Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio (Texas House of Representatives)

On Thursday, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, released his list of committees assignments for the 83^rd Regular Legislative Session. Five Central Texas lawmakers secured leadership posts:

• Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin – Culture, Recreation & Tourism (Vice Chair)
• Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin – Administration (Vice Chair)
• Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin – Public Health (Vice Chair)
• Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs – Rules & Resolutions (Vice Chair)
• Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels – Special Purpose Districts (Vice Chair)

“These are charges that I take very seriously as the critical work of these committee will have an impact on the entire state and obviously in the Texas Hill Country, as well,” said Miller. “ I will help see to it that protecting private property rights, our state’s vital natural resources, and doing what is right for Texas will be priority components of our collective agenda.”

Central Texas members of the influential House Appropriations Committee – the budget writers – include:

• Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin
• Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin
• Rep. Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock

“I look forward to supporting (Speaker Straus’s) goals of properly and transparently funding government’s core responsibilities while meeting the challenges of robust population growth,” Howard said. “I intend to be an effective advocate on the committee for restoring funds to public education and family planning programs that were so dramatically cut last session.

This list shows Central Texas lawmakers increased their power in the House this session. Last regular session, the delegation filled one less leadership role:

• Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin – Administration (Vice Chair)
• Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin – Joint Committee on Aging (Chair)
• Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin – Public Health (Vice Chair)
• Rep. Doug Miller, R-New Braunfels – Joint Committee on Oversight of Edwards Aquifer (Co-chair)

Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio (Texas House of Representatives)

Lawmakers and their families will crowd the chamber floors at the Texas State Capitol on Tuesday, as the 83^rd Legislative Session officially begins. Both the House and Senate will convene at noon.

Members will be sworn in, then elect their own leaders. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, is set to become the President Pro Tem of the Senate.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio (Texas Senate)

It is largely a ceremonial post as the lieutenant governor actually runs the Texas Senate. But the post does mean that Van de Putte will be in line to become governor, right after Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, is expected to retain his role as leader of the House, though he faces conservative competition from sophomore Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview.

Gov. Rick Perry will also address each chamber, laying out his vision for the session ahead. In the past, he has also declared some early emergency items for lawmakers to begin tackling in their first sixty days at the Capitol. Some have suspected Perry’s first issue this session might be abortion-related, as he has already shown strong support for “fetal pain” legislation.

How many reporters can you fit in the Texas House chamber before it gets too crowded? Well, House Administration Chairman Charlie Geren didn’t want to take any chances last legislative session, so he limited the number to ten per media outlet. Read our original post.

Not quite a wrench in coverage, but it certainly cut down the wish list for several newsrooms. Those requesting more than the acceptable amount:

• -KVUE – 62
• -KEYE – 36
• -KXAN – 23
• -Texas Tribune – 23 (one person co-credentialed with KUT)
• -News 8 Austin (now YNN) – 21

Texas State Capitol (Josh Hinkle/KXAN)

In the past, there was no limit. But after the soaring amount requested in 2011 – 227 total – Geren and the House Business Operations office pointed to a lack of space as the reasoning behind the cap.

Geren – a Fort Worth Republican – still holds his post and still makes the decision regarding credentials, but he has eased up this time around. For the upcoming session starting in January, news outlets may receive up to 20, according to an official in the business office.

Like last session, a non-credentialed journalist must still apply on a case-by-case basis for admittance to the House floor – a temporary pass. Make a call, swing by the office, fill out a form and head to the lower chamber to hang out with your credentialed colleagues.

Certainly some extra work, but a little easier than before. Applications are now being accepted.

Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin

Republican Paul Workman hopes voters in Texas House District 47 give him a second term on Tuesday. When he first ran for the seat in 2010, it stretched along Travis County’s southern edge, but redistricting has now expanded its size to fill up nearly the entire western half of the county – a very suburban section.

Republicans redrew HD 47 to secure most available GOP precincts in Travis County, which has historically leaned left. While this might be to the advantage of Workman – a construction businessman – some members of his own party have criticized the move, as it could make gaining another Republican seat in the area nearly impossible in the future.

Democratic HD 47 candidate Chris Frandsen

Still, his Democratic challenger, Chris Frandsen, is fighting hard, even if it is an uphill fight. The military vet once owned a teacher supply store, worked as an education account manager for Apple, and has two daughters who have taught in the Austin ISD. He feels this school background will come in handy in the upcoming session, as education funding will no doubt play a critical role.

Libertarian Nick Tanner is also running and has proposed using money from the Texas Lottery Commission to fund education. Both Tanner and Frandsen have criticized the $5.4 billion legislative cuts to education and their opponent’s role in that move.

Workman defended his part in a recent forum with “We have to learn to live with less,” referring to the significant shortfall lawmakers face when they entered last session.

Democratic HD 136 candidate Matt Stillwell

Redistricting gave Central Texas a new player in the state House next legislative session. HD 136 was once down in Harris County, but it now pops up as a seat in southern Williamson County. It was created to in an effort for Republicans to secure yet another place in the lower chamber, but the Democrat in this race could have an advantage. If there’s any place in Williamson County leaning left, it could be here.

Austin spills into the GOP-heavy county. The new district – made up of portions of two previous Republican seats – contains that area, plus other communities like Cedar Park, Leander and Brushy Creek.

Republican HD 136 candidate Tony Dale

Democrat Matt Stillwell faces Cedar Park Council Member Tony Dale – a Tea Party Republican. A Libertarian in the race – software developer Matt Whittington – could split the Republican vote, another possible advantage for Stillwell.

Schools are one of the greatest issues in this race, as two large districts there – Round Rock and Leander – have both dealt with class size issues and budget concerns. But tremendous growth and traffic problems could also rule this competition, as the area around two surrounding toll roads – 183 and 45 – has exploded in recent years.

HD 48 candidate Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin

In one of the few at-play Texas House district races, a pair of Austin candidates have faced a challenge campaigning where 60 percent of their constituents are new. HD 48 looks a lot different geographically than it did last election, now stretching into the southwest side of the city. Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, won that election by just four votes. Her new opponent, Republican Robert Thomas, isn’t making this one any easier on her.

As education will no doubt rise to the top of political issues in the upcoming legislative session, both candidates boast school-supporting backgrounds. Howard – a former registered nurse – once served on the school board of the Eanes ISD and also sponsored an amendment in the last session to use extra money from the state’s rainy day fund to pay for enrollment growth. She also supports the full restoration of funds cuts from public education and health care in the last session.

Robert Thomas, Republican HD 48 candidate

Thomas has a steady background in various parent organizations with the Austin ISD. He also serves on the district’s bond oversight committee. When it comes to school finance, he is pushing tax reform as the first step in fixing the state’s troubles.

Though recent redistricting changed the majority of this district’s makeup, it is now much more Democratic – which might be a plus for Howard. However, Thomas – a lawyer and business owner – has pointed to the number of undecided voters in HD 48 as a reason for both candidates to get personally acquainted with their new neighbors ahead of Election Day.

Libertarian Joe Edgar is also running. A former candidate for Travis County Precinct constable, Edgar grew up on an Indian reservation in Chiloquin, Oregon.

Texas House Redistricting

For Donna Howard, the battle is familiar – it’s the battleground that changed.

Running for her fourth full term in the Texas House, the Austin Democrat is now campaigning in a redesigned district where more than 60 percent of the constituents are new, according to figures provided to KXAN by the Texas Legislative Council.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department – and later a three-judge panel in Washington – rejected redistricting maps drawn by a Republican-led state Legislature, saying they were discriminatory to minorities. A federal court in San Antonio drew an interim map in order for the Texas primary and runoff to proceed, as legal challenges played out.

HD48 candidates Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, and Robert Thomas, R-Austin.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up the matter before November, meaning the temporary map stays in effect for the 2012 election.

The once-a-decade redistricting process inevitably shakes up the constituencies of House, Senate, congressional and State Board of Education districts. For instance, this time around, more than a quarter of Travis County’s population now resides in a different state House district.

Howard’s District 48 changed the most. Based on numbers from the 2010 election, its makeup now includes 104,000 people – of whom 67,277 actually voted – previously represented by fellow Democrats Elliott Naishtat and Mark Strama and Republican Paul Workman.

Court-ordered interim Texas House map for Travis County

“(Most of) my district is new to the south, going almost all the way to the Hays County line,” Howard said.

In the process of trying to give each of the state’s 150 House districts an ideal 168,000 people, HD 48 lost communities like Jonestown, Lago Vista, Quail Creek. Physically, it is much smaller as it now centers on an ultra-urban area.

Howard said she hopes block walks, phone banks, mailers and television ads will help introduce her to so many new faces.  Outreach is crucial after she won by just four votes in the 2010 election.

“Trying to penetrate and talk to as many voters as possible,” she said.

Current Texas House map for Travis County

On her side, presidential elections traditionally have higher turnouts. HD 48 saw 70 percent of its voters head to the polls in 2008, opposed to the 2010 mid-term election when just 46 percent voted.

Howard is likely no stranger to these new constituents, as the new district is contained entirely in the Capitol city media market.

The newly-drawn district is younger and more Democratic. But Howard and her Republican rival Robert Thomas – a local lawyer and businessman in his first House run – know also has many undecided independents.

“Fortunately, I don’t have to drive as far to the Burnet County line as last session, but you do have to figure out a way to be able to touch all those people in that dense area,” Thomas said.

Check out voter changes in Travis County House Districts below.

Mike Krusee, former Texas House member, in 1993

This week, the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice lodged an ethics complaint against former state lawmaker Mike Krusee for allegedly spending leftover campaign funds on himself. But Krusee, who once represented Williamson County, is no stranger to the Texas Ethics Commission.

In April 2008, the commission met to determine whether Krusee had violated the Election Code, allegations stemming from his finance reports in 2005 and 2006:

“The complaint alleges that the respondent improperly reported political expenditures as reimbursements… The complaint also alleges that the respondent failed to properly report, and improperly reimbursed, political expenditures made from personal funds.”

In its report, the commission found evidence of those violations and imposed a $2,300 fine for Krusee.

The latest TPJ complaint will now being filtering its way through what will likely be a multi-month process with the commission. A TEC spokesman said the matter is confidential, until a report is released.

Lloyd Doggett (U.S. House)

Longtime Congressman Lloyd Doggett is facing one of the fiercest competitions of his career, thanks to recent redistricting. The Democrat is now running in Congressional District 35, which stretches from East Austin to San Antonio.

The southern edge of the district has a heavy Latino voting base, which could be an advantage for his opponent – Bexar County Tax Assessor Sylvia Romo.

Doggett has outraised Romo and has millions at his campaign’s disposal. But in the new, majority Hispanic district, Romo is well-known as someone in public service in Bexar County for 20 years.

“This district is predominantly Latino,” Romo told KXAN, “and I believe that the men and women of this district want a member of Congress who understands their needs and their concerns, not another millionaire who is more concerned about being re-elected and fighting with other politicians to boost his own name recognition.”

Sylvia Romo (Romo Campaign)

But Doggett is drawing supporters in the south part of the district, as he has spent much of his time there. He has also garnered more associations’ endorsements throughout the district, including the Texas State Teachers Associations, Austin Firefighters Association, San Antonio Police Officers Association and several Tejano groups.

“ Like every group endorsing in this race,” Doggett told KXAN, “from Tejano Democrats to Firefighters, Raul (referencing Raul Rosa, a Hispanic voter who block-walked for Doggett in Austin) knows my heart and my commitment to stand up to Rick Perry and extremist Republican policies.”

Still, Romo has gained the support of most Democratic elected officials in San Antonio. But she has not put out any television ads – something that might hurt her.

Paul Workman (Workman campaign)

The fight to keep western Travis County in the red comes down to two men fired up on the topic of amnesty – in some form or fashion. Rep. Paul Workman and his primary challenger, lawyer Ryan Downton, have dug into a race full of neighborhoods plastered in illegal immigration signs.

Both men have pledged to clamp down on the issue. However, Workman can’t seem to get past a piece of failed legislation he authored last session that would have given undocumented immigrants the opportunity to apply for resident alien cards if they pass a criminal background check.

Downtown has said the bill would have offered amnesty to that group, though Workman denies that as a possibility. The bill never received a vote in the House.

Ryan Downton (KXAN)

Downton’s campaign has put up signs throughout the district stating Workman supports amnesty for undocumented immigrants, pushing people to the website paulworkman.org. It was specifically created to attack Workman on this issue.

Workman – who raised five times more money last month that Downton – has since put up his own counter signs, saying he opposes amnesty. However, during a recent forum, it was clear he and members of the audience felt other issues have been overshadowed by this single topic.

The forum eventually showed the two have similar views on a variety of things: leaving the rainy day fund untouched, repealing President Barack Obama’s health insurance plan, and focusing on water during this drought-stricken time for the district.

The winner of this race will face Democrat Chris Frandsen, a small businessman and veteran.