relations – Jerry Strickland was appointed Executive Director of the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations. Strickland formerly served as Director of Communications for the Office of the Attorney General under Greg Abbott, and has served as spokesman and advisor for Abbott since 2003. Previously, Strickland was a reporter and anchor for CBS and ABC news affiliates in Texas and other states. Strickland is a graduate of the University of Mississippi. Commissioner of Insurance – David Mattax, who was appointed as Commissioner of the Texas Department of Insurance by Governor Rick Perry earlier this month for a term ending Feb. 1, 2015, was re-appointed to that position by Governor Abbott. Mattax previously served as deputy attorney general for defense litigation, past director of defense litigation, and past chief of the financial litigation division for the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Mattax received two bachelor’s degrees and a law degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Inspector General for the Texas Health And Human Services Commission – Stuart W. Bowen, Jr. was appointed as Inspector General for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for a term to expire February 1, 2016. The inspector general works to prevent, detect and investigate fraud, abuse and waste in state health and human services programs. Bowen previously served for nearly ten years as the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), leading the federal agency charged with overseeing $62 billion in US tax dollars appropriated for Iraq’s reconstruction. Prior to his tenure as the SIGIR, Bowen served President George W. Bush as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Staff Secretary and Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel. Bowen served four years on active duty as a United States Air Force intelligence officer. Bowen currently serves as a Senior Advisor on Iraq to both the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and his law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. SENATE: The Senate was not in session on Monday because of the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tuesday’s session was a joint session with the Texas House for the inauguration of the Governor and Lt. Governor. Senate Rules - On Wednesday, the Senate was in session for two hours debating the rules of the Senate - SR 39 by Senator Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler). The most controversial item changed the “two-thirds rule” to a “three-fifths” rule. The so called “two-thirds rule” required two-thirds of the Senate members to approve before bringing a bill to the floor for debate. The “three-fifths” rule will require support from 19 of the 31 Senate members instead of 21 to bring up a bill if all Senators are present and voting. Otherwise it will require three-fifths of the members present and voting. In discussing his proposal, Senator Eltife said, “This change will make the Texas Senate even better and it will help us deliver a conservative agenda a majority of voters elected us to pass.” Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin), chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus argued against the change saying that it would not only change the rule regarding consideration of bills in the Senate but would change other provisions including requiring analyses and side-by-side comparisons of conference committee reports. Watson said, “It will be easier to throw out a rule that is intended for transparency. Instead of using a rifle, we’re using a shotgun.” Senator Eltife disagreed saying, “I do not believe going from 21 votes to 19 is a lack of transparency. It’s not one iota less transparent. I thought the Senate was not functioning properly. It was dysfunctional. We wanted to fix what was broken.” The order of business rule was voted on separately and passed by a vote of 20 to 10 that was mostly along party lines. Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville) was the only Democrat to vote for the change. Republican Senator Craig Estes of Wichita Falls abstained. The rest of the rules were adopted by a vote of 27 to 4 with the “no” votes coming from Democrats Rodney Ellis, Sylvia Garcia, Jose Rodriguez, and Kirk Watson. Comments on the Rules Change: Lt. Governor Dan Patrick – “This is a change that I have advocated for since I first came to the Texas Senate in 2007. I applaud the action by the Texas Senate today to change the Senate’s operational rules for the 84th Legislative Session. I’m proud of their bold decision.” Senator Konni Burton (R-Colleyville) - “Today marks an important step towards safeguarding our hard earned prosperity in Texas. Under the Senate rules we established today, conservatives will have the opportunity to act on items such as securing the border, improving education, and providing tax relief to Texas families. These are the issues voters overwhelmingly elected us to do, and now we must act on our campaign promises.” Senator Van Taylor (R-Plano) – “For decades the two-thirds rule allowed a super-minority of only eleven members within the Senate to block legislation. The reduction of the two-thirds rule will allow the Chamber to better represent the wishes of the people while maintaining a sixty-percent vote threshold to ensure significant consensus on legislation prior to hearing it on the Senate floor.” Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) - "This is a sad day for the Texas Senate and one that we will look back on and regret. We're detonating decades of Senate tradition - tradition which has made the Texas State Senate a great deliberative body. As Texas' longest-serving lieutenant governor, Bill Hobby, wrote, 'The biggest mistake I made as president of the Texas Senate was trying to circumvent the Senate's two-thirds tradition in 1979 ... Anything that doesn't have the support of two-thirds of the Senate is seldom a good idea.'" Senator Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso) - “Today's rule change means that we no longer have to strive for consensus, and the majority can effectively ignore one- third of this body. Which third will be ignored when this rule change is adopted? One-third of us are elected by ethnic and racial minorities, and we strive our very best to give those minorities a voice in the Texas Legislature. Without the traditional two-thirds rule, our voice and their voice will be diminished. No longer will the Senators that represent the vast majority of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians in Texas be able to stop legislation that could be viewed as trampling their rights.” Specific Rules Changes – In addition to adopting a “three-fifths rule” for bringing up bills for consideration in the Senate, several other changes were made to the Senate rules including: Limiting special guests on the floor of the Senate for a recognition or resolution to three per senator per session; Allowing, rather than requiring, the presiding officer to recognize a Senate member to introduce guests in the gallery; Limiting Senate members to ten recognitions per session for congratulatory and memorial resolutions; Adding a provision requiring all bills for raising revenue to originate in the House of Representatives (putting in Senate rules the provision contained in Article III, Section 33 of the Texas Constitution); Prohibiting proposed constitutional amendments from placement on the Local and Uncontested calendars; and Changing to three-fifths the references that were two-thirds for suspension of rules related to: member misconduct, postponement of bills to a time certain, suspension of the regular order of business, re-referral of bills from one committee or subcommittee to another, bill analyses and side- by-side comparisons on conference committee reports, suspension of floor privileges, excusing absences, setting a matter for special order, placing a minority report on the calendar, and suspending or rescinding any rule of the Senate. Senate Committees – The Senate rules reduced the number of committees from 18 to 14, renamed committees, changed their composition, and established a subcommittee. Specific changes to Senate committees include: Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security – was renamed the Committee on Agriculture, Water, and Rural Affairs and was increased from five to seven members. Economic Development – was eliminated. Education – was increased from nine to eleven members. Government Organization – was eliminated. Intergovernmental Relations – was increased from five to seven members. Jurisprudence – was eliminated. Natural Resources – was renamed the Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development. Open Government – was eliminated. Veteran Affairs and Military Installations – was increased from five to seven members and a Subcommittee on Border Security with three members was added.
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