In politics, everybody loves to talk about transparency. But one Texan's transparency is another’s right to privacy, and people generally find it easier to demand openness than to provide it.

It was a call for more transparent elections — to bring shadowy political money into the light of day — that drove the Senate to approve Senate Bill 346 by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarill0, by a 23-6 margin last week.

But then political interest groups on both the left and the right decided they didn’t want to be forced to disclose major donors to their 501(c)(4) committees, or politically active nonprofits. So lawmakers were pressured to change their votes.

And in a highly unusual parliamentary maneuver a day later, the Senate approved, 21-10, a measure to “recall’’ the bill. But by then, the legislation was in the custody of the Texas House, which has scheduled a public hearing on Wednesday. They aren't sending the bill back, so the fight has shifted there.

Opponents are now equating the need for secrecy with the right of free speech, a connection Seliger rejected.

“It addresses only transparency, which almost every member of this body claims to support,” Seliger said in an email. “However, evidence indicates otherwise." 

The love-hate relationship with transparency has also been on display in the highly public spat between the University of Texas System and the Legislature.

UT regents have been demanding that UT-Austin be more transparent, by demanding the campus provide voluminous records and, at one point, requiring UT President Bill Powers to keep all of his incoming and outgoing emails.

“We’re under a great deal of pressure right now from the Legislature and others to increase and ensure transparency,” Regent Paul Foster said right before a recent vote seeking more information about a controversial law school program.

Never mind that Gov. Rick Perry, who appointed the regents, has a controversial office policy of deleting emails once a week unless there is some specific requirement they be kept. Or that Regent Wallace Hall, who has helped lead the charge for more openness at UT, angered legislators for failing to disclose several lawsuits as required on his application to become a regent.

After state lawmakers turned the tables on the UT System and demanded some transparency there, Regents Chairman Gene Powell initially said the request for documents was too broad and may “disrupt the power” of the system to fulfill its mission. The full board, facing an uproar at the Capitol, reversed course and voted earlier this month to provide the records.

The lesson here is that it’s hard to be openly hostile to open government. No one needs to school Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, about that. He was pilloried for pushing lawmakers to reveal their personal business dealings with local government entities. But the attacks on his HB 524 backfired and and some of his critics have since become enthusiastic cheerleaders for it. 

Capriglione is now pushing another bill, authored by Rep. Bill Callegari, R-Houston, that would introduce more transparency in public pension systems and that would allow the public to get a clearer look at future liabilities. For now, the bill would still keep secret an individual’s pension benefit, and it exempts state legislators’ lucrative pensions from the heightened scrutiny altogether at this point. Capriglione favors adding an amendment making the legislation apply to lawmakers, too.

In the meantime, he’s gotten an earful from public sector pension advocates who are fighting the release of individual pension information because they say it would undermine their privacy and could even jeopardize their safety.

“They all say they want transparency,” Capriglione said. “And in the same breath that they say they’re for transparency, they’re talking about how to remove it.” 

A landmark water case pitting North Texas against Oklahoma goes to the U.S. Supreme Court next week. The Tarrant Regional Water District, which serves Fort Worth and the surrounding area, has sought more water from Oklahoma, but the Sooner State isn’t selling.

The case could have impacts far beyond the Texas-Oklahoma border, experts said. The Tarrant Regional Water District, eager to supply a growing population, is arguing that Oklahoma must make more water available for sale to Texas. Oklahoma says that under the Red River Compact, signed in 1980, it does not have to sell the water to Texas.

Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a water-focused nonprofit based in California, said that he and other water experts across the nation are watching the outcome. “Every state-to-state dispute sets a precedent for other states that are having these kinds of challenges,” he said, noting that water disputes are becoming more common.

“The bigger, broader context is that the dispute between Texas and Oklahoma is symptomatic of a growing number of border water disputes — between Georgia and Tennessee, between Georgia and Alabama and Florida, all along the [western] Colorado River,” Gleick said.

The case could have implications on interpretation of the Constitution’s interstate commerce clause, and also on whether Oklahoma’s efforts to stop or discourage out-of-state water sales would be trumped by a multi-state compact.

This plays out against the backdrop of continued severe drought. As of April 18, the vast majority of Texas is experiencing drought, with 12 percent of the state  experiencing "exceptional" drought, the worst category. Major water legislation continues to wend its way through the Legislature, meanwhile. House Bill 4, creating a revolving fund for water projects, has passed the House, and HB 11, which would provide $2 billion in funding for the water bill, was heard in House Appropriations this week.

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Texas, the leading wind-power state, continues to add turbines. Developers of nearly 21,000 megawatts of capacity — roughly double the amount currently on ERCOT, the Texas power grid — are seeking interconnection agreements from ERCOT. There is no guarantee the projects will be built. Still, “there are the makings of a very busy wind build over 2013-2014,” Andy Bowman, president of Austin-based Pioneer Green Energy, said in an email.

The federal government approved the extension of a key wind incentive, called the production tax credit, at the beginning of the year. The incentive lasts until the end of 2013, and this week, the Internal Revenue Service came out with much-anticipated rules governing how companies can qualify for the credit. The rules allow developers to receive the credit if they have started significant construction or have spent 5 percent of the project’s cost already and are making good progress.

“There really aren’t many places you can move quickly enough on to qualify for the [production tax credit] this year, except ERCOT,” Bowman said. “This is because we have limited permitting risk and a pretty quick grid queue to move through, in comparison to other areas.”

A major build-out of wind-power transmission lines, which are costing ratepayers nearly $7 billion, is on course to be completed by the end of this year.

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Monday, April 22, is Earth Day. RSVP for the TribLive event first thing that morning in Austin, featuring Bryan Shaw of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Jim Marston of the Environmental Defense Fund and Laura Huffman of the Nature Conservancy.

In this edition of the Texas Weekly Newsreel: A Senate committee approves an education bill cutting some current requirements for high school diplomas, the House wants to make texting and driving a crime, and the governor calls for tax cuts.

You can view the video at: https://trib.it/ZCzCIQ

If it spends money on roads, the insiders are for it. We asked about transportation in this week’s survey — and about how to find the money to pay for it.

Nearly three quarters of the insiders like the idea of using sales taxes on vehicles for transportation instead of the general budget. Two thirds would support using money from the Rainy Day Fund. Another 59 percent would support the idea of using all gasoline tax revenue for transportation and finding another source for the 25 percent of those funds that now goes to public education. Should the state raise fees for roads? That’s acceptable to 65 percent of the insiders. About that same number said the state should increase spending for transportation even if it means busting the constitutional cap on growth in state spending.

We collected verbatim comments along the way and those are attached. Here’s a sampling:

Should Texas dedicate taxes on vehicle sales to transportation?

• "I don't know what the best way is to dedicate new revenue to transportation but vehicle sales seems to be as good/bad as anything else. With fuel efficiency standards constantly increasing, it makes sense for the state to find a new and stable source of revenue."

• "A fine idea, if there is some other way to raise the $8 billion that the MV sales tax supplies to GR every budget. Not that easy."

• "Add a car to the road, provide a portion of the money for roads!"

• "Yes, especially if we're really, truly, this-time-it's-for-real, going to spend dedicated funds for their dedicated purposes. And 'transportation' should mean roads--NOT HIGH SPEED RAIL."

• "We need to build roads or we are in trouble, period."

Should the state use money in the Rainy Day Fund for transportation?

• "We can use the Fund now to fix our aging infrastructure or increase taxes in the future."

• "It would be irresponsible not to use a portion of what's in our savings to fix the problem we have today, then create a reliable revenue stream for the future that does not include the Rainy Day Fund"

• "Of course; it's there to be used. Also for public education, which should have been funded from the RDF two years ago. Never too late."

• "If there are one-time expenditures that will improve our infrastructure in a way to help create more Texas jobs, then let's do it."

• "I'm really conflicted on this. Typically, I'm in the crowd that says no rainy day money for recurring expenses, but we are so far behind the eight-ball in the shale-play areas that I'm leaning toward cracking the piggy bank--provided we come up with some regular income streams devoted to roads."

• "They hardly used any for public education so why in the hell would I support it for roads. Get some asphalt and patch them up."

• "Here's a novel idea: equal shares for the Big 3. Whatever transportation gets out of the RDF, so doth Education and Water."

Should the state use all of the gasoline tax for transportation and find a substitute for the 25 percent that now goes to education?

• "Who do you rob...Peter or Paul?"

• "We should raise the gas tax."

• "I am torn here - transportation infrastructure needs funding, but unless we find a way to replace that 25% in the education budget it should remain there!"

• "The best outcome of the session for transportation would be to end all diversions...."

• "Removing money from education would have to replaced from somewhere. If we need to raise the gasoline tax by a dime, so be it. I don't see the Lege cutting education again."

• "Hell NO! You actually think those clowns would find a substitute for the quarter that goes to pub ed? Come on, now."

Should the state find the money for transportation by raising fees?

• "We're carving out all of these lanes to make it easier for bicyclists to run stop signs and red lights, why don't we make them pay registration fees?"

• "NO new taxes!"

• "If by 'fees' you mean tolls that would allow roads to be built sooner than they otherwise would be, then, 'yes.' Otherwise, 'no.'"

• "We are 'feeing' people to death already."

• "The gas tax has not been raised in two decades and should be to help fill the transportation funding gap."

• "Registration for all vehicles should be raised. With 26 million residents, $10 would get you more than a 1/4 billion dollars."

• "That's the only real answer. We can't keep trying bond ourselves into transportation paradise."

Should Texas increase spending for transportation if it means busting the constitutional cap on budget increases?

• "I don't see why we have the Rainy Day Fund if it's going to be subject to the constitutional cap. Isn't that why you have a Rainy Day Fund in the first place?"

• "Unfortunately yes. We are not recognizing that there is a problem if we continue to point to the cap and say, 'well, sorry we can't.' If we had been more responsible the last decade the cap wouldn't be a problem. But we were not, and now is not the time to hide behind it. Fix the whole problem; don't invest in putting up the walls and hope that you can afford a roof later. You'll look like an idiot when it rains."

• "While there may be legitimate reasons for busting the cap, roads ain't one of them."

• "Oh please -- it's not that hard. The constitutional cap can be broken by a simple majority vote. In fact, it was broken as recently as 2007. But the real problem is that there isn't usually enough revenue to even get to the cap. There isn't this time either, unless you get into the Rainy Day Fund."

• "If cap-busting is required to make one-time expenditures out of the Rainy Day fund, we should put that vote to the people."

• "We are close to a crisis."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Brandon Aghamalian, Jenny Aghamalian, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Doc Arnold, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Tom Banning, Dave Beckwith, Rebecca Bernhardt, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Andy Brown, David Cabrales, Kerry Cammack, Marc Campos, Thure Cannon, Snapper Carr, Janis Carter, Elizabeth Christian, Elna Christopher, Kevin Cooper, Beth Cubriel, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, Hector De Leon, June Deadrick, Nora Del Bosque, Tom Duffy, David Dunn, Jeff Eller, Jack Erskine, John Esparza, Jon Fisher, Wil Galloway, Norman Garza, Dominic Giarratani, Eric Glenn, Kinnan Golemon, Jim Grace, John Greytok, Clint Hackney, Anthony Haley, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Adam Haynes, Ken Hodges, Laura Huffman, Deborah Ingersoll, Cal Jillson, Jason Johnson, Mark Jones, Robert Jones, Lisa Kaufman, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Sandy Kress, Nick Lampson, Pete Laney, Dick Lavine, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Ruben Longoria, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Bryan Mayes, Dan McClung, Scott McCown, Robert Miller, Mike Moses, Steve Murdock, Nelson Nease, Keats Norfleet, Pat Nugent, Pat Oxford, Nef Partida, Gardner Pate, Jerry Philips, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Richard Pineda, Allen Place, Kraege Polan, Gary Polland, Jay Propes, Bill Ratliff, Tim Reeves, Patrick Reinhart, Grant Ruckel, Jason Sabo, Andy Sansom, Jim Sartwelle, Stan Schlueter, Robert Scott, Dan Shelley, Christopher Shields, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Todd Smith, Larry Soward, Leonard Spearman, Dennis Speight, Jason Stanford, Bob Strauser, Colin Strother, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Sherry Sylvester, Russ Tidwell, Trey Trainor, Vicki Truitt, Ware Wendell, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick, Peck Young, Angelo Zottarelli.

Monday, April 22

• House International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs, 9 a.m.
• Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Matters, 2 p.m.
• Senate Nominations, 11:30 a.m.
• House Investments and Financial Services, 12:30 p.m.
• House Elections, 2 p.m.
• House Government Efficiency and Reform, 2 p.m.
• House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, 2 p.m.
• House Land and Resource Management, 2 p.m.
• House Pensions, 2 p.m.
• House Technology, 2 p.m.
• House Ways and Means, 2 p.m.
• Senate Open Government, 2 p.m.

Tuesday, April 23

 

• House Natural Resources, 8 a.m.
• House Transportation, 8 a.m.
• Senate Health and Human Services, 9 a.m.
• Senate Jurisprudence, 1:30 p.m.
• House Environmental Regulation, 10:30 a.m.
• House Human Services, 10:30 a.m.
• House Licensing and Administrative Procedures, noon
• House Business and Industry, 1:30 p.m.
• House Insurance, 2 p.m.

Wednesday, April 24

• Senate Transportation, 8 a.m.
• House State Affairs, 1 p.m.
• House Corrections, 2 p.m.

 

A fertilizer plant in West caught fire and then exploded Wednesday night, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens more. The fatalities, according to early reports, included volunteer firefighters who were trying to control a fire at the West Fertilizer Co. plant when it exploded. The plant was located near a nursing home and an apartment complex in the community north of Waco.

Kim Lene Williams, in a confession to officials in Kaufman County, said her husband, former Justice of the Peace Eric Lyle Williams, shot and killed two prosecutors and one of their wives, while she drove him to and from the shootings. Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were killed in their home; Mark Hasse was killed in January. Eric Williams had been found guilty of stealing computer monitors after a prosecution by the two men he later killed. 

Three days after Gov. Rick Perry raised the possibility of new revenue streams — including the issuing of 100-year bonds — to fund transportation, members of Texas Tea Parties warned legislators against caving on conservative principles. Perry wasn't finished, though; after the Tea Partiers had their say, he unveiled a four-point, $1.6 billion business tax relief plan that includes an across-the-board rate reduction of the business franchise tax. Perry told lawmakers later in the week that he's not against them tapping the state's Rainy Day Fund so long as they leave $7 billion or so in that account, and also told them he is not opposed to lawmakers breaking the constitutional limit on growth in state spending.

Despite the governor’s continuing opposition to expanding Medicaid, a House panel considered legislation that would expand coverage to poor adults under the Affordable Care Act.  Amid hours of testimony from advocates in support of Medicaid expansion this week, state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, described his proposal for an alternative program to provide health coverage for the poor and uninsured.

After a day of testimony in the Senate Education Committee, comprehensive legislation reducing state standardized tests and restructuring high school graduation requirements has now cleared its first hurdle in the upper chamber. That session included Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, slamming national media coverage that accused lawmakers of "dumbing down" the state's graduation standards.

A troubled cancer-fighting charity paid a tobacco lobbyist to represent its interests in the Legislature, even as it was winding down its operations and facing the wrath of lawmakers. Lobbyist Jay Maguire and the charity’s executive director, Jennifer Stevens, both said they saw no conflict in the arrangement. But some former board members said they were unaware of Maguire’s tobacco ties when he was hired.

Carolina de Onís is the new general counsel for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. She’s a former regulator with 15 years of Wall Street experience; according to the agency.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is sending these five senators into the conference committee on the budget: Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands; Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen; Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock; Jane Nelson R-Flower Mound; and John Whitmire, D-Houston.

Speaker Joe Straus appointed former U.S. Rep. Pete Geren, D-Fort Worth, to the oversight committee of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Geren is president of the Sid Richardson Foundation and served for eight years at the U.S. Department of Defense. 

Gov. Rick Perry appointed

• William Lucas of Center to the Finance Commission of Texas. Lucas is president and COO of Shelby Savings Bank.

• Manuel “Manny” Cavazos IV of Austin to chair the Credit Union Commission and named three others to that board, including Allyson “Missy” Morrow of San Benito, Barbara “Kay” Stewart of Daingerfield, and Vik Vad of Austin. Cavazos is a rancher, attorney and CPA. Morrow is CEO of the Harlingen Area Teachers’ Credit Union. Stewart is president and CEO of the North East Texas Credit Union. Vad is a real estate broker and president of Om Capital Management.

Deaths: Dr. Joe Thigpen of Haskell, father of Texas First Lady Anita Perry. He was 92.

Bob Perry, Houston homebuilder and a conservative mega-donor on both the state and federal levels for more than three decades. He was 80.