Sen. Steve Ogden joined me this morning for Session ‘09 Austin News In Depth. He brought with him a prop (no don’t get excited)…the state budget, of course! With little time, I tried to touch on several different aspects of the budget - the lack of money for CPS (Ogden said another $12 million bill was passed for more CPS workers), the anti-embryonic stem cell research rider, the rainy day fund and money for Texas jobs.

For our round table this week, we had Matt Mackowiak, Jay Root (AP) and Harold Cook. I teased Harold that they looked like the Three Stooges because they were sitting so close together. In all, it went pretty well.

In the week ahead, we’ll be hearing a lot about voter I.D. when the House brings it up for debate. I have no doubt that some of the more colorful characters in the lower chamber will make the debate interesting. The Senate may also vote on Sen. Dan Patrick’s bill that would mandate doctor’s show a woman about to get an abortion, the ultrasound images of her fetus (as well as have her listen to the heartbeat).