From the Texas Secretary of State: Turnout and Voter Registration Figures (1970-current)

For the official turnout figures in Texas, click here.

Here are the most recent turnout figures - percent of turnout to voting age population. The figures are statewide.

- 2014 General Election: 24.99%
- 2014 Republican Primary Runoff: 3.98%
- 2014 Democratic Primary Runoff: 1.48%
- 2014 Republican Primary: 7.18%
- 2014 Democratic Primary: 2.96%
- 2013 Constitutional Election: 6.14%
- 2012 General Election: 43.73%

The Texas Almanac has figures dating back to 1872. Click here for it.

Click on these for random commentary on turnout in the state.

- Texas has the worst voter turnout in the country.
- Analysis: 2016 Could See Voter Turnout Spike in Texas.
- Democratic consultant says Texas had nation's 'worst voter participation' in November 2014.
- Texas seen last in voting.
- Turnout Down in Texas, and Democrats Claim a Reason: Voter ID Law.

Primary turnout in Texas since 1926

The number of people who have voted in primaries has changed little since then despite the fact that the population of the state has quintupled during the same period.

- The graph is pulled from TexasRedistricting.

The Texas Observer makes the following point:

The blue and red lines represent the number of votes in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively. The green line is Texas’ population, and black is the number of registered voters.

One reason people might be less inclined to vote in primary elections these days is that the general election would seem to matter more than it used to in the state. The Republican Party barely existed in 1926—that was year the GOP held its first statewide primary—and the general election was a rubber stamp that confirmed the results of the Democratic primary.

But for all practical purposes, Republicans have the same level of dominance in statewide offices that Democrats had in their period of one-party control. For the better part of two decades, the Republican primary has been the only election that really matters. Yet even within the GOP, primary turnout is remarkably low.

"Indeed, for all the talk of Texas being a “red state,” recent Republican primary turnout has been no better in aggregate numbers than Democratic turnout in the 1940s and 50s (and lower as a percentage of the population).

And in only 8 out of 27 Republican primaries since 1962 – the year Texas Republicans began having regular primaries – has the turnout exceeded turnout in the 1926 Democratic primary."

Much of what’s happened to the state Republican Party in recent years is down to the simple fact that the average Texan has become less likely to vote in the GOP primary. It’s a fundamentally undemocratic situation that gives power brokers and small interest groups enormous leverage on the whole state government. And it seems unlikely to change any time soon.

From the Annette Strauss Institute: Texas Civic Health Index

A nice look at the data that confirms the low levels of participation in the state.

- Click here for the study.

Aside from their findings about the level of participation in the state, they point to the following reasons why participation is so low in Texas.

1 - The Demographic Challenge.
2 - Noncompetitive Elections.
3 - Busy Voters, Shrinking Media Coverage.
4 - Inconvenience and Obstacles to Voting.
5 - Beyond Political Participation: Civic Involvement and Social Connectedness.

National Journal: How the 2016 Republican Primary System Works.

A look at what the Republican candidates are actually running for right now.

- Click here for the story.

After a pres­id­en­tial nom­in­at­ing fight that many Re­pub­lic­ans felt was too drawn out in 2012, party lead­ers worked to con­dense the pro­cess in 2016. Those changes came to fruition this month as the Re­pub­lic­an Na­tion­al Com­mit­tee rolled out its primary cal­endar and del­eg­ate al­loc­a­tion rules for the 2016 elec­tion.

The GOP primary sea­son will start a month later than it did in 2012, with Iowa hold­ing its first-in-the na­tion caucuses on Feb. 1 in­stead of Jan. 3. But the pro­cess will also end a month earli­er, as the 2016 con­ven­tion is set for Ju­ly 18, rather than late Au­gust.

The cal­en­dar is also more del­eg­ate-heavy at the front end, as 45 per­cent of all the GOP del­eg­ates avail­able will be awar­ded by mid-March. But in the first two weeks of March, states must award their del­eg­ates pro­por­tion­ally, mean­ing there could still be ample op­por­tun­ity for mul­tiple can­did­ates to com­pete deep in­to the con­test.

Grab bag of items for 2306 today

- Fire Sprinklers Lacking In Three Housing Authority High-Rises For The Elderly And Disabled.
- Ramsey: Shifting Numbers in Your Property Tax Bill.
- Texas Senate gets final between-session assignments.
- Transportation projects to take a hit as comptroller reduces state revenue projection by billions.

Bonds, Bonds and more Bonds!

Texas Watchdog has a couple items on the assortment of bonds that will be on the ballot in the upcoming election. The first takes a critical look at the one that will be on our ballot, the one asking AISD voters to approve over $250 million in spending on several new campuses.

- Small town wants to build 5 of the costliest schools in Texas history. The author takes issue with the amount of money spent on school construction in the state. He also points to a potentially cozy relationship between something called the Fast School Growth Coalition - which hopes to eliminate caps on property taxes - and the Texas House Public Education Committee. It seems that the daughter of the chair of the committee lobbies for the group.

- Light turnouts, low information hike local debt in Texas. Here the author looks at the dynamic of bond elections and points out that many pass - he claims a 75% passage rate - largely because proponents of the bonds are able to take advantage of low turnout and low information and persuade a sufficient number of voters that the expenditures are in the best interests of their communities. He also points out that while the governing entities that are proposing the bonds cannot advertise for them, the interest groups that will benefit from them can and do.

The author also points to a handy page on the comptroller's website that lists all of the bonds on the various ballots throughout the state this November.

- Texas Transparency: Upcoming Bond Election Roundup.

Assessing the Democratic Debate

Here's a small sampling of what was written up. The consensus seems to be that Clinton won, Sanders impacted the content of what was discussed, and the neither of the other three candidates - Chafee, O'Malley, or Webb - did enough to distinguish themselves.

- Slate: Yes, Bernie Won Every Poll on the Internet. Hillary Still Won the Debate.
- National Journal: Why Bernie Did Better Than the Pundits Thought.
- The Atlantic: Hillary Clinton's Surprisingly Smooth Debate.

Vox offers a round up of different takes on it here: 2015 Democratic debate on CNN.

Democratic Debate CNN 2015 VIDEO Democratic Debate CNN 2016

From the Dallas Morning News: Texas comptroller Hegar concedes budget forecast was too rosy

The dip in oil prices is finally hitting the Texas budget.

- Click here for the story.

Comptroller Glenn Hegar, conceding that he had been too bullish about oil prices and the economy, said Tuesday that Texas will take in nearly $5 billion less in this budget cycle than he forecast in January.

But Hegar stressed that by August 2017, the state should have about $4.2 billion more in general-purpose revenue than needed to pay for the budget that lawmakers passed this year.

“The budget is still fine,” he said in an interview, shortly before issuing a report summing up the fiscal year that ended in August and projecting the next two. It certified that state revenue will cover all of the Legislature’s spending bills.

Hegar, a former GOP lawmaker who is in his first year as the state’s chief tax collector and revenue estimator, said he wanted to issue the report early.

Lower oil prices “definitely” have persisted long enough to require him to lower his biennial revenue estimate, issued in January, “so let’s go ahead and update,” he said.

In January, Hegar forecast that the price of oil would recover from a plunge late last year, hovering between $65 and $70 a barrel throughout the current budget cycle. He has had to walk that back. In his new report, Hegar said he expects the world price of oil to average just under $50 this year and go up to nearly $57 in fiscal 2017.

The earlier estimate overshot what severance taxes would yield by $3.1 billion for the cycle. In a reflection of how the “fracking” boom stimulated sales tax revenue, he also has had to contract his two-year forecast of sales tax collections by $1.6 billion.

From Slate: The Feds Are Investigating Whether the Maker of Budweiser Is Waging a Secret War on Craft Beer

An interest group tries to stifle competition.

- Click here for the article.

On Monday, Reuters reported that the Department of Justice was "probing allegations" that AB InBev has been attempting to stifle competition from craft brewers by choking off their access to distributors, thus making it harder to get their products to thirsty beer fans. If true, that would be something to get agitated about.

In the vast majority of U.S. states, beer makers are not allowed to sell directly to bars or grocery stores. Instead, they have to work through middlemen known as wholesalers, or distributors, who exist solely to market alcohol to America's retailers and watering holes. Known as the "three-tier-distribution system," the setup is basically an outmoded holdover from the early post-prohibition era that persists largely because wholesalers are major political donors. As archaic as the system may be, the bottom line is that without a distributor, a brewer can't really get its ales and lagers on shelves or on tap.

As the brewer of all things Bud, AB InBev already has plenty of heft with wholesalers. But in recent years, it has tried to slash its distribution costs by taking advantage of state laws that allow beer makers to purchase wholesalers outright so long as they operate independently. Thanks to a spate of recent acquisitions, Bud currently owns17 of the 500 companies that move its beer, with operations in cities including Boston, New York, and Los Angeles.

Craft brewers say that AB InBev is abusing its growing power over America's beer distribution network in two ways. First, they claim that some distributors purchased by AB InBev either stop selling products made by rival brewers outright, or seemingly stop making much of an effort to sell them. Second, they claim that AB InBev has pressured distributors it doesn't own "to only carry the company's products and end their ties with the craft industry." Conveniently, AB InBev has also purchased a number of well-loved craft brewers, such as Elysian and Goose Island, which it could readily offer to wholesalers as substitutes for other small brands.

From the Nation: Why Today’s GOP Crackup Is the Final Unraveling of Nixon’s ‘Southern Strategy’

We will be looking at the role the southern strategy played in helping the Republican Party reassert its strength following the New Deal. This author argues that the effort was only helpful in the short term.

- Click here for the article.

Here's a relevant chunk:

Nixon’s reconfiguration brought together “polar opposites among white Americans,” Lilly noted. The traditional wing of the party— “country club” Republicans, who include corporate leaders, financiers and investors—became partners with poor, rural, church-going voters, among them the Southern “segs” who had previously always voted for Democrats. Black Southerners didn’t count in the equation, since they were still mostly being blocked from voting.

After Congress enacted the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Lyndon Johnson confided to a White House aide, “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come.” Nixon’s new Republicans became a formidable national party, Lilly explained, but they always straddled the tension between rich and poor.

“The problem,” Lilly said, “is that this latter group has almost nothing in common with the country club wing.… The country clubbers don’t care about prayer in the public schools, gun rights, stopping birth control, abortion and immigration.” On the other hand, common folks don’t worry over marginal tax rates, capital formation, or subsidies for major corporations.

“If they ever fully understood that their more prosperous party brethren were contemplating deep cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to pay for those policies, they would be in open rebellion,” Lilly observed.

For 2305: Citizens United v FEC

And here's the second.

The Supreme Court found parts of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act to unconstitutionally restrict the freedom of speech by restricting independent political expenditures by non-profit corporations. The decision has been argued to be responsible for the growth of SuperPACs, and the resulting influx of money in campaigns - as well as the increased influence of the wealthy on government.

- ScotusBlog.
- Oyez.
- Wikipedia.

For 2305: Shelby v Holder

This is the first of two Supreme Court cases I want to go over in class this week and/or next. This rolled back the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act by stating that the map used to establish which states had to have their election laws overseen by federal judges was out of date, had to be replaced, and was thereby null and void.

For detail:
- ScotusBlog.
- Oyez.
- Wikipedia.

The 2015 election in Brazoria County

Click here for detail:
- Brazoria Voter Info.
- Brazoria County Clerk's - Election Page.
- Sample Ballots.

From the Houston Chronicle: HERO supporters lead opponents in new poll - Ordinance's opponents say issue turns on small number of votes, but those in favor claim growing momentum

For those of you in 2306 who are writing on this issue in the upcoming election. Notice that the key is likely to be turnout. Also note that positions on the issue do not cut across typical ideological lines.

- Click here for the story.

With both campaigns ramping up spending before Election Day, supporters of Houston's contentious equal rights ordinance are leading opponents by 6 percentage points, a new poll shows. 

Overall, 43 percent of respondents to the KHOU/KUHF poll released Sunday supported the ordinance, 37 percent opposed it, and 18 percent were unsure of their stance. The poll offers some empirical heft to the prediction in many political circles that the fate of the ordinance will turn on a relatively small number of votes.

Broken out by race, black residents were the most evenly divided on the issue, with 40 percent in support, 39 percent opposed and another 20 percent undecided. Rice University political scientist Bob Stein, who helped run the poll, said black voters may be the most malleable on the issue leading up to Election Day. 

"The largest proportion of undecided voters are African-American," Stein said.

"Otherwise, generally, we tended to see that people had staked out their positions on this issue and felt very strongly one way or the other."

Proponents of the law heralded the poll as a sign the ordinance is picking up broad support. The campaign Houston Unites reported about $1.3 million in donations during the most recent fundraising period, more than doubling critics' haul. "Yet another poll shows the momentum is on the side of the treating everyone fairly and equally under the law," campaign manager Richard Carlbom said in a written statement.

Opponents, however, viewed the poll as evidence that the race will be close and that there's opportunity to sway the bloc of undecided voters. "We're going to be very aggressive and expose this ordinance for what it really is," said Jared Woodfill, the group's campaign spokesman. "What this race will really prove is who has the better turnout model."

Political scientists have said they expect the embattled law's presence on the ballot to drive up the usually low voter turnout in November, potentially a factor in the open mayor's race.

State Budget Solutions

We wont be looking in depth at budgeting issues across the nation - but you might have some interest in it. State Budget Solutions is a non profit that runs a - seemingly - useful website which I'd recommend looking through.

- Click here for it.

I'm trying to figure out who it is affiliated with - other than an outfit called Federalism in Action - so I can't determine if it has a political agenda as of yet. Generally when groups use the word "federalism" in their title they are opposed to federal action in public policy and prefer states and local governments to assert control.

Make of it what you will.

Is Texas really a pay as you go state?

The Texas Constitution establishes the no debt shall be incurred, but allows loopholes that - no surprise - have allowed debt to be both acquired and balloon.

Ballotpedia has this to say about it:

According to a January 2014 report by the nonprofit organization State Budget Solutions, Texas had a state debt of approximately $340.9 billion. Its state debt per capita was $13,083. In this report for fiscal year 2012, state debt was calculated based on four components: "market-valued unfunded public pension liabilities, outstanding government debt, unfunded other post employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities, and outstanding unemployment trust fund loans." The report revealed that altogether state governments faced a combined $5.1 trillion in debt, which amounted to $16,178 per capita in the nation.

The figure above - $340.9 billion - includes local debt as well as the estimated amount the state and local governments will be obligated to pay for pensions and other related items. For more click here:
Public Pensions in Texas.

For more along these lines:
- Tell the Truth Texas.
- Debt at a Glance.
- BallotPedia: State Debt.

A few news items regarding the Texas Budget

Here are journalistic accounts of the passage of the budget. Let's read through the first one in class since it

- Legislature Sends $209.4 Billion Budget to Abbott.
- On Most Visible Budget Disputes, Senate Fared Better.
- Best Texas budget ever, Dan Patrick says, but others disagree.
- Texas Legislature adopts $209 billion budget.

For a general look at the Texas budget, click here: BallotPedia: Texas state budget and finances.

HB1 - The General Appropriations Bill

Let's also walk through this in 2306.

- Click here for HB1.

The link takes you through the process the general appropriations bill took on its way to becoming law.

From the Texas Tribune: A Closer Look at the Final 2016-17 State Budget

This might be the best place to look to get an idea about what is and is not in the budget passed by the legislature this past spring.

- Click here for it.

It might be worth walking through in 2306 today.

Is there a guaranteed right to vote explicitly detailed in the U.S. Constitution?

We will detail this in 2305 this week and next.

My position is that there is no explicit right, because it is not states, and states can still place limits on both the right to vote and access to the polls. The power of the states to determine who can and cannot vote has been rolled back over history, but is still not complete. We will walk trough this in class soon enough, but here are opinions on either side of the question from smarter people than me.

- Politifact: U.S. Constitution is not explicit on the right to vote, Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan says.
- Constitutional Accountability Center: Yes. There is a Right to Vote in the Constitution.
- The Atlantic: Voting: Right or Privilege?.
- The Atlantic: What Does the Constitution Actually Say About Voting Rights?.
- Salon: Voting is not a right.
- Democracy Journal: The Missing Right: A Constitutional Right to Vote.
- ACS: Does the U.S. Constitution Guarantee Americans an Affirmative Individual Right to Vote?.

A few stories covered in class today

These first three regard the Texas Lieutenant Governor's effort to direct what types of issues will be considered in the 85th session beginning on 2017.
- Patrick Urges Senators to Study Jail and Police Safety.
- Religious Liberty, Ethics on Senate To-Do List.
- Interim Committee to Take a Closer Look at Jail Safety.

These stories highlight two three bills signed by California Governor Jerry Brown.
- Governor Jerry Brown OKs automatic voter registration through DMV.
- California governor signs bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
- Gov. Brown signs climate change bill to spur renewable energy, efficiency standards.

Each is an example of both the concept of states as "laboratories of democracy" and of the differences that exist between states based on each state's political culture. As opposed to Texas, California is one of a handful of states which makes it easy to register to vote. What could be easier than automatic registration?

Here are the families funding the 2016 campaigns

From NYT - click here for the article.

They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.

Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago.

These donors’ fortunes reflect the shifting composition of the country’s economic elite. Relatively few work in the traditional ranks of corporate America, or hail from dynasties of inherited wealth. Most built their own businesses, parlaying talent and an appetite for risk into huge wealth: They founded hedge funds in New York, bought up undervalued oil leases in Texas, made blockbusters in Hollywood. More than a dozen of the elite donors were born outside the United States, immigrating from countries like Cuba, the old Soviet Union, Pakistan, India and Israel.

But regardless of industry, the families investing the most in presidential politics overwhelmingly lean right, contributing tens of millions of dollars to support Republican candidates who have pledged to pare regulations; cut taxes on income, capital gains and inheritances; and shrink entitlement programs. While such measures would help protect their own wealth, the donors describe their embrace of them more broadly, as the surest means of promoting economic growth and preserving a system that would allow others to prosper, too.

From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: A Change in Political Winds Every Two Years

The author points to one of the key reasons why elections turnout as they do. It's not public opinion or the quality of the candidates, its who turns out to vote.

- Click here for the article.

Texas has two electorates. One votes in presidential election years, and the other votes in gubernatorial election years. They are not the same.

The turnouts are different, and so are the results. Turnouts drop when governors are the most-talked-about races on the ballot. And the state’s Republican voters are more dominant in those years.

In the last two presidential elections, the average Republican on the statewide ballot — the races for president and statewide offices — got 54.4 percent. In the last two gubernatorial election years — 2010 and 2014 — the average Republican running statewide got 59.9 percent. The averages for Democrats in those elections are the flip: They do better in presidential years, getting 42.6 percent, and worse in gubernatorial years: 36.7 percent.

From Wikipedia: List of landmark court decisions in the United States

The Wikipedia page linked to in the previous post mentioned that Obergefell is a "landmark" Supreme Court case, and it links to a few more. I thought you'd like to check it out yourself. It provides a list of cases where the court has made significant decisions regarding US law and/or the Constitution.

- Click here for it.

Obergefell v Hodges

This is the court decision that recognized gay marriage. It allows us to bridge consideration of both the courts and civil rights, so its worth a look.

The questions presented to the court were:

(1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?

(2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex that was legally licensed and performed in another state?

Here are links for more info:

- Supreme Court - the decision.
- Oyez.
- Scotusblog.
- Wikipedia.

For GOVT 2306 - 02

- Legislative Process.
- Bill statistics.
- Vetoed legislation.
- 84th Session.

Is there a relationship between gun deaths per state and state gun laws?

The debate rages - we will unpack these in 2306 soon, but here are a two links to get going on it. The difference appears to be in what data people decide to study.

- Obama’s claim that ‘states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths’.
- Zero correlation between state homicide rate and state gun laws.

From Vox: 11 facts about gun violence in the United States

Some fancy charts.

A quick look at state gun laws

The latest school shooting has - once again - focused attention on gun policy and raised questions about the relationship between gun laws and gun crime. Each side is trotting studies justifying their positions, so why not walk through a few?

This is a good example of a key principle of federalism, at least those who argue that states ought to have broad latitude in setting public policy. We discussed the idea that states serve as laboratories of democracy by experimenting with different policy proposals in order to determine their impact. It's a pragmatic way to determine what does and doesn't work.

Here are some general links to the nature of laws in each state.

- Wikipedia: Gun Laws in the United States by State. Very thorough - but easy to get bogged down in this.
- NRA-ILA: State Gun Laws. Has a look at all the gun clauses in state constitutions - nice resource. And nicely laid out list of specific laws in each state.
- Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence: Search Gun Laws by State. An evaluation of laws by a pro-gun control group.

Controversy kicks up over how slavery is covered in Texas social studies textbooks.

More battles rage over the content of K-12 social studies textbook. This time its over how slaves are referred to in a caption.

Here's a blow by blow so far.

1 - It begins with the adoption of textbooks - approved by the Texas State Board of Education - in late 2014.
- Texas Approves New Social Studies Texts — With Changes.
- Texas Board of Education Fights Over History.
- Texas Takes Last Pass at Social Studies Textbooks.

2 - It began when a parent posted a photograph on her Facebook profile showing a caption in the textbook referring to the Africans brought to the US during the slave trade as "workers."
- Click here for it.
- Click here for a video she posted as well.
- Controversial Social Studies Textbooks Under Fire Again.

3 - Some members of the board are reportedly calling this an isolated incident.
- Education Board Members Dismiss Textbook Kerfuffle.

Introducing the once proud Republic of West Florida

The story is in Vox.

- Click here for it.

This Day in History: Lead Story 1866 First U.S. train robbery

I love this stuff. It doesn't specifically mention the development of national law enforcement agencies - most law enforcement was handled by the railroad companies themselves, but calls to do so followed the increase in robberies of moving trains.

- Click here for the story.

On this day in 1866, the Reno gang carries out the first robbery of a moving train in the U.S., making off with over $10,000 from an Ohio & Mississippi train in Jackson County, Indiana. Prior to this innovation in crime, holdups had taken place only on trains sitting at stations or freight yards. 

This new method of sticking up moving trains in remote locations low on law enforcement soon became popular in the American West, where the recently constructed transcontinental and regional railroads made attractive targets. With the western economy booming, trains often carried large stashes of cash and precious minerals. The sparsely populated landscape provided bandits with numerous isolated areas perfect for stopping trains, as well as plenty of places to hide from the law. Some gangs, like Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, found robbing trains so easy and lucrative that, for a time, they made it their criminal specialty. Railroad owners eventually got wise and fought back, protecting their trains’ valuables with large safes, armed guards and even specially fortified boxcars. Consequently, by the late 1800s, robbing trains had turned into an increasingly tough and dangerous job.

For more:

- Early Days of Railroad Policing to present.
- History of the Railroad Special Agent.

Random links for 2305

- Regardless of 2016 Outcome, Cruz Faces Hurdles With Senate. Our junior Senator might be burning too many bridges to be effective either as senator or president.

- Obama, Republicans on collision course over defense bill. Even though Congress approved continuing appropriations until December, battles wage over aspects of spending, including defense.

- The House Republican civil war, explained. I like the comparison with the movie Fight Club.

- McConnell and Boehner's goals for the 114th Congress. A look back at what the two leaders had hoped to accomplish.

- RNC Chair: Iowa and New Hampshire Aren’t “Sacred Cows” After 2016. Party election changes are underway.

- Ted Cruz's Primary Strategy Centers on Delegates. A look inside the senator's strategy.

Yes the Texas Senate was unusually conservative this past spring

So says Rice Poli Sci guy Mark Jones.

- Click here for the article.

From the Texas Tribune: Property Tax Relief Comes With Big Cost to State

A series of measures limiting the ability of local governments to collect property taxes may lead to an increase in sales taxes. The author is critical of Proposition One - the first of the proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution to be offered to the voters next month.

- Click here for the story.

If history is any guide, Texans will overwhelmingly approve a state constitutional amendment on Nov. 3 aimed at providing them some relief from rising property taxes.

But the expected savings on homeowners’ property tax bills, estimated at $126 on average, comes with a trade off: a permanent increase in state spending. Texas lawmakers will budget $600 million annually to cover the loss of revenue to school districts, which rely heavily on property taxes. That’s on top of about $8.4 billion already in the state budget each year to make up for three previous property tax relief measures implemented since 1997, according to the Legislative Budget Board.

All together, the state will be spending about $9 billion a year to offset property tax relief measures, or more than eight percent of the budget Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June.

“In many regards, we are creating a double taxation,” said state House Ways and Means Chairman Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton. “Most Texans aren’t going to see a reduction in their property tax at home and they are now and forever going to pay $600 million a year for this homestead exemption to the state.”

Bonnen was openly critical of property tax relief efforts throughout this year’s legislative session. Faced with strong interest among lawmakers to address fast-rising property tax bills, he ultimately backed a pared-down version of the Senate's proposal as part of a larger tax cut deal.

From the Texas Tribune: Texas Cases Factor in New Supreme Court Term

The state of Texas is no stranger to the United States Supreme Court. Here is a look at the cases from Texas that will be heard there. It's 2015 session began yesterday. We've discussed these cases in class before so there are no big surprises here.

- Click here for the article.

From the Texas Tribune: Lawmakers Jump into Tussle Over God's Trust

Reminds me a bit of the Kim Davis controversy. It goes beyond the religious views of an individual by involving a governing entity. This makes it more of an establishment clause issue than a free exercise issue. But let;s think it through in class.

- Click here for the article.

A furor involving a small-town Texas police department and national secular organization has reached the state attorney general's office, and may well wind up in court after that.

At issue: does slapping "In God We Trust" stickers on police patrol cars violate the U.S. constitution?

After fielding a complaint from a citizen of Childress, a Panhandle town of about 6,000, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent the town’s police department a letter last month asking it to stop using the motto.

The Wisconsin-based foundation, a national church-state watchdog group that claims to be the country's largest association of atheists and agnostics, argued placing the slogan on an official police vehicle breaches the wall separating church and state.

In a widely shared response, Childress Police Chief Adrian Garcia wrote: “After carefully reading your letter, I must deny your request in the removal of our nation’s motto from our patrol units and ask that you and the Freedom From Religion Foundation go fly a kite.”

That response, which Garcia posted on his department’s Facebook page had been liked more than 170,000 times, shared by more than 145,000 accounts and drawn about 20,000 comments as of Monday.

Monday, the two state legislators representing Childress — state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and state Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster — asked Attorney General Ken Paxtonto weigh in on the question.

Adopted in the mid 1950s as the nation’s motto, “In God We Trust” is an exclusionary, “Johnny-come-lately” that is unconstitutional and “turns believers into insiders and non-believers into outsiders,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of Freedom From Religion Foundation, told The Texas Tribune.

Related: Ken Paxton asked to support ‘In God We Trust’ on police cars.

Here's a list of most of the executive agencies and bonds mentioned in Article 3 of the Texas Constitution

I'm pretty sure I missed a few, but I'd like to orient some of the conversation about the Texas executive branch around these institutions  and funding sources.

- Click here for Article 3.

- Texas Ethics Commission
- Legislative Redistricting Board
- Emergency Services Districts
- Jail Districts
- Veterans' Land Board
- Texas Water Development Board
- The Parks and Wildlife Department
- Texas Agricultural Finance Authority
- Texas Agricultural Fund
- Superconducting Super Collider Fund
- Bond Review Board
- Texas Mobility Fund
- Texas Transportation Commission
- Texas Department of Transportation
- Texas Public Finance Authority
- Texas Military Value Revolving Loan Account -
- Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund
- Texas Highway Improvement Fund
- Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
- Student Loans
- Farm and Ranch Loan Security Fund
- General Services Commission
- The Texas Youth Commission
- The Texas Department of Criminal Justice
- The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation
- The Adjutant General's Department
- The Texas School for the Deaf
- The Department of Agriculture
- The Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas
- The State Preservation Board
- The Texas Department of Health
- The Texas Historical Commission
- The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
- Workers' Compensation Insurance
- Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas  

From Politico: The Man Who Launched the GOP’s Civil War How a textile magnate turned the Party of Lincoln into the Party of Trump.

For our upcoming look at how the South went from being Democratic to Republican. I addition to racial issues, underlying hostility to labor unions by southern workers played a key role, as did the activities of a prominent political entrepreneur.

- Click here for the story.

Milliken’s name does not mean much to most anyone born after the Vietnam War, but he was the godfather to the first generation of modern conservatives. The owner of one of America’s largest private companies, a textile manufacturer he turned into a chemical-processing giant, Milliken used the profits from his staunchly antiunion mills to fund conservatism’s founding institutions, including the National Review and Heritage Foundation. Many of the facts we take for granted in politics today—that the GOP is a conservative party; that it counts on the solid support of white, male, working class voters in the South and West; and that big-money donors can pick and choose its candidates, even to the point of running themselves—were the fruits of his career.

The October 2015 Supreme Court term begins

The new term starts tomorrow - here are a few sources for detail about the cases they will consider.

- NYT: Supreme Court Prepares to Take On Politically Charged Cases.
- Heritage Foundation: Overview of the Supreme Court’s October 2015 Term.
- ScotusBlog: As the 2015 Term opens: The Court’s unusual Eighth Amendment focus.
- Christian Science Monitor: What cases will the Supreme Court examine in new term?
- Huffington Post: With Next Term Looming, Supreme Court Justices Mull New Cases.
- Constitution Daily: Podcast: What’s next at the Supreme Court?

Here are a few cases they have agreed to hear already - apparently they have only agree to hear less that 40 as of this writing. This will likely double by the end of the year.

This link in ScotusBlog takes you to all their stories related to the October Term of 2015.

- Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.
- Fisher v. University of Texas.
- Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.
- Evenwel v. Abbott.

There's much more - we'll get to it soon.

These are my responsibilities as precinct judge.

Some highlights from the training.

9am - intro by county commissioner el Franco Lee

9:05am - assistant county attorney Douglas Rae offers his help and catches is up on the status of the voter ID requirement. It has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal district judge, that decision was upheld by the court of appeals. That had been appealed by the state of Texas to the Supreme Court, but the decision was stayed meaning it is still in force. One of seven forms of ID are required. 

- attorney with Stan standarts office walks through the process for voting provisionally if a voter does not have acceptable ID. 

- Sonya. An assistant with stanart's office goes over odds and ends. 

- the size of Harris county requires that it conduct its elections differently than the law allows. The law is designed for smaller counties. 

- by the way, I'm getting paid to be here! Plus breakfast. 

- who cannot be an election judge? List includes office holders and campaign officials. Makes sense. 

- one way I can go to jail: let someone in with campaign material. Class C misdemeanor. Electioneering.

- We must bathe! We must not smell bad! We must dress well! We might end up being on TV!

- the day to pick up election supplies is Halloween. Fitting. She's encouraged us to come in costume. 

- I got a 50 cent raise! I'm going to make $11 an hour. Everyone else gets $9 an hour. That's just how valuable I am. 

- If we do not open at 7am we have failed in our job! Failure is not an option! Great. I can always use additional stress. 

- elected officials cannot walk around the polls. The county clerk and staff can. It's a class c misdemeanor to let an ejected official in the poll. 

- new procedure: we have to call the clerk's office to let them know that we have opened the polls on time (or not).

- poll watchers are allowed, but must have a certificate stating who they are. It's another misdemeanor to get in the way of a poll watcher, but they can't interfere with voters. 

- reviewing acceptable forms of ID. Texas allows fewer than other states. That's why it's been challenged in the city's. Other photo ID requirements have been accepted by the courts. 

- what if the name on the poll book does not match the name on the ID? That's what I'm paid the big bucks to reconcile. 

- is Michael Mouse the same person as Mickey Mouse? Look at the totality of the circumstances. 

- they want us to be kind if someone has gained a lot of weight since they took their ID photo. 

- I may have multiple precincts voting at my poll. Each may have a different list of candidates. That means they get different ballots. 

1030am - new speaker. Michelle! She's talking about provisional ballots. This allows someone to cast a ballot who may not be eligible to vote. Maybe they do not have proper id. A question may exist that needs resolution. Once the issue is resolved the provisional ballot will be accepted if it is resolved favorably this is a pain in the butt. No one likes to do this. I don't like to do this. 

- there's a big form to fill out to do this. 

- the voter has six days to clear up the issue. The process is called curing.

- another way to go to jail: if I let a provisional voter vote regularly. And I'll get in big trouble if I lose the provisional ballot. 

- Sonya is back. Walks over how we can and cannot assist voters. 

- there is a different between an interpreter and an assistant. An assistant had to take an oath. This seems new to me. 

- more ways to go to jail. To allow someone who cannot vote to vote, to not allow an eligible voter to vote. It is a felony to disclose how someone voted.

They threatened to keep us until 1pm, but were done by 11. I just made $33 before taxes! The next meeting will be instructions on how to physically set up the voting booth. Stay tuned.

My morning so far ....

Kevin's most excellent election judge adventure

This'll be my fourth stint working the polls and the third as a precinct judge, which means that I'm in charge of the whole thing and if anything goes wrong, I'm the one that goes to jail. I'll be working precinct 20, which covers midtown and downtown. The polling location is an old church on Main Street about four blocks from the Continental Club, if you're familiar with those types of places.

Since all this fits within the subject of elections, especially the nuts and bolts aspect of it we cover in 2306, I'll drag you along with me so you can see how these things work. I'll back track later and provide details regarding how I was asked to do it again, and the range of my responsibilities as judge, and the many ways I could possibly break the law if I'm not careful. This morning I'm sitting in the gym at the Finnegan Park rec center in Houston's Fifth Ward with a couple hundred of my closest precinct judge friends ready to be trained    - or retrained - in election law. Special attention will be given to recent changed like the ongoing issues with the photo ID requirement. I really don't want to go to jail. 

It's a pretty diverse group this morning. Makes sense, since Houston is pretty diverse as well. Photos and commentary to follow. 

From the Hill: Bill would create ethics code for Supreme Court justices

We brought this up in 2305 Tuesday. The Supreme Court lacks and ethics code - the legislature is about to give it one. Is this constitutional?

- Click here for the story.

As the Supreme Court is gearing up to hear arguments Tuesday in what could be the nation’s most influential case on gay marriage, Democratic lawmakers are calling on the high court to adopt a code of ethics for justices.

The Supreme Court Ethics Act, reintroduced Thursday, would require the Supreme Court to adopt a code of the ethics within 180 days. The nine justices are currently exempt from the code of conduct U.S. judges follow to ensure neutrality and transparency in the nation’s courts.

“There is absolutely no reason why Supreme Court Justices shouldn’t be subject to the same code of conduct as all other federal judges,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a news release. “The American people deserve to know that our highest court is held to the highest ethical standards, which is why we introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act.”

A similar bill was first introduced in 1973. In 2012, 212 legal scholars sent Chief Justice John Roberts a letter urging him to adopt a code of conduct for U.S. judges. To date, more than 130,000 Americans have signed a petition asking Roberts to adopt a code of ethics for the high court.

Because Congress determines how many justices sit on the Supreme Court and what they are paid, lawmakers say creating a code of conduct is part of their purview as well.

"The questionable activities of some of our Supreme Court justices have been well documented — participating in political functions, failing to report family income from political groups, and attending fundraisers,” Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said in a press release. “It doesn’t make sense that members of the highest court in the land are the only federal judges exempt from the code of conduct.”

- Click here for the Supreme Court Ethics Act.

The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act

Vox is impressed that the Senate might actually pass something substantive. The bill shows that the nation has drastically changed its opinion on criminal justice in the past 20 years.

- Click here for their story.

On Thursday, a group of senators introduced a bill they called "the biggest criminal justice reform in a generation" — an effort that, unlike other bills, actually has a shot at moving through the chamber.

The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would reduce sentences of some current federal prisoners, and allow future prisoners to get shorter sentences. It's not the first bipartisan criminal justice reform bill to be introduced in Congress, but it's the first one with a clear path to passage in the Senate. That's thanks to an important ally: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he's opposed past criminal justice reform bills — which has been enough to keep them from coming up for a vote in the full Senate. But the growing pressure for reform, both from advocates and within his own party, appears to have convinced him that he needed to do something. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, written by Grassley after months of negotiations with colleagues, is the result.

This means the bill isn't just a compromise between Democrats and Republicans — it's a compromise between criminal justice reformers and at least one prominent skeptic. But reformers hope Grassley's support will be enough to ensure that this bill makes it further than previous efforts have — and even ends up on the president's desk.

From Newsweek: Senate Passes Bill to Fund Government Through December 11

This is becoming a pretty standard part of the budgeting process.

- Click here for the story.

On the eve of the government’s annual budget expiration, Senate passed a continuing resolution to provide temporary funding for the government through December 11. The resolution now makes its way to the House and if it is passed, a government shutdown will be avoided for the time being.

The resolution received 78 “yes” votes out of 100, though it only needed 51 to pass.
This decision comes after Cecile Richards, the leader of Planned Parenthood, testified before Congress on the matter of defunding the healthcare provider. Members of the Republican Party, including Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, have sought a government shutdown in order to defund Planned Parenthood after the release of controversial videos by a pro-life activist purporting to expose the illegal practices of the health organization.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, harshly opposed a government shutdown, opting to temporarily fund Planned Parenthood in order to avoid such an outcome.
Congressional Republicans used these brinkmanship tactics in 2013, when Cruz gave a 21-hour marathon speech, opting for a government shutdown in protest of funding the Affordable Care Act. Democrats argued the move produced economic insecurity. With national election campaigning in full force, Republican leadership has been wary of the political dangers of a shutdown.

How to implement campus carry?

We'll have to deal with this soon as well. Here UT struggles with it.

- Click here for the story.

A strong majority of speakers at the University of Texas at Austin’s first campus carry forum on Wednesday night voiced concern about the contentious law that will allow licensed Texans to carry concealed handguns in campus buildings.

But since lawmakers didn’t allow public universities to totally opt out of campus carry – as private schools can – many of those opposed to the proposal focused more on imploring school officials to make classrooms and other specific areas gun-free.

“I’m here to say as emphatically as I possibly can: Guns don’t belong in classrooms,” said Joan Neuberger, a UT-Austin history professor. “Not in the hands of criminals. Not in the hands of responsible gun owners. Not in the hands of CHL holders.” That nuance signals the next phase of the campus carry debate, as UT-Austin and other four-year universities start to get a handle on how they will implement the law in fall 2016.

Public university presidents have the ability to declare parts of campus, but not all of it, off-limits to gun. But it remains an open question of how much discretion the schools have, given that the law says only that the gun-free zones must be “reasonable.”

And town hall meetings – attended at UT-Austin by several dozen students, faculty, staff and graduates – are a critical step that several schools are now taking to gather feedback before making some preliminary recommendations likely by the end of the year.

“We are here to listen,” said Steven Goode, a UT-Austin law professor who’s leading the school’s campus carry working group.

Existing state law allows individuals with concealed handgun licenses to carry their firearms onto university grounds. But expanding that right to dorms, classrooms, cafeterias and other public campus buildings was a priority for pro-gun Republicans.

Campus carry ended up joining open carry as the major gun bills passed this year. Though open carry uses existing concealed carry law as its basis, lawmakers made it so licensed Texas still won’t be able to openly carry handguns on campus.

From the Texas Tribune: Amid Lawsuit, Patrick Defends Medicaid Cuts to Therapy

The Lieutenant Governor doubles down.

- Click here for the article.

Amid an ongoing lawsuit over deep cuts that lawmakers made this year to a therapy program for children with disabilities, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday offered a sternly worded defense of the Legislature’s move.

"Anyone claiming the Legislature arbitrarily instructed [the Texas Health and Human Services Commission] to save taxpayers $100 million by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse without consideration of the potential impact on Texas' most vulnerable citizens — is just flat wrong,” Patrick said in a statement.

The comments came after state lawmakers in recent weeks wrote to Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor, urging him to use caution when making the cuts included in the lawmakers’ biennial budget. The tone of those letters ranged from politely outraged to cautious, with lawmakers from both parties either urging state officials not to move forward with the cuts, or to at least be sure not to jeopardize children’s access to care when making them.

Patrick reiterated that the cuts passed with bipartisan support and would not endanger access to care and were meant to “make sure no provider or anyone else takes advantage of the families they serve or the taxpayers."

From the Houston Chronicle: Harris County should stop jailing small-time drug offenders

Here's an opinion piece arguing that the Harris County District Attorney should use her discretion to restrict how it implements one of the laws on its books. I offer this since it illustrates a point made in the section on counties in the state. While they are administrative units, the actual administration is done by locally elected officials, which means that it is done in a manner that is in sync with local public opinion - or at least the opinion of people who show up at the polls.

- Click here for it.

While the state of Texas has not yet reformed its drug laws, many local jurisdictions, frustrated with the lack of results from locking up citizens for nonviolent drug offenses, have begun to exercise discretion in their enforcement of drug laws. In the interest of saving valuable taxpayer dollars and conserving scarce law enforcement resources, these jurisdictions have sought out alternatives to jail that allow them to hold drug users accountable without saddling these individuals, many of them young, with a criminal record.

Increase the initiative now

Harris County is one of these places. Faced with an overcrowded jail and a criminal justice budget that will account for more than 75 percent of the county's total general revenue budget in the next fiscal year, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson instituted the First Chance Intervention Program in October of last year. The program allows those arrested for possession of small amounts of marijuana with no criminal record to avoid starting one through cognitive classes or community service. However, because the program targets first-time offenders only, its reach is limited. We argue that the full potential for economic and social improvements cannot be realized with the program in its current form.

The initiative has been effective so far. From its rollout through August 2015, more than 1,800 individuals enrolled in the program, with 85 percent of those enrolled completing the program or still actively participating. The program is reaching a diverse audience, with blacks and Hispanics making up over two-thirds of the program's enrollment - a positive sign since arrest numbers show that blacks and Hispanics are overrepresented for all marijuana arrests relative to their populations. Further, the median age of program participants is 20 years, indicating that the program is furnishing opportunities for young people to avoid a lifetime of consequences that come with a drug conviction. So far the evidence shows that the county's initiative is a promising avenue for reducing the collateral costs that accompany a criminal record and the race and age disparities in drug arrests, all while saving taxpayer money.

Won't endanger public

The success of this pilot program should encourage Harris County to expand eligibility to all marijuana offenders, regardless of past drug arrests, as well as to offenders facing felony charges for possession of less than a gram, or a sugar packet's worth, of other controlled substances. The problems associated with misdemeanor marijuana arrests - high costs, racial disparities and collateral consequences - are only exacerbated in the case of felony drug arrests.

From the Dallas Morning News: Texas Senate leaders: $350 million cut to Medicaid therapy is goal, not requirement

For 2306 students mulling over week 6's assignment. The state is trying to argued that the cuts will not limit access to care. Here they make their point.

- Click here for the article.

The Texas Senate’s GOP leaders have told state social services officials that a state budget provision requiring reductions in Medicaid spending on outpatient therapy services sets a dollar amount for a goal.

But that isn’t an absolute requirement, and disabled children’s access always was supposed to be considered, even if it keeps the savings from hitting the goal, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson said publicly on Wednesday.

“There has been a dramatic increase in the cost and utilization of acute care therapy services in the Texas Medicaid program,” the two Republican leaders said in a letter to Chris Traylor, head of the Health and Human Services Commission, which runs the state-federal health program for the poor.

“Costs have increased from roughly $436 million a year to an estimated $722 million from 2009 to 2014,” Patrick and Nelson wrote. “Speech therapists also represent a disproportionately high number of therapy investigations within your Medicaid Provider Integrity Unit. Overall, therapy providers represent 12 percent of the investigations caseload and 14 percent of the legal sanctions caseload.”

Then came the caveat: The provision, known as “Rider 50″ in the commission’s two-year budget, tells the commission to “reform” rate-making for outpatient therapy “to be in line with industry standards,” as well as change any policies that are allowing possible overuse of some services. Two-thirds of the projected two-year savings of $350 million in state and federal funds “should be achieved through rate reductions,” and the rest perhaps “may be achieved through various medical policy initiatives,” the provision says. But the commission should cut rates “while considering stakeholder input and access to care."

From Politico: How McConnell outfoxed Ted Cruz

There have been several articles recently about how Cruz has been contained in the Senate.

- Click here for this one.

Ted Cruz called out Mitch McConnell seven times by name on Monday night. Afterward, the Senate majority leader barely uttered a word about his chief Republican adversary.
Asked about Cruz’s diatribe on the Senate floor, during which the Texas Republican suggested McConnell is a puppet for Democratic leaders and a foe of conservatives, McConnell couldn’t conceal his smile on Tuesday.

“I have tried very hard to stay out of the presidential race, and I think that’s probably a good rule for me,” he said with a chuckle.

McConnell may not like to talk about Cruz, but he and his leadership lieutenants have quietly and methodically worked to isolate the conservative senator and minimize his effect on the critical fall spending debate. The end result, in spite of Cruz’s invective toward Republican leaders, is music to McConnell’s ears: no government shutdown.

“We had to be prepared,” said John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Senate Republican. “He’s running for national office. He’s got a different endgame than we do. There are things we have to do here. We’ve got to fund the government every year.”

From the Economist: Regicidal Republicans - The party faithful are keen to decapitate politicians with experience of politics

The author tries to put his finger on what's motivating the Republican base (or the Tea Party wing anyway) to take out their leaders. The insurrection against Boehner - and current one against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - are the latest examples.

This is the latest on an emerging theme - the "experts" have no idea what's going on right now.

- Click here for the article.

The concluding paragraph:

Republican primary voters are not in a revolutionary mood, then, but a regicidal one. They think their rulers are corrupt, inept and mendacious, if not actually treasonous. But they are at the same time ready to swoon before new rulers promising to fix America in an instant. The key credential required to earn that trust is a lack of experience. Will those outsiders disappoint their followers in their turn, triggering a still deeper loss of public trust? Probably. This is going to be a bumpy year.

Here's the secret to Boehner's success - as it were.

From Roll Call: McCarthy Raises Campaign Cash, But He's No Boehner.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is one of the strongest campaign fundraisers in his conference, but he still can't hold a candle to outgoing SpeakerJohn A. Boehner, say Republicans mulling McCarthy as Boehner's successor.

Boehner’s fundraising operation was so extensive and successful — he donated tens of millions to his colleagues and candidates via multiple campaign committees and PACs — that his departure will leave a massive hole in Republican Party and GOP candidate coffers.

McCarthy is a Boehner protégé who has emulated the speaker’s fundraising practices — something that gives him a huge leg up in the contest to replace Boehner.

The only other House Republican considered in McCarthy’s league as a political money rainmaker is House Ways and Means Chairman Paul D. Ryan, a former vice presidential candidate who chairs a fundraising arm of the Republican National Committee known as the Presidential Trust. Ryan has taken himself out of the running for the speakership.

McCarthy has netted $13.1 million for his campaign committee and his personal leadership PAC since the beginning of 2014, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit that tracks political money. In the 2014 election cycle, a lucrative McCarthy joint fundraising committee known as the McCarthy Victory Fund pulled in $4.2 million.

But in that same election cycle, Boehner’s joint fundraising committee netted eight times that amount, with $35.4 million in receipts for the 2014 midterms alone. The Boehner for Speaker joint fundraising committee — a type of campaign account that raises large contributions and divvies them up amongst smaller committees — collected more than $71 million during Boehner’s tenure as speaker, CRP data show.

“The political operation that Speaker Boehner put together, I think, is unmatched, unparalleled,” said Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. “He just raises a phenomenally large sum of money for members of the House and for candidates, and it remains to be seen what the future of the organization will be.”

From The Texas Legislative Council: Analyses of Proposed Constitutional Amendments

Let's start talking about the proposed amendments in class.

- Click here for the document.

From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: Dancing With Those Who Brung Ya

Here's a great comparison between what it takes to be a good Speaker of the House in the Texas Legislature as opposed to the U.S. Congress - especially if you have a divided majority. Straus was better able to control the Tea Party than Boehner.

- Click here for it.

Splitting the majority party in the House of Representatives leaves a potential speaker with two routes to the top. Lawmakers did it one way in Texas and another way in Washington, D.C. Right now, the Texas way seems to function better. In the Texas House, Joe Straus, a Republican, built a ruling coalition that included the Democrats and limited the power of the Tea Party Republicans. In the U.S. House, John Boehner, also a Republican, made his coalition out of the Republicans alone, shutting out the Democrats and empowering the Tea Party conservatives.

The 2010 elections were a turning point for both leaders. That election gave Republicans a majority in the U.S. House and Boehner, until then the minority leader, became speaker. Two years earlier, Straus ascended to the speakership by banding fewer than two dozen Republicans with most of the Democrats in an almost evenly divided House.

After the 2010 elections, he could have ditched the Democrats and relied on a large Republican majority to stay in office — that’s what Boehner did — but he stuck with one of the oldest rules in politics: Dance with who brung ya.

Boehner’s coalition has been the much more volatile of the two. U.S. House Democrats are largely shut out — the decisions are made in the Republican Conference, which then attempts to stick together as a ruling bloc. The strength of the most vocal conservatives is increased in the conference.

The Straus coalition, while still conservative, frustrates the loudest and most doctrinaire of the Republicans, giving the Democrats some power and shutting out the far right. Those movement conservatives are just as rambunctious as their federal cousins, but they’re outsiders instead of insiders.

It’s not a perfect comparison. Straus operates in a government with 100 percent Republican leadership. Boehner has to deal with a Democrat in the White House. But Straus has had a longer tenure and had more legislative success than his federal counterpart, in part because he has had more success managing his potential antagonists.

For a bit more on the topic: Analysis: The Hard Way to Win a Speaker's Race.

More about those cuts to reimbursements for child therapy

This the subject of week 6's 2306 written assignment and I posted on it previously.

- Click here for it.

Remember that I want some consideration of how this case illustrates the checks and balances in Texas. Here are a variety of links that I'll add to as I find more.

- Official Website: The Honorable Tim Sulak.
- BallotPedia: Tim Sulak.
- Texas Tribune: State Didn't Study Budget Cuts for Children's Therapy.
- Tribpedia: Health and Human Services Commission.
- Official Website: Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

This appears to be a website devoted to the topic:

- My Therapy Rehab.

About the race to replace Boehner

A second option for this week's written assignment for GOVT 2305 is to look at the impact the resignation of John Boehner - who became speaker because he was the leader of the House Republicans. His resignation from Congress was also his resignation from that leadership position. Some background might be in order - the section on parties and committees in Congress covers this as well.

For a look at whose who in party leadership and in what the House Republican Conference is, click here:

- Wikipedia: Party Leaders in the United States house of Representatives.
- House: Leadership.
- Wikipedia: House Republican Conference.
- House: House Republicans.

Here is, roughly, a rank ordering of leaders in the House Majority

1 - The Speaker of the House
2 - The Majority Leader (Kevin McCarthy)
3 - The Majority Whip (Steve Scalise)
4 - Republican Conference Chairman (Cathy McMorris Rodgers)
5 - Republican Policy Committee Chairman. (Luke Messer)
6 - The National Republican Congressional Committee. (Greg Walden)

Now that the top has been - or is about to be - vacated, there will be a struggle to move up. The question will be whether this will be a smooth process where people go up a notch, or whether there will be a power struggle, especially among those members of the more conservative wing of the party who want to increase their influence over policy.

Here are some random readings about what's up as of now - as of tomorrow all this will be dated.

- Politico: Resignation triggers all-out leadership scramble.
- NYT: Candidates in Play for Republican Leadership.
- Politico: Paul Ryan endorses Tom Price over Steve Scalise for House majority leader.
- Huffington Post: Months After White Supremacy Scandal, Steve Scalise May Become House Majority Leader.
- CNN: Majority leader race: Price gets support, McMorris Rodgers declines bid.
- Politico: McMorris Rodgers urges GOP to pull together.
- IndyStar: Tully: GOP ‘Hail Marys’ aren’t enough, Rep. Messer says.
- Roll Call: Leadership Roundup: Scalise Is in; New Talk of a Trey Gowdy Bid.