The Texas Association of Business has to let loose records of the corporations that contributed to its 2002 election efforts. The Texas Supreme Court, after sitting on the matter for almost 17 months, turned away TAB's request to keep the contributors' names and transactions secret. The trade group said the information was constitutionally protected; the court disagreed. James Sylvester of Austin, a Democratic House candidate who lost that year after being targeted in TAB mailers, filed a civil lawsuit saying TAB's campaign efforts against him were illegal. His lawyers asked for the records detailing how the group raised its money and from whom; the Supremes, after putting the matter on hold in January 2004, lifted its stay. TAB has to produce the information. That's the same election -- and one of the same groups -- under investigation by Travis County prosecutors and grand jurors for alleged violation of campaign finance laws. • Something called "The Marriage Alliance" has opened a website featuring a video of Gov. Rick Perry talking up the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The site was set up by Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, two GOP political ops allied with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who are under indictment for their activities during the 2002 legislative elections. Neither man has gone to trial, and both have said they're innocent of any crime. They were indicted in connection with the same criminal inquiry that has included TAB's efforts to elect a Republican majority to the Texas House three years ago. The constitutional amendment on marriage is one of five amendments headed to voters, but it's far and away the draw on the ballot, both for supporters and opponents. On the video, Perry says Texans have a chance to "protect Texas families" with the constitutional amendment on Nov. 8 and says they can support the effort by going to the group's website (since it's on the website itself, the implication is that the ad could run on television). "Protect marriage from fringe groups and liberal judges that would undermine marriage to fit their radical agenda," Perry says in the video. "Join me in sending a message to them that marriage is only between one man and one woman." The website, at www.txmarriage.com, also has videos featuring Reps. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, and Phil King, R-Weatherford. • Some Texas school employees will get a pay raise after all. Teachers, full-time counselors, nurses, and librarians who are now paid the minimum allowed by the state will get more money during the next school year. The state changed some formulas for funding schools and triggered -- perhaps unintentionally -- pay escalators that were already in state law. It comes out to about a 2.8 percent increase in pay for those folks. Educators now making the minimum of $24,240 will get $24,910 next year. Those at the top-level minimum -- that is, experienced educators at the top step of the minimum pay level -- will see pay increase to $41,930 from $40,800 now. Most school districts in Texas pay more than the state minimums -- their employees aren't entitled to the automatic pay increase. By one estimate (from the Texas Federation of Teachers), the pay hike will affect about 8,000 teachers. • Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, the Houston Democrat exploring a gubernatorial run, says he raised $35,222 in a "grassroots fundraising drive" that was designed to raise $30,000. Of the total, about $2,500 came from 15 simultaneous "house parties" connected by a conference call last weekend. • Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs says she'll turn down a $32,000 pay raise that's included for some statewide officeholders in the budget. • Transportation legislation approved by the Legislature and eagerly signed by Gov. Rick Perry would, among a long list of other things, require local voter approval before existing roads could be converted to toll roads. That amends earlier legislation -- also signed by Perry -- that allowed conversion to toll roads without voter approval. In suburban areas, particularly around Austin and Houston, that quickly became a hot button. Even with the fix, it's likely to be an issue in the gubernatorial race, where Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is promising to talk about it, and in regional contests, like SD-3, where Transportation Commissioner Robert Nichols will be on the GOP ballot. • Here's a mouthful: The federal courthouse in Brownsville is on the way to being named the "Reynaldo G. Garza and Filemon B. Vela United States Courthouse" after two Texans who served as federal judges. That's passed both houses of Congress and is ready for the president's signature. • SurveyUSA, a polling firm, asked voters in all 50 states whether they approve or disapprove of the work their U.S. senators are doing. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat, has the highest approval rating in the Senate, with 67 percent, according to the poll. The worst? John Cornyn of Texas, with 40 percent approval. Kay Bailey Hutchison tied for 19th in the 100-member Senate, with a 64 percent approval rating. There's another way to look at it. The senator with the lowest disapproval ratings was Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who has won the disapproval of 19 percent of his constituents. The highest: Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, with 44 percent disapproval.

Gov. Rick Perry threw down the gauntlet Saturday, vetoing $35.3 in public education spending and calling a special legislative session on school finance beginning on Tuesday (June 21).He said lawmakers can redo that part of the budget and work on school finance at the same time, and said "we have plenty of time" to get a budget in place without threatening the start of the school year. "I'm not going to approve an education budget that shortchanges teacher salary increases, textbooks, education technology, and education reforms," Perry said in brief comments to the press. He also pointed to another $2 billion for education that slipped from the budget when school finance reforms failed during the regular session. Perry called the veto a "bold" move. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst called it "disappointing," though he applauded Perry's call for a special session on school finance. And Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who announced her campaign for governor, said Perry's move was "irresponsible." "That is the most irresponsible act that this governor has taken and perhaps any governor has taken to hold our children hostage and veto those dollars for public schools," Strayhorn said. "You shouldn't even be discussing the possibilities that schools will not open." Perry outlined some of his cuts in a press release (get a copy here), and said the detailed version of the budget -- including his line-item vetoes -- would be available later on his website, at www.governor.state.tx.us. The veto raises the stakes for the Legislature, but won't directly force lawmakers to fix school finance. In fact, they now have two problems instead of one. First, they have to repair the budget. Second, they have to work on school finance. Those two things can be linked, but as lawmakers proved during the regular session, it's possible to write the budget without taking on property tax relief or textbook spending or teacher pay raises or school formulas. Public Education Budget Lawmakers have several options when they come back to work on the budget: • Reenact the public education spending vetoed by the governor; • Revise public school spending by moving money from what lawmakers approved three weeks ago to other areas -- like textbooks and teacher pay raises -- without tackling school finance reform and property tax cuts. • Go home and leave the mess for the governor and the Legislative Budget Board. That's not as far-fetched as it first sounds. Budgeteers included a provision saying money set free by vetoes can be budgeted by the Guv and the LBB without the help of the Legislature. In effect, Perry himself, along with the ten lawmakers on the LBB, is the safety net for this high-wire act. Here's the failsafe provision from the budget (in Article IX, for you wonks): "Sec. 13.18. Appropriation of Any Vetoed Funds. An amount equal to the sum of the General Revenue Fund and General Revenue -- Dedicated account appropriations contained in this Act that are vetoed by the Governor under Section 14, Article IV, Texas Constitution, shall be segregated by the Comptroller and is hereby appropriated for budget execution as provided by Chapter 317, Government Code." School Finance As for school finance, they'll start with some of the same problems they ended with three weeks ago. There were two bills: One on school finance reform and property tax cuts, the other a tax bill raising the money to pay for those cuts and those reforms. The House majority includes a faction of Republicans who want to limit what richer districts have to share with poorer districts. They want that "recapture" capped at 35 percent of the money they raise from local property taxes. That's an important sticking point for both those who want the caps and those who say they're unfair. As for taxes, the House generally leans toward bigger increases in sales and other consumer taxes, and away from higher business taxes, especially if that means expanding the corporate franchise tax to include partnerships and other business forms. The Senate prefers to broaden business taxes and rely less on consumption taxes. The differences sound simple, but they locked up the Legislature during the regular session. The governor had a plan last year but lawmakers put it in the shredder before moving on to their own ideas. Most recently, the governor and his allies have been pushing a smaller plan that, instead of trying to halve local property taxes or cut them by a third, would lower them between 10 cents and 25 cents, put more money into backordered textbooks, and make some available for teacher pay raises.

In the papers: Special session starting next Tuesday, following a veto of all public education spending in the new state budget.As Gov. Rick Perry enters the final weekend of his session-ending veto period, the Capitol is buzzing with rumors he'll kill public education funding to force lawmakers to confront school finance in a special session that will begin next week. That would force budgeteers to rescue the budgets for public schools before classes start in August and perhaps, in the process, to rewrite the state's school finance formulas. Perry will make a formal announcement clearing up the details on Saturday. In the meantime, the state's big newspapers are already scribbling: Perry to announce special session
By Christy Hoppe / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry has told state leaders that he is prepared to veto all funding for public schools, forcing them to tackle the thorny issue in a special legislative session he intends to call, starting next Tuesday. Perry considering veto on budget item
By Mike Ward, Laylan Copelin, Austin American-Statesman Staff
Gov. Rick Perry is threatening to veto the budget for public schools in Texas as a way to force lawmakers to agree on reforms to the beleaguered school finance system, as a prelude to calling the Legislature into a special session beginning Tuesday. Lawmaker: Special session on school funding next week
By David Koenig, Associated Press
PLANO -- Lawmakers will return to Austin Tuesday for a special session on school finance, state Sen. Florence Shapiro said today. Shapiro, a leader on the school funding issue, said Republican Gov. Rick Perry will announce the special session Saturday. Perry's office wouldn't confirm the announcement. Legislators may be back next week
Peggy Fikac-Chief, San Antonio Express-News Austin Bureau
AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry has told legislative leaders he plans to call lawmakers into a special session to start next week, Capitol sources said Thursday. "Yeah, we're going back" to address school finance, said one source, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity. Hutchison will wait on announcement until after special session
By David Koenig, Associated Press Writer
PLANO, Texas -- U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Friday she is near a decision on whether to challenge Gov. Rick Perry next year, adding that she has "prodded" her fellow Republican to do more about lowering property taxes and improving schools.

On the eve of his decisions on the state budget, there is some speculation that Gov. Rick Perry will use a heavy marker when he's vetoing lines in the $139.4 billion state budget.That could be a two-fer, buying the governor some political breathing room on what starts as a $22 billion increase in the budget, and, depending on what kind of cuts are made (state money or federal money), freeing up funds for some combination of property tax cuts, back-ordered textbooks, and teacher pay raises. He has to make his decisions about bills -- including line items in the budget -- by midnight Sunday (June 19). Sometime after that, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn will "score" the budget and announce a bottom-line difference between what's available for spending and how much of it Perry and the Lege promised to spend over the next two years. The Guv has several options with that marker, ranging from dramatic to operatic: • He can make simple line-item cuts, with the surprises coming from what programs get cut and from the amount of money that produces. Anything smaller than $1 billion would get limited headlines; even that amount would be dwarfed by the $21 billion increase in spending still left. • A previous governor used the veto pen -- or maybe it was a paintbrush -- to kill the entire second column in the two-year budget, approving one year of spending but forcing budgeteers to come back and rewrite the second year of the budget. Doing that would force a special session within the next year, but with school finance going to the Texas Supreme Court, chances of a session sometime in the next eight months is pretty good anyway.
-- Perry could also strike out an entire section of the budget, forcing lawmakers to come back to make repairs before things ground to a halt. For instance, the governor has the power to strike Article III in its entirety, which includes all the money to be spent on public and higher education. That would force a special session before the end of the fiscal year on August 30, but risks starting school years without any money. Remember when Congress shut down the Washington Monument?