June 16, 2011

Robert Wilonsky

Blog

Pardon me as we take a brief detour from the parade route for just a moment, but Texas Monthly's just posted its latest list of the best and worst state legislators -- and Leo Berman made worst? No way. Anyway. The preview'shere, sans further categories awaiting their print and online debut next week. Let's run down a few of the locals, shall we? First, a few bests' excerpts:

Dan Branch (R-Dallas)
"After his childhood friend Joe Straus became Speaker, in 2009, Dan Branch could have had any assignment he wanted. Most members would have wanted a chairmanship of one of the power committees -- Appropriations, Ways and Means, or Calendars. Branch chose Higher Education. That's the essence of Branch -- he doesn't care about status; he cares about making a difference. He believes that Tier I research universities are the future of the state, and he wants to be in a position where he can help more institutions achieve this status."

July 17, 2009

By Mike Hailey

Capitol Inside Editor

The GOP's 76 Texas House members raised three times more money than their 74 Democratic colleagues after the regular session ended last month and have three times more cash on hand for re-election bids in 2010 as well.

A Capitol Inside analysis of the campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission this week by all 150 House members shows that Republican state representatives have $14.4 million combined socked away in the bank for their campaigns next year compared to $4.8 million for the Democrats.

June 28, 2011

Mike Hailey

The chief budget writers in the Texas House and Senate crown an all-star cast on Capitol Inside's Best of the Decade team for state lawmakers during the Republican era.

The 20 Texas legislators on the all-decade squad for the 2000s are ranked on the basis of points they accumulated for appearances on the web site's best legislators lists for the last five regular sessions and a pair of landmark special sessions on school finance. House and Senate members received points for appearances on the best legislators lists for individual sessions as well as for most valuable player and honorable mention selections.

June 27, 2011

Editor, "The Paper Magazine"

HOUSTON (June 27, 2011) – Lone Star College System hosted a reception in Austin to celebrate a planning grant for the Texas Completion by Design initiative, a project to recognize community colleges with high completion rates and to replicate their work.

Completion by Design is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The event, held June 8 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, included state legislators and officials, along with presidents and chancellors from the Texas partner colleges involved with this five-year effort to significantly increase the successful completion rates of community college students in Texas.

June 27, 2011

Becca Aaronson

The House version of the TSA "anti-groping" bill is alive — and significantly changed. The House tentatively approved it on a voice vote this afternoon.

Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, the author of the bill, added a "clarifying" amendment to address the concerns of the Attorney General. He said the amendment reorders the wording of the section about private parts, adds a reasonable defense clause, and a provision to salvage the bill should it be ruled unconstitutional in the courts.

After asking Simpson to confirm that "these were significant and important legal changes," which would make the law easier to defend in court, Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas commended Simpson for working with the Attorney General's Office and the District Attorney's Association to change the language of the bill.

June 27, 2011

HOUSTON (June 27, 2011) – Lone Star College System hosted a reception in Austin to celebrate a planning grant for the Texas Completion by Design initiative, a project to recognize community colleges with high completion rates and to replicate their work.

Completion by Design is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The event, held June 8 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, included state legislators and officials, along with presidents and chancellors from the Texas partner colleges involved with this five-year effort to significantly increase the successful completion rates of community college students in Texas.

June 20, 2011

Erin Mulvaney

As costs, criticism rise, Texas colleges focus on helping more graduate.

AUSTIN - State leaders and university officials have turned their attention toward improving Texas colleges' lackluster graduation rates, which are at the heart of an ongoing debate about efficiency and productivity in higher education.

Less than a third of students at Texas public colleges graduate in four years, while a little more than half make it within six years, prompting state lawmakers to ask why universities aren't doing more to help students finish school.

July 2011

Nate Blakeslee and Paul Burka

When former governor Bill Clements died in the fi­nal week of the Eighty-second Legislature—a session dominated by a $27 billion budget shortfall—there was one story that found its way into almost every obituary of the irascible, archconservative oilman. In 1987, faced with a budget shortfall of his own, he had insisted on the leanest budget the state could manage, only to finally sign off on a $5.8 billion tax increase to fund public education. As Clements understood, in a state that already budgets lean (Texas currently spends the least per capita in the nation), you cannot cut your way out of every shortfall—no matter what you promised on the campaign trail.

Veteran budget writer Steve Ogden summoned some of Clements's courage in a bracingly candid address to his fellow senators at the beginning of this session. On a day normally reserved for pomp and self-congratulation, Ogden delivered the news that nobody wanted to hear: The shortfall wasn't caused solely by the recession. It was an inevitable result of the state's rickety tax system, especially the underperforming business tax known as the margins tax, which was bringing in billions less than anticipated. "None of us are elected to go out and raise taxes on anybody . . . but if the margins tax is not fixed, [property] taxes will go up," he warned. The solution was not complex—a few tweaks to the way the tax is assessed in a bill no more than three pages long would do the trick. The challenge was entirely political. "Check your political considerations and your political ambitions at the door," Ogden said. "Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work."

June 16, 2011

Robert Wilonsky

Blog

Pardon me as we take a brief detour from the parade route for just a moment, but Texas Monthly's just posted its latest list of the best and worst state legislators -- and Leo Berman made worst? No way. Anyway. The preview'shere, sans further categories awaiting their print and online debut next week. Let's run down a few of the locals, shall we? First, a few bests' excerpts:

Dan Branch (R-Dallas)
"After his childhood friend Joe Straus became Speaker, in 2009, Dan Branch could have had any assignment he wanted. Most members would have wanted a chairmanship of one of the power committees -- Appropriations, Ways and Means, or Calendars. Branch chose Higher Education. That's the essence of Branch -- he doesn't care about status; he cares about making a difference. He believes that Tier I research universities are the future of the state, and he wants to be in a position where he can help more institutions achieve this status."

June 15, 2011

Anna M. Tinsley

Apparently, this year's regular legislative session was both the best of times -- and the worst of times -- for local lawmakers.

Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, was one of the best 10 lawmakers during the 82nd legislative session, according to Texas Monthly magazine's list. Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, and Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, made it on the list of the worst 10 lawmakers. No explanations were given for the lawmakers' rankings.