Enlarge Bob Daemmrich / Marjorie Kamys Cotera

This is one in a series of occasional stories about ethics and transparency in the part-time Texas Legislature.

Six months before the Texas Legislature kicked into gear, Gov. Rick Perry told reporters that candidates for public office should be as “transparent” as they can possibly be with their personal financial interests.

It has remained the term du jour for state leaders this legislative session, used by everyone from House Speaker Joe Straus to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to endorse honesty in budgeting, improve grant-making in the state’s troubled cancer agency and get to the bottom of conflicts in higher education.

But with just four weeks remaining in the legislative session, there has been little to no pressure from the top — including key committee chairs — to pass measures that would force greater transparency upon Texas’ elected officials.

The state's top leaders say they've been focused on pressing legislative priorities. For Perry, that's improving budget transparency. For Straus it's water, education and transportation. For Dewhurst, it ranges from balancing the budget without raising taxes to reforming high-stakes testing and expanding school choice.  

While Dewhurst has not been out promoting lawmaker transparency bills, the lieutenant governor said that "government transparency has always been a priority of mine." He is supporting legislation the comptroller proposed to help taxpayers better understand state finances, and added that "the Legislature has also reacted strongly this session to [the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas'] lack of transparency as well as transparency issues with the UT Board of Regents." 

Straus said while he believes ethics reforms that directly affect lawmakers are important, he wants to "let the process work." (The bill to reauthorize the Texas Ethics Commission, which could potentially be loaded up with transparency amendments, could hit the House floor as early as this week.) Straus also pointed to his own appointees to the board that oversees the Ethics Commission, and said he expected them "to take the lead on many of these issues."  

Perry wouldn't comment on specific legislation. While he has voluntarily released his own tax returns for years, and said that "transparency and accountability to the people of Texas is extremely important to me," he has stopped short of publicly backing measures that would force legislators to disclose more information.   

Instead, he said, "Texans deserve a much higher level of transparency when it comes to their tax dollars. We need to make it easier for them follow how their hard earned dollars are spent in Austin." 

State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, said it's one thing to call for transparency in state government, another entirely to hold lawmakers to higher standards. “Anytime a bill impacts the legislators directly, it seems to go nowhere,” she said. “It shields us from transparency.” 

Several bills in the House and Senate that would improve reporting on lawmakers’ outdated personal financial forms or put the archaic paper filings online haven’t even gotten hearings in the three committees where they’ve been referred: Senate State Affairs, House State Affairs and House Elections.

Three bipartisan bills aimed at slowing the revolving door that sends elected and appointed officials directly into the lobby appear jammed; two haven’t received hearings and one has been pending in committee for weeks.

A House bill to end Texas’ practice of double-dipping — which has allowed politicians, including Perry, to start reaping retirement benefits without leaving their jobs — only recently got an initial hearing.

And a measure with 25 co-authors that was nearly derailed during a tumultuous February hearing — Rep. Giovanni Capriglione’s bill to require lawmakers and their immediate families to report contracts with governmental entities — is still tangled up in House State Affairs. The Senate companion filed by Davis hasn’t gotten a hearing.

Asked about the fate of such ethics legislation, House State Affairs Committee Chairman Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, said it’s not that legislators are opposed to shining a bright light on their own affairs. “The whole issue with transparency is, let’s deal with it in a forthright manner,” he said. “If we’re going to advance transparency, let’s make sure we do it right.”

His Senate counterpart, State Affairs Chairman Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said he's not opposed to such measures, but that they should be executed in the context of comprehensive reform, rather than with "single-shot" bills from lawmakers fresh off the campaign trail.  

“In the system of ethics reform that we operate under, I think most members believe that these single-shot bills shouldn’t be heard, and we shouldn’t deal with ethics reform on a piece-meal basis," he said. 

So far, the only “transparency” legislation getting real traction would establish interim studies on ethics, require elected officials who run for higher office (i.e., Perry) to cover their travel and security expenses with campaign funds and force politically active nonprofits to reveal the identities of their major donors. None of those bills change the level of disclosure for lawmakers themselves.   

Capriglione, R-Southlake, expressed frustration with the process. He said that the lower chamber has already passed an interior decorating bill, but not meaningful transparency legislation. “I thought we’d be a lot farther along by this point, given the conversations we were having prior to the session," he said. 

A spokesman for Dewhurst said that while the lieutenant governor has disclosed his own personal finances (in the form of tax returns during his failed bid for U.S. Senate), legislating lawmaker transparency can be complicated. He noted that the Center for Public Integrity ranked Texas fourth for financial disclosure by lawmakers. 

"Texas needs to require sufficient disclosure to allow voters to make informed decisions and help avoid conflicts of interest," said Travis Considine, chief spokesman for Dewhurst. "But we don't want to unnecessarily discourage good people from running for office because the process is too invasive for them and their family." 

Enlarge Illustration by Todd Wiseman

The end-of-session budget drama sets up nicely. The building blocks, in no particular order:

• Texas lawmakers have more money than they can spend without voting to exceed the constitutional limit on growth.

• The comptroller expects the state to end the next biennium with almost $12 billion in the Rainy Day Fund, and state leaders hostile to using that money for anything but one-time expenses have warmed somewhat to other uses.

• Both houses have approved budgets that remain below the limits. The House's general revenue budget totals $93.48 billion, while the Senate's sum is $94.08 billion. The current budget, including supplemental spending adjustments made by the Legislative Budget Board, uses $87.39 billion in general revenue. That's off to conference committee for reconciliation.

• Each house is asking its members to approve more spending than the cap would allow. The Senate wants to send a constitutional amendment to voters, asking them to approve a $5.7 billion withdrawal from the Rainy Day Fund to use for transportation, water and education programs. The House is asking members next week to approve a $2 billion draw from that account to pay for the water bill already approved by the House this session.

• Another supplemental appropriation bill is on tap in the House that could serve as a test vote on how this might all work out.

• Gov. Rick Perry told Republican legislators that they should use money from the Rainy Day Fund for some of these programs, so long as they leave $7.5 billion, more or less, in that account to keep the bond rating houses happy and to use when the next economic surprise comes along and the state needs cash.

• Perry also told his fellow Republicans that they shouldn’t worry about busting the spending cap — that he stands ready and willing to defend them against anyone who comes after them for it.

• Democrats aren’t really included in that mix, but don’t forget about them. If education money comes out of the extra spending going on at the end of the session, they might not join in. Combine that with conservatives who want to hold the line for whatever reason and supporters might find themselves scrounging for votes. A water-only plan might work, and the House is trying that next week. Senators added education to their constitutional amendment to get the Democrats on board, but it might be difficult to get 100 votes for that in the House. It might be hard to get a water funding bill through the Senate without money for transportation and education.

Democrats want to replace the education cuts made in 2011. Members from both parties want to fund the water legislation if for no other reason than four-fifths of the state is in drought and voters are watching. Transportation projects go on hold pretty rapidly without new money, and there is bipartisan support for some of those. 

This comes down to whether members — particularly Republicans — are more tuned to financial worries over taxes and fees and preserving the Rainy Day Fund and breaking the spending cap, or to concerns about programs and services, especially water, transportation and education. Efforts to reorder the state's spending priorities fell far short during the budget debate in the House, but that could return if lawmakers think they can find the money for their darlings by cutting other spending already in place.

Enlarge Marjorie Kamys Cotera

Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen listens to HB5 debate in House on March 26th, 2013. There are currently 165 amendments to the bill and debate is expected to go well into the night

As lawmakers hammer out the terms of charter school legislation, political operatives better known for their activities in other venues have popped up among the usual cast of characters in education committee meetings.

Most notable among those new faces has been Texans for Lawsuit Reform co-founder Dick Trabulsi, who is now lobbying for Texans For Education Reform, a newly formed advocacy organization headed by former Senate Education Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and whose priorities aside from charter school policy also include teacher quality and virtual education initiatives. The group also keeps several other prominent Republican consultants — Anthony Holm, Mike Toomey and Jordan Berry — on payroll.

Trabulsi’s organization has played a key role in advancing Senate Education Chairman Dan Patrick’s Senate Bill 2, which would expand the number of charter schools in the state. But despite the high-profile support, the Houston Republican’s bill has undergone a significant transformation since it was initially proposed, primarily in response to the opposition of a more established education advocacy group, Raise Your Hand Texas.

Founded in 2006 by San Antonio grocery mogul Charles Butt, the group has deployed its own team of high-powered lobbyists against the provisions they believed threaten the well-being of the traditional public schools serving a majority of the state’s students.

Patrick originally intended to completely lift the state's 215-school cap on charter contracts. Now, his legislation would incrementally increase the contracts available to 305 in 2019. As the bill made its way through the Senate, Patrick also dropped a requirement for school districts to lease or sell underused buildings to charter schools and another that would have provided facilities funding for charters. Another deleted proposal would have created a new state authorizing board focused solely on overseeing the charter school system.

Even with those changes, if successful, SB 2 will be the largest piece of school choice reform the Legislature has passed since 1995. After the upper chamber’s thorough negotiations, it has a better chance of passing than a similar slate of charter school bills that languished in 2011.

Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, was the bill’s lone dissenter on the Senate floor. He issued a statement saying he could not vote to expand charters until the Legislature adequately addresses the issues of overregulation and inequitable funding in traditional public schools. Some of his colleagues in the lower chamber, which has been the graveyard for charter measures in the past, might share his sentiments.

During a recent House Public Education Committee meeting, Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, told members he intended to move quickly with the bill, indicating they would take a vote on it during Tuesday’s meeting. Questions about the legislation's transfer of approval authority from the State Board of Education to the Texas Education Agency dominated the hearing, which also included an unusual appearance by Republican Party of Texas Chairman Steve Munisteri in support of the legislation.

Trabulsi gave committee members an overview of the negotiation process in the Senate.

“All of the mechanisms and procedures have been well thought out,” he said, adding later, “My perception is that a lot of people have done a lot of work to get to where we are today.”

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It's very easy for Texas politicians to represent the people who elect them without necessarily representing the people of the state. The answer to that depends on whether the people doing the voting represent the people who live in the state and don’t vote. And the latter group is a lot bigger than the former.

The math is simple, and the numbers are readily available from the Texas Legislative Council and the Texas secretary of state. In 2012, Texas had 26.1 million residents, a voting age population of 18.3 million, a citizen voting age population of 15.6 million and 13.6 million registered voters. Just under 8 million people voted in the November general election; 1.5 million voted in the Republican primary, and 657,833 voted in the Democratic primary. 

In congressional and legislative elections in particular, the number of people who vote in primaries is critical. Only a handful of those districts is competitive in November elections, thanks to the strength of political redistricting efforts designed to carve the state into distinctly Republican and Democratic territories. That takes most of those elections out of the hands of general election voters, who greatly outnumber their counterparts in the party primaries.

We’ve charted the 2012 turnout and population numbers — by district — in for the congressional and legislative elections to illustrate the vast difference between residing and voting in Texas.

The charts are built from numbers for population, voting age population and citizen voting age population, all of which come from U.S. census counts and estimates, broken down into political districts by the TLC. Numbers for election turnouts and voter registration are generated by the secretary of state, again broken down into district numbers by the TLC. The numbers reflect the districts drawn by federal judges and actually used in the 2012 elections. The chart above shows the statewide numbers; the charts below, the variation across political districts.

Senate districts are allowed to vary a small amount in overall size, which explains the jagged line for total population.

Enlarge Ross Ramsey

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Congressional districts are designed to be exactly the same size; thus the straight line for total population of each district. There are two Greens, both from Houston, both Democrats: Al is the one on the left and Gene is the one on the right in the chart below. And there are two Johnsons: Sam, R-Plano, is on the left and Eddie Bernice, D-Dallas, is on the right.

Enlarge Ross Ramsey

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With 150 seats, there isn't room to label each House district. Instead, we bunched the districts around each set of numbers (population, VAP, CVAP, etc.) to illustrate the difference between the number of Texas, to the left, and the number of Texans who vote in primary elections, to the far right. In 2012, less than 12 percent of the voting age population turned out for the Republican and Democratic primary elections.

Enlarge Ross Ramsey

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In this edition of the Newsreel: The conversation in West turns to regulation, the Senate wants to ask voters to use Rainy Day Fund money, the House undoes the state lottery and then puts it back together, and some Texas prosecutors are in hot water.

You can view the video at: https://trib.it/15S1fpj

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As criminal justice issues flooded the news last week, we asked the insiders some questions about prosecutors and perps — who turn out, once in a while, to be the same people.

Almost three in four insiders said prosecutors convicted and imprisoned for breaking the law should be forced to resign. That relates to the headlines about Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County district attorney sent to jail for drunk driving.

The insiders split on a question inspired by state Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City. He’s able to avoid court dates on a barratry charge while the Legislature is in session, and the insiders divided almost exactly evenly about whether that’s appropriate.

In Williamson County, former District Attorney Ken Anderson has been charged in connection with the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton, who served 25 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Anderson’s lawyers argue the statute of limitations on the case expired long ago; 71 percent of the insiders say there should be no such limit in wrongful prosecution cases. And in a related matter, 79 percent say it would be a good idea to require prosecutors and defense attorneys to share important evidence in criminal cases.

Finally, we asked about suspending Miranda rights in cases like the bombings at the Boston Marathon. A majority of 54 percent said federal officials should be allowed to suspend those rights; 44 percent said the feds shouldn’t have that power.

We collected verbatim comments along the way and a full set is attached. Here are some of the highlights:

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Should Texas prosecutors be required to resign if they are convicted and imprisoned for breaking the law?

• "No brainer. Break the law as a prosecutor, then you're no longer a prosecutor. Not always fair, but then again neither is our justice system."

• "'AND imprisoned'?! Is there really any daylight in cases like that?"

• "It depends on where you draw the line. A conviction of a felony or theft, resign. A conviction for a misdemeanor, no automatic resignation"

• "Depends on what law they broke."

• "Really depends on the details, doesn't it? Which law? First-time DWI; I don't think so."

• "Depends upon the circumstances. In most cases, they will probably lose their job anyway."

• "If she were a Republican, this would be a no-brainer. Only partisanship and wanting a check on state officials keeps me on her side."

• "We must hold prosecutors to the highest standards."

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Should lawmakers accused of crimes be allowed to delay their court appearances during a legislative session?

• "The voters deserve their representation."

• "Does anyone else get a break from a judge because of a part-time job?"

• "Although obviously abused, this rule also prevents abuse via politically motivated indictment."

• "Innocent until the State proves otherwise.”

• "In theory NO, in the reality of politics it is necessary. Now, letting attorney/legislators delay cases simply because the legislature is in session is pure sleaze."

• "You must look from the constituent's point of view. They deserve representation, even if their representative/senator is a criminal."

• "If we do not permit such a delay, we run the risk of politically motivated charges being levied to change the vote on a specific high profile issues."

• "They can what?!"

• "This was put in place to make certain no politics are played to keep lawmakers from voting. We should keep it."

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Should the state have a statute of limitations on wrongful prosecutions?

• "It seems to take so long for the justice system to determine whether there was a wrongful prosecution, that a statute setting a particular end date could not cover every injustice."

• "Yes. Statutes of limitations exist because of the reality that with the passage of time, memories fade, witnesses die, and exculpatory evidence is destroyed. This is equally true with case of this type."

• "Once the time is served, you cannot get it back. The person initiating the wrong should pay the same consequence."

• "Not for intentional misconduct by the state's representative to the court."

• "The statute of limitations should run two years beyond the prison term handed out to the wrongly convicted"

• "The statute of limitations should start when the poor guy got out of prison. It's contrary to the interests of justice that the effects of his crime insulate him from his crime."

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Should the state pass an “open file” law requiring criminal prosecutors and defense lawyers to share important evidence?

• "Surely criminal prosecutors should have to share important evidence with defense lawyers, but the concept of defense lawyers sharing all evidence with prosecutors just doesn't seem right."

• "Criminal prosecutors ALREADY have to share evidence, especially exculpatory evidence. However, defense counsel should NEVER be required to hand over incriminating evidence!"

• "Clearly the prosecution should."

• "Do you really believe the guilty want to share their information with prosecutors?"

• "Absolutely. Both defendants and prosecutors need to have access to the same evidence."

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Should the federal government be able to suspend Miranda rights for defendants in cases like the Boston Marathon bombings?

• "Yes, if the interrogation is for national security purposes and not prosecutorial purposes, Miranda rights should not even be an issue!"

• "An American citizen acting within the U.S. should retain his/her full rights, regardless of the crime."

• "The Bill of Rights is the Bill of Rights. Otherwise, the lynch mob becomes judge and jury."

• "Yes, but it should be limited as much as possible, both to the number of incidences and the amount of time rights are suspended for any one incidence. This is a provision that could be inappropriately used and result over time in a loss of everyone's fundamental rights."

• "A constitutional 'right' isn't something the government should be suspending."

• "For a US citizen no; non US yes"

• "Supreme Court said this is fine. They can't use what he says before he's Mirandized in court. That's fair. Need to make sure he's not part of some sleeper cell."

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, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Hugh Brady, Chris Britton, David Cabrales, Raif Calvert, Lydia Camarillo, Kerry Cammack, Thure Cannon, Snapper Carr, Janis Carter, Elna Christopher, Addie Mae Crimmins, Beth Cubriel, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, Hector De Leon, Eva De Luna-Castro, June Deadrick, Roberto DeHoyos, Tom Duffy, David Dunn, Jeff Eller, Jack Erskine, Wil Galloway, Neftali Garcia, Norman Garza, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Stephanie Gibson, Kinnan Golemon, Jim Grace, John Greytok, Jack Gullahorn, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, John Heasley, Ken Hodges, Deborah Ingersoll, Richie Jackson, Cal Jillson, Mark Jones, Robert Jones, Lisa Kaufman, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Sandy Kress, Nick Lampson, Pete Laney, Dick Lavine, James LeBas, Donald Lee, Luke Legate, Leslie Lemon, Ruben Longoria, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Phillip Martin, Scott McCown, Mike McKinney, Robert Miller, Mike Moses, Steve Murdock, Keir Murray, Nelson Nease, Keats Norfleet, Pat Nugent, Sylvia Nugent, Nef Partida, Gardner Pate, Robert Peeler, Jerry Philips, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Richard Pineda, Allen Place, Kraege Polan, Gary Polland, Jay Pritchard, Jay Propes, Ted Melina Raab, Bill Ratliff, Patrick Reinhart, Kim Ross, Jeff Rotkoff, Grant Ruckel, Jason Sabo, Andy Sansom, Jim Sartwelle, Stan Schlueter, Bruce Scott, Robert Scott, Bradford Shields, Christopher Shields, Jason Skaggs, Brian Sledge, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Todd Smith, Larry Soward, Dennis Speight, Tom Spilman, Jason Stanford, Keith Strama, Bob Strauser, Colin Strother, Charles Stuart, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Sherry Sylvester, Jay Thompson, Russ Tidwell, Trey Trainor, Joe Valenzuela, Darren Whitehurst, Woody Widrow, Seth Winick, Peck Young, Angelo Zottarelli.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Monday, April 29

• House International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs, 9 a.m.
• House Elections, 10 a.m.
• Senate Administration, 11 a.m.
• Senate Nominations, 11 a.m.
• House Investments and Financial Services, 1 p.m.
• House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, 2 p.m.
• House Technology, 2 p.m.
• House Ways and Means, 2 p.m.
• Senate Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security, 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 30

• House Environmental Regulation, 10:30 a.m.
• House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations, 1 p.m.
• Senate Jurisprudence, 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 1

• House Homeland Security and Public Safety, 8 a.m.
• Senate Transportation, 8 a.m.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center opened at Dallas’ Southern Methodist University this week, with the five living presidents and a crowd of dignitaries on hand to mark the opening of the state’s third presidential library. It’s there to tell Bush’s side of the story, as noted by former President Bill Clinton, who has a library of his own and called this one “the latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history.”

Texas senators hammered out a sweeping deal to increase state funding for water and transportation projects and schools, tackling some of the thorniest issues of the legislative session all at once. The senators voted 31-0 to put SJR1 on the ballot, asking Texas voters to approve taking $5.7 billion out of the state’s Rainy Day Fund. Of that amount, $2.9 billion would go to transportation, $2 billion to water infrastructure projects and $800 million to public education. Its prospects in the House are uncertain.

The Texas House killed the state lottery this week, broke for lunch, talked a while, and came back and revived it a couple of hours later. The surprising vote came on the lottery’s Sunset legislation and saw conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats banding together to mark their disapproval of state-run gaming. Putting it back in business will keep the lottery’s $2.2 billion contribution to the state budget flowing.

When Texas promised to protect a threatened lizard in the oil-rich Permian Basin, state officials entrusted the day-to-day oversight to a nonprofit that sounds like an environmental group: the Texas Habitat Conservation Foundation. What’s not advertised is the occupation of the board members who created it. They are all registered lobbyists for the powerful Texas Oil and Gas Association, also known as TXOGA.

Dozens of lawyers signed court filings in support of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, saying she deserves to serve out her full term in spite of going to jail after she was arrested driving drunk earlier this month. At least one of those attorneys suggested Lehmberg would retire at the end of the term, but Lehmberg is serving a 45-day sentence and her lawyer didn’t confirm that to the Austin American-Statesman. 

Gov. Rick Perry withdrew his nomination of Annette Raggette of Austin to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, after senators raised questions about her family and business ties to Oliver Bell, chairman of that board. He was her boss, and also her brother-in-law.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst rejiggered his communications team, adding Andrew Barlow, who wrote speeches for Gov. Rick Perry and also worked last year for the Craig James for U.S. Senate campaign and Ryan Hecker, who most recently was COO of FreedomWorks. Still on board: Travis Considine, Enrique Marquez and Lauren Thurston. And there is this tidbit, too: Hecker is in line to be campaign manager for Dewhurst’s next campaign, whether he seeks reelection or something else. 

Gov. Rick Perry appointed:

* Milton Lee III of San Antonio to the University of North Texas board of regents. Lee is an engineer and retired CEO of CPS Energy and a graduate of the University of Texas.

• Michael Landrum of Houston as judge of the 113th Judicial District Court. He’s an attorney in private practice. 

• James “Richard” Barajas of Fort Worth, Leon Leach of Houston, and Thomas Wheat of Dallas to the Health and Human Services Council. Barajas is an executive at Southwest Bank. Leach is executive vice president of UT’s MD Anderson Cancer Center. Wheat is owner of Pediatric Home Healthcare LLC.

• Raleigh White IV of Temple, a retired plastic surgeon, to the board of the Brazos River Authority. Perry also reappointed six others to that board, including Richard Ball of Mineral Wells, F. LeRoy Bell of Tuscola, Peter Bennis of Fort Worth, Bill Masterson of Guthrie, George “Dave” Scott III of Richmond, and Salvatore Zaccagnino of Caldwell. 

Deaths: Demetrio Rodriguez, the defendant in a landmark school finance lawsuit in Texas — Rodriguez vs. San Antonio School District — that set the stage for later lawsuits to equalize funding from one district to another in Texas. Rodriguez, who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, was 87.