As we wind down the debate over the top 10% rule, it seems some lawmakers just can’t get enough. After 8 hours of debate just today on this issue, representatives are giving their “closing remarks” at the podium. Meanwhile, the deadline to pass major bills in the House is midnight Tuesday - just about 28 hours from now.

The House changed the bill dramatically. It came in as allowing all state universities to cap the number of students it admits under the top 10% rule at 60% of their student body. After the House did its work, the bill only allows UT to cap its top 10% students at 75% of the student body. If the entire debate is putting you asleep…you’re not alone:

I was just handed a pamphlet of information that relates the history of the legislature’s actions when it comes voting requirements. According the text, the Legislature passed a law in 1997 requiring voters show an alternative form of identification at the polls if they don’t have their registration card (before that, there was no such requirement).

The points highlighted in this document:

• It was co-authored by a Democrat
• No one testified against the bill in committee
• The TX Democratic Party testified in favor of the bill
• The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate

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So far this session, the Senate has passed 1,187 of their own bills. Of those bills, the House has passed 220. That means there is a long list of Senate bills waiting in line that still need final approval and Senators are starting to sweat the fate of them.

The list includes:

SB 362-Voter ID

SB 18-Eminent domain

SB 20-Property tax appraisals

SB 541-Renewable energy incentives

SB 1443-Tuition reform

SB 1560-University funding

SB 16-Air quality, greenhouse gas registry

SB11-Gang related crimes

SB 855-Transportation financing

SB 1007-TX Dep’t of Insurance

SB 7-Health care reform

Although the House floor is virtually empty due to the incessant chubbing, one lawmaker is staying in the loop. Rep. Mike Hamilton said Rep. Kuempel is watching the proceedings from his hospital room. This morning Hamilton had to lay out one of Kuempel’s local and consent bills and Kuempel called him and told him “don’t screw it up. Just read the script.”

It’s good to know he’s back in the game!

On Thursday the House passed no bills on second reading. Today, they aren’t even finished with the local and consent calendar (which usually takes about an hour to get through). The Dems weren’t joking when they said they would do everything in their power to make sure voter ID doesn’t make it to the floor for debate. The voter ID bill (already passed by the Senate) is scheduled for debate tomorrow. However, at this rate, there will be so many other bills that have been put on hold they may not get to it until its too late.

Rep. Castro told me we would see all types of strategic moves today, otherwise known as “chubbing,” and apparently he wasn’t exaggerating.

*strategery

I just got an e-mail from the Texas Moratorium Network that claims Perry has threatened to veto a bill that passed the House and prohibits the state from seeking the death penalty in Law of Parties cases. Perry apparently said he would sign it if that provision was removed and the bill just ensured that there were separate trials in Law of Parties cases (i.e, Kenneth Foster).  

I asked the Governor’s press office if this was true and I was told they aren’t privy to his personal life and cannot confirm or deny this claim.

In the debate over stimulus money, Texas House members are making sure to stay in their seats, as every vote counts in this debate. Rep. Mark Strama is pushing the body to pass a bill that accepts $555 million in stimulus money slated for unemployment insurance.

A fight erupted when Rep. Legler introduced an amendment that would mandate drug tests for those who apply for unemployment benefits. Dunnam called it “insult to injury” if a person loses their job and then “has to tell their children they have to pee in a cup to prove they don’t use drugs.” Strama offered up an amendment to Legler’s amendment, making the usefulness of drug tests a study - essentially neutering the drug test amendment.

The vote on Strama’s amendment was so close, they did a roll call. They then voted to to do a re-vote and then a roll call on that decision. Finally, Strama’s amendment to the amendment passed and its his first victory for a bill that may or may not pass the House and could be vetoed as soon as it hits the Governor’s desk.

Fun times.

With less than 2 weeks left in the legislative session, lawmakers will stop at nothing to make their voices louder than their opponents. Today, Rep. Betty Brown who is carrying the voter ID bill in the House scheduled a press conference during their lunch break in the speaker’s committee room. It turns out the Democratic caucus, which strongly opposes that legislation, decided to hold a meeting there as well.

While the press waits inside to see who will win the war, Democrats are sending in “place holders” to declare victory over this first battle of the House voter ID debate..

UPDATE: The dems have won for now. Brown came in and watched them for a minute with an unhappy look on her face as they bashed voter I.D. and then she left.

Journalists in Texas have suffered a couple of tough blows in the House.

Rep. Diane Patrick (R-Arlington) has carried two bills this session that would limit the media’s access to school employees’ personal and criminal information. These bills are a direct backlash to the state fingerprint registry mandated by tough-on-crime lawmakers two years ago. Every school employee, campus volunteer and district contractor must now register with a centralized registry, maintained by the Department of Public Services. The registry verifies each employee’s identity and tracks that employee’s personal criminal history.

The database was intended to stop child molesters from coming in contact with Texas school children, but it doesn’t stop there. It also tracks each employee’s ongoing criminal history, sex offender-related or otherwise, so if you were fingerprinted in 2008 and are charged with driving while intoxicated in 2009, then your school district automatically would be notified of your new conviction.

KXAN was among the media outlets that requested that conviction information compiled on Austin Independent School District teachers be released for review. AISD balked, saying that the criminal histories of teachers were not appropriate for disclosure. In Austin, 250 teachers had a criminal history, not all of the charges rising to a level that would be of concern for parents or the media. It was hard to tell that, however, if the district was unwilling to release even basic information for the media to review.

Teachers were shocked and outraged that the media now knew their personal criminal histories. It’s no surprise, then, that teacher groups moved quickly this session to shut off the media’s access to employee information in the state database. That measure passed the House today, in House Bill 3419. But, unfortunately, lawmakers took it one step further. Under House Bill 2491, public employees’ records are completely sanitized. No longer will reporters or parents be able to take a teacher’s birth date, plug it into a criminal database and determine whether a public school employee who deals with children on a daily basis has any type of criminal convictions.

So in the same week journalists got a partial shield law in Texas, we’re also faced with new laws that make their jobs harder. As you might expect, none of us in the 4th Estate have been very happy about this: here; here ; and here.

Teacher groups claimed that the disclosure of birth dates would lead to identity theft. Somebody better tell everyone on Facebook. It’s tough when lawmakers stop the media from acting in the public’s interest. Here’s hoping the Senate finds a better balance between a teacher’s right to privacy and the media’s ability to protect the public’s interests.

As the budget conference committee comes to a compromise between the House and Senate versions of the budget, Rep. Rick Hardcastle’s attitude is getting a little gloomier. The committee is considering closing down two state schools, one in Pyote and one in Vernon, Hardcastle’s district. The TYC lock-up in Vernon employees about 150 people.

“This isn’t about re-election for me,” said Hardcastle. “It’s about not getting shot. About half of those employees drive by my house every day on their way to work.”

The committee tabled those ideas and will tackle them either over the weekend or next week.