WEEKLY REPORT
January 27, 2012

Supreme Court Nixes Judge-Drawn Redistricting Maps
The U.S. Supreme Court threw out court-drawn Texas redistricting maps on Friday morning, saying a panel of federal judges should have used the Legislature’s maps as their starting point.
(View complete article here.)

Courts Moving Too Slow for April Primary Elections
The state is asking federal judges in San Antonio to speed up their schedule and try to get new political maps in place by the end of the month, so that the political parties can proceed with primary elections on April 3.
(View complete article here.)

Texas again facing possibility of two primaries
Texas could soon be facing the possibility of having its primaries split into two elections, a federal judge said Monday.
(View complete article here.)

Recent editorials from Texas newspapers

(View complete article here.)

Conservative groups disagree on gambling
A Texas conservative policy organization sent a letter to state lawmakers last week telling them that gambling is not the answer to the state’s budget woes.(View complete article here.)

TX Medicaid combats overuse of kids’ braces

Poor youngsters in Texas who were put into braces courtesy of taxpayers saw their orthodontist an average of 22 times in fiscal 2010, state Medicaid chiefs said in testimony they were to give to a legislative panel Tuesday.
(View complete article here.)

EDITORIAL: Straightening out Texas Medicaid’s dental program

Anywhere there’s public money to be had, there are people ready to take advantage — especially when state regulators aren’t doing their jobs properly.
(View complete article here.)

Officials responsible for the management of state hospitals and the patients who live there took another positive step toward protecting that most vulnerable population.
(View complete article here.)

BLOG: Judge gives little hope for sonogram law opponents

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks made it clear today that opponents of the state’s new pre-abortion sonogram requirement have little hope of overturning the law in his court.
(View complete article here.)

The revelation last year that the Texas state hospital system employed three doctors with a documented history of inappropriate behavior has lawmakers again investigating alleged abuse within the much-maligned system.
(View complete article here.)

Education officials decry ‘over-testing’ in Texas

State Board of Education members pressed the Texas education commissioner on Thursday about whether an abundance of high-stakes standardized testing is warping classroom teaching to ensure students spend more time preparing for the exams then actual learning.
(View complete article here.)

Texas cities are low on annual literacy list

Texas has routinely topped the national growth charts, but the Lone Star State’s biggest cities are behind the curve in an annual ranking of literacy rates.
(View complete article here.)

Allbaugh Caused Campaign Tensions, Perry Advisers say

When Joe Allbaugh walked into his first staff meeting at the headquarters of the Rick Perry presidential campaign on Oct. 24, the governor of Texas had already blown his once formidable lead in the polls.  But there was still hope that he could rise again, and campaign manager Rob Johnson introduced the physically imposing Allbaugh, former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as a key part of the rescue effort.
(View complete article here.)

Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Review is OK’d

The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association board today unanimously approved a proposal from a third-party firm to conduct a financial review of the insurer of Texas’ coastal residents — despite avid opposition from state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, the co-chairman of the Windstorm Insurance Legislative Oversight Board.
(View complete article here.)

State allows 75 mph limit on 1,500 more miles of interstate

The Texas Transportation Commission approved Thursday raising the speed limit to 75 mph on about 1,500 miles of interstate highways in the state.
(View complete article here.)

Jim shares information about the basics of successful lobbying.

Arnold Public Affairs utilizes political experience, a rich educational background, and strong relationships with policy makers to get results for their clients.

WEEKLY REPORT

January 21, 2012

U.S. Supreme Court throws out interim legislative and congressional maps drawn by San Antonio judges

“Because it is unclear whether the District Court for the Western District of Texas followed the appropriate standards in drawing interim maps for the 2012 Texas elections, the orders implementing those maps are vacated, and the cases are remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

(View complete article here.)

Wentworth pushes for new approach to redistricting

In the past year, the process of redistricting in Texas has eaten up millions of taxpayers’ dollars, gummed up the Legislature’s ability to make laws and widened the already vast rift between the state’s political parties.

(View complete article here.)

State party conventions in jeopardy due to redistricting delays

Texas’ unresolved legal battle over redistricting has left the state’s two major political parties facing the possibility of postponing their state conventions and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

(View complete article here.)

Uncertainty over Texas’ maps dampens fundraising

Give political donors an opportunity to say no, and they’ll almost always accept it.

(View complete article here.)

Texas can use federal help on health care

Can Texans go it alone on health care? At least one person thinks so: Gov. Rick Perry said, “Texans have a different feeling about independence. When we came into the nation in 1845 … we were a stand-alone nation … and one of the deals was we can leave anytime we want. So we’re kind of thinking about that again.”

(View complete article here.)

Editorial: Texas’ Medicaid waiver opens door to regional cooperation

Three decades of capital punishment in Texas

Thirty-five years ago today, the state of Utah executed Gary Gilmore by firing squad and restarted the death penalty in the United States. Texas followed suit, reinstating capital punishment in 1982 and quickly becoming home to the nation’s busiest execution chamber.

(View complete article here.)

Border Patrol to toughen policy

The U.S. Border Patrol is moving to halt a revolving-door policy of sending migrants back to Mexico without any punishment.

(View complete article here.)

Texas redistricting trial begins in D.C.

Texas’ redistricting plans went on trial in yet another courtroom Tuesday, as a federal three-judge panel began hearing testimony to determine whether the Legislature drew the maps for Texas House, Texas Senate and congressional districts in line with the Voting Rights Act.

(View complete article here.)

Feds raid former lawmaker’s business

Federal and state investigators raided a healthcare agency Thursday belonging to former state Rep. Sergio Muñoz Sr., who serves as president of the Texas Healthcare Advocacy Association.

PEC employees rejecting joining union

An effort among some Pedernales Electric Cooperative employees to join a local labor union fell short this week after the majority of 205 linemen and similarly trained employees voted against it.

Drugmaker settles suit with Texas for $158 million

One of the world’s largest drugmakers Thursday agreed to pay the State of Texas $158 million to settle a lawsuit that accused Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries of Medicaid fraud.

Judge dismisses suit challenging Texas’ concealed carry law

A federal judge in Lubbock on Thursday threw out the National Rifle Association’s move to overturn a Texas law prohibiting 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying concealed handguns.

State pulls mental health hospitals’ power to choose doctors

Following reports by the American-Statesman that state mental health hospitals employ psychiatrists with a documented history of sexual misconduct, the Department of State Health Services has seized ultimate hiring authority of all doctors at its 10 facilities.

(View complete article here.)

Jim Arnold explains that effective lobbyists are educators who provide a necessary service by conveying facts and figures in addition to a myriad of viewpoints to those elected to make policy decisions.

“Most good lobbyists spend their time educating legislators’ about issues and developing sincere, genuine, one-on-one relationships with them and to make sure they understand the impact that legislator’s decisions will have on a lobbyists’ clients.” ~ Jim Arnold

WEEKLY REPORT

January 14, 2012

Salvaging disposal children

Texas is slowly abandoning the idea that its young population includes thousands of disposable children, and that’s all for the greater good.

(View complete article here.)

Texas can enforce sonogram law, appeals court says

A Texas law requiring women to receive sonograms before abortions, intended to dissuade patients from continuing with the procedure, is constitutional and can be enforced, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

(View complete article here.)

State workers increased in 2011, despite looming budget cuts

Even as thousands of state employees were losing their jobs last year to offset an expected $27 billion budget shortfall, numerous state agencies and higher education institutions ended up with more workers in 2011 than the Legislature authorized.

(View complete article here.)

State hospitals to add windows for patient safety

The Department of State Health Services is spending more than $100,000 to retrofit 336 doors at psychiatric hospitals with windows, a move the agency says will help prevent patients from being abused by staff members.

Texas legislators start tackling top issues between sessions

By KELLEY SHANNON

Special Contributor

Published: 10 January 2012 01:58 AM

AUSTIN — Texas legislators may work part-time, as Gov. Rick Perry frequently points out on the presidential campaign trail, but 2012 isn’t totally a year off.

Wildfires, drought, border security, coastal insurance and electricity demand are among issues lawmakers are delving into this year in legislative committee meetings between sessions.

On Tuesday, the Senate Business and Commerce Committee begins studying the impact of drought on electric generation.

The Senate’s Intergovernmental Relations Committee meets this week to discuss ways to increase affordable housing after a natural disaster. Another Senate committee convenes next week, and at least seven House panels gather within the month.

Border violence and illegal trafficking are getting legislative attention again. A House-Senate joint interim committee was named to study human trafficking and make recommendations to the full Legislature.

Perry doesn’t control what the Legislature studies between sessions, but the governor can specify emergency issues at the start of each 140-day session.

In their 2011 session, lawmakers made deep budget cuts and passed legislation on eminent domain, voter identification, windstorm insurance and food safety. All had their start in work by committees.

AT A GLANCE: Off-year topics

Health along the Texas-Mexico border

Juvenile justice system referrals

DNA testing of crime evidence

State park funding

Impact of state university research on the economy

Agriculture production and investment

State water plan and water conservation

Horse industry

Control of invasive plant and animal species

State incentives went to company linked to Medicare misuse accusations

State leaders awarded $2.1 million in taxpayer funds last year to the parent company of a hospice care firm that, according to allegations made by the Justice Department, misspent millions of Medicare dollars intended for the care of terminally ill patients.

(View complete article here.)

Trial begins in Texas lawsuit seeking $1 billion from J&J over anti-psychotic drug

A clash between Texas and Johnson & Johnson that could end up costing the drug maker $1 billion opened Tuesday with prosecutors accusing the company of plundering the state Medicaid program by overstating the safety of an expensive anti-psychotic drug and improperly influencing officials and doctors to push the medication.

(View complete article here.)

State attorney general sues drug company

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is pitted against one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies in a trial starting this week that could bring the state more than $1 billion – one of its largest potential awards since a multibillion-dollar tobacco settlement in 1998.

(View complete article here.)

OPINION: The Next Immigration Challenge

THE immigration crisis that has roiled American politics for decades has faded into history. Illegal immigration is shrinking to a trickle, if that, and will likely never return to the peak levels of 2000. Just as important, immigrants who arrived in the 1990s and settled here are assimilating in remarkable and unexpected ways.

(View complete article here.)

Immigration Proposal Not Seen as Major Step

Comprehensive immigration reform it is not: That’s what many are saying about the Obama administration’s recently announced plan to ease restrictions on illegal immigrants trying to re-enter the U.S. after applying for legal status.

(View complete article here.)

Rivals Bash Dewhurst in Lively Senate Debate

Major Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate knocked heads Thursday night in a debate that was more lively than the presidential forums that have become a TV mainstay.

Supreme Court ready to tackle Texas redistricting case

The bitter Texas redistricting case is about to enter what is shaping up to be the final stretch in the yearlong legal battle.

(View complete article here.)

If the Courts Take More Time, So Will Texas Primaries

It takes at least two months to put a primary election together once political maps are finally drawn, and if the federal courts don’t spit out a final Texas map within the next three weeks, the state’s primary elections probably can’t be held on April 3.

(View complete article here.)

Big print is a big step toward reining in payday loan fees

Consumer advocates have long pushed to rein in these high-cost loans that target the working poor. About 10 percent of Texas residents take out small cash advances, using future paychecks as collateral. But many roll over the loans and are overwhelmed by big fees. Some relief agencies have said that the loans forced many clients to seek their help.

(View complete article here.)

Laws corralling short term lenders are a warning shot

One of the principal products of hard times is the myriad offers to make things better for a price.  The financial desperation hard times bring leads many consumers into the clutches of lenders who offer loans that carry interest rates as high as 500 percent.

USAA rates on homes going up

USAA home and condo insurance policyholders in Texas are facing another rate increase, the third announced hike in the past 12 months.

(View complete article here.)

As ordinance turns 10, foundation still helps city steer clear of smoking

“Smoking in El Paso means I have to go outside, sometimes in the cold, sometimes in the wind and all the time by myself,” said George Minjarez, an Eastsider who said he has been smoking for eight years. “And then when I walk back to where I came from, everyone knows what I’ve been doing because I smell like an ashtray.”

Pay raises stable tax rate possible for Austin Schools

If all goes well, the Austin school district can avoid asking voters for a tax rate increase for two years and might give employees a raise this summer.

Editorial Board: Accuracy needed in assessing cartel threat

A report commissioned by the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Safety found that violence from the drug wars in Mexico is pouring over into Texas.

(View complete article here.)

Austin, state urged to improve job growth in tech sector

But while Texas is second only to California in total high-tech employment, the state’s sheer size masks an underlying problem: Texas ranks only 16th per capita when it comes to high-tech workers.

(View complete article here.)

Arnold Public Affairs worked with a number of organizations last session to pass laws to slow down the school to prison pipeline — the criminalizing of students who are disciplined in school. Not only is it terribly costly, it unnecessarily introduces more young people into the juvenile offender population. Conservative groups such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation have joined in these efforts. Read more in this January 7th article from the Austin-American Statesman.

Arnold Public Affairs and its client, the Texas Association of Goodwills, worked with a diverse coalition of organizations and Senator John Carona and Rep. Vicki Truitt during the last session to pass legislation to regulate this industry for the first time in Texas. Read more about the regulation of payday lenders by reading this article from the Texas Tribune, or this January 6th editorial from the Austin-American Statesman.

WEEKLY REPORT

January 7, 2012

Change in Texas’ Medicaid policy may affect some patients’ co-pays

A new state Medicaid policy could leave some elderly and low-income Texans without access to certain treatments, including crucial cancer medications, critics say.

(View complete article here.)

What Will 2012 Hold for Texas Politics, Policy

Texans will close out 2011 with more questions than answers: How will Gov. Rick Perry’s presidential bid play out? How will lawmakers’ multibillion-dollar budget cuts affect education, Medicaid and health care? Will the courts ever decide on new state House, Senate and congressional districts so Texas can hold elections?

Could Donald Trump Get a Third-Party Win in Texas?

Late last week, supporters of business tycoon and Apprentice star Donald Trump filed paperwork in Texas to establish the Make America Great Again Party so that “The Donald” still might be able to run for president here in the Lone Star state.

(View complete article here.)

School funding lawsuit looms large for Texas

The bitter redistricting battle has been the biggest Texas legislative story this year, but a bigger legal fight seems to be looming in 2012.

(View complete article here.)

How Congress quietly killed health reform’s Consumer Assistance Program

It was a first for Texas: a state office devoted to consumers struggling to find affordable health insurance coverage. With funds from the federal health reform law, the Texas Consumer Health Assistance Program was launched last January.

(View complete article here.)

Texas’ latest natural disaster – drought – has severe economic effects

One of the worst natural disasters to hit Texas in more than a century didn’t happen all at once, yet it has caused as much physical destruction as a raging storm — if not more — and is likely to severely harm the state’s economy for many years. The drought of 2011 was the worst one-year drought on record in Texas, according to data from the National Weather Service and Texas A&M University.

(View complete article here.)

BLOG: Perry voices support for Dewhurst’s Senate bid

Gov. Rick Perry, campaigning this evening in Perry, Iowa, voiced support for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s campaign to fill the U.S. Senate seat now held by Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is retiring when her term is up at year’s end.

(View complete article here.)

Texas Primaries Await U.S. Supreme Court Ruling

If Texas is going to hold primary elections on April 3, the federal courts will have to pick up the pace.

Court to Review Ruling on Texas Abortion Law

A federal judge abused his discretion when he blocked the state of Texas from enforcing a law requiring doctors to show sonograms to patients and describe the images before an abortion, a lawyer for the state told an appeals court Wednesday.

 (View complete article here.)

Texas Payday Lenders Face New Rules, Scrutiny

New laws aimed at curbing predatory lending take effect this week, meaning payday and auto title loan businesses will have to be licensed by the state and post a schedule of fees in a visible place, similar to the overhead menus seen in fast food restaurants.

Minor earthquake reported in Northwest Dallas

Experts said a minor earthquake rattled a section of Dallas near Love Field shortly after midnight Friday.

 (View complete article here.)

BLOG: Young conservatives choose Cruz

The Young Conservatives of Texas have endorsed Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate campaign for the open seat of retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

(View complete article here.)

County officials  hold off on new voter cards during redistricting fight

Even if you’ve registered to vote in Texas, you won’t be getting a new voter registration certificate until February. Although the latest blue cards expired at the end of the year, counties are waiting to mail out new ones until a long legal battle over the state’s redistricting maps — which has already pushed back the primary elections — has concluded.

(View complete article here.)

Wentworth sparks a residency battle in state Senate race

When she filed last month to run for the state Senate, Texas Railroad Commission Chairwoman Elizabeth Ames Jones swore she was a resident of San Antonio.

(View complete article here.)

U.S. Economy Gains Steam as 200,000 Jobs Are Added

The United States added 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, a robust number that came on the heels of a flurry of heartening economic news. Consumer confidence has lifted, factories have stepped up production and small businesses are showing signs of life. The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly two years.

(View complete article here.)