Our first “Wild Bill of the Week,” relating to the ability to hunt hogs from helicopters is on the House Calendar for debate today. Out of the thousands of bills filed, this one has a good chance of actually getting heard in the House since its not too far into the calendar. Rep. Sid Miller wasn’t thrilled when he found out he won the award - so I don’t think I’ll be getting much love for the wild bill this week (you’ll have to tune in Sunday morning at 9:30 to see what it is!).

Miller even made these stickers to pork up his support base for the bill.

  The bottom part written in yellow says, “Pigs can’t fly, but hunters can!”

Today, Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, came on the show to talk about his bill, HB 3, why he switched his vote on a legislative review of the State Board of Education and the possibility of the Governor actually signing on to public schools providing full time pre-K classes. Unfortunately, the Eissler humor didn’t shine through but he said I kept him dancing the whole time, he didn’t have time to insert his famed one-liners.

Harold Cook and Ted Delisi joined me to talk about the latest issues the lege has been dealing with. Since Delisi’s wife is chairwoman of the Transportation commission - we announced that conflict of interest before delving into the fate of TxDOT.

Rep. Homer should be thrilled to find out that he won our “Wild Bill of the Week” for his bill that would allow hunters use crossbows during bow hunting season. He told me it would help create a whole new generation of hunters AND boost the economy (always a selling point), as everyone will surely rush out to pick up their crossbows.

Sen. Dan Patrick joined me on Session ‘09 this morning and we covered it all! If you’re interested in immigration, abortion, stem cell research or even an award winning documentary (produced by Patrick), take a look.

Our political roundtable consisted of the trustworthy trio: Ted Delisi, Harold Cook and Jason Embry. We went over the recent news on the Governor, what’s next for the legislature and the love happening in the House.

My award for “Wild Bill of the Week” went to Sen. Kel Seliger for his piece of legislation that makes cattle rustlin’ a 3rd degree felony.

We had an interesting conversation post-show about the split in the Senate. In case you’re wondering on the hold up of various bills, it looks like it is split this year with 13 Republicans, 12 Democrats and 6 Independents - according to some insiders.

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).