Tag Archives: Local Control

Patrick Determined to Waste Taxpayer Time, Money On ‘SB6’ Bathroom Bill

With all of the hope and promise that 2017 brings to the state of Texas, it also brings another set of critical opportunities to accomplish the People’s Business in the 2017 Texas Legislative Session.  Per the Texas state constitution, our state legislatures meet on biennial basis for approximately half of the year. For a state more populous than the country of Australia and a GDP nearly equal to that of Russia, the work done in each cycle of the #TXLege is critical to keep the state, and the entire nation moving.

It may be a New Year, but it’s the same old Texas leadership.  So it’s of little surprise that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is less interested in doing the People’s Business, but would rather, umm… clog it up.

Say hello to SB6– The Texas Privacy Act.  But don’t be fooled by the appealing name… This is simply another Discriminatory ‘Bathroom Bill’ designed to target innocent Texans, especially aimed at the Transgender Community.  Lt. Gov. Patrick and others in the GOP leadership are determined to file the legislation and take it up in the Texas Senate, even after seeing that similar bills in states like Indiana and North Carolina have been met with devastating results to the state business community.  As Lauren McGaughy of the Dallas Morning News points out, there’s also one other thing that SB6 would do…

AUSTIN – Cities like Dallas and Austin will have to undo local laws that protect transgender people from discrimination if Texas passes the so-called “bathroom bill” unveiled Thursday, a proposal panned by the business community that’s wreaked havoc on other states’ economies.

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The bill mirrors similar legislation passed in North Carolina and Indiana in recent years. Those laws have caused substantial political headaches for those states’ leaders – Indiana’s was later amended to include some LGBT protects and North Carolina’s failed to be repealed in a special legislative session – and both cost millions in lost business investment.

The bill, Senate Bill 6, will impact cities, public schools and state agencies and will enhance some criminal penalties.

First, if passed into law the bathroom bill would prohibit cities from passing any ordinance that applies to a private business’ bathroom, locker room and shower rules. Cities that have already passed anti-discrimination laws to allow transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity would be kept from enforcing them.

Once again, hypocrisy abounds in Austin.  After spending 8 years crowing about the Federal Government’s oppressive restrictions on our state, the Texas Big Government Overlords seem to think nothing of oppressing the will of municipal and county residents.  If passed, SB6 would be yet another unprecedented move to snatch local control from Texas citizens, from the same leaders whom preach all day against “big government overreach”.

If state government has gotten to the point where it’s monitoring Number 1 and Number 2, overreach has descended to a whole new level.

With this in mind, Texans are already organizing to fight back. Today in Houston, business leaders, political leaders and activists from across the state gathered in response to the Lieutenant Governor’s filing saying that the Texas Legislature needs to “Flush Senate Bill 6” and the hashtag #FlushSB6 was immediately trending on twitter.  Here’s a link to the full press conference, via Facebook Live.

Texas State Senator Sylvia Garcia was quick to push back against the measure in a statement…

“All Texans want to go to the bathroom in peace, including transgender people.  That’s why it’s already illegal to enter a bathroom to harm someone and always will be.  According to the Texas Association of Business, legislation like this could flush $8.5 billion and 100,000 jobs down the toilet.  We need to focus on classrooms not bathrooms.  My district needs bills that will create jobs, not political grandstanding job killers.”

Given that Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has already indicated that a bill like SB 6 would not a priority in his chamber, grandstanding is a likely outcome for the Lieutenant Governor during the upcoming session.  But if 2015’s HERO backlash and the 2016 elections have taught any lessons at all, the first of them should be to expect the unexpected.  Any advance of such harmful legislation should be fought hard and fought now.

So there we have it… Happy New Year Texas. Let’s hope this clog gets flushed out of the Legislature quickly, so we don’t have to waste taxpayer time and money on blatant discrimination.  AGAIN.

 

Texoblogosphere: Week of March 9th

The Texas Progressive Alliance is all about springing forward as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff sadly reminds a fifth-generation Republican who doesn’t want to lose her Obamacare insurance subsidies that Greg Abbott doesn’t care about her at all.

Libby Shaw writing for Texas Kaos and contributing to Daily Kos heard the President give one of the most memorable and moving speeches of our lifetimes.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to bust the spending cap, without having to pay, politically, for busting the spending cap, GOP Wants To Change The Rules In The Middle Of The Game.

“What the BLEEP happened to hip-hop?” asked PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Texas ranks 43 in the US as a place to live for children. That’s what happens when Republicans run the place. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme says pro-life is just another way to say ‘I’ve got mine, who gives a rats behind about you!”

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Grits for Breakfast applauds Ted Cruz’s flop-flop on marijuana.

The Rivard Report documents the crowded ballot that awaits San Antonio voters this May.

Randy Bear does the same for the charter amendments, and worries about trying to make changes in a low-turnout context.

The Lunch Tray would be happy to have celebrities market vegetables to kids.

Paradise In Hell declares that the real threat to marriage in Texas is serial heterosexuals.

BOR highlights the 2014 Texas League of Conservation Voters National Environmental Scorecard.

Better Texas Blog puts Texas’ Medicaid spending in context.

Texas Clean Air Matters echoes the US military’s call to diversify our energy options and shift more toward a clean energy economy.

Nonsequiteuse calls on Free Press Summerfest acts to speak up about R Kelly being in the lineup.

Texas Vox reports on lobbying efforts to preserve local control.

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(Today’s feature photo is an aerial shot over Dallas, Texas.  Taken by L. Wayne Ashley)

While State Hoards Cash, Texas Cities Borrow

Ask almost any Texans living north of Greater Houston and they can tell you… 2015 has been an exceptionally rough winter for the Lone Star State.  North Texas is just now thawing out from a rare March snowfall, in a year that has seen record winter events.

But long after this (hopefully) final bit of snow melts, municipal governments will still be working to deal with the storm’s aftermath. The exceptional Winter has ravaged Texas roads, leaving a staggering number of potholes and other damage to city and county infrastructures.

Fixing that damage is sure to be costly, and as things appear now, those additional costs are of no concern to state lawmakers in Austin.

Cold weather is only the latest challenge that Texas cities and counties have had to shoulder with little-if-any support from the Legislature.  As Aman Batheja of the Texas Tribune reports, the state’s momentous growth has left municipalities on the hook to keep up…

While state coffers are so flush with cash that Texas lawmakers might leave billions unspent this year, local governments are continuing to borrow heavily to provide services in a fast-growing state.

Between September 2013 and August 2014, local governments in Texas borrowed more than $5 billion, bringing the total local debt statewide to $205 billion, according to the Texas Bond Review Board.

[…]

State legislators have noticed — and they’re taking action.

More than a dozen bills have been filed this legislative session aimed at restricting how counties, cities and school districts can borrow money.

[…]

While some lawmakers have argued that local entities should do more to live within their means, cities, counties and school districts have countered that it’s the belt-tightening at the state level that pushes more costs further down the line.

“Cities are expected to be doing more of the state’s old jobs like building roads and reservoirs,” said Bennett Sandlin, executive director of the Texas Municipal League. “It is a bit hypocritical in that regard.”

Lawmakers at the Capitol are all too quick to criticize cities for having to borrow money, while they simultaneously tout the “Texas Miracle”, hoard cash away for themselves, and demand massive property tax cuts at the expense of higher sales taxes.

The one discussion they’ve yet to have in Austin??  If any of that state surplus will be used to aid Texas cities with the massive task of actually making this state work.  And sure Governor Abbott has at least said that the state’s roads and schools should be top priorities for the session.  But he has yet to explain how this additional spending will be funded if the $4.5 Billion in tax cuts goes through as well.

Perhaps he wants cities to take out debt for those too.

Texoblogosphere: Week of March 2nd

The Texas Progressive Alliance thinks the dress is blue and black and that the llamas should get their own TV show as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff notes that Republican hostility to local control doesn’t extend to the proposed high speed rail line, where a bill to give cities and counties a virtual veto over it has been filed.

Libby Shaw writing for Texas Kaos and a contributor to Daily Kos is not surprised by the Texas Republican’s cruel contempt for immigrant families and Obamacare. TX Gov. Celebrates Busting Up Immigrant Families while U.S. Senator Licks Chops for Gutted Obamacare.

Stace at DosCentavos reports on the League of Women Voters-Houston’s discussion on Low Voter Turnout.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is appalled at the anti-citizen ignorance of McAllen City Commissioner’s candidate, Debbie Crane Aliseda, who equates early voting to voter fraud.  What’s worse?  Other candidates echoed her ignorance.

A hot rumor about Adrian Garcia declaring for mayor of Houston turned out to be only that, but PDiddie at Brains and Eggs — as someone really well-connected once said — “ran the traps on everything”. (A city council candidate did announce at that same breakfast meeting, for whatever that might be worth.)

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. The Texas GOP gutted public education which caused a budget surplus. Instead of putting the money back they want to give it to the wealthy and big business, Doing Away With What They Believe Is Unnecessary.

Neil at All People Have Value took a walk and looked up at the things above him. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some other posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Texas Vox calls for more support for solar energy from the Lege.

Better Texas Blog calculates the cost of cutting the business margins tax.

Juanita has a good laugh over a kerfuffle involving male strippers at an antique show in Fayette County.

Nonsequiteuse would like Republicans to stay out of her bathroom.

Grits for Breakfast recounts how the DPS “border surge” caused an increase in crime elsewhere.

Texas Clean Air Matters reminds us that Texas is very good at energy efficiency and should do more of it.

The TSTA Blog asks if anything will be left for the schools.

Raise Your Hand Texas comments on the filing of quality pre-K bills in the Legislature.

The Lunch Tray is fed up with those photos of “school lunches around the world”.

Randy Bear endorses Mike Villarreal for Mayor of San Antonio.

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This week’s feature photo is of Bethel Park in Houston, Texas.