Perry Will Call Special Session

It looks like the Republicans in the Texas Senate are going to get what they wanted. A couple of days ago, the governor announced he will be calling a special session of the Texas Legislature. The session is necessary because the senate adjourned without approving legislation to keep the Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Racing Commission and the Department of Insurance going until the legislature meets again in 2011.

As it stands, the three agencies will have to cease operations on September 1, 2010. The senate tried to blame members of the Texas House for the screw-up, but the House did pass resolutions that would have kept the agencies going for another two years. But rather than agree to the resolutions, the senate adjourned. Even the governor is not buying the senate excuse. He said he didn't know what the senate was doing on its last day, saying it was like watching an episode of Lost.

It's pretty obvious what the senate wanted though -- a special session. The Republican-dominated senate had passed a voter suppression bill (which they called voter ID). The bill would have forced voters to present a picture ID along with their voter certificate before they could vote. Republicans said it was to prevent voter fraud.

I don't know where they think this fraud is. Here in the Panhandle, only one case of voter fraud has been brought in the last few elections. That case turned out to be a mistake, and the DA had to drop the charge and apologize to the voter. It's the same all across the state. The Republicans keep claiming they want to prevent fraud, but they've been unable to prove a problem of fraudulent voting even exists in Texas.

The truth is they're not trying to prevent fraud, they're trying to suppress votes. Republicans got a good scare in 2008, when they came close to losing control of the Texas House (where there are 76 Republicans and 74 Democrats). If they don't do something, they will lose it in 2010. Now they could change and appeal to a wider cross-section of voters, but change is not something right-wingers even want to contemplate. So they have chosen to try and suppress Democratic votes.

They know that the poor and the elderly will be the most affected by their bill, and these are groups that are most likely to vote Democratic. If they can suppress those votes, they can keep the House in 2010.

The governor was asked if Voter ID will be considered in the special session, but he refused to say yes or no -- just that a special session would be called soon. I think we can count on the voter suppression bill once again being introduced.

It should be interesting. It will easily pass the senate as it did before. It is the House where the problem will lie, because as determined as Republicans are to suppress votes, the Democrats are just as determined to make it easy for all citizens to vote.

Democrats stopped the bill with delaying tactics in the regular session. Those same tactics won't work in a special session, but I'm sure the Democrats have some tricks up their sleeve. They may even refuse to show up, because the bill can't be passed without a quorum of members present. They used this tactic in the past to try and stop redistricting by going to Oklahoma.

Whatever happens, it should be interesting.

Tx Senate - Incompetent Or Sneaky ?

The Texas Legislature meets only once every two years for a 140-day session. That session ended this last weekend, and once again, it more closely resembled a convention of second-rate clowns than anything else. It reminds us why the people of Texas don't have the stomach or nerve to ask for yearly legislative sessions.

This year the Texas House and Senate adjourned before approving and funding the operations of at least three state agencies -- the Texas Racing Commission, the Texas Department of Insurance and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Texas has a system that includes "sunset laws". That means that each state agency must be reviewed every few years and reapproved, or it automatically ceases to exist.

Some may disagree, but I think the state could get by for a couple of years without the Racing Commission and the Department of Insurance. All you have to do is look at insurance rates in Texas to know that the latter department did very little for Texas consumers anyway. But do away with TxDOT? That seems a little extreme, especially considering the condition of Texas' overcrowded and crumbling highway infrastructure.

Although they didn't pass the regulation bill re-approving TxDOT, the Texas House did pass a last-minute resolution that would have allowed the agency to operate for another two years. But that wasn't good enough for the Senate. A majority of the senators then worked themselves up into a lather and decided to teach the House a lesson. They adjourned without approving the resolution.

Even Governor "Good Hair" Perry didn't see the logic in that. He said, "If I could tell you I understood what happened last night, I would be an absolute genius. I thought I was watching an episode of 'Lost' for a moment. I have no idea what they were thinking or why they didn't want to pass the resolutions that would have given a safety net for those agencies."

There are two options as to what happened. The Texas Senate is either incredibly incompetent or very sneaky. The first option cannot be ruled out since the huge majority of the senators are Republicans, but I have a suspicion that the truth lies with the second option.

You see, the Republicans spent a large part of the session trying to pass a voter suppression bill (which they called the Voter ID bill). The Republicans know the political winds are currently blowing against them. They have only two choices -- moderate their views and appeal to a broader range of voters or suppress as many votes as possible. These right-wing nuts chose voter suppression.

The voter suppression bill easily passed the Republican-dominated Senate, but was killed in the House (where there are 76 Repubs and 74 Dems). The only hope to revive the bill is to force the governor to call a "special session" of the legislature. That is why the Senate refused to pass the resolution to keep TxDOT alive for another two years. If they had passed it, there would be no reason for a special session to be called.

So don't be surprised when the governor calls for a special session to save TxDOT. And don't be surprised when a voter suppression bill is added to the special session agenda. That's what this whole mess is about.

Come to think of it, maybe they're sneaky AND incompetent.