Jay Arnold will be speaking this week in San Diego at the 2012 State Alliance Summit of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Jay will speak at a breakout session addressing creative strategies for legislative stewardship. The session will share how Alliances around the country have creatively implemented stewardship programs and activities with their legislators to build strong momentum to assure broad based support.

Arnold Public Affairs represents the Texas Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs and during the interim we work with the Executive Director and Board of the Alliance to increase awareness among legislators and their staffs about the work the Boys and Girls Clubs do. We assist in scheduling tours of facilities, recognizing legislative champions, visiting with members in their districts and a number of other activities that help create lasting relationships with lawmakers.

WEEKLY REPORT

April 20, 2012

Increase in poor children alarming

One in four children in our community lives in poverty, according to the latest research from the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Instead of improving, the numbers have grown by 8 percentage points over the last decade.

 (View complete article here.)

OPINION: Vote ID law is a waste of money

In 1960, the Nixon presidential campaign charged that Fannin County, Texas, allowed more people to vote in that year’s election than had paid poll taxes, the unconstitutional $1 to $2 ballot box admission fee once mandated by the state. Indeed, 6,138 ballots were cast in Fannin County when only 4,895 people had paid the poll tax.

(View complete article here.)

Look deeper on immigration reform

“When you talk about bilingual education, when you talk about the DREAM Act, when you talk about immigration reform — the moment you talk about one of these labels, you conjure up a parade of horribles in your own mind,” said former Texas Supreme Court Justice Raul Gonzalez, the first Hispanic elected to statewide office in Texas.

(View complete article here.)

Perry wants anti-tax pledge from lawmakers

Gov. Rick Perryis expected to call on lawmakers and legislative candidates to sign onto an anti-tax pledge Monday, despite the prospects of another challenging state budget.

 (View complete article here.)

Editorial: Texas children need health insurance

In 2008, more than 405,000 babies were born in Texas, and in the past decade, the number of Texas children grew by almost a million, to about 6.86 million. We know that it’s in our best interests to give these children the resources and the structure to become productive, healthy adults. But that’s no easy task, especially given the financial straits of the past few years and the massive budget cuts that ensued. In last year’s state legislative session, we lost $5.3 billion from education funding for 2012 and 2013, and $2.03 billion from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

(View complete article here.)

Perry promotes plan to control state budget, spending

Texas might be bringing in more tax dollars than expected, but Gov. Rick Perry said Monday the last thing the state should do is spend that money.

Straus urges end of gridlock, defends state

Texas House Speaker Joe Straus admonished federal lawmakers Tuesday to tone down the partisan rhetoric in the nation’s capital before being forced to defend Republican decisions women’s healthcare.

(View complete article here.)

Fort Worth discusses hiring only nonsmokers

If you want to be hired by the city of Fort Worth, being a nonsmoker may soon be required. In what could be an unprecedented move for a city, officials are studying the idea of telling smokers they need not apply.

Planned Parenthood Branches Vote to Merge

The boards of three regional Planned Parenthood branches — North Texas, Central Texas and the Capital Region — have voted to merge, forming a $29 million-per-year mega-organization with 26 clinics up and down the Interstate 35 corridor.

(View complete article here.)

SBOE members prefer big districts to bigger board

The oft-divided State Board of Education on Tuesday appeared united against a possible legislative effort to expand the board beyond its current 15 seats.

Rising tuitions threaten Texans

More than a decade after Texas set ambitious goals for higher education, a new study warns that its policies create gaps that could block the path to college for thousands of students and imperil the state’s economic future.

Lawmakers livid over reports of coercion, extortion at Giddings youth lockup

Two legislative architects of Texas’ sweeping reforms in juvenile justice after a sex-abuse scandal five years are fuming over a new report that questions security and safety at the Giddings State School.

In Texas, Property Rights on Collision Course With Oil Industry
In the final installment of a series on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Mose Buchele of StateImpact Texas, in partnership with State Impact Oklahoma, reports on what happens when laws favoring landowners come into conflict with pipeline companies granted the power to seize land.

Texas Unemployment Rate Drops, Economy Adds Jobs

Texans have received more good news on the state’s economy: 10,900 jobs were added in March, and the unemployment rate dropped to 7 percent from 8 percent at the same time last year, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

Bastrop State Park Reopens After Fire

Less than a year after a wildfire burned 96 percent of Bastrop State Park’s 6,613 acres, the Central Texas park is showing signs of rebirth. Camping areas and hiking trails have recently reopened and grass and trees are growing from the once-charred soil.

(View complete article here.)

WEEKLY REPORT

April 13, 2012

Texas oil and gas boom may help ease state budget crunch

The combined forces of high oil prices and improved drilling technology have produced a gush of unexpected tax dollars from oil and gas wells across Texas.

(View complete article here.)

A million Texas children remain without insurance

More than a million Texas children remain without health insurance, and those kids are not getting the care they need.

(View complete article here.)

OPINION: Years of tuition shell games clobber students, families

President Renu Khator and the UH Board of Regents found a way to hold down costs and avoid a tuition increase next year.

 (View complete article here.)

OPINION: Let’s help Texas children succeed

It’s time to help Texas schoolchildren aspire to succeed. It’s time for more Texans to graduate and to do so career- and college-ready.

 (View complete article here.)

Texas accused of ignoring FDA on stem cell rules

Texas’ proposed adult stem cell regulations, up for approval this week, are under fire for circumventing the Food and Drug Administrationand making the experimental therapy commercially available before it’s been proven safe and effective.

Super PAC adds more Texas lawmakers to target list

A Houston-based Super PAC targeting congressional incumbents from both major political parties is drawing a bead on Texas lawmakers.

ALEC: What It Does and Why Three Major Corporations Cut Ties

Last week, Coca-Cola, Kraft and accounting-software giant Intuit announced they were ending their membership in a conservative nonprofit group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Has advocacy group been lobbying, campaigning on the sly?

Deepening the fracture between traditional Republicans and a loud but increasingly bitter fringe, the Midland-backed Empower Texans advocacy group and leader Michael Quinn Sullivan were accused of lobbying and campaigning but not reporting it.

(View complete article here.)

(View complete article here.)

Border lawmaker says area is no war zone

A state senator took issue Thursday with characterizing the entire U.S.-Mexico border as a war zone, bristling at a top agricultural official’s assertions that America’s food supply could be threatened because farmers are being run off their land by drug smugglers.

(View complete article here.)

Court’s sales tax decision could hit state budget

A pending decision from state District Judge John Dietz could open the door for oil and gas companies to avoid paying sales tax on extraction equipment. And that could open a big hole in the Texas budget.

Editorial: Texas Ethics Commission needs sharper teeth

The Texas Sunset Commission recently released its report on the Texas Ethics Commission, and it says what we already knew: Instead of going after the big fish, the TEC spends too much time catching minnows . The commission’s report provides some good guidance for reforming the TEC, but if Texas wants a strong ethics commission, it will need one with teeth.

David Alameel kicks off campaign today in West Dallas

Dentist turned politician David Alameel on Thursday will formally begin his quest for the newly-created District 33 seat in Congress.

(View complete article here.)

Texas Dental Board is Accused of Ineptitude

Texas toddlers being held in restraints as dentists at corporate-run clinics performed unnecessary root canals were among the dental horror stories told Wednesday at a House Public Health Committee hearing at the state Capitol.

Watchdog group, others doubt effectiveness of dental board

Patients, dentists and lawyers told a Texas legislative committee Wednesday that the state agency that regulates dentists does a weak job of protecting the public from bad care.

UT goes tobacco-free to preserve research funding

Spurred by a desire to preserve its access to millions of state dollars in cancer research funding, the University of Texas said Wednesday that it has gone tobacco-free on all of its properties.

(View complete article here.)

WEEKLY REPORT

April 6, 2012

Education backlash can fuel turnover in the Legislature

More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats who have sat on school boards are running for the Texas House this year, and a backlash over spending cuts and standardized testing might help them get there.

(View complete article here.)

Electing educators

More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats who have sat on school boards are running for the Texas House this year, and a backlash over spending cuts and standardized testing might help them get there.

(View complete article here.)

Texas Economy Gains Jobs, Even in Government

The Texas economy continued its upward climb in February, gaining 27,900 jobs while the unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 7.3 percent to 7.1 percent.

 (View complete article here.)

Public, private Texas hospitals spar over Medicaid

Texas’ public hospitals are asking the state to make some taxpayer money now spent on Medicaid care instead pay for the uninsured, a group that soon may be mostly illegal immigrants.

 (View complete article here.)

Work programs for Texas inmates go high-tech

With stacks of broken computers towering toward the ceiling and intense white-clad technicians frowning over workbenches filled with the machines’ electronic guts, this could be any high-tech repair shop in America. Or so you may think until rolls of concertina wire bristling from the walls remind you of where you are.

Texas’ ‘Castle Doctrine’ up for debate in wake of Trayvon Martin shooting

The shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin is drawing attention to Texas’ self-defense and deadly force laws and prompting a state lawmaker to call for changes.

Advocacy group linked to stem cell industry asks medical board for less-strict rule

An Austin-based group funded mainly by a company that develops stem cell therapies is petitioning the Texas Medical Board for a less-strict rule on adult stem cells an issue the board has struggled with for more than a year.

Texas House likely to become less Republican, more inexperienced

Last month at the Austin headquarters of the Republican Party of Texas, a nervous-looking state Rep. J.M. Lozano of Kingsville stood with his young family beside some the state’s most prominent Republican figures. Lozano announced he was joining their team, becoming a Republican. At that very point, the reigning party in Texas reached its high-water mark in the Texas House with 102 members in the 150-person chamber.

(View complete article here.)

Texas Could Use Feds’ Grants to Free Up Women’s Health Money

In a fiscal switcheroo, Texas could free up state dollars to fund the embattled Women’s Health Program by seeking federal block grants for other programs, the state’s health commissioner wrote in a letter to House Democrats on Tuesday.

(View complete article here.)

Campus Carry Debate Likely to Return Next Session

Not long after seven individuals were fatally shot Monday on the campus of Oikos University, a small college in Oakland, Calif., discussions about college gun bans ramped up across the country. In Texas political circles, the debate is both déjà vu and a likely preview of what’s to come.

Suburbs rule in Texas health rankings

If you live in Fort Bend County, feel free to be a bit smug. You, or at least your neighbors, are a little healthier than the rest of us. Most Houston-area counties fared well in a county-by-county health ranking released Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

State comptroller says health care bill will reduce education spending

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs spoke Wednesday about her concern that the rise in Medicaid spending due to the federal health care mandate will result in reduced spending for state programs such as public education.

(View complete article here.)

OPINION: Registration is first step to have say in primaries

While the ongoing redistricting litigation has understandably created some confusion among voters and candidates, let me take this opportunity to provide clarity to the process and reassure citizens that the State of Texas is fully prepared to assist in the administration of the party primaries. I want to ensure that all eligible Texans can vote, and make their mark on Texas.

(View complete article here.)

Some school districts consider tapping their reserves to make ends meet

For many Central Texas school districts coming off a year of deep cuts in state funding, the fiscal outlook is a little brighter today than it was this time a year ago.

Modernize taxes, invest in best resource: Texans

Week before last, Texans were offered two visions of the future. On March 20, a group calling itself Texans for a Conservative Budget Coalition called for even deeper spending reductions in education and most everything else than those in 2011. Their vision is for less investment in our communities and children.

To keep growing, Texas needs to change systems

While much of the rest of the nation is mired in a jobless recovery, the Lone Star State’s labor market is booming, recently marking a return to pre-recession employment levels and creating more jobs than any other state.

(View complete article here.)

1 in 4 kids now living in poverty

One in four children in Bexar County lives in poverty, an 8 percent increase since 2000, according to a new study assessing the health and well-being of family and youth in Texas.

(View complete article here.)

Ferocious tornado storms rake Dallas-Fort Worth

Wave after wave of storms battered North Texas on Tuesday afternoon, smashing homes and apartment complexes, toppling trees, tossing vehicles and forcing thousands of students to seek shelter inside their schools.

(View complete article here.)

Republicans file ethics complaint against Texas conservative group

Two prominent Republican legislators filed state ethics complaints Tuesday against one of the most influential conservative activist groups in Texas, accusing it and its president of violating lobbying laws.

BLOG: Sullivan says force of habit, not law, spurred his lobbyist registration

After two top Republican lawmakers in the Texas House filed a pair of ethics complaints this week against conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan, a nagging question persisted about Sullivan’s on-again, off-again filing as a legislative lobbyist:  Why did he file in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but not in the following two years?