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State Legislature: Bill would expand seat belt law
By BRIAN PORTER, Staff Writer
Editor’s note: This weekly report on the state legislature is compiled from daily informational reports supplied by Richard Lee and other sources.
Every passenger in a car on Texas roads would have to wear a seatbelt if the seat is equipped with one under a bill approved this week by the Senate.
"This is about safety; it's about making sure that people don’t end up dying or in the hospital," Watson said, also noting a Texas Department of Transportation statistic that in 2006 there were nearly 400 traffic fatalities that could have been prevented by wearing a seatbelt, and that passengers not wearing seatbelts are twice as likely to be hospitalized after a crash.
Thirty-five other states require seatbelts for all passengers.
If members of the Texas House Transportation Committee get their way, Texans could see the taxes they pay on gasoline jump dramatically over the next 10 years. House Bill 9 and Senate Bill 855 would, with voter approval, permit a 15-cent statewide increase of the gas tax within 10 years, as well as a new 10-cent-per-gallon local gas tax.
"Texas legislators should not think they can hide behind the idea that their tax increase still has to be approved by the voters," Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tina Benkiser said. "The fact is, a vote for this measure is a vote for a massive tax increase on Texas businesses, workers and families in the middle of a recession. It's bad fiscal policy, bad timing, and, in Texas, bad politics. The legislature should stop this bill in its tracks."
Taken together, the taxes in the bill could add up to a 25-cent per gallon gas tax increase. The state's existing gas tax is 20 cents per gallon.
Drivers over 18, but younger than 21, would have to take a driver's education course before they could get a license, under a bill tentatively passed by the Senate this week. Currently, an adult trying to get a driver's license for the first time must take a written and a road test, but not a driver's education course. Senate Bill 1317 author Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) said that young drivers that haven't taken an education course are more likely to have an accident than other groups, even 16 and 17 year-olds. He said the course takes about six hours and costs around $35.
A bill approved by the Senate this week would help lawmakers get a handle on the extent of stem cell research being performed by state agencies in Texas
Senate Bill 2573, by Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan), would require all state agencies involved in biomedical research to submit a report detailing any research involving stem cells or human cloning.
"All of us, regardless of where you stand on the merits of this issue, I think, will benefit if we have more information," Ogden said. The bill will not take action against any institutions that are conducting embryonic stem cell research.
The school accountability plan passed by the Senate last week took a step toward conference committee Wednesday. The Senate took up the House version of Senate Bill 3 and substituted its own version as an amendment. Unless the House agrees to take the Senate version of the plan entirely, the issue will be decided in conference committee, where five members of each chamber will craft a final version of the bill.
The Senate did make one change to the bill Wednesday, authored by Education Committee Chair Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano). An amendment would require that high-schoolers take at least one credit of fine arts instruction and one credit of physical education.
"I do believe that this amendment will go a very long way toward better preparing our students for college, and the workforce, and a healthy life," Shapiro said.
The original version passed by the Senate included a requirement of eight electives, but stopped short of telling students what they had to take. Under the amendment, students would still have six elective hours available.
Texas would continue to add to its lead in renewable energy under a bill given tentative passage by the Senate this week. Senate Bill 541, by Watson, would increase the amount of wind generated energy in Texas over the next decade, and would also encourage the development of other forms of renewable energy, like solar, geothermal and biomass generation.
"Texas has the sun, the wind, the people and the demand," said Watson, referring to a statement by a solar generation company. "This is where [the renewable energy industry] wants to be if there is a long term commitment."
The bill would create two tiers of green energy standards in the state. Tier 1 generally refers to large scale wind farms, already found throughout west Texas. Tier 2 energy generation would refer to wind generation under 150 kilowatts, in addition to biomass, solar, and geothermal energy. The bill would increase the goal of tier 1 renewable energy capacity by 5,000 megawatts by 2015, and 10,000 megawatts by 2025. The goals for tier 2 generation are more modest, 1,500 megawatts by 2020.
Utilities that are required to purchase renewable energy could elect to pay an alternative fee rather than generating tier 1 or tier 2 energy. This fee would go toward the solar rebate program passed by the Senate earlier this year. The bill would also give the Public Utilities Commission flexibility to end the program if it isn't working by 2016. In that event, alternative payments made under the program go for rebates on residential and industrial electric bills. The bill will likely see a final vote later in the week.
Rep. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound) passed two pieces of legislation through the Texas House of Representatives, both aimed at improving the economy and creating more jobs in Texas. The first bill, House Bill 2230, removes outdated and burdensome interest penalties that are added to property rollback taxes when owners decide to change the designation of their agricultural property.
"In this economy," Parker said, "we need to encourage economic development and not financially penalize those who wish to develop land. That is what House Bill 2230 aims to do, reduce property taxes while at the same time incentivizing property owners to develop their property and spur their local economies."
Parker's second bill, House Bill 4525 is widely viewed as a very significant economic development and job creation tool. His legislation provides workforce development money for manufacturers that invest at least $200 million in new or expanded facilities in Texas and create at least 300 new full-time permanent jobs in Texas.
"Texas has lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000," Parker said. "This bill will breathe new life into our manufacturing base, which is so critical to our state's economy, and put more hardworking Texans to work while strengthening our economy through the attraction of new, large scale manufacturing projects."
Through House Bill 4525, new or expanded manufacturing facilities in Texas that meet the necessary qualifications would receive a rebate of a portion of the new state sales tax revenue derived through the economic activity their presence brings to a hosting county.
The Texas House approved Senate Bill 526 this week, legislation by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), to assist the state's Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). The bill now moves to the governor's desk.
"These health centers need our support because they care for the uninsured and provide a cost-effective alternative to our hospital emergency rooms,” Nelson said.
The bill allows the Department of State Health Services to use funds from the FQHC Incubator Program, which was reserved for start-up costs for new centers, to support operations at the approximately 300 existing FQHCs in Texas; and repeals the program's expiration date.
Longtime Rep. Edmund Kuempel (R-Seguin) collapsed at the Capitol this week and was taken to University Medical Center in Breckenridge. According to reports, Kuempel is in stable but critical condition after suffering a heart attack.
"We are praying for Rep. Kuempel and his family, and hope that all Texans will do the same," Texas Republican Party Chairman Tina Benkiser said.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott this week charged three telemarketing firms with participating in an unlawful scheme to sell vehicle service contracts, which were falsely marketed as extended warranties. Two California-based telemarketing firms, SCM Media Inc. and On Point Media Inc., along with a third company, Pacific Guard Warranty LLC of Nevada, are named as defendants in the state’s lawsuit. You may have been targeted if you received a call noting your vehicle warranty was “about to expire” and also that you were receiving your “final call” before expiration.
Also, Abbott’s office notes that counterfeit U.S. Treasury checks may have been mailed to many Texans. Under one variation of the scheme, checks were mailed with instructions telling recipients to cash them and wire part of the money abroad. In a second version of the scheme, recipients are instructed to deposit the checks into their accounts and call for additional instruction. The communications often contains grammar or spelling mistakes, are mailed from Canada or other foreign countries, instruct the recipient to wire funds, rather than mail them, contain a threat of legal or monetary penalties if the letter is disregarded and demand urgent action.
Barbara Ann Radnofsky, formerly a candidate for the U.S. Senate, has announced her candidacy for Texas Attorney General. Along a 30-year legal career, she has been named among the “Best Lawyers in America” the past 16 years. She will run as a Democrat.
Attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes and former Councilman Lowell Lebermann this week signed on as advisers for Texans For Kinky, the specific-purpose committee enabling Kinky Friedman to explore a run for governor of Texas in 2010. If Friedman runs for governor, he would do so as a Democrat.
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