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LT. GOV PROGRESS REPORT:
SENATE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
(AUSTIN) - The Senate is close to passing all of its priority bills and should have them sent to the House by mid-month, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told reporters at a Thursday press conference. Twenty-nine of the 40 bills given priority status by Patrick have cleared the Senate and he expects the rest to be out the door by April 15th. Then, it’s up to the House, he said. “I have confidence in Speaker Burrows, everything he has said, I would say we’re singing from the same song book,” said Patrick. “Now during these next eight to nine weeks the execution has to take place in the House.” Thursday marked the 80th day of the session, meaning just 60 remain for the legislature to complete its business or risk returning for one or more special sessions.
A number of those priority bills passed the Senate this week, including a sweeping water plan on Tuesday aimed at providing for the needs of Texans through the end of the century. SB 7, by Lubbock Senator Charles Perry, would create a $1 billion per year fiscal stream to finance projects intended to increase the supply of fresh, usable water in Texas. Right now, the state looks to be short about 6 million acre-feet – a little less than half of current annual use – by the year 2070. The bill empowers the Texas Water Development Board to use the new revenue stream to finance projects that create new supply – new reservoirs, desalination, wastewater treatment, aquifer storage and recovery - but not ones that would take from one part of the state and give to another. The bill seeks cooperation and coordination between the 16 water regions rather than competition. “That’s kind of the magic behind Senate Bill 7; it’s that coordinated approach of having a target for all water supply future development to shoot for and shoot to,” said Perry. “It’s a 254-county water supply plan, or it’s no plan.”
Monday, the Senate passed two bills that deal with citizenship issues. The first, SB 6 by Georgetown Senator Charles Schwertner, would require that sheriff’s departments in the state’s largest 40 counties cooperate with federal immigration authorities through the 287(g) program, so named for its location in federal code. Today, only 16 do. The program trains local law enforcement officials how to check immigration status for criminals booked into county jails, and notify federal immigration if they are here illegally.
Second, the Senate approved a measure that would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. This already happens when a person registers at a DPS office when they get their first driver’s license, which is how about 85 percent of Texans register to vote. For the rest, SB 8, by Mineola Senator Bryan Hughes, would require that proof of citizenship be included with the registration form; documents like a birth certificate, US passport, or naturalization papers. The bill would make it a crime to try and register to vote for non-citizens, as well as anyone who knowingly registers a non-citizen to vote.
Thursday, the Senate approved another piece in what Education K-16 Committee chair Senator Brandon Creighton is calling the “Texas Teacher Bill of Rights”, one aimed at making the classroom environment more conducive to learning. The Conroe senator said surveys of the state’s teachers show that discipline and classroom order are the top two factors causing teachers to leave the profession. “Texas lawmakers are standing with our Texas teachers, we’re sending a powerful message that we hear you, and we’re taking action,” he said.
SB 27 would empower teachers to remove from the classroom students who repeatedly disrupt class, bully other students, or commit acts of abuse. Those students couldn’t come back until a return-to-class plan had been developed in conjunction with school administration and approved by the teacher in question.
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