What was supposed to be a quick special session on redistricting slowed considerably when lawmakers — prompted by a hearing in federal court — decided to hold public hearings around the state on the interim political maps drawn by the courts for the 2012 elections. The governor asked lawmakers to ratify those maps — to adopt them as the state’s own — but many lawmakers want to tweak the lines.
The Texas House and Senate are in special session, but have recessed until June 12 and June 17, respectively. But the 181 members of the two bodies are still eligible to collect $150 for every day of the session, whether they’re working or not. They are not required to collect it, but if each takes what is coming, it would total $27,150 per day or $814,500 for the special session.
The judge in the school finance case against the state agreed to hear more testimony. He’ll give lawyers a chance to say whether any of the Legislature’s actions during the session changed public education policy enough to affect his ruling in the case. Judge John Dietz issued a bench ruling in February, saying the state’s system of finance for public schools was inadequate, inequitable and forced local schools into a de facto state property tax rate. His written ruling is pending.
The Texas Department of Transportation has signed a deal to outsource most of its information technology operations to a private firm, a move that will impact hundreds of state employees. The agency announced this week that it would transfer most of its IT functions to NTT DATA, a Japanese firm which has its North American headquarters in Plano.
With the regular legislative session over and the deadline for the governor’s vetoes approaching, speculation about Rick Perry’s political future is picking up. Aides say he hasn’t said one way or another what he’ll do, and some of the people who have worked for past campaigns say the team could come together quickly for a race.
State employees got 3 percent raises in the state budget (some agency chiefs did much better), but state troopers will get 10 percent raises if the governor signs the budget that is awaiting his approval.