July 22, 2009 Vetoes of Legislation 81st Legislature Gov. Rick Perry vetoed 35 bills approved by the 81st Legislature during the 2009 regular legislative session. The vetoed bills included 20 House bills and 15 Senate bills. The governor also vetoed three concurrent resolutions. This report includes a digest of each vetoed measure, the governor’s stated reason for the veto, and a response to the veto by the author or the sponsor of the bill. If the House Research Organization analyzed a vetoed bill, the Daily Floor Report in which the analysis appeared is cited. A summary of the governor’s line-item vetoes to SB 1 by Ogden, the general appropriations act for fiscal 2010-11, appears in the House Research Organization State Finance Report Number 81-4, Texas Budget Highlights, Fiscal 2010-11. Number 81-7 Contents Requiring student health centers to file claims with, and certain higher education institutions to offer or participate in, health plans HB 103 by F. Brown (Patrick) ..................................................................................................... 5 Grant program for full-day pre-kindergarten HB 130 by Patrick (Zaffirini)........................................................................................................ 7 Student loan repayment assistance for correctional officers, speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and math and science teachers HB 518 by Kolkhorst (Van de Putte) ......................................................................................... 14 Creating a television recycling program HB 821 by Leibowitz (Watson) ................................................................................................. 17 Disclosure, consumer education, and reporting requirements for certain annuity contracts HB 1293 by Eiland (Ellis) .......................................................................................................... 21 Verification of identifying information on a voter registration application HB 1457 by Hochberg (Duncan) .............................................................................................. 23 Restricting TxDOT from advertising and marketing toll roads HB 2142 by McClendon (Carona) ............................................................................................ 26 Revising selection of the Teacher Retirement System board HB 2656 by D. Miller (Duncan) ................................................................................................. 29 Allowing the city of Austin to set maximum sales prices for certain multi-family housing near commuter rail stations HB 2692 by Rodriguez (Watson) .............................................................................................. 30 Allowing geoscientists and landscape architects to be hired based on qualifications rather than price HB 2820 by Chisum (Wentworth) ............................................................................................. 31 Grants to entities assisting taxpayers with their federal income taxes HB 2888 by Martinez (West) .................................................................................................... 33 Revising criteria allowing requests for exemptions from sex offender registration HB 3148 by T. Smith (West) ..................................................................................................... 34 House Research Organization Page 2 Authorizing transfer of certain real property held by Texas Department of Criminal Justice HB 3202 by Bonnen (Jackson) ................................................................................................. 39 Acquisition of gas utility rights-of-way HB 3346 by Farabee (Averitt) ..................................................................................................40 Expanding circumstances for expunction of criminal records HB 3481 by Veasey (Harris) .....................................................................................................41 Liability limit for doctors employed by certain governmental hospitals and other revisions to local governmental authority HB 3485 by Coleman (West) ....................................................................................................43 Failure of a lawyer to report barratry and solicitation of employment HB 3515 by Dunnam (Carona) ................................................................................................. 47 Study of circuit-breaker property tax limitation based on income HB 3983 by Rodriguez (Watson) .............................................................................................. 48 Continuing the operation of the judiciary during a disaster HB 4068 by Gonzales (Hinojosa) ............................................................................................. 50 Jurisdiction of County Court of Titus County HB 4685 by Homer (Eltife)........................................................................................................ 52 Granting John Cook permission to sue the Benbrook Water Authority HCR 161 by Burnam (Davis) .................................................................................................... 53 Establishing a governor’s task force to study horse and greyhound racing HCR 252 by Thompson (Averitt) .............................................................................................. 55 Allowing the governor to issue a pardon after successful deferred adjudication SB 223 by West (Thompson) ................................................................................................... 56 Establishing pilot program for public transit motor-bus-only lane on highway shoulder SB 434 by Wentworth (Bolton) ................................................................................................. 58 Safe passing distance for vulnerable road users SB 488 by Ellis (Harper-Brown)................................................................................................ 61 Allowing natural gas pipelines in state highway rights-of-way in the Barnett Shale area SB 686 by Davis (Orr) .............................................................................................................. 63 Page 3 House Research Organization Revising authority of public improvement districts SB 978 by West (Elkins) ........................................................................................................... 66 Potential early parole release for inmates finishing rehabilitation programs SB 1206 by Hinojosa (Edwards)...............................................................................................68 Exempting certain semester credit hours from excess undergraduate credit-hour cap SB 1343 by Hinojosa (Gonzales) ............................................................................................. 71 Court orders to aid in certain child abuse and neglect investigations SB 1440 by Watson (Madden) ................................................................................................. 74 Implementing Texas Save and Match higher education savings plan SB 1760 by Watson (Branch) ................................................................................................... 78 Interpretation and application of nonsubstantive recodification bills SB 2038 by Duncan (Hartnett) ................................................................................................. 80 Statute of repose for engineers and architects to be designated responsible third parties SB 2141 by Wentworth (Hughes) ............................................................................................. 82 Establishing a smart growth work group SB 2169 by Ellis (Alvarado) ...................................................................................................... 84 Confidentiality of deliberations of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct SB 2325 by Hinojosa (Madden)................................................................................................ 86 Prohibiting former county, district officers in Harris County from lobbying SB 2468 by Gallegos (Coleman) .............................................................................................. 87 Authorizing “product instruction events” for malt beverages SB 2558 by Gallegos (Thompson) ........................................................................................... 89 Waiving sovereign immunity to authorize MBP Corp. to sue the Galveston Wharves SCR 59 by Jackson (Taylor) ..................................................................................................... 91 House Research Organization Page 4 Requiring student health centers to file claims with, and certain higher education institutions to offer or participate in, health plans Return to Table of HB 103 by F. Brown (Patrick) Contents DIGEST: HB 103 would have required that student health centers at higher education institutions with enrollment of more than 20,000 file health benefit claims on behalf of students or other people entitled to receive services through the student health center with the health plans in which the students or other people were enrollees. The institutions could have had the claims filed by a contracted third-party billing service. These higher education institutions would have been required to establish contracts with at least three of the largest health benefit plan issuers in the health services region. Under these contracts, the institutions’ student health centers would have served as preferred