Vol 30, Issue 19 Print Issue

Attorney General Greg Abbott, announce legislation to modernize the Texas Open Meetings Act on March 7th, 2013. the bill will be filed today by Sen. Kirk Watson D-Austin
Attorney General Greg Abbott, announce legislation to modernize the Texas Open Meetings Act on March 7th, 2013. the bill will be filed today by Sen. Kirk Watson D-Austin

Will They Stay or Will They Go?

A perfect time for speculation: The legislative session isn't quite over, and the political season hasn't quite begun.

Rep. Mark Strama D-Austin, speaks during HB5 debate on March 26th, 2013. There are currently 165 amendments to the bill and the debate is expected to go well into the night.
Rep. Mark Strama D-Austin, speaks during HB5 debate on March 26th, 2013. There are currently 165 amendments to the bill and the debate is expected to go well into the night.

Hopefuls Taking Aim at Strama's House Seat

While members of the Legislature are eyeing Memorial Day and Sine Die with increasing anticipation, a growing field of candidates looking toward 2014 has emerged, including four — so far — in Austin's House District 50, an open seat.

The Week in the Rearview Mirror

The cause of a fertilizer plant explosion in West that killed 15 people on April 17 has been ruled “undetermined,” officials announced at a press conference in the town's high school parking lot. While an investigation into what triggered the blaze is ongoing, investigators’ examination of the scene has concluded. Because they cannot rule out an intentionally set fire, the matter is still considered a criminal investigation.

With exoneree Michael Morton by his side, Gov. Rick Perry signed a measure that aims to avoid wrongful convictions by preventing prosecutors from suppressing evidence. Morton was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife. He was exonerated in 2011 after DNA testing connected another man to the brutal crime. In their investigation, Morton's lawyers discovered that the prosecutor in the original case had withheld critical evidence that could have pointed to the real killer and spared Morton the quarter-century he spent behind bars.

The Texas Railroad Commission won’t get a new name or a new set of rules and regs, either; for the second session in a row, lawmakers trying to pass an RRC sunset bill got stuck. The Senate passed a bill, but after intense lobbying by the three commissioners, Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, said he couldn’t get it out of the House. Among the provisions that fail with the bill are a name change, a resign-to-run restriction on commissioners using the post as a political springboard and restrictions on campaign contributions.

Term limits for governors and other statewide officeholders flew through the Senate but died in the House, apparently killing that issue for the session. Had it passed there, the issue would have been on the November ballot for voters to finally decide. Rick Perry, governor since 2000, has said he’s considering another reelection bid in 2014 and will announce his plans after the legislative session. The proposal wouldn’t have been retroactive.

Regents of the state's public university systems would be required to attend training — including ethics training — before being allowed to vote on budgetary or personnel matters, under legislation on its way to the governor. SB 15, authored by Senate Higher Education Chairman Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, was filed amid concerns about what he called "micromanagement" at the University of Texas System. Laying out the bill in the lower chamber, House Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas, called it the "higher ed governance clean up bill." Still to come: Confirmation hearings on the governor’s three latest picks to join the board of regents at the University of Texas.

Political People and their Moves

Eleanor Kitzman’s tenure as Texas insurance commissioner will probably end this month, according to Senate Nominations Chairman Glenn Hegar, R-Katy. He set the agenda for what he thinks will be his last committee meeting without adding her name to the list of people under consideration. Failing to win the Senate’s blessing during the regular legislative session would force her out of that major regulatory post when the session ends May 27.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall, says he will seek another term in 2014. He is 90, and the oldest member of Congress.

Republican Konni Burton of Colleyville will run for the Texas Senate in SD-10, where Democrat Wendy Davis of Fort Worth is the incumbent. Burton is a member of the Tea Party Caucus Advisory Committee, a group that meets with Republican lawmakers during the session. Among her first endorsers: Freshman Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford. 

Travis Brock is the new executive director of the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee. He’s been working on political campaigns in Nevada for the past six years. 

Cheryl MacBride, deputy director of services at the Texas Department of Public Safety, was reelected to the Employee Retirement System board of directors.

Charged: Phillip Monroe Ballard, accused of trying to hire someone to kill U.S. District Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth. Ballard, 71, was facing tax charges when he tried to hire what turned out to be an FBI agent posing as a killer.

Deaths: Billie Sol Estes, a legendary West Texas con man who went to prison for selling non-existent fertilizer tanks in the early 1960s and returned to prison in the late 1970s on convictions for mail fraud and federal tax charges. He was 88.