From the Texas Tribune: "People were giving us lip service": Texas cities' legislative efforts have struggled this year

For 2306's look at the relationship between cities and states.

- Click here for the article.

The interest group representing Texas cities used to be one of the most powerful legislative forces at the Capitol. This session, it has become the GOP’s most prominent adversary.

Its members have been harangued at hearings. Targeted by a proposed ban on “taxpayer-funded lobbying.” And seen multiple proposals sail ahead over their protests.

When, around March, one mayor inquired about the reasoning for a controversial provision in a property tax bill, he said an adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott suggested, “You reap what you sow.”

The message was clear, said McKinney Mayor George Fuller: Local officials had been obstructionists in the past.

Although the antagonistic relationship between Texas cities and the state has been building for years, this session has reached the fever pitch of all-out legislative assault, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in April. Typically, the Texas Municipal League tracks bills it opposes that are gaining momentum in the Legislature. This session, the group had amassed more than 150.

Among them was a bill regarding cable franchise fees authored by state Rep. Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican and chair of the powerful State Affairs Committee. After the Texas Municipal League warned its members the proposal could cut into cities’ revenues, Phelan had a concise response for the group, which represents 1,156 of Texas’ roughly 1,200 cities.

“When you are in a hole — you should stop digging,” Phelan recommended in an email obtained by The Texas Tribune.

In an interview, Phelan said he harbored no animus toward the organization but took umbrage with its opposition to legislation his constituents want. The sentiment is widely shared in the Legislature, Phelan said, as evidenced by the support bills on taxpayer-funded lobbying and franchise fees have garnered.

Mentioned in the article:

Lobbying
Governor
Mayor
Republicans in the Legislature
State Affairs Committee
Texas Municipal League
model legislation
conservative think tanks
progressives
Lt. Governor
property taxes
local budgets
House Speaker

From The Texas Tribune: Renewable energy proponents brace for last-minute attack on tax breaks for wind and solar

Tax breaks for wind and solar energy are discussed in the policy chapters of 2306.

- Click here for the article.

In the waning days of the 86th legislative session, as House and Senate lawmakers spend hours debating and voting on bills, wind and solar groups are watching for any last-minute attempt to make renewable projects ineligible for a local tax abatement program that benefits all types of industrial and commercial developments.

They have good reason to be on high alert.

Ahead of the legislative session, the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation — the Austin-based policy institute that is an ideological beacon for many Republicans — launched a crusade against renewable energy subsidies at all levels of government. Locally, the foundation has zeroed in on property tax abatements granted under chapters 312 and 313 of the state tax code that cities, counties, school districts and other taxing entities have wielded for almost two decades to lure oil refineries and — more recently — wind farms alike.

The crux of the foundation’s argument against renewable energy subsidies is that they distort the electric market, leading to artificially low prices.

The billions in taxpayer-funded subsidies that have been awarded to renewable projects at the local, state and federal level — $16 billion, according to the foundation — “has allowed renewable energy generators ... to sell their electricity at whatever price they need to get it onto the market, which drives prices low, into negative territory,” Bill Peacock, the foundation’s vice president for research, said in an interview earlier this year.

Still, lawmakers are moving to renew both programs; Chapter 312 would otherwise expire this year, followed by 313 in 2022.

No legislation has been filed that would strip renewables from the abatement programs. But lawmakers always have the option of proposing last-minute amendments to bills just before the House or Senate vote on them.

And that’s what Jeffrey Clark, president of the pro-renewables Advanced Power Alliance, is expecting.
Mentioned in the article:

- 86th legislative session.
- property tax.
- tax abatements
- Texas Public Policy Foundation.
- state tax code.
- subsidies.
- Advanced Power Alliance.
- last-minute amendments to bills.
- University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute.
- corporate welfare.
- school districts.
- Todd Staples.
- Texas Oil and Gas Association.

From the Texas Tribune: Thousands of school choice advocates expected to rally at Texas Capitol

File this under agenda setting - among other things.

- Click here for the article.

Thousands of students, activists and family members are expected to flood the Texas Capitol lawn Tuesday morning in a sea of signature yellow scarves as the Legislature prepares for a fight on whether to let parents use public money for private school tuition.

In advance of the "National School Choice Week" rally, an event that has become a session tradition over the past decade, organizers said they feel closer than ever to actually seeing a bill for private school choice make it to the governor's desk. For the first time, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will headline this year's rally, scheduled for 10 a.m. on the Capitol's south steps.

Patrick is expected to unveil his bill this week advocating for education savings accounts — state-issued debit cards that parents can use for private school tuition and other education expenses. A former chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Patrick has championed private school choice legislation since he first became a state senator in 2007.

Abbott last month was more vocal than ever in his support of private school choice, saying he would sign the "most pro-school choice law" arriving on his desk.

From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: "Smitty," a Texas Lobbyist for the Small Fry, Retiring After 31 Years

While John Boehner begins his lobbying career in DC, another ends his in Austin.

As you'll see below, Smith advocated for issues that tend to cut against the grain of Texas' political culture. It's worth noting that the organization he headed was originally set up by Ralph Nader - not a Texan. The Wikipedia on Smith - see the link below - Mentions that he serves on the boards of the following advocacy groups: Clean Water Action, the Texas Wind Power Coalition, Texans for Public Justice, and Campaigns for People. All pro-regulation.

- Click here for the article.

In the early 90s — the heyday of consumer rights legislation and regulation in Texas — Robert Cullick, then a reporter at the Houston Chronicle, gave Tom “Smitty” Smith of Public Citizen Texas an unofficial title: Everybody’s Third Paragraph.

Smith, 66, announced his retirement Tuesday from his official post after 31 years, ending a long run of organizing and lobbying on behalf of consumers and citizens on a range of issues like utilities, insurance and political ethics. He was often the voice of the opposition in legislative fights and in the media, which earned him that reporter's epithet.

He’s from that part of the Austin lobby that doesn’t wear fancy suits, doesn’t drive the latest luxury cars and doesn’t spend its time fawning over and feeding elected officials. Smitty has a beard, an omnipresent straw hat and, often, a colorful sheaf of flyers making his points on whatever cause he’s pushing at the time.

Smitty has been a leading voice for government intervention and regulation of big industries and interests in the capital of a state with conservative, business-friendly politicians from both parties who pride themselves on light regulation, low taxes and a Wild West approach to money in politics.

. . . His causes over the years have included food security, decommissioning costs of the nuclear reactors owned by various Texas utilities, insurance regulations, ethics and campaign finance laws. He’s lobbied on environmental issues and product safety.

He counts the ethics reforms of 1991 as one of his big wins. As unregulated as Texas political ethics and campaign finance might seem today, things were a lot looser before reformers used a flurry of scandals and attendant media coverage to force changes. Smith is proud of a medical bill of rights that gave consumers some leverage with their doctors and their health insurers.

Public Citizen was a key player in the creation of the State Office of Administrative Hearings, which took administrative courts out of several regulatory agencies and put them in a central office, farther from the reach of regulated industries and elected officials. Smith now points to the Texas Railroad Commission, which still has its own administrative hearings, as an example of a too-close relationship between regulators, the companies they regulate and the judges supposed to referee their differences.

For more:

- Tribpedia: Tom "Smitty" Smith.
- Wikipedia: Public Citizen Texas.
- Public Citizen: Tom "Smitty" Smith.
- State Office of Administrative Hearings.
- Sunset Review: State Office of Administrative Hearings.
- Government Code: State Office of Administrative Hearings.
- Texas Ethics Commission.

Catching up with the Texas Association of Business

Recent stories involving Texas' most powerful interest group:

- The Texas Association of Business Files Suit in Federal Court Against the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

- Lawmakers: Decriminalizing marijuana could be good for Texas business.

- DOL Overstepped Its Authority With Fiduciary Rule, Chamber Tells Judge.

- Bill Hammond, guest columnist: Quality Pre-K is essential for tomorrow’s Texas workforce.

From the Texas Tribune: PAC Mobilizes to Defend Vaccine Exemptions in Texas

A look at elections, interest groups, and public policy making in Texas. A possible agenda items for the 85th Session next year.

- Click here for the article.

Texans For Vaccine Choice’s mission, according to Schlegel-Polvado, is to guard parents’ rights to opt out of vaccine requirements — whether that means targeting legislators who seek to close non-medical exemptions or pushing for policies that otherwise protect parents who choose not to vaccinate, like preventing physicians from excluding them from their practices.

In this year's primary elections, that meant going after state Rep. Jason Villalba, the Dallas Republican who filed the bill.

“The animus that was leveled against me for that was very surprising to me,” said Villalba, who ultimately won his race. “These people, they literally said it to my face — they hate me. That was troubling. Because I get it, they care about their children — but I care about my children too, and the children of the community.”

When he filed the bill last session, Villalba, a father of three, said he expected it to be non-controversial. Like other lawmakers around the country who have pushed to re-examine vaccine laws — including in California and Vermont, which last year successfully limited provisions allowing non-medical exemptions — he was motivated by recent outbreaks of diseases like measles and whooping cough that medical officials attributed to growing numbers of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children.

. . . Pediatricians — many of whom have watched with dismay as the number of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children has climbed — widely support the elimination of non-medical exemptions to immunization requirements.

"In my opinion, there are no good, valid reasons for deferring vaccinations or not vaccinating based on religion or philosophical objection," said Dr. Jason Terk, a pediatrician at Cook Children's Hospital in Keller. "It is my firm conclusion that vaccines and the benefit they provide to individuals and the rest of the public is well founded."

Terk said low immunization rates brought an undeniable risk of otherwise preventable deadly disease outbreaks.

"That is not a theoretical argument; that is something that we’ve seen occur in the parts of U.S. where the frequency of non-vaccination is significantly higher, and those locales are precisely the places where we’ve seen outbreaks," he said.

But for parents like Schlegel-Polvado, who have children they believe have been harmed by vaccines, any proposal to end exemptions is a battle call.

“You come after parental rights, we are going to fight back,” said Schlegel-Polvado, who discontinued vaccinating her younger two children after concluding that a childhood DTaP immunization led to brain damage in her now-15-year-old daughter, Ashlyn.

During the 2015 legislative session, Villalba said he quickly became acquainted with the passion of the anti-vaccine movement’s supporters, many of whom believe the undue influence of pharmaceutical companies has led to an overabundance of immunization requirements that come at the expense of children’s health.

“This is a group that is very dedicated, very organized; this issue is very important to them,” he said.

From the Texas Tribune: PAC Mobilizes to Defend Vaccine Exemptions in Texas

For our look at interest groups in Texas and how they use primary elections to target opponents.

And an indication of what might be on the agenda of the next session oft he legislature.

- Click here for the article.

On a Friday night little over a year ago, a Texas mother of three was attending a school dance when she got a text message that stopped her cold.

A state lawmaker from Dallas had filed legislation taking aim at a provision in state law that allows parents to opt their children out of school immunization requirements.

“I looked at that text and I just kind of was like, ‘Oh no he didn’t,’” said Jackie Schlegel-Polvado, who lives near Bastrop. “This is Texas. We believe in parental rights in Texas. Like, that is just a fundamental belief that most Texans have that parents make decisions for their children, not the state.”

It was an issue that directly affected Schlegel-Polvado and her family. Since 2007, she has been one of a small but growing number of parents in Texas who obtain “conscientious exemptions” from state vaccine requirements.

What was several worried parents exchanging text messages over the next few days turned into a Facebook group that within two weeks had more than 1,300 members, and then, ultimately, a political action committee.

Texans For Vaccine Choice’s mission, according to Schlegel-Polvado, is to guard parents’ rights to opt out of vaccine requirements — whether that means targeting legislators who seek to close non-medical exemptions or pushing for policies that otherwise protect parents who choose not to vaccinate, like preventing physicians from excluding them from their practices.

In this year's primary elections, that meant going after state Rep. Jason Villalba, the Dallas Republican who filed the bill.

From the Texas Tribune: Oil or Gas Well? The Distinction Costs State Millions

The Railroad Commission is reclassifying wells in the state of Texas, and helping the oil and gas industry save lot's of money. But it's at the expense of the state budget. This gives you an idea of whose interests are actually served by the commission.

- Click here for the article.

A major slowdown in oil drilling may not be the only phenomenon cutting into state revenue in coming years. Efforts by producers to have some of their oil wells reclassified as natural gas wells may cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections and refunds — and renew scrutiny of Texas’ largest tax incentive for natural gas drilling.

The Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s drilling regulator, reclassified nearly 850 oil wells as natural gas wells during the 2015 budget year. That’s more than triple the number from the previous year and nearly six times the reclassifications in 2013.
The trend means more operators can claim a generous tax credit for natural gas wells, and the growth in reclassifications is drawing the interest of state Comptroller Glenn Hegar and other budget watchers.

“If such reclassifications were expanded, it could adversely affect revenues as a result of refunds and reduced natural gas tax collections,” Hegar wrote this month in his certified revenue estimate.

Operators commonly free up oil and gas from the same well. But Texas law defines wells as either oil or gas — not both. It’s up to the Railroad Commission to sort out where each one falls. The commission’s initial decision, however, isn’t etched in stone. Operators can fill out a one-page request that a well be reclassified, based on how much gas is coming out of the ground.

In 2013, the commission reclassified 145 wells from oil to gas. The number ballooned to 844 in the 2015 fiscal year, according to Railroad Commission data.
Gas-to-oil switches also surged during that period, but on a much smaller scale —from 68 to 239.

The bureaucratic reshuffling might sound unimportant, but it matters plenty for state coffers and helps determine who qualifies for a tax credit covering “high-cost natural gas drilling” that has drawn scrutiny in recent years.

From the Texas Tribune: Grand Jury Indicts Abortion Foes Behind Undercover Videos

We discuss grand juries in both 2305 ans 2306

- Click here for the story.

A Harris County grand jury on Monday indicted the videographers behind undercover recordings of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston and cleared the women's health provider of any wrongdoing.

The indictments — part of the county prosecutor's investigation into allegations that Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal tissue — include charges against anti-abortion activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. The grand jury handed down a second charge for Daleiden for “Prohibition of the Purchase and Sale of Human Organs," according to the Harris County District Attorney's office. That charge is a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to a year in jail.

The grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston of breaking any laws.

For more background, also from the Texas Tribune:

- Indictment Sheds Light on Planned Parenthood Sting.

The Texas Penal Code indicates that the mere offer to buy or sell human organs, including fetal tissue, is a violation.

While the sale of fetal tissue is illegal, abortion clinics may donate fetal tissue with a patient’s consent for use in medical research. Federal law allows clinics to be reimbursed for costs “associated with the transportation, implantation, processing preservation, quality control, or storage of human fetal tissue” for research purposes — an amount that typically ranges from $25 to $50.

Offering to pay health providers an amount higher than those administrative costs is also a violation of the law.

The charge against Daleiden is a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to a year in jail.

The misdemeanor charge is one result of the Harris County District Attorney’s criminal investigation into allegations that Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal tissue. That investigation — launched at the urging of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — focused on undercover recordings of staff at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston discussing the administrative costs of harvesting fetal organs at various stages of gestation.

And in other Texas Ethics Commission news ....

Here's a bit on an ongoing dispute it has had with a leader of an influential Tea Party affiliated activist. The Texas Ethics Commission thinks he's a lobbyist and should be subject to rules related to lobbying in the state. He disagrees.

- Click here for "Ethics commission wins at appeals court in lobbying case."

A state appeals court has ruled against a powerful conservative activist locked in a long-running legal feud with Texas’ campaign finance regulator, ordering a case that centers on a fine for breaking lobbying laws to be transferred to Travis County. 

Empower Texans President Michael Quinn Sullivan, an influential figure in tea party circles, was fined by the commission in July 2014 for not registering as a lobbyist after it found “evidence of direct communications intended to influence legislative action.”

He appealed in state district court. However, shortly after the fine was levied, Sullivan claimed Denton County as his primary residence in a move that allowed the legal challenge to play out in North Texas as opposed to Travis County.

The Fort Worth-based 2nd Court of Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday to overturn a lower court that had determined Sullivan was a resident of Denton County. The appeals court also ordered the case to be transferred to Travis County, which the court described as the “mandatory venue.”

In the roughly 15 months that the case has bounced around state courts, residency has emerged as a key issue in the case. The commission had long charged that Sullivan plotted to evade a state fine for breaking lobbying laws by claiming residency outside of traditionally liberal Travis County and taking his case up north, where it was dismissed by a judge in Denton earlier this year.

Sullivan’s lawyers, who argue that his actions never amounted to lobbying, said he had long-standing roots in North Texas before claiming Denton as his residence, including family ties and an Empower Texans office.

The three-judge panel at the appeals court rejected that, along with an affidavit Sullivan signed attesting to Denton residency, saying the argument “is nothing more than a legal conclusion unless it is supported by facts that establish such residence.”

For more:

- Wikipedia: Michael Quinn Sullivan.- Tribpedia: Michael Quinn Sullivan.
- Wikipedia: Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.
- Appeals Court Backs Ethics Commission Over Activist.

From the Texas Tribune: Black Lives Matter Searches for Its Next Step

For out upcoming look at interest groups in 2306. Can this movement actually have an impact on public policy in Texas?

- Click here for it.

Though the next Texas legislative session is more than a year away, movement activists want to get in on the conversation early as lawmakers begin interim studies of criminal justice issues. In October, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick charged Senate committees with studying police and jail safety before the 2017 legislative session. Last week, Texas House Speaker Joe Strausannounced similar directions to his chamber.

The studies, in part, reflect reactions to the July hanging death of Sandra Bland in the Waller County Jail after her arrest during a traffic stop. Questions surrounding Bland's death — and other widely reported cases of police mistreatment of blacks — have opened a door for change through which Texas Black Lives Matter activists hope to pass.

Nationwide, Black Lives Matter wants Congress to pass legislation establishing a use-of-force standard, creating a national database of killings and serious injuries by police, ending police militarization and enacting the End Racial Profiling Act of 2015.

On the state and local levels, the organization wants all police interactions recorded, police forces to look like the communities they serve and mental health professionals to be first responders in crisis situations. They also want spitting, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and other "harmless offenses" decriminalized.

The Austin chapter, Haule said, is pushing five policy demands that it hopes to secure statewide.

- Mandatory investigation of police officers accused of misconduct that are seen through to completion even if the officer quits, is fired or transfers to another department or agency.Independent bodies with subpoena power to conduct the investigations and issue recommendations to local district attorneys.

- Compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, a federal law that created standards for safety in state prisons. Texas did not comply with the law under former Gov. Rick Perry, but Gov. Greg Abbott told the U.S. Attorney General earlier this year that the state will start complying.

- Programs and policies that treat drug addiction as a public health issue instead of simply criminalizing behavior.

- Ending the use of solitary confinement in prison as punishment.

- Demands for police accountability beat at the heart of the Black Lives Matter agenda — and spark some of the sharpest criticism of the group.

All jurisdictions need independent citizen review boards with power to investigate complaints against law enforcement free from conflicts of interest, Haule said.

From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: When "We" Doesn't Include You

Here's a look at the close relationships that can develop between regulatory agencies and the industries they seek to regulate.

In this case it is the Texas Railroad Commission and the oil and gas industry.

- Click here for the story.

What happens when an elected official says “we” is that we think they’re talking about us — the people who elected them. Sometimes, that’s right. In fact, it’s right most of the time.

Not at the Texas Railroad Commission. It’s a three-person state commission elected by Texas voters and seemingly owned and operated by the oil and gas industry it regulates. Go hear one of their speeches at an industry conference sometime and listen for this: Do they call it “your industry” when talking to oil and gas people, or do they call it “our industry.” A recent sampling suggests the latter.

The latest chapter in the remarkably consistent history of the Railroad Commission is about a letter from Chairman David Porter to the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC is suffering from a case of regulatory constipation, as reported by The Texas Tribune’s Jim Malewitz, that is blocking some oil and gas companies from getting their hands on some wireless frequencies that would help them monitor their pipelines.

The companies want the FCC to free the frequencies, which are licensed to an unrelated outfit that has encountered bankruptcy and other legal challenges. One of them wrote a letter and got Porter to put it on Railroad Commission of Texas letterhead and sign it himself. This is all documented in emails, which are surely the greatest thing ever invented for lawyers and others who want to piece a story together after the fact.

Porter’s chief of staff, Caleb Troxclair, traded messages last month with Justin Stegall, a Houston intermediary for Enbridge, one of the companies hoping to get its hands on those wireless frequencies. The company’s Washington, D.C., lawyers drafted a letter that he forwarded to Porter’s office with some suggestions about adding some language of their own.

Troxclair wrote back a couple of days later, saying Porter had agreed to send it. Two days later, he sent along a version on state letterhead that was added to the FCC’s files by the lawyers in Washington.
None of this cost taxpayers much money. There was a little staff time involved, but it’s not like anyone on the state payroll had to write his or her own letter or anything.

TADA hates Tesla

Here's proof.

From the Texas Tribune: Tesla Makes Sales Pitch to House Panel

An item brought up in 2306 today;

- Click here for it.

At a packed committee hearing Monday evening, advocates for Tesla Motors told a panel of Texas House members that it was time to bring state car sales laws into the 21st century and allow the company to sell its luxury electric vehicles in Texas.

“The future is here,” said state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, author of a bill that would allow Tesla to operate up to 12 stores in Texas. “The way in which we buy and sell goods is changing and we must adapt.”

The California-based company builds cars and sells them directly to consumers, bypassing car dealerships — a business model prohibited by Texas law. Tesla currently operates three “galleries” in Austin, Dallas and Houston, but employees there are barred from normal dealership activities like discussing prices or offering test-drives.

. . . For now, buyers in Texas have to order the car online from the company’s headquarters in California. The vehicles are delivered in unmarked trucks, and customers have to unwrap their new cars themselves, because the law prohibits Tesla employees in Texas from engaging in any sales- or delivery-related activity.

Opponents pushed back against Rodriguez’s bill on Monday, arguing that it creates two separate systems for car sales — one for Tesla and one for everyone else.

“Everyone should play by the same rules,” said Bill Hammond, CEO of the Texas Association of Business.

“It’s a solution looking for a problem. Tesla’s problems are self-imposed,” said Carroll Smith, who represents Texas on the National Automobile Dealers Association board in Washington, D.C.

Articles discussed this week in 2306 so far

All of these are from the Texas Tribune:

- Business Group Blasts Religious Freedom Proposals.

Texas' most powerful interest group sides with Democrats against legislative proposals to make it easier for religious liberty claims to be made against state laws. Texas businesses - the large ones anyway - see laws favoring same sex relationship as good for business.

- Don't Fear the Reefer: House Mulls Lower Pot Penalties.

This catches us up with proposals to lower punishments for possession of marijuana. The focus is on the costs associated with prosecution - not whether the use of marijuana is good or bad:

A former Harris County prosecutor, [Gene] Wu said reducing the penalties would relieve the caseload in the state's misdemeanor courts. He said that in Houston's Harris County, about a third of the 1,000 cases that hit misdemeanor courts each day involve marijuana possession. 

Wu said prosecutors want to spend their time on assault cases, domestic violence and drunken driving, not small-time drug possession cases. 

"Why not send them to JP court to pay a $150 fine and do hours?" he said. "It's about saving police time, giving courts more range, instead of forcing everybody into jail."

From the Texas Tribune: Water Ruling Cuts State's Power in Droughts

California recently responded to a crisis in the availability of water by placing limits on usage.

Texas Courts of Appeals have made it difficult for that to occur in Texas should our drought get that bad.

- Click here for the article.

A state appeals court has sided with farmers, ranchers and other longstanding water rights holders in a Brazos River case with widespread implications for future water battles in drought-prone Texas.

Upholding a lower court’s ruling, the 13th Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi on Thursday ruled that Texas cannot give special treatment to cities or power generators over more “senior” water rights holders on parched rivers – even if the state declares it necessary to protect the “public health, safety and welfare.”

As it stands, the decision would require some cities, power generators or others with more “junior” river rights to pay up or go thirsty when severe drought strikes.
The Texas Farm Bureau, which challenged a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality policy giving cities preferential treatment in certain water squabbles, applauded the ruling.

“It’s a clear win for private property rights,” said Regan Beck, assistant general counsel for the group. “The rules that TCEQ is trying to promulgate would really do away with the priority system as we know it.”

The TCEQ said it was "disappointed" in the decision and planned to appeal it to the Texas Supreme Court.

Prioritizing access for cities and power plants is "essential for public health, safety and welfare throughout the state, especially during these times of record drought," Terry Clawson, its spokesman, said in a statement.

A sampling of legislative agendas for the 84th Session

For 2306's first written assignment, here are a few links to legislative agendas from different groups in the state. Remember that I'd like you to focus on conflict between conservative groups - primarily because that's where conflict is likely to be during the session.

- Young Conservatives of Texas.
- Texas Association of Business.
- Move Texas Forward.
- Texas Climate News.
- Texas Partnership for Out of School Time.
- Texas Freedom Network.
- Dan Patrick Moves to Set Agenda at Lege.
- One Texas Legislature, many agendas.

I'll add more - but here's a start for you.

Proposals for the 84th Session

A small selection - more to come

Pro-life Group Wants Planned Parenthood Defunded, Even For Cancer Screening.
- A groups that helped tighten access to abortion in the 83rd Session wants to continue doing so in this session. This describes an attempt to do so through the budgetary process.

Tax relief figures high on legislative budget priorities.
- This includes cuts to property taxes and the business tax, but there are also calls to increase spending on border security, pre-K education and traffic congestion.

These Cannabis Bills Could Change Toking in Texas for Good.
- The Marijuana Policy Project is hoping to decriminalize marijuana this year, among other things.

About those grand juries

Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island - the fact that two grand juries refused to indict two police officers in shooting of unarmed men - has brought a number of things to light, including how grand juries work.

In 2305 we simply looked at grand juries in terms of the procedures put in place to limit the arbitrary actions of governing officials.

In 2306 we looked at them a bit more in-depth since we look at the criminal justice system more carefully there.

Here are a few stories that have been published about grand juries in the past few weeks:

Should Texas abolish rather than reform grand juries?
- Grits for Breakfast points out legislation introduced to change how grand juries operate in the state, but wonders more broadly whether they ought to just be abolished.

Whitmire would eliminate 'key man' system for grand juries.
- The Houston Senator prefers a system where jurors are selected from the jury pool.

Is it Time to Ditch Texas' Key Man Grand Jury System?
- The "key man system" is also referred to as pick-a-pal. The author points out that Governor Perry was indicted by a grand jury that was randomly selected, a method she argues is superior.

England abolished grand juries decades ago because they didn't work.
- Too much discretion given to a district attorney.

How a Grand Jury Works.
- The article points out that no judge is present - and only the prosecutor presents evidence, Which is why grand juries usually issue indictment.

How Does a Grand Jury Work?
- Here's similar - probably better - information from FindLaw.

Lone Star grand jury selection and independence.
- And yet more background from the a governmental interest group - the Texas District & County Attorneys Association.

Another Jasper case, another pick-a-pal grand jury.
- A story from our general area.   

For today's 2306

Analysis: As Lineup Changes, So Will Balance of Power.
- With a new governor and lieutenant governor, things will be different this session.

Texas Beef Council Turns Focus to Younger Eaters.
- Here's an interest groups you may not be familiar with.

Straus Backers Claim Support of Most of GOP Caucus.
- Strauss' speakership is likely to continue.

Despite State Order, Charter Schools Stay Open.
- For our upcoming look at education policy in the state.

Health regulation makes for strange bedfellows.
- For our upcoming look at health policy in the state.