If the Senate Finance Committee can make it to Monday or Tuesday of next week with four or five of the school finance components intact, there's a good chance Texans will see a new business tax, a cut in school property taxes, teacher pay raises and a bag full of other legislative wonders. But it's gonna be a long weekend.

If the upper chamber makes big changes in the business tax bill, in school "reforms," in legislation restricting the use of new tax money to property tax relief, for instance, people in the Pink Building won't be so optimistic next week.

We're not seers by any stretch, but lawmakers have been plotting, and some of the possible plays are visible. The Senate will almost certainly add some or all of Sen. Florence Shapiro's SB 1 into HB 1, where there's a nice slot for it. The Plano Republican's bill includes a laundry list of education-related items, including a teacher pay raise and restoration of the $1,000 health care stipend for educators that was revoked and then half-replaced by earlier legislators.

There's been talk of passing HB 3 as is — that's the big tax bill — and sending it straight to Gov. Rick Perry without shooting it back to the House. And there's been talk — probably less reliable but still out there — of gutting it and replacing this business tax with something else. That scenario sets up a long siege; the first might be the way to a quick finish.

HB 2 — a must-have for some Republicans and a must-not-have for some Democrats — could get passed or ignored altogether, depending on which war-gamer you're hearing. It was created to force new tax money into tax relief and provides cover for Republicans who swore to their voters they hate, hate, hate taxes. The GOP is in charge and that's why it's gone this far. But Democrats want to use some of the new money for education and HB 2 forecloses the possibility. Leave it out of the package, and both groups would be a little less certain; lawmakers could direct all of the new money to tax relief for now and decide later whether to use the money for tax cuts or whatever else. It's not what he asked for, exactly, but Perry wouldn't want to veto his own tax bill, the reasoning goes, just because the lockbox didn't pass.

Round One

You just have to write this down to believe it: The Republican Texas House voted for the biggest tax bill in state history — and the biggest property tax cut — while sitting on the biggest surplus of taxpayer money ever piled up in Texas. It's just unusual, is all.

Get out of Dodge? Check. Dedicate new tax money solely to property tax relief? Check. Send the Perry-Sharp tax bill to the Senate? Check. More money from car sales taxes? Check. A higher tax on smokes? After a three-day case of hiccups, check.

The House started the second week of the session by spending enough of the state surplus to lower local school property taxes by as much as 17 cents, by setting up a mechanism that sends any new state taxes raised during this session to property tax relief. And then they spent hours debating changes to the tax bill proposed by the Texas Tax Reform Commission that was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry and headed by former Comptroller John Sharp.

The first 17 cents of a proposed school property tax cut — funded with $2.37 billion from the state's $8.2 billion surplus — got out of the Texas House with nary a scratch. Lawmakers changed the bill to keep rich school districts from leaving poor school districts behind — an amendment by Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth — and then approved the bill 139-5 (the Nopes came from Reps. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth; Garnet Coleman, D-Houston; Harold Dutton, D-Houston; Jim Jackson, R-Carrollton; and Pete Laney, D-Hale Center).

They approved legislation dedicating the money from any new state taxes levied during the special session to school property tax relief. That was a closer vote: 82-66. That was nearly a party-line vote. One Democrat —Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs — voted for it. Four Republicans joined the rest of the Democrats in opposition: Carter Casteel of New Braunfels, Toby Goodman of Arlington, Pat Haggerty of El Paso, and Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton of Mauriceville.

The big tax bill — HB 3 — was argued for hours and ended up being a net tax increase of $3.445 billion. That's the amount of money the Legislative Budget Board says it would raise after taking into account the repeal of the current corporate franchise tax. The 38 amendments adopted during the House's floor debate cut about $58 million from the original bill, and it's on its way to the Texas Senate for further tinkering. The vote went largely along party lines, but with big exceptions. Of the 80 votes in favor, 10 came from Democrats; of the 69 votes against, 16 came from Republicans. House Speaker Tom Craddick voted for the bill — he usually doesn't vote — and only one member was absent. The mother of Rep. Roberto Alonzo, D-Dallas, died before the debate began and he was with his family.

The health of the tax package was in question, particularly after a weekend barrage of criticism from conservatives who wanted the Lege to use the surplus and leave new taxes alone. In rallies, through websites, and in volleys of email, they implored Republican lawmakers to leave new and higher taxes alone and to instead use the surplus to cut property taxes and mend the constitutional problems in school finance found by the Texas Supreme Court.

Democrats didn't like the idea of raising new money for school finance without using any of it for education, and many of them complained about vague promises of goodies like teacher pay raises and money for textbooks being added to the agenda after approval of property tax cuts.

Two small bills provided the anti-climax. Lawmakers voted 77-65 to force buyers and sellers of used cars to use blue-book values instead of filing what are known as "liar's affidavits" setting the taxable sales prices at whatever the signers say they were. Nobody's pointing at anyone in particular, but lawmakers think using the published prices will bring in another $41 million to $56 million in taxes every year.

And what started as the least controversial of the tax bills — a $1 addition to the state's tax on a pack of cigarettes — drew some arrows because of the bonding program we scribbled about last week. What came to the floor was a 55-cent increase in taxes, followed by two increases of 25 cents each in later years, and coupled with a bond program that would be paid off by the new taxes. Proponents said the state would have more to spend if it borrowed money through bonds and used the increase in taxes on smoking to pay off the debt. Higher tax increases, they argue, would accelerate the decline of smoking in Texas. "More people would quit [and] our revenue would drop quicker," said Rep. Peggy Hamric, R-Houston, the bill's sponsor.

The House stripped the bonding idea from the bill and reinstated the $1 increase in cigarette taxes, by an overwhelming margin. And then, Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, called a point of order on the bill and killed it. That's worth about $700 million a year out of the tax relief package — enough for a $2,000 teacher pay raise, or for 6 to 7 cents in local property tax relief. But fear not: The Ways & Means Committee put it back in its original form and the House passed it that way.

• The House agreed with Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, and added an amendment that prevents businesses from deducting the salaries and wages of illegal immigrants on their payrolls.

• They also adopted one from Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, that would wipe out deductions for workers who are on Medicaid. That's a shot at Wal-Mart and other companies that have wages low enough to allow workers to qualify for poverty programs.

• The minimum for a "meaningful" pay raise for educators, according to the Texas Federation of Teachers, is $3,000 a year and full restoration of the health care stipend. The union has some sympathetic lawmakers on both sides of the partisan canyon, but the amounts, like the mileage in your car, may vary according to who is at the wheel. The range in most conversations is $2,000 to $4,000 per teacher per year. And the back-of-the-envelope cost is that every $1,000 increase in pay costs the state about $300 million a year.

A Matter of Interpretation

And then there's the question of what was added in HB 3 — the business tax bill. You can argue — and we've heard some of the amateur parliamentarians do it — that the House added enough stuff to that to make it an "omnibus" tax bill. If that's right, the Senate can do any tax work it pleases, from sales to VATs to BATs to income to you-make-something-up.

A tax bill with only one tax in it can be amended, but only with provisions related to that one tax. You can't put oil taxes in a sales tax bill, for instance. A tax bill with more taxes — usually, that means at least three different levies, but it can mean only two — is considered an omnibus bill that can be amended to include anything related to any sort of taxes. The House put the tax bills together so they'd only have one tax each — smokes here, used cars there, and business franchise taxes in the big bill. But when they were amending the bidness bill, they stuck on amendments relating to other sections of the tax code.

Suppose you were mischievous and you wanted to go into areas of taxation where the House did not go. You could — hypothetically, anyway — decide the House's work allows major changes in direction. Some senators have talked about bagging the Perry-Sharp bill and raising the money by extending sales taxes to services, like those provided by lawyers and architects and other professionals, for instance. And Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has, in the past, been partial to variants of business activity taxes.

Dewhurst, asked by Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, wouldn't say whether he thinks — officially — that HB 3 is an omnibus tax bill. It's a fielder's choice call, as we've said: He's probably got enough arguing room there to rule either way. West directed his question to Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, the head of the Senate Finance Committee, for his opinion. Ogden said he didn't think so, but he's not the guy who'll make the final call.  Analyze it this way: If the Senate decides to cut its own path on the tax bill, separate from the House and the governor, they'll call that an omnibus bill and replace it with their own preferences. If they're sticking to the play called by Gov. Rick Perry, they'll keep the bill pretty close to what it is now.

Rules of Engagement

The House can adopt calendar rules to limit debate, and they did so on the tax bills. The Senate doesn't. But they've got their own tricks: To amend a tax bill while the full Senate is debating it, a senator has to have brought up the amendment when the bill was still in committee. What you'll see when these bills hit the floor, in other words, you'll have already seen in committee.

Sens. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and Royce West, D-Dallas, prodded Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for some pre-interpretation on that rule, with this result: Dewhurst says the rule doesn't apply to two of the bills passed by the House. HB 1, which uses surplus money to lower local property taxes (and which is the likely vehicle for changes in education regs, school teacher raises, and such) isn't a tax bill, he says.

Neither, he says, is HB 2, which sets up the lockbox for new taxes and forces those funds into property tax relief. It doesn't raise any taxes itself, and the rule won't apply to it. And that means anybody with a surprise can hold it till the bills are in front of the whole Senate.

Year Two is a Little Hazy

Two numbers disappeared somewhere between the proposal of the Texas Tax Reform Commission and the bills passed by the House. One is $1.30, which was proposed as the new cap for local school property taxes after rate reductions are in effect. It's no longer in any of the bills that were passed this week by the House. The other is 33 cents — the amount those local taxes were supposed to drop in Year Two of the Perry-Sharp proposal.

The TTRC proposal used a combination of new taxes and state surpluses to lower local property taxes by 17 cents one year and 33 cents the next, bringing districts to a maintenance and operations tax rate of $1. The districts would be allowed to raise taxes themselves, but to constrain them, the commission would have lowered the state cap on school taxes to $1.30 from $1.50.

If you look at the whole bundle of bills, the House voted to use surplus state funds to lower school property taxes in year one by as much as 17 cents (it's actually a percentage now — 11.3 percent — and the drop depends on each district's current tax rate). A district with a $1.50 tax rate now would drop rates to $1.33. One with a rate of, say, 1.20 right now, would drop rates to $1.06. Most districts are within spitting distance of $1.50.

They voted to create a lockbox: All the money raised by these new state taxes would go into the box, and the money in the box could only be used for local property tax relief.

Lawmakers didn't obligate themselves to cut the local property tax rate to $1, and they didn't promise to supplement the tax proceeds with general revenue if more money is needed to hit the property tax targets. No second-year cut is specified; the amount would be set by the amount of taxes coming in. If it's greater than expected, rates would be lowered more; less than expected state revenues would lead to higher than promised school taxes.

Puffin' for the Kids

Got any idea how many cigarettes it takes to raise $700 million a year in new taxes?

It's easy to figure, since the big number is the comptroller's estimate of what a $1 per pack increase would bring in. There are 20 cigarettes in a pack, so you're talking a nickel per smoke. Divide $700 million by five cents: 14 billion cigarettes. Per year. That's just a fraction more than 26,636 cigarettes per minute every minute of every day of the year. If each of the 22,490,022 million people in the state chipped in, we'd each be on the line for 622 cigarettes per year, or 31 packs.

More goofy numbers: If you got the Legislature to go out and lay the cigarettes end to end, and if we use the standard 80-millimeter smoke (we'll ignore 100s for this silliness), the number of cigarettes smoked in Texas every year is enough to go around the world at the equator almost 28 times (27.946 times, if you're doing the math at home). And the state would get a nickel for about every three inches of that long trip. At five minutes per, that's 133,181 smoker-years.

Dip Ahead

An old fight over smokeless tobacco taxes might be the biggest lobby deal going right now, even with big ol' tax and school and teacher issues in front of lawmakers. A proposed change in the levy on snuff has become a lobby full-employment act, and the topic of a disproportionate part of the conversation over school taxes.

The companies that dominate the more expensive end of the smokeless business want to switch the existing price-based tobacco tax with one based on weight. Brands on the high-priced end of the deal would pay more taxes under the proposal, but the brands on the lower end of the market would see a much bigger hike in their taxes and, because of that, in their price. The net effect would be to narrow the price gap between cheap and premium snuffs. For the state, the net effect would be an additional $32 million a year in the treasury.

The tax on snuff accounts for about $1.06 on premium brands, and is in the 25-cent to 30-cent range on cheaper brands. Basing the tax on weight — a $1 per ounce tax is what US Tobacco and others suggest — would move everybody to a $1.20 tax (sales taxes are added to the final price at the checkout stand). They couldn't get their version into the House's tobacco tax bill, but they're hopeful the Senate will do it for them.

This issue flared in 2001, when Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn was pushing it. Legislators then took a pass on it, and Strayhorn shot back by lowering her estimate of state revenue by $18 million — the amount it would have raised. She said then that it would be easier for the tax agency to administer than the price-based tax.

One argument when this came up five years ago — and which still has some currency — was that a price-based tax would rise with prices. That makes for nice politics: Lawmakers would get increased revenues into the treasury without having to vote to raise tax rates. A tax based on weight wouldn't act that way. The counterpoint: Low taxes on cheap brands encourage customers to avoid the high-priced ones, which put more money in the state's purse. A weight-based tax would kill that advantage.

Air Wars Underway in Houston

Texans for Taxpayer Relief — the organization promoting Gov. Rick Perry's tax plan, has its first $220,000 and it's going on the radio in Houston.

The group was formed under federal laws that don't require disclosure of who's giving or how much (unless their activities require reporting under Texas laws), but they say these groups have given these amounts so far: Maxxam, $50,000; Texas Motor Transportation Association, $50,000; Texas Apartment Association, $30,000; Texas Beer Alliance, $30,000; Texas Association of Builders, $25,000; Texas Credit Union League, $25,000; and the Texas Restaurant Association, $10,000. They list more backers on their website — www.taxpayerrelief.com — under "Supporters." The groups listed above are apparently the only ones that have contributed to the campaign.

The ads say it's time for "strong conservative leadership" and go on to say taxes on the average Houston home would drop $2,000 over three years under the proposal. You can listen to the audio in the Files section of our website, at www.texasweekly.com/documents.

The ties between Perry and the group agitated Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Bell, who sent a complaint letter to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle suggesting an investigation of whether Perry is getting illegal corporate help with his campaign. Bell said it ought to start after the elections are over in November. And some lawyers contend the group has to stay out of campaign politics whether it takes corporate money or not. It's a corporation itself.

Some Houston conservatives — led by KSEV-AM and talk-show-host and GOP Senate nominee Dan Patrick — have been working to kill the proposed tax bill. But that didn't stop TTR from buying airtime on Patrick's station — or the station from taking their money.

Flotsam & Jetsam

Voters are catching up with heath care experts: 86 percent fear losing their health benefits and say health insurance ought to be more accessible and affordable, according to a survey done for the Texas Hospital Association. THA contends the average family spends an extra $1,551 on health care premiums every year because of uncompensated care by docs and hospitals. You'll hear more about this later; they're gearing up their legislative campaign for next year's regular session and will be pushing ideas like health insurance subsidies for small businesses, multi-county hospital districts, and tax incentives for employers that provide health insurance.

• Watching that Tom DeLay replacement game in suburban Houston? Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt are off the list. Still on: Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, Houston lawyer Tom Campbell, who came in second to DeLay in the GOP primary in March, and state Reps. Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land, and Robert Talton, R-Pasadena. Four precinct chairs — one from each county with a part of the district — will pick a DeLay ballot replacement.

• Department of Corrections: We left Rep. Glenn Hegar Jr., R-Katy, off our list of House members who won't be back next session, in some editions. Hegar won the GOP primary to succeed Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, and then his Democratic opponent dropped out. Barring something really strange, he'll be in the Senate in January instead of the House.

Political People and Their Moves

Boyd Richie, who wants to be the next chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, will hold the job until the party's June convention; the State Democratic Executive Committee named Boyd to serve the remainder of Charles Soechting's term. Soechting says he wants to spend more time with his family and on his law practice. Boyd, who's also the Young County Attorney, will face former lawmaker Glen Maxey of Austin and San Antonio attorney Charlie Urbina Jones in the election at the June convention.

MacGregor Stephenson is the new associate vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the Texas A&M University System. Up till now, he's been a higher education budget and policy wonk for Gov. Rick Perry.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Houston attorney Gray Miller's nomination for a federal judgeship. He is — or was — a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski and will fill the spot opened when U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein took senior status.

Press corps moves: Dallas Morning News reporter Dave Michaels is leaving Austin and that paper for a gig with the Bergen (NJ) Record, where he'll be covering transportation issues.

Deaths: HaroldDudley, campaign manager and executive assistant to former Gov. Preston Smith and a veteran of several state agencies, after a nine-year bout with Alzheimer's Disease. He was 82.

Quotes of the Week

Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, the author of the tax bill, after Rep. Bill Keffer, R-Dallas, spoke in opposition to it: "I love my brother. We disagree on this. But I certainly love him."

Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, against the bill: "This is not about our schools, it's not about our teachers, it's not about our kids. It's school finance without the schools and I'm voting no."

Angleton's representative, describing his amendment to cut small business taxes by substituting a quarter-cent sales tax hike: "This is Dennis Bonnen's Fairytale Land in terms of how we're going to pay for it."

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, questioning promises that education reforms and spending proposals could come up later, after tax reform has been passed: "Around here, mañana seems to be the busiest day of the week. We never get there."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, quoted in the San Antonio Express-News on a former opponent's estimation that it's safe to use some budget surpluses to balance a school finance bill: "John Sharp also was telling everyone that he felt comfortable he was going to win by 10 points in 2002."

Gov. Rick Perry, quoted by the Associated Press on a proposed $1-per-pack tax increase on smokes: "If the choice is between taxing property or taxing poison, then I say let's tax cigarettes.''

Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, in The Dallas Morning News: "My constituents are well-informed. They pay the taxes. They've been demanding property tax relief. And they carry guns."

Chris Bell spokesman Jason Stanford, popping off in The Daily Texan about online polls where Kinky Friedman showed well: "Pac-Man requires more skill, and he has a better education plan than Kinky. Five-year-olds could come home after kindergarten and vote in this poll."

Former Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie, talking to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about why the fancy state furniture in his office was replaced by lesser stuff when his replacement, Kirk England, R-Grand Prairie, took over: "That's what happens. As you gain seniority, you get access to more impressive furniture. Then they take it all back."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 22, Issue 43, 1 May 2006. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2006 by Printing Production Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (512) 302-5703 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

The House has 16 members who've never been through this before, including two who should be on your watch list:Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice, and Hubert Vo, D-Houston. The Republicans they beat in November are contesting their elections, and could eventually unseat them. With that asterisk in place, the freshmen class includes 11 Democrats and five Republicans. Five of the newbies replace representatives from the other party, including three Democrats who knocked off Republicans and two Republicans who knocked off Democrats. If you count Melissa Noriega, who's filling in for Rick Noriega, D-Houston, while he's at war in Afghanistan, and Tracy King, D-Batesville, who returns to the House after a rematch with the guy who knocked him out two years ago, there are 18 new faces. The sophomore class, with 30 members, remains the biggest single class in the House. Ten state reps began their House service before 1980; three of those, before 1970. The regular elections changed absolutely nothing in the Texas Senate. Sens. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, and Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, will be serving in their first regular session, but both won special elections in time to serve during last year's special session on school finance. An election contest against Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, was officially dismissed, so he took the oath again. It's a sea of familiar faces.

On a straight party-line vote, the Senate Finance Committee approved Gov. Rick Perry's new business tax proposal, 9-4.They approved the bill as the House passed it, with no changes, and they never looked at any amendments in committee. That means the Senate will get the bill on a take-it-or-leave-it vote next week. Amendments to tax bills can't be offered for floor debate unless they were presented in committee, and since none were presented, the Senate will probably vote the new tax up or down. Like any rule, however, this one's flexible; a two-thirds vote by the Senate would suspend the rule and open the bill for changes. Since they didn't change a comma from the House version, approval by a Senate majority next week -- without amendments -- would send the bill straight to Perry without a stop in conference committee. The senators heard testimony all morning before going behind closed doors for a good while. They didn't discuss the bill when they emerged from the back room; they simply took the roll, voted, and then disappeared behind closed doors again.

The main tax bill might be safe from tampering, but it's got a satellite that's built for hijinks.The Senate added a sidecar to the business tax bill, opting to leave the bill in the exact form it passed the House and to put any changes or amendments or fixes or tricky lobby schemes into a new piece of legislation, SB 6. As filed, that bill is pretty unthreatening. But Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick are trading off a list of proposals that would go into that bill.

Some Republicans -- apparently including Gov. Rick Perry -- were initially alarmed about how the Senate was routing new tax money to school property tax reductions (See How About a Smack? elsewhere in our Notebook section).In the House version, any new tax money coming out of the special session would go into a special account, and all of the money in that account had to be used to cut local property taxes. The House made no reference to target tax rates and didn't require the state to lower school taxes to $1, as had been proposed by the Texas Tax Reform Commission. In the Senate version, the lockbox money is dedicated solely to property tax reduction until the school tax rates all reach $1 (like the House version, it doesn't require that the rates be lowered to $1 -- but the Senate decided to say what'll happen if they do reach that point). If the trigger is reached, additional lock box money would be split between local property tax cuts and education. The education money -- one-third of the money -- would be used to for "basic allotments" in school finance formulas, and to help balance school finance funds between rich and poor districts. If the money ever lowers local property tax rates to 75 cents, any additional money would go into those school formulas.

Gov. Rick Perry's new tax on businesses -- and a bill that sends that new money to school property tax relief -- is a notch closer to his desk. If the Senate gives the business tax the final nod tomorrow, it'll go straight to Perry for his signature.The "lockbox bill" that forces new state tax revenues from this special session to be used to cut local school property taxes won tentative approval from the Senate. They voted 21-10 in favor of the bill, though Democrats balked because they wanted at least some of the money to go into public schools. There are 12 Democrats in the Senate: Ken Armbrister of Victoria and Frank Madla of San Antonio voted with the Republicans on the lockbox bill. Neither will be in the Senate next year; Armbrister didn't seek reelection and Madla lost the Democratic primary in March. The Senate version differs from the House version; after final passage, it's headed for conference. This version of the legislation allows some education spending, but only after local school taxes have been cut to at least $1. Even at that point, most new money would go to cutting taxes. And number-crunchers inside and outside the Capitol -- read that to include the comptroller's office -- have raised questions about whether the tax receipts will bring in enough to cut taxes to that promised $1 level. The Senate voted down an attempt to sunset the dedication of the new taxes in 2012. And they shot down an amendment that would have dedicated more of the new money to education than to tax cuts; that amendment wouldn't have kicked in until local property taxes had reached $1. That bill is one of five passed by the House that raise state taxes and use some of the state's surplus to finance a cut in local property taxes. A sixth bill working in the Senate is a sidecar to the major business tax bill; supporters of that tax wanted to keep the main bill -- HB 3 -- clear of amendments, so they created a separate piece of legislation to carry any changes. That bill, as you might expect, has become a magnet for lobbyists seeking tax favors for their clients. HB 3 passed tentatively on an 18-13 vote. Democrats split on this one just as they did on the lockbox bill, with three Republicans -- Sens. Kevin Eltife of Tyler, Mike Jackson of La Porte, and Kyle Janek of Houston -- joining the votes against the bill. Legislation raising taxes on used car sales -- by forcing buyers and sellers to use blue book values instead of relying on their word about the sales price -- also won tentative approval. It's not the same as the House version and will have to be reconciled or approved as is by the House.

One constant throughout our country's great history has been the dogged determination of millions of people from every corner of the world to make a new and better life for themselves and their families here in these United States of America.That pursuit has cost many their lives while others have arrived here both legally and illegally, becoming productive and responsible citizens and making many significant contributions to our melting-pot society. The current fervor of debate -- on the street and in Congress -- on this issue has produced nothing of substance as to how we can best deal with this problem. Yes, we could build a wall along the Texas/Mexico border. Cost estimates run from the hundreds of millions to several billion dollars, depending I suppose, on how many undocumented workers would be employed on the project. Most folks, experts and otherwise, agree that such a wall is nothing more than a finger in the dyke approach and would do very little in stemming the flow of illegal immigrants from the south. And I fear that someday, some world leader will look to us and paraphrase President Reagan's famous line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." How embarrassing would that be? The wall idea however, does provide fodder for talk shows and serves as a symbol for the angriest among us. It is interesting that those who appear to be the angriest and are so quick to complain and engage in name-calling are rarely willing to face up to what is a major reason we have so many illegal immigrants here in Texas and across the nation. In nearly every debate on this issue, their fallback argument is simply that these people are here illegally. They are breaking the law and should be dealt with according to the law. End of argument. True enough. But there are other illegals operating here that contribute mightily to the problem. Companies that employ illegal, undocumented workers are also breaking the law and should be dealt with according to the law. Their illegal practice of hiring these workers creates a demand for them, which in turn brings even more into Texas and the nation. If the demand were not there, would the problem be as severe as it currently is? No. Now, finally, someone with actual policy-making authority has stepped forward and presented a plan that could go a long way toward addressing the demand side of the problem. It is not the final solution, but definitely a start in the right direction that should promote open and honest dialogue on an issue that impacts all of us. State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, offered up an amendment to House Bill 3 in this current special session that does just that. HB 3 is the new business tax that closes existing loopholes and puts more businesses on the tax-paying rolls. The plan was crafted by Gov. Rick Perry's blue-ribbon committee on tax reform headed by John Sharp and will provide much needed property tax relief. Under the new tax, companies will pay a one percent tax on gross receipts after deducting either employee compensation or cost of goods sold. Anchia's amendment makes it illegal for any company to deduct compensation paid to any undocumented worker and allows for the state comptroller to enforce the provision. We should not lose sight of the irony that it took a Latino policy maker, the son of immigrant parents, to be the first to face this issue head-on. Anchia's amendment passed in the House on a 141-1 vote. HB 3, with Anchia's amendment attached, has now been sent to the full Senate for debate. In whatever final form it arrives on Perry's desk, Anchia's amendment must be included. Ken Zornes is a former Dallas ISD board member who now lives in Austin. You can reach him at kzornes13@hotmail.com.

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Texas Weekly's Soapbox is a venue for opinions, spins, alternate takes, and other interesting stuff sent in by readers and others. We moderate submissions to keep crazy people out, and anonymous commentary is ineligible. Readers can respond (through the moderator) to things posted here. Got something to submit? We're interested in everything from full-blown opinion pieces to short bits to observations or tidbits that have escaped us and the mass media. One rule: Your name goes on your words. Call or send an email: Ross Ramsey, Editor, Texas Weekly, 512/288-6598, ramsey@texasweekly.com.

Tax talk continues to dominate Texas' digital "airwaves" with bloggers analyzing specific votes and House members taking the time to explain why they voted for or against certain proposals. Gas boycotts, immigrant employee protests, and a whole lot of news in the congressional delegation fill the hours between floor debate.* * * * * Tax Bills Keep on Moving If you've ever spent hours going through the House or Senate Journal to make sense of who voted for what, relax and let Vince Leibowitz at Capitol Annex do the work for you. First, he analyzes the House votes, then he excerpts statements from the House Journal. Charles Kuffner at Off the Kuff takes it a step further by talking to Rep. Rick Noreiga, D-Houston, and Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, about the reasons behind their votes. He also posted comments from Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. The group "Texans For No New Taxes" continues to lobby Republicans to vote against Gov. Rick Perry's tax plan. Flyers urging opposition to the bills were placed under doors at the Capitol. Pink Dome has copies. You can get a fix on some Houston conservatives at the Lone Star Times. Their readers are opposed to the tax plan and are taking their fight to the Senate. They also can't wait for local radio show host Dan Patrick to be sworn into the Texas Senate next January (which means they have something in common with the state's political reporters —ed.). "John Cornyn's Box Turtle," who has one crazy name and posts on In the Pink Texas, thinks people in Houston must be crazy. Of course, people in Houston think people in Austin are certifiable. And people in San Antonio think they're both right. Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, raises teachers' hopes by declaring on his site, A Capitol Blog, that teachers are definitely getting a pay raise. My favorite line of the week comes from "Don't Mess With Pink," a regular contributor to In The Pink Texas who scoffs at a $1 increase per pack that was originally proposed in HB 5. Her line: "Like this is going to get me to quit smoking. I haven't stopped buying gas either." * * * * * Talking About High Gas Prices… When Bee County officials passed a resolution calling for a boycott on gas from Exxon Mobil until the price is lowered to $1.30 per gallon, a Midland-based blog, Jessica's Well advocated the opposite: "Fill up on Monday at your local Exxon or Mobil station," she said. "Show your support for one of the many companies that assures us a steady, reasonably priced supply of fuel. And show your support for a company that's vilified for its success." Lobby Duck, who must drive a very small, economical car, also quacked a complaint about gas prices. * * * * * Bricks and Boycotts The May 1 boycott/walk out from jobs by Hispanic employees in protest of proposed immigration reform was widely discussed on the Internet. As angry as Hispanics are at the perceived discrimination, some folks are even angrier because the federal legislation doesn't go far enough. Right of Texas encourages its readers to mail bricks to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn to encourage him to support the building of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border. Rep. Peña, again writing on A Capitol Blog, says many people don't know that of 80,000 "Minutemen" guarding the border with Mexico, 800 are Hispanic. "Much like the multiple perspectives of Tejanos during the Texas Revolution, today's Tejanos, like other Americans, have multiple perspectives on the current question of immigration reform," he said. The "Day Without Immigrants" ended with people on both sides of the political spectrum vowing to either boycott or patronize businesses according to whether or not they allowed Hispanic employees to take the day off. While most of the blogosphere is focused on immigration into America, WILLisms posted some interesting information from the Census Bureau on American migration patterns. To the surprise of no one living in Plano, Round Rock or Flower Mound, it shows that Collin, Williamson, and Denton Counties — each of which overwhelmingly supported President Bush in 2004 — are among the country's fastest growing counties. * * * * * Delay Replacing DeLay Democratic political op Matt Angle of the Lone Star Project laments the lack of an immediate special election to replace resigning Congressman Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, saying it will create the longest period of time without representation for residents of a Texas congressional district "since John M. Pinckney was shot and killed at a meeting of the Waller County Prohibition league in 1905." A resident of Pearland who goes by the name of Greg in TX22 is completely focused on the intra-party struggle to name a Republican ballot replacement for Rep. DeLay. This is interesting reading if you thought that area's troubles ended with Delay's resignation. They've got a long summer ahead. * * * * * Congressional "Roundup" Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington D.C. as part of a protest against genocide in Darfur. Congressman John Carter (R-Round Rock) had his picture made in Iraq with the son of his opponent. Conservative sites Red State and Right of Texas use the power of blogging to raise $10,000 in a matter of days for Van Taylor, the Republican running against Congressman Chet Edwards, D-Waco, for CD 17. Finally, Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, gets into the blogging business. * * * * * Blogo-graphics If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, BlogAds, a company that helps bloggers put advertising on their sites conducted a survey of 56,000 blog readers. They found: "The median political blog reader is a 43-year-old man with an annual family income of $80,000. He reads 6 blogs a day for 10 hours a week. 39% have post-graduate degrees. 70% have contributed to a campaign. 69% have bought music, 87% have bought books. 58% say blogs are "extremely useful" sources of information. 52% leave comments on other people's blogs." What a great target market for purveyors of luxury items, books, and MP3 players. Oh, yeah, and campaigns. Did we mention sometime Austin resident Dan Rather is considering writing a blog? OUT THERE is something new for Texas Weekly: Robyn Hadley will cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. Robyn, a veteran of both journalism and the state Capitol, is the owner of Capitol Crowd, a networking site for people who work in and around state government. The opinions she quotes belong to the bloggers, and we're including their links each week so you can hunt them down if you wish. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Robyn at robyn@capitolcrowd.com, or to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey, at ramsey@texasweekly.com.

Gov. Rick Perry's political office is apparently of two minds about the progress of the tax package through the Senate. They want people to give the Senate a smack. But it's not clear which sort of smack they want. Suggested Smack Number One was a hit. Smack Number two, about an hour later, was a big, wet kiss...Take a look at these emails from the governor's political office. The first, sent between 5:30 and 6pm Friday evening (the punctuation and emphasis is from the original): "It is becoming apparent that the Lt. Governor and the Texas Senate are NOT committed to lowering your property taxes by 33% to the $1 tax rate!! They are considering a tax cut that is LESS than the 50cent reduction called for in the Texas Tax Reform Commission Plan! "We must act NOW! The vote in the Senate is this weekend. "Please call, email, fax your state Senator NOW and tell them to get "Back on the Buck." "The House of Representatives is expecting the tax cut to be no less than 33%. We will lose support for the plan in the House if the Senate does not get "Back on the Buck" and lower the rate to $1. "Please call the Lt. Governor and your Senator NOW!!! Your property tax cut depends on it." * * * * * The second went out about an hour later: "Today the Senate took decisive action and passed school finance reform and taxpayer protection legislation. This legislation, almost identical to the bills earlier passed by the House of Representatives, are part of a plan that will provide historic property tax relief to homeowners and businesses and long-term protections to taxpayers. "The Lt. Governor and the Senate are to be commended for moving swiftly. "The Senate action will result in the largest property tax cut in Texas history, will make homeownership more affordable for millions of Texas families, and will allow employers to spend more resources on jobs and growth. "This plan reforms the franchise tax to make it broader and fairer and the tax rate lower. It closes loopholes so that more businesses pay their share of education costs and it also reflects the modern Texas economy. "This legislation is conservative, responsible and the right thing for Texas. "Please call the Lt. Governor and your Senator and tell them to keep up the good work! "Lt. Governor Dewhurst?(512) 463-0001 http://www.ltgov.state.tx.us/Contact/ Find your senator's contact information http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm"

At least one of the big tobacco companies bought full-page newspaper ads blasting the proposed $1 increase in the tax on a pack of cigarettes.The ads urged people to call in, and their calls were then routed to their senator or state representative. A spokesman for Philip Morris USA said the ads were running statewide, but didn't specify which papers had run them or when. The lawmakers said the pressure wasn't all that heavy, but the cigarette tax had stalled in the Senate Finance Committee by the end of the week. Democrats who generally support the increase came off when none of the money was dedicated to health care, and some Republicans were nervous about a big tax increase that is so apparent to end consumer/voters. At least the proposed state business tax won't be paid directly by or seen directly by most voters. Without the tax on smokes, lawmakers would be $700 million short of what they need for tax relief. In property tax terms, $700 million would buy a reduction of about six cents. Put another way, that's about 12 percent of what's needed for the whole tax cut.

It's been a bummer of a week for optimists. It looked for a minute there like the Texas Senate had everything lined up on school finance, but they reverted to form and fell into a series of old and new traps.More than a week remains in the special session — more than enough time to pull everything together. But as the third week came to an end, only one bill in the inventory had gone to the governor and two of the five bills in the package were mired in Senate Finance and the folks in charge in the upper chamber were fumbling for a strategy. That one bill on Rick Perry's desk is the biggest tax bill in state history. Taken alone, it might as well have a skull and crossbones on it; Perry isn't likely to sign it without companion legislation that directs the money raised by the tax bill to relief from local school property taxes. The rest of the package — two more tax bills, a bill forcing newly raised funds into property tax relief, another that uses part of the budget surplus to pay for the first year of cuts, and a last one that's supposed to catch any mistakes in the first five — is still winding its way through the Legislature. And as time has passed, the obstacle course has become more difficult. New traps: Tobacco industry lobbying on the amount of the cigarette tax increase and on an intra-industry dispute over taxes on snuff; an insurance-friendly provision to a sales tax bill that would have the effect of lowering, in some cases, what you're paid when you total your car; and whether there's really enough money to cut M&O property taxes to $1, and whether anything in this legislation forces local property taxes to that much-hyped mark. Old traps: Recapture and equity; election dates; school start dates; homestead exemptions; caps on annual increases in property taxes; teacher pay raises (and amounts); and the health stipend for teachers and other school employees that has yo-yoed between $0 and $1,000 since it was put in place in 1997.

Kids will teach you -- quickly -- that an easy to understand promise is one you'd better keep. It's a useful lesson when you're thinking about voters. Tell them you're gonna lower local school property taxes to $1, and anything else -- from $1.01 to $1.50 -- will make you look like a cheat.So Gov. Rick Perry, prompted by the business groups who traded their endorsements on the tax bill for a 50-cent cut in property taxes, is doubling up his wager. His marketing machine is pushing the $1 promise hard as the Senate gets ready to legislate. The state's eight biggest chambers of commerce held a press conference to push the point. Texans for Taxpayer Relief — the non-profit corporation that's raising money to promote Perry's tax plan — sent letters to lawmakers urging them to put the full cuts to $1 into law. And Perry himself held a session with Senate Republicans — they've apparently given up on the Democrats — to tell them nothing less than $1 would do. That puts him at odds, kinda, with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Dewhurst says the House's legislation doesn't balance, and promising a tax cut of a particular size could push future legislatures into a jam. If the taxes passed during this session don't raise the money needed for the school tax break, lawmakers will have to scrape up the funds from other sources. A 50-cent cut in taxes costs somewhere in the $5.5 billion to $6 billion range. Former Comptroller John Sharp, who headed the Texas Tax Reform Commission appointed by Perry, has acknowledged the plan will need to use $1.4 billion of the state surplus as it gets off the ground. He says growth in the economy and in the new business tax will cover that in the years that follow. But the current comptroller, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, says the plan has built-in deficits that will have to be covered in future years by money that's not coming from this session's new taxes. Sharp and others on Perry's end of the see-saw disagree. So you have two competing assertions, and Dewhurst has weighed in with his own numbers. They don't exactly match Strayhorn's, but they're along the same lines. The proposal from the tax commission included a 17-cent cut in the first year of the tax break and a 33-cent cut in the second year. It also lowered the state cap on school property taxes to $1.30 from $1.50. All three numbers disappeared in the House; the first one was replaced with a provision that would take 11.3 percent off a district's current tax rate. And the House bills make no promise for year two, other than saying the money from the new taxes will go to cuts. If more is needed to get to the buck, they didn't make any provision for it. Dewhurst has been reluctant to put the promise in law without some certainty that the money will be there. Perry and a fair number of Senate Republicans want to put the dollar in the bill and hope for the best. Without a constitutional change, this Legislature can't force future lawmakers to do anything; as a practical matter, this could all change the next time the Lege meets. But it would be politically difficult, and that's probably enough. Three timing issues ought to get mentioned somewhere in here. First, even if she thinks the tax package is out of balance, Strayhorn's official pronouncement will only cover whether the plan balances between the time it takes effect and the end of the current two-year budget in August 2007. Since it uses surplus money for its startup, it probably will. And it was designed to get around a comptroller who's also running for governor. Second: The second and last phase of the local school property tax cuts show up on tax bills due in January 2008, two months before a primary election. If voters like it, that'll be good for incumbents. If they don't get what they want, it'll be a good year for challengers. Third: The new business tax will come due for the first time in May 2008, and accountants and other number-crunchers will be looking hard at the numbers at the first of that year. Again, it could influence primaries, for better or for worse.

You know that two-thirds rule that requires a supermajority in the Senate to consider a bill out of the "regular order of business"? There's a loophole.You can find some loud voices on the Republican side of the plane — Houston radio host and (probable) senator-to-be Dan Patrick is one — who want to get rid of that thing because it empowers minority parties. But there's a loophole in the rule and if the Senate uses it, Patrick and others who don't want any new taxes will be on the losing side. That regular order of business flips in mid-week, so that House bills are at the top of the lineup instead of Senate bills. On the Senate list, there's a "blocker bill" that's in the way of the real business; it takes two-thirds to cut in line ahead of that one. On the House list, there's usually a blocker (especially during regular sessions), but there's not one this year. If they don't have two-thirds but want to take up one of the House's tax bills, all the Senate has to do is wait until Wednesday.

Talking, Sampling, Gassing, and SingingThe Texas AFL-CIO will hear from all three challengers to Gov. Rick Perry next week, but not from Perry himself. Democrat Chris Bell and independents Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn will all talk at that group's annual convention in Irving on Monday. • Friedman and Strayhorn have to turn in the signatures they've collected to get on the ballot by the end of business May 11, but it's still not clear how those signatures will be checked, or how quickly. Strayhorn went to court to force Secretary of State Roger Williams — a Perry appointee and supporter — to sample the names to determine whether she's got enough to get on the ballot. He has said he wants to check each of the signatures on her petitions and Friedman's, and that it'll take up to two months. The federal judge who's got that case, Lee Yeakel, said this week he'll decide quickly. To refresh your memory: Independents running for governor need 45,540 signatures from registered voters who didn't vote in the primaries or the runoffs and who didn't sign petitions for any other gubernatorial candidates. Strayhorn says the two-month counting delay would make it hard to raise money. If that's so, it would probably be good news for Bell, the Democrat in the race. Perry, as an incumbent, can raise money. Anti-Perry money that's not sure independents are a good investment might jump into the Bell camp. • U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, has taken to running an Exxon sign with high gas prices on it in his emails. It emphasizes a shot he took at the Republican in the race: Van Taylor's personal financial disclosures indicate he owns $5 million to $25 million in Exxon stock. Edwards has been pressing him to say how much he's made off of the surge in gasoline prices. • There's a third "kinky-toon" up on Friedman's website. He isn't the richest candidate, but he can attract endorsements: the Dixie Chicks, Pat Green, Willie Nelson, Bruce Robison, Billy Joe Shaver, and Kelly Willis. It's online: www.kinkyfriedman.com/multimedia/_video/kinkytoon_03/.

Tanya Vasquez, until now a staffer with Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, is leaving to join Equitas Strategies, a new Democratic consulting firm in Austin started by the Robert Jones who's not a lobbyist. Matt Phillips is leaving Sen. Steve Ogden's employ after five years with the Bryan Republican; he's the new government relations director for the Brazos River Authority. The Associated Republicans of Texas has new officers: Hector DeLeon of Austin will be chairman and treasurer; Dr. Walter Wilkerson of Conroe, vice chair; William McMinn of Houston will be finance chairman and Pat Sweeney Robbins of Austin will be the secretary. Related: Norm Newton, who's still on that group's board, is cooking up a new political action committee: The Alliance PAC will back pro-bidness candidates. Gov. Rick Perry named Conrith Davis, a sales exec with AS Legal in Sugar Land, to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The governor named Juan Sanchez Munoz of Lubbock to the Texas Youth Commission. He's an associate professor at Texas Tech University and a special assistant to that school's president. Perry named James Greer, an exec and engineer with TXU Electric Delivery in Keller, and G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor for engineering at the Texas A&M University System, to the Texas Board of Professional Engineers. Perry reappointed John Snider as chairman of the Finance Commission; he's president of Shelby Savings Bank in Center. And the State Health Services Council has two new members and two reappointed ones. The newbies are Graciela Cigarroa, a San Antonio attorney, and Jacinto Juarez, a computer science prof and dean emeritus at Laredo Community College. Perry reappointed Dr. Jaime Davidson, who teaches at UT Southwestern Medical School and is president Endocrine and Diabetes Associates in Dallas, and Jim Springfield, president and CEO of Valley Baptist Health System in Harlingen.

A group of senators, irked by the lieutenant governor's chronic tardiness, are circulating a letter asking David Dewhurst to let them know when he's not gonna make it to the start of each legislative session so they can put someone in the chair to get things going until he's present.Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, wouldn't give us a copy of the letter and said the senators are not trying to embarrass anyone. He didn't say how many senators have signed, or which ones. But they'd like to get going when they're supposed to get going, and the letter is meant as a gentle prod in that direction. Other senators have talked about changing the rules in the upper chamber to automatically put the president pro tempore or the Dean of the Senate in the chair when the Lite Guv isn't on hand. That would be more than a gentle prod.