Tag Archives: Denton Fracking Ban

Bye FeLEGEcia: A 2015 Texas Legislative Wrap-Up

Ok everyone sing it with me…

Ding Dong The Lege is Dead!  

Which Ole Lege?  The TEXAS Lege!  

Ding Dong The Texas Lege is DEAD!!

Though I guess it’s up to your point of view on just how wicked it turned out to be.

We’ll turn to Ross Ramsey of The Texas Tribune to give a proper summation…

It was clear after the 2014 elections that Texas voters were sending a conservative political cohort to Austin. It turned out that the officeholders they elected had different ideas about what that meant, and that this group — no real surprise here — could alternately quarrel and cooperate about as well as most of its predecessors.

In the process, issues that might have seemed black and white during the elections were rendered in shades of gray during the session.

It started right out of the gate: On the first day of the legislative session, a group of advocates for legalized open carry of handguns blustered into the Capitol to talk to members. They were so obnoxious about it that their bill — one of the virtual certainties coming out of the elections — didn’t pass until the final weekend 20 weeks later.

Before the session, even Democrats like Wendy Davis were in favor of open carry. After the over-enthusiastic supporters were done, even the sure bets were shaky. It finally did pass, however, along with legislation that will allow licensed Texans to carry concealed handguns on some parts of the campuses of state colleges and universities.

The $209.4 billion state budget, often a source of deep rancor and infighting, turned out to be relatively easy to put together. It helped that the year began with $17 billion uncommitted in the comptroller’s forecast of available money. The people who write political bumper stickers hate it when the superlative is “responsible,” but that word is already popping up in the news releases coming from the state’s leaders.

Of course it’s important to note that the fudge-it budget does nothing to address the state’s growing healthcare needs, still sold many schoolchildren short on their education, and barely took a bite out of the rapid declination of Texas road infrastructure.  If you’re looking for a source to classify this state budget as “responsible”, you’re not going to find it on Texas Leftist.  Choosing not to set fire to house is very different from taking steps to prevent fires from happening.

It’s fair to say that local control got torched.  The Legislature successfully eroded power from the citizens of Denton, and allowed fracking to resume in the city after banning the ability of municipalities to ban any form of extraction.  The unprecedented overreach had a special tier of irony given how most of the elected Republicans at the Capitol have built their careers on protests against sweeping big government action.

Congratulations Denton… If Governor Greg “Grab It” Abbott has his way, your votes will get swept under the rug.

Even with this terrifying result, it could have been much worse, given some of the other bills that were filed to obliterate municipal and county powers.  So as the court battles play out with Frack Free Denton, the issue of local control now comes in to question for future legislative sessions.

This is the bad news, but there were some highlights.  Texas Democrats proved an incredible force to protect much of policy that families across the state depend on.  They successfully defended an assault on in-state tuition, supported infrastructure investment, and defeated dozens of TEA-CON bills that would have eradicated local protections for LGBT citizens.  Of course on that last point, it’s important to note that a broad coalition within the state supports LGBT equality, so it’s far from a partisan cause.  One huge highlight of the 2015 session?  We now have a sense for just how broad that support is, and how successfully they can gather up resources.

So yeah… the things we learned in the 2015 Texas Legislative Session:

1) Don’t count your chickens before they’re fracked.

2) College Professors might think twice before failing their students, especially the ones packin’ heat.

3) The only Medicaid Expansion Texas can hope for is expanded lines at the E.R.

Bye FeLEGEcia… see you in 2017.  

 

 

Texas 2015: New Year, New Leaders, New Lege

It’s a whole new year in Texas politics.

With the New Year comes a whole crop of new leaders for the Lone Star State.  With the election of Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and everyone else, Texas has now had its most significant transition of power in the 21st century.  Indeed, Abbott will only be the second person to hold the state’s top job in this century.

But despite the time-tested song lyric, old acquaintance shall not be forgot, at least not totally.  Ex-Governor Rick Perry is sure to dominate the news cycle as he mounts his second run to be President of the United States.  Funny… for a guy that spends so much time complaining about the “burdens of government”, Perry sure does seem to enjoy government jobs.  It’s quite ironic.

The other really big news comes from Austin, as lawmakers reconvene for the 2015 legislative session.  Despite strong campaign pledges to the contrary, pressures are mounting for the legislature to find a Texas solution for Medicaid Expansion.  If left undone, state hospital funding sources will be decimated, and many more smaller healthcare facilities will be forced to close down.  Whether Republicans hold ideological opposition to the law or not, ignoring the issue could spell certain doom for the state’s rural hospitals.

Fracking will also monopolize much political attention this year, as the lege tries to deal with how to punish the citizens of Denton for voting to ban the controversial practice within their municipality.  Legislators also have to figure out a response to new clean air proposals for the EPA from the Obama administration, which would force the state to cut pollutants.

It’s no secret that the composition of the 2015 legislature will be much further to the fringe right than virtually any previous year.  Which is why it shouldn’t be surprising to see that a bunch of Anti-Equality legislation has already been filed in advance of the upcoming session.  As LGBT rights watchdog John Wright reports for the Texas Observer, it could be a tough couple of months for the Texas LGBT community…

…a month before the session begins, the flurry of legislation suggests that, thanks in part to the legalization of same-sex marriage across much of the nation, conservatives will challenge gay rights in the name of religious freedom in the 84th Texas Legislature.

[…]

Experts say the amendments could limit cities’ ability to enforce LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances. In addition to Plano, cities that have passed LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances include Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

That’s because business owners could claim exemptions from the ordinances if they have sincerely held religious beliefs—such as opposition to same-sex marriage—making it legal for them to fire employees for being gay or refuse service to LGBT customers.

“It blows a hole in your nondiscrimination protections if people can ignore them for religious reasons,” said Jenny Pizer, senior counsel at the LGBT civil rights group Lambda Legal.

These “license to discriminate” bills will definitely be something to watch out for in Austin starting next week.  But this week, all of the major legal action will take place in New Orleans, as the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear challenges against the state’s marriage ban.  As the nation’s most Conservative appeals court, no one is quite sure how the ruling will come out.

Finally, just because the 2014 election fever has broken doesn’t mean that the fun stops until November 2016.  This month, there will be a whopping 3 special elections, as voters try to fill seats vacated by State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Rep. Mike Villarreal and Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt.

Whatever triumphs and challenges lie ahead, you can be sure that Texas Leftist is on the case for 2015.  No matter who leads in the state house or City Hall, the Progressive, Common-Sense Agenda will always be a a vital part of Texas politics.

Texas Leftist Impact 2014

As we say goodbye to 2014, it is right to take a moment for reflection. So Texas Leftist wants to answer the ephemeral question…

For the year that was 2014, who had the greatest impact on Texas Politics??

 

There are of course lots of contenders. Attorney General Greg Abbott handily defeated rival Wendy Davis, and is set to become the state’s second Governor elected in the 21st Century. The reign of Rick Perry will officially come to an end as we ring in the new year. Democrat Davis ran a good campaign and certainly performed well in two debates with her Republican opponent. But in the end, her message was not enough to combat an historically-low voter turnout, and Abbott, along with most other Republican Party contenders, claimed victory once again.

Even with this reality, there were still some bright spots for Texas Democrats, and for Progressivism. The citizens of Denton exercised their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by banning fracking in their municipality, much to the dismay of Big Government Republicans in Austin who have immediately moved to sue the town for working to improve the community.

San Antonian Nico LaHood ousted the Republican Imcumbent to become the next District Attorney of Bexar County. Running on a platform of Bi-Partisanship and reformation of drug convictions, he also rises to the front ranks of the Texas Democratic Party.

But it is another San Antonian that claims the title of of this post… State Senator Leticia Van de Putte.  Though her bid to be the state’s Lieutenant Governor proved unsuccessful, Van de Putte certainly gained attention through a disciplined, common-sense campaign that stayed focused on the issues of Texas, and not partisan gridlock. She never compromised or apologized for her principles, whether they be standing up for LGBT equality in her only statewide debate, or pledging to fight for free tuition to Texas Community Colleges on the stump.

The year’s loss was definitive… Dan Patrick will be the next Lieutenant Governor. But rather than play it safe with her Senate seat, Van de Putte found the courage to risk it all once again, resign her Senate seat and run for Mayor of her hometown. It’s a fighting spirit that has been absent from Texas Democrats for almost two decades.

For awakening the fighting spirit with dignity, courage, wisdom and grace, Leticia Van de Putte had the greatest impact of 2014.