WEEKLY REPORT

November 18, 2011

Time to Ask Texas Voters What They Really Want

The line to get a driver’s license at one Houston location is so long, according to Tommy Williams, that a guy called in a pizza order, got it delivered to him, and finished eating before he got to the front of the line.

New study shows health insurance premium spikes in every state

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance have risen faster than incomes in every state in the nation, according to a report released Thursday.

Texas steps back from stiffest punishment of lax nursing homes

Texas has rolled back its muscular nursing home enforcement in the past decade, and advocates and insiders fear that elderly and frail residents are at risk of abuse and neglect as some operators routinely cut corners.

 (View complete article here.)

Drought changes attitudes toward energy

Since the days of Spindletop, when oil first spewed from the soil near Beaumont, Texans have embraced the energy industry. But the worst drought in decades is straining that cozy relationship and spurring protests against projects that once would have been seen as a boon.

 (View complete article here.)

Unanswered windstorm insurance questions confront legislators, even out of session

Lawmakers have been making changes in the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association since Hurricane Ike devastated the state’s upper Gulf Coast three years ago.

 (View complete article here.)

Texas’ low-wage status is clearly not a good thing

Texas families are concerned about their economic security and their children’s futures. Wages are stagnant. Unemployment is high (having nearly doubled in the last few years). And the state just cut funding for education the proven path to better-paying jobs and a more prosperous economy.

 (View complete article here.)

Runoff next in District 14 election gauntlet

That could be the case for Bob Yancy and John Raney, the two Republican candidates who advanced to a runoff in the District 14 Texas House of Representatives race Tuesday.

 (View complete article here.)

Number of Texans Receiving Food Stamps Up Sharply Amid Recession

The number of Texans receiving federal food assistance — commonly known as food stamps — has increased by nearly 1.4 million in the last four years. Nearly 15 percent of Texans now receive food stamps, and many more than that are eligible.

 (View complete article here.)

Lawmakers Want Defense Technology on Border

 Kel Seliger draws primary challenger

Former Ector County school board president Randy Rives said Tuesday he will challenge Seliger because Senate District 31 needs conservative leadership the seven-year incumbent has failed to provide.

 (View complete article here.)

Nursing home neglect

A private nursing home chain enforced such strict rations on diapers that staff wrapped residents in towels and plastic garbage bags to keep their beds dry.

Politicians, law enforcement clash over spillover violence

A recent shooting that wounded an Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputy and killed a gunman allegedly working for the Gulf Cartel has reignited the debate on spillover violence from Mexico’s drug war.

 (View complete article here.)

Law changing payment rules on heart disease tests adds to Texas health insurance mandates

The American people do not realize how lucky they are to have Texas Gov. Rick Perry to blame for everything.

 (View complete article here.)

For some Texas Republicans, balanced budget amendment doesn’t go far enough

It seems simple enough: The federal government should spend no more money than it brings in each year.

(View complete article here.)

Texas health premiums cost more, buy less

Texas employer-sponsored health insurance is costing more and buying less, a new report says.

 (View complete article here.)

Texas Lawsuit Identifies Problems in Medicare Hospice Provisions

A lawsuit filed in Dallas against one of the nation’s largest hospice companies identifies how Medicare’s payment methods can offer unintended financial incentives to inappropriately move patients from HMOs into hospice programs and then into hospitals.

 (View complete article here.)

Time running out for voter photo ID law in March primaries

In a clear signal that Texas’ March primaries might take place without new, stringent voter identification requirements, federal officials are warning that “incomplete information” provided by state elections officials has left them unable to determine whether the controversial law discriminates against minorities.

WEEKLY REPORT

November 11, 2011

Nearly all states cut Medicaid payments as stimulus runs out

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia cut Medicaid physician pay for fiscal year 2011, down from 20 states in fiscal 2010. But continuing state budget deficits could lead to more new fee cuts than those already adopted for fiscal 2012, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Government by Lawsuit Gives Cover to Texas Lawmakers

Judges have been telling legislators what to do since we set up government to replace knife fights and bar brawls. It’s a logical way to get things done: elect people to represent you, and set up a system of redress to keep them in check.

Children’s Health Program Opened To Low-Income State Employees

At least six states have opened their Children’s Health Insurance Programs to the kids of low-income state employees, an option that was prohibited until the passage of the 2010 health law.

 (View complete article here.)

‘Obamacare’ contains money for Texas prisoners’ health care

State officials looking for ways to cut the skyrocketing costs of providing health care for Texas convicts are now looking to an unlikely source: the federal health care law signed last year by President Barack Obama.

 (View complete article here.)

Empire Building

The Koch brothers have bankrolled a broad attack on progressive government programs. Their grandfather’s history in Texas helps explain why.

 (View complete article here.)

Oil and gas agency changes gun policy

Texas Railroad Commission employees may now carry concealed firearms on duty, the three members of the commission decided unanimously Tuesday.

 (View complete article here.)

Most state amendments pass bond; bond, water measures fail

Texas voters approved constitutional amendments Tuesday that will allow new cooperation between cities and counties, give the governor more power to issue pardons and enable the state to borrow more money for student loans.

 (View complete article here.)

Budget, tax issues loom for Legislature

Schools, highways and taxes three weighty issues that have long bedeviled Texas leaders will dominate the 2013 legislative session, veteran legislators told business leaders Tuesday.

 (View complete article here.)

Blog: Sales tax receipts grow by 16 percent in October

 Opinion: Texas Youth Commission made a bad hire

Psychologist Walter Quijano has become notorious for testifying as a prosecution witness in Texas capital murder trials that black defendants are more likely to commit future violence than other ethnic groups. Now it turns out that he has also been on the payroll of the Texas Youth Commission for years, evaluating youthful offenders at TYC facilities in East Texas.

 (View complete article here.)

Poor history curriculum threatens Texas’ future

Instead of working to further education, the Texas State Board of Education has made curriculum decisions that contribute to historical illiteracy and pick taxpayer pockets, a report issued this month by the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board asserts.

Texas lawmakers push for tax reform in 2013

Legislative leaders warned Tuesday of a bleak future for Texas roads, water supplies and other basic needs if steps aren’t taken to ensure the state has the money to maintain them.

 (View complete article here.)

With voting maps in flux, Senate races still shaping up

Competitive races for the Texas Senate are popping up around the state, and two of the hottest will determine who will represent most of Tarrant County in the Capitol’s upper chamber.

 (View complete article here.)

Poverty rates up in most U.S. states, cities

Mississippi and New Mexico had the highest poverty rates, with more than one out of every five people in each state living in poverty. Mississippi’s poverty rate led, at 22.4 percent, followed by New Mexico at 20.4 percent.

 (View complete article here.)

WEEKLY REPORT

November 4, 2011

Texas Cities Step Up Prosecutions of Wage Theft

For two years, Diego Gala, a Mexican immigrant in the country illegally, worked five days a week cleaning a private school for less than minimum wage. His employer refused to pay him overtime even when he was forced to work on the weekends. Gala did not speak up, fearing deportation if he reported his boss.

Some Fort Worth schools lost students but not teachers

Fort Worth school district officials spent months scrubbing the budget, saying they were analyzing each position to make sure it was necessary.

 (View complete article here.)

BLOG: Candidate filing for the Texas primary will start Nov 12.  Or not.

Both the Texas Republican and Democratic parties have set Nov. 12 as the start of their one-month period to allow candidates to file for next year’s primary ballot. 

 (View complete article here.)

State workers cut while firm spends

For more than a year before the state canceled its $144 million contract with an engineering firm it had hired to handle more than $1 billion in federal hurricane disaster relief grants, state managers warned that the firm, HNTB, had radically overspent its budget and should be relieved of most of its duties.

 (View complete article here.)

Are narcos hiding out in Texas?

Two alleged Gulf Cartel leaders arrested last week in South Texas likely were hiding out north of the border to avoid the extreme violence caused by warring cartels in Mexico, analysts said.

 (View complete article here.)

Federal agency questions state’s ability to administer hurricane disaster recovery grants

In its latest scolding for the state’s slow disbursement of disaster funds after hurricanes Ike and Dolly, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is questioning whether Texas can “adequately administer” the $3.1 billion in aid in cities and communities stricken by the storms three years ago.

 (View complete article here.)

Inmate releases coming soon after change in crack cocaine sentencing

Nearly 1,000 federal inmates in Texas could be released early from prison starting this week as a result of changes to mandatory sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine convictions.

 (View complete article here.)

UT officials extend prison medical deadline

With a deadlock on the future of Texas’ prison medical network still not resolved, the University of Texas System regents voted this morning to extend negotiations for 30 days.

(View complete article here.)

Texas 8^th-graders get high marks on national math test

 Changes in school elections studied

Some Texas school board members and other elected officials will serve a year longer than their current voter-approved terms, a change allowed because of the way the Legislature tweaked state election law.

 (View complete article here.)

Texas AG asks Obama to take action on border security on border security, claim drug cartel violence threatens US

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter today asking President Barack Obama to “immediately dedicate more manpower to border security,” especially along the Texas-Mexico border.

Texas Medical Board could restrict, block experimental stem cell therapy used on Gov. Perry

The experimental stem cell procedure that Texas Gov. Rick Perry underwent this summer could be restricted or even blocked under new rules being considered Friday by the state’s Medical Board.

 (View complete article here.)

House panel kicks off tax reform debate

Tax reform will likely be a big issue during the 2013 legislative session with Texas lawmakers trying to make the state’s tax policy fairer and also to determine the actual size of the structural revenue deficit.

 (View complete article here.)