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FERAL HOGS AND SOMALI PIRATES:
Yep! The Legislature was back in session.
ALL LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS HAVE THEIR OWN MOOD AND TONE AND PACE, but the most recent one was just plain weird. It could have been the early whipsaw between a projected shortfall of available funds and the unexpected infusion of billions of dollars of federal stimulus money. Or maybe it was the surprise of Joe Straus as the new Speaker of the House; there had been much speculation for some time that former Speaker Tom Craddick would be deposed, but Straus wasn’t on many short lists as a likely replacement. Whatever the cause, the session felt unfocused and sort of meandering right up to the closing frenzy – much like a party with lots of inherently fun people who for whatever reason don't quite connect.
The House began with a new sense of harmony, due in large part to the selection of the new Speaker. As a result, however, it seemed that conflict was avoided whenever possible, there were fewer lively public policy debates, and more deals were struck privately rather than publicly. The House was managed carefully with some controversial issues allowed to come up, while others, such as voter ID, were avoided until late in the session.
On the Senate side, little changed from prior sessions, except that it was somewhat easier for Democrats to block issues from the Senate floor since their partisan margin had increased by one. The Senate started the session with a rancorous and public fight on the voter ID bill, with the long-standing rule that 2/3 of senators had to agree for a bill to come up on the floor waived for this issue. From an outsider's perspective, it felt like the bruising voter ID process left the Senate overtly avoiding even the potential for conflict on other issues; major bills like the budget and the accountability revamp drew few questions and fewer amendments. One of the rare dramatic moments occurred when Sen. John Whitmire successfully added, over Sen. Florence Shapiro's objection, a provision for an across-the-board teacher pay raise to Shapiro's school finance bill.
As the session drew to a close, numerous calendar deadlines began to kick in to ensure an orderly process. These provisions were adopted years ago to avoid having legislators hit with a jumble of bills they hadn't seen or read at the 11th hour. The last night for the House to hear bills originating on the House side seemed to typify the session. Traditionally, that is a night that the House works late, since the final calendar listing House bills eligible for consideration is usually quite lengthy (32 pages this year). Last session, the TCTA lobby team watched as the House worked relatively diligently, only to have midnight arrive and the session adjourn just before a TCTA-initiated bill could be heard, which, of course, killed our bill. This year, it wasn’t even close. As the clock ticked away throughout the afternoon and evening, legislators overtly "chubbed," questioning and proposing amendments to bills at a level that is atypical for all but the most important issues. A significant amount of discussion occurred, for example, on a proposal to preclude state investments in countries harboring Somali pirates, generating questions on what other sorts of pirates there were, etc. (And reminding me of one of the session's funnier moments, when a legislator wearing a temporary eye patch was proposing a bill and Straus suggested that all in favor vote "ARRGGGHH.") That was followed by another lengthy debate on the hunting of feral hogs from helicopters (prompting one pundit to dub them "porkchoppers") and consuming another considerable block of time. The tactic worked; legislators managed to limp along until midnight and killed literally hundreds of bills (including, yet again, another TCTA-initiated proposal), ensuring that the voter ID bill was not reached in the House.
Lest you think that legislators don't work hard, the contrary is true. They put in extraordinary hours, with long sessions in both chambers (especially the House), lengthy committee meetings and conference committee meetings. In fact, the pace and the toll the session takes were vividly illustrated when veteran legislator Rep. Edmund Kuempel (R-Seguin) was found unconscious in a House elevator while the House was still in session at 10:30 p.m. or so; he had suffered a massive heart attack, but was successfully revived on site and transported to the hospital, where he remained until the closing day of the session. Though the House adjourned somewhat abruptly after learning of Kuempel's illness, committees went on with scheduled meetings, with the House Public Education Committee convening after 11 p.m. and completing its meeting at 1:30 a.m.
The products of all that hard work wound up being more in the nature of perfecting existing statutes than bold new initiatives. That may be a good thing, since "first, do no harm" is always our mantra going into a session. The proposals that might have been catastrophic for public education – like one that would make it much easier for districts to go to home-rule status (under which very few provisions of the Education Code would apply to either students or educators) or another that would allow local districts to choose not to pass along pay raises approved by the Legislature – were defeated. On the other hand, the new initiatives, like the revised accountability system, may not feel all that different – there will still be lots of testing and high-stakes consequences. The TAKS at upper grade levels will be replaced with end-of-course exams, but that change was already scheduled.
And though it was the House side that staged the slowdown, in a fittingly weird ending to a consistently strange session, it was the Senate that, in the end, failed to get the job done in the closing hours and precipitated the need for a special session in the future. By voting down at the 11th hour a "must-pass" resolution that would have continued the authorization for some key state agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Insurance, senators forced a special session, which the governor has acknowledged will be necessary without disclosing when he plans to call it. With any luck, when legislators reconvene they will have found their sea legs and make quick work of reintroducing and passing the reauthorization of state agencies without reviving some of the bad bills that were unsuccessful and divisive during the regular session. Stay tuned for more details on what passed during the regular session and what we expect for the special. ARRGGGHH....
Note: We now know the special session is scheduled to begin July 1, 2009.
Posted: 06/30/09 ("The Classroom Teacher," summer 2009)
