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Last week, I talked about the agenda for this special session. On Monday, April 17, the members convened for the third-called special session of the 79th Legislature. Since the legislators have only thirty-days to pass legislation, the pace this first week was extremely fast.
One of the first orders of business for the House was to adopt resolutions relating to two members who are serving in the U.S. military. In 2003, the Texas Constitution was amended to allow an elected or appointed state official who is also a member of the armed forces to designated a temporary replacement in the event the member is called to active duty. During the 79th regular session, Representative Rick Noriega, who was serving in Afghanistan, was the first to make use of this amendment; he designated his wife Melissa to serve in his place. Currently, Representative Frank Corte is a colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and is serving in Iraq; Representative Carl Isett, a member of the Navy Reserves, is serving in Kuwait. Since neither member will be in Austin during the special session, they both designated temporary acting representatives. House Resolutions 35 and 36 approved Valerie Corte and Cheri Isett, respectively, as acting representatives for their husbands.
As of Friday, there were 81 bills and 17 constitutional amendments filed by members of the House, and 25 bills and 5 constitutional amendments filed by senators. Members of both bodies spent most of the week in committee. While members of committees such as Ways and Means have bills before them, most do not. Committees not hearing bills are still meeting, taking advantage of the special session to convene and work on interim charges.
Due to the short period of time the legislature has during a special session, the bill process is expedited. Beginning on Monday, the 24th, the House is expected to take up and debate House Bills 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Should these bills pass the House, they will then be sent to the Senate for consideration. Members of the public can read and track the progress of bills through the state legislature's website at www.capitol.state.tx.us.
The governor's call, or list of items to be considered during the special session, is at this time limited to addressing the Texas Supreme Court's ruling on property tax used to finance our public schools. However, many legislators, in anticipating that the governor will open the call to other issues, have filed bills not related to tax reform. Most notably, there have been 31 bills relating to public education filed, 14 of which address some aspect of teacher compensation. There have also been bills filed on utility service costs, windstorm insurance coverage, and criminal justice issues.
I encourage you to contact me regarding any matter of state government. You can reach me by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by e-mailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us.
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