Texas Insider ? School Finance Lawsuit UPDATE, and What's New ...

By State Rep. Lyle Larson

Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas ? It?s hard to believe we?re nearly a month into the 83rd Legislative Session. Things have been busy under the pink dome, and we?ve had the opportunity to meet with several constituent groups and organizations. Also, Sen. Glen Hegar, Rep. Drew Darby and I recently participated in a panel addressing ?The Texas Water Crisis: Finding & Funding a Solution.?

Later that week, we traveled to the Lower Colorado River Authority Headquarters to meet with general manager Becky Motal and her staff.

School Finance Lawsuit
Yesterday, we received word that a state district judge ruled in favor of hundreds of Texas school districts that sued the state in 2011, claiming that the state inadequately funds public education. We understand the Attorney General will appeal the case, where it will ultimately be decided by the Texas Supreme Court. Historically, the most profound changes in law occur either when there is a budget deficit or by judicial decree. Many are speculating that the Legislature will be forced to convene a special session to redetermine how to adequately and efficiently finance public education if the Texas Supreme Court rules in favor of the school districts.

We want to know what you think about the way public education is financed in Texas. Please take a moment to share your thoughts in this poll.

Water Projects & State Plans
As you may know, Allan Ritter, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, recently filed HB 4 and HB 11, which would allocate $2 billion of the rainy day fund to develop a revolving fund to pay for water projects throughout the state.

83rd Legislative Session Committee Assignments
As you may have heard, Speaker Straus announced committee assignments for the 83rd Legislative Session last Thursday. Over 40 substantive committees are charged with reviewing and fully vetting various bills filed this session. We were very fortunate to receive four committee assignments, including:

• House Natural Resources Committee (HNR), which oversees water policy statewide. We look forward to serving for a second session on HNR to work toward our overarching goal of securing Texas? water future.
• Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee (CRT) is charged with overseeing our state park system, cultural resources and historical sites, preserving our wildlife and promoting tourism to our great state. Team Larson likes to call it the ?Bubbas and Ballerinas? Committee!
• Local and Consent Calendars Committee (L&C) I was honored to be appointed Vice Chairman of the L&C Committee, which is a procedural committee that sets the calendar for local and/or non-controversial bills.
• The Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations This is a new committee charged with ensuring accountability in various state agencies and foundations. We will monitor financial operations, hiring and compensation practices and purchasing decisions of these agencies. We look forward to sharing our findings with you and working toward the goal of providing the utmost accountability in state government.

Legislation by Larson
We?ve filed a few more pieces of legislation since our last newsletter. Legislators are able to file bills until March 8. While we plan to file a few more, we?re getting close to completing our legislative package. Here are the bills we?ve filed so far. What do you think?

Protecting Our Parks by Restoring Integrity in Budgeting: HJR 40 and HB 162
Sen. Craig Estes, Sen. Kirk Watson, Rep. Jessica Farrar and I joined several parks advocates across the state to call on legislators to announce our effort to restore integrity in our budgeting process by ensuring revenue from the sporting goods sales tax is used for its intended purpose.

In 1993, the Legislature began using revenue from the sales tax on sporting goods (such as baseball bats, golf balls, tennis rackets and other various items) to fund our state park system. Unfortunately, since then, only a small fraction of this funding has been used for parks. The lion?s share of the revenue is usually spent on other items, or left in the state coffers in order to certify the budget.

If we?re going to restore integrity in the budgeting process, there is no better place to start than providing parks the funding that has been promised. Our state parks have a profound impact on every person who lives in or visits our great state, and they are the most visible example of how the state takes care of its most iconic Texas institutions.

A bipartisan coalition in both the House and Senate has committed to work together to see this through, and we look forward to working to convince our colleagues in the Legislature to restore truth in budgeting. Please take a look at this article to read the full recap of the announcement.

Other Legislative News
Last week we coauthored HB 553, the Second Amendment Protection Act, which would prevent the federal government from enacting gun control laws in Texas and HB 46, which would legalize the sale of raw milk at various locations other than where it is produced, like farmers markets.

Yesterday, we honored the leadership of the Texas Municipal League with a House Concurrent Resolution recognizing Municipal Government Day at the State Capitol. City councilmembers are the shock troops of American government and we were proud to have the opportunity to thank them for all they do.

Meeting with leadership of the San Antonio Water Authority.

In the News

Stay tuned for an announcement about the re-opening of our district office, which was closed for over 7 months due to a fire that occurred over the summer. We?re still working moving and organizing the office, but we anticipate re-opening in the next few weeks.

In the Austin Office, we have also welcomed CASA volunteers from San Antonio, members of the Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling Subcontractors Association, the San Antonio Chapter of the American Subcontractors Association, Tex-21, Sierra Club, American Heart Association Volunteers, the United Methodist Women of San Antonio, the North Texas Crime Commission, folks from Zachry Construction, representatives from the San Antonio River Authority, and folks from the San Antonio Tenth Amendment Center.

Source: http://www.texasinsider.org/school-finance-lawsuit-update-and-whats-new-in-district-122/

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