03.19.07
A Few Items
Clay Robison had two recent articles that are worth checking out:
This one on where we stand right now in the lege, The Legislature: Halfway through, long way to go. In the print version he scored the issues this way:
Passed: Senior Tax Cuts.
Alive: Budget, TAKS, Trans-Texas Corridor, HPV Vaccine, TYC Reform and Lower Appraisal Cap.
Maybe, Maybe Not: Top 10 Percent Law, Border Security.
Dead or Dying: Vouchers, Tuition Freeze, CHIP Expansion, Gambling, Lottery Sale.
It’s good to see vouchers, gambling and the lottery sale on the dead or dying list but ceratinly not a tuition freeze and CHIP expansion. This may be one of those “do-nothing” sessoins. That would not bode well for the current leadership, especially if they don’t get something done on the TTC.
His second article is on Perry’s forgotten number one issues of the session, ‘Appraisal creep’ is losing battle.
Add another looming failure for the governor with the not-so-golden touch.It hasn’t gotten the attention that opposition to his HPV vaccine order, his Trans-Texas Corridor or his proposed lottery sale has sparked, but the 2007 edition of Gov. Rick Perry’s protracted campaign against “appraisal creep” is quietly dying in the statehouse.
Another failure indeed.
One issue that is also losing attention that definitely deserves more is probation reform. The Startlegram has an article up today on this issue, Probation overhaul hits resistance. This is another issue, like Jessica’s Law, that cannot be dealt with and understood in sound bites. We must wrap our minds around the concept that if we spend more money on the front end - better supervision and drug and alcohol rehab - we can save much more on the back end - less in life time incarceration, death row housing, and recidivism. That’s just the monetary costs, there’s no telling how much we’d save in human costs, in lives and families saved and rehabilitated.