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Texas Senate “Public Hearing” on Redistricting

Posted in Good Government, Redistricting, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , on May 30, 2013 |

Guest Blog by Marion Mlotok

On Thursday, May 30, 2013, the Texas Senate held a public hearing on redistricting as a launch of the 83rd 1st special session.  The hearing started at 9:00 am and closed at 11:30 am after everyone had testified.  Testimony was for 3 minutes each. I arrived early to a nearly empty auditorium, and when the hearing started, the hearing room was far from packed.

A number of attendees at the hearing, including some of the Senators, pointed out that this was mighty short notice for a public hearing with such far-reaching consequences.  The announcement of the hearing was made Monday, May 27 at 5:30 pm, 62 hours before the hearing, according to Chair, Kel Seliger.  Also the hearing was set for 9:00am on a work day.  No field hearings were or will be scheduled.  It was also brought up that the minorities most affected by this redistricting were the least likely to be able to arrange and afford to take time off work, arrange and afford childcare and afford transportation to Austin.

There will be two more Senate redistricting hearings, Thursday, June 6 and Wednesday, June 12, both at 9:00 a.m. in the Finance Room, E1.036.  All amendments and alterations must be submitted by noon June 10 for consideration for the June 12 meeting.

Most of the testimony was opposed to the maps in SB1, SB2, SB3 and SB4 on the basis of disenfranchisement of minorities.

My testimony was about Austin being split into 6 US Congressional districts, one snaking to Houston, one to Fort Worth, two to San Antonio and one to Laredo.  I pointed that Austin would have no US Congressional representation in Washington.  Austin is big enough to have 7/8 of it as one Congressional district.  In a world that made sense, the other 1/8 of Austin would be in a compact district contiguous with the main Austin district.  Likewise, Travis County is big enough to be almost two US Congressional districts and shouldn’t be split into 5 districts, effectively disenfranchising Travis voters in Washington.

The only elected officials from Travis County or Austin represented were the Travis County Commissioners who registered opposition to the US Congressional map splitting Travis County into 5 US Congressional districts, each having less than 35% of the voters from the district living in Travis County.  The objection was that effectively Travis County would have no representation in the US Congress.

The maps in these bills are the interim maps that were drawn so we could have 2012 elections.  You’ll find interactive maps on the official Texas Redistricting website here: http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/redist/redist.html

You can choose cities and choose to overlay various maps that have been submitted as well as overlay the interim maps for US Congress, Texas Senate and Texas House.

Parallel to this, court is in session in San Antonio with various minority plaintiffs on our redistricting vis a vis the Voting Rights Act.

House Hearings
The House will be having hearings on the companion bills HB1, HB2, HB3 and HB4 tomorrow, Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1, both days at 9:00 a.m. in the Capitol Extension Auditorium, E1.004, opposite the cafeteria.

I would urge those who can to attend the hearings and record your opposition to these bills.  They disenfranchise the minority vote and they disenfranchise Austin and Travis County.  To that end,  I’ve reached out to a number of our City Council members and Texas House Reps from Austin and our Austin/Travis Senator Kirk Watson to please come to the hearings and get on record with their voice on this significant issue for the area.

Video of the hearing is at http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchives/ramav.php?ram=00006247

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Bills Filed Seek to Expand Texas’ Clean Energy Success

Posted in Energy, geothermal, renewable portfolio standard, Renewables, solar, Texas Legislature, wind, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2013 |

Texas Capitol - north viewTwo bills have now been filed in the Texas House that would expand the state’s goals for renewable energy.  Representative Rafael Anchia‘s bill, HB 723, would establish goals for growing renewable energy installations other than large-scale wind through 2022.  Similarly, Representative Eddie Rodriquez‘s bill, HB 303, would establish a goal for solar installations and increase the existing goal (which was met 15 years ahead of schedule) for all renewable energy for 2020.

We applaud these efforts and the leadership that Rep. Anchia and Rep. Rodriquez are showing by filing these bills.  These proposals recognize that success is a good thing and something we want more of.  You wouldn’t think that would need saying, but when a state agency recommends tossing out a successful policy, I start to wonder.  Texas’s renewable energy goals have been extraordinarily successful.  Not only have the goals been met ahead of time, but they have spurred development of the wind industry in Texas, bringing economic benefits to rural parts of West Texas, as well as to manufacturing centers.  On top of that, wind energy is helping to keep electric bills lower.

A carpenter doesn’t throw away her hammer just because she finished building her first book shelf and Texas shouldn’t repeal it’s renewable energy policies, just because we’ve met some of our goals (remember, the non-wind goal was never enforced).  Wind energy does now makes a substantial contribution to meeting the state’s electrical needs – it contributed a record 26% this past Christmas day, but solar energy is still very underutilized (accounting for less than 1% of energy on the ERCOT grid, which serves 85% of the Texas population) and the geothermal energy industry is still getting off it’s feet.  As Rep. Anchia and Rep. Rodriquez’s bills show, this successful policy tool can be adjusted to keep moving Texas forward.

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Voter ID Chubfest Put Texas Environmental Bills At Risk

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2009 |

If you’ve been following the Texas Legislature at all over the weekend, you’ve probably heard the term “chubbing” at least once.  Yesterday marked the deadline for all bills that originated in the Senate to pass second reading — which means that any bills that didn’t make it through the House by midnight last night are dead for the session.  One of the bills on that list was the contentious Voter ID bill, which would have required Texas voters to present a valid driver’s license to vote.  In order to block this bill, which would have suppressed voter turnout across the state, House democrats adopted the “chubbing” tactic — talking bills to death — to avoid getting far enough down the bill list to have to vote on Voter ID.

Unfortunately, this stalling technique killed a tragically long laundry list of bills that were scheduled after Voter ID.  Among these were many of the bills we have been pushing hard this session to improve air quality in Texas, increase our energy efficiency standards, reform electric coops, and encourage solar development.

Missing Tuesday’s deadline is an enormous set-back, but not all hope is lost.  Bills that died last night can still be revived as amendments, which can be tacked on to House bills that are alive in the Senate.  As the Austin American Statesman reports,

Legislators now have two ways of bringing proposals back to life. The first option is for senators to tack dying proposals onto other related bills that did not fall victim to the voter ID fight in the House. For example, Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, said Tuesday that he may be able to salvage some, but not all, of a comprehensive air quality bill that he has worked on for two years.

“I’ve come to expect tragedy at the end of the session, and tragedy always appears,” Averitt said.

The other option is for the House to take a two-thirds vote to bring up bills.

The two-thirds vote is a pretty enormous step, and highly unlikely for most of the bills we’ve been working one, but the amendment strategy is tried and true.  We’ll be scrambling this week to salvage what we can — it ain’t over til its over, and you can bet we’ll be doing everything we can to fight for what matters for Texas.

Thanks to all you citizens for all your hard work, e-mails, and phone calls to representatives this session.  In the next few days, we’ll be needing your help more than ever.  Stay posted, and we’ll let you know what you can do to help save solar power, air quality, and energy efficiency.

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URGENT ACTION ALERT: Help air quality and solar in Texas!

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 25, 2009 |

government_uncle_sam_go_greenThe House has been moving very slowly in an effort to kill a Voter ID bill, but it appears the logjam has been broken. Now we have to pass our key solar and clean air bills before midnight Tuesday, May 26, which is the deadline for the House to pass any bills from the Senate.

We need YOU to pick up the phone and call your representative to say that you support solar energy and clean air.

Click here to find out who represents you, then call their office at the Capitol. Tell them:

I support SB 545, which would give homeowners incentives to put solar on their rooftops and create new green jobs.

I also support SB 541, which would support more large scale solar projects and repeat the success of our wind industry.

I also support SB 16, which would improve air quality through reducing auto emissions, better building codes, more energy efficiency, and plug-in hybrids. **If Texas does not adopt these 2009 IECC building codes, we could miss out on hundreds of millions in federal stimulus funds for weatherization.

Please support these bills in order to create tens of thousands of new green jobs in Texas and ensure a cleaner, cheaper, cooler energy future.

There are dozens of dirty energy lobbyists working to try to kill these bills as we speak. Will you stand up to them? Will you make your voice heard?

Call your Representative now!

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House Calendars Committee Has Ultimate Power over Solar

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2009 |

Bad news from the big pink dome. Looks like two of our key bills to promote solar power this session, SB 545 (Fraser/Strama) and SB 541 (Watson/Farabee) are getting stuck in the gummy gears of the legislative process. These bills have both made it through committee and the Senate, but still need to be voted on by the House. Unfortunately, they may never make it that far due to the tremendous power of a little group called the House Committee on Calendars.

At this point, Calendars has an incredible amount of power over what bills will make it to become laws this session. There are now just ten days left before sine die, and hundreds of bills left waiting to go to the House floor. Calendars is like the legislative bouncer at this point, only letting certain skinny, sexy, well-dressed bills into the club.

SB 545 has yet to come out of Calendars, and SB 541 hasn’t even made it onto the list yet. If 541 isn’t at least on the list by tomorrow, it is dead. If 545 hasn’t made it from the list and into the club by Sunday, it’ll be the bill’s last chance to shine.

You think old Bill had it had it bad, at least he didn’t have a Calendars committee to hold him up.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZTIqcvb30]

House Reps on the Calendars committee need to hear that these bills are necessary to jump-start Texas’ solar future. If one of the following members is YOUR representative, please give them a call today and tell them that you want these solar bills moved up the calendar and out to the dance House floor!!

Rep. Brian McCall (Chair) — (512) 463-0594

Rep. Eddie Lucio III (Vice Chair) — (512) 463-0606

Rep. Norma Chavez — (512) 463-0622

Rep. Garnet Coleman — (512) 463-0524

Rep. Byron Cook — (512) 463-0730

Rep. Brandon Creighton — (512) 463-0726

Rep. Charlie Geren — (512) 463-0610

Rep. Jim Keffer — (512) 463-0656

Rep. Lois W. Kolkhorst — (512) 463-0600

Rep. Jim McReynolds — (512) 463-0490

Rep. Allan Ritter — (512) 463-0706

Rep. Burt R. Solomons — (512) 463-0478

Note: Word on the street is that the Calendars committee has locked its door and taken the phone off the hook.  How’s that for open government?  This shouldn’t keep you from calling individual members though, their offices will still be answering the phone.

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Waco Trib Weighs in on Renewable Portfolio Standard

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 14, 2009 |

EDITORIAL: Seeing the light and all its power

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Dismiss talk of global warming and environmentalism if you must. But times are changing fast and, along with them, the very way we heat and cool our homes and businesses.

The Texas Senate signaled as much this week, approving a bill encouraging development of solar energy plants to generate electricity, much as the state has done in making wind an energy player in Texas and beyond.

Now it’s up to the House and Gov. Rick Perry to show similar vision for Texas.

We hope it isn’t much of a stretch. Sunshine is something we have plenty of in Texas — and we’re unlikely to run out of it anytime soon.

Passage of state Sen. Kirk Watson’s legislation, with help from Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, is remarkable for a couple of reasons. For one thing, the Senate is dominated by Republicans. Watson is a Democrat.

Yet many lawmakers on both sides want to encourage the solar, geothermal and biomass energy aims in this bill. Some see the writing on the wall.

A Texas Public Utility Commission report issued Tuesday concludes that electricity prices could jump as much as $10 billion a year — $27 a month in the average electric bill — if Texans don’t anticipate looming federal greenhouse regulations aimed at cutting carbon-based fuels like natural gas and coal.

Environmentalists and lawmakers see Watson’s bill as neatly bolstering our state’s energy arsenal, especially as Texas continues to grow. Solar could help ensure energy offerings at peak times of the day, while wind will prove of greatest impact during the night hours. (more…)

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Renewable Energy Bill Passes Senate

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 13, 2009 |

Yesterday afternoon the Texas Senate passed through SB 541, a bill authored by Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) to create a non-wind renewable portfolio standard.  If passed through the House, SB 541 would put Texas on course to have 1500 MW of renewable energy from non-wind sources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass.

If you follow us on Twitter, of course this is old news to you.  Public Citizen Texas has been using our Twitter feed to keep folks updated on breaking legislative news and votes, as well as to share interesting news articles and blog posts. Check it out:sb541twitter

If this sounds appealing to you, why not give us a follow?  We promise not to tweet your ear off.

Thanks to Senator Watson’s SB 541, Texas could become a national leader in solar energy just as are in the wind industry. Along with Senator Fraser’s 545, which will provide $500 million in solar incentives over the next 5 years, SB 541 will ensure that incentives are provided for both the large, utility scale solar and small-scale distributed solar that Texas needs.

While we would have preferred a larger renewable portfolio standard, Public Citizen is delighted that this bill has passed the Texas Senate.  This is a major step forward for Texans that will create tens of thousands of new clean green jobs within the state and lead to lower electric bills by hedging against the price of natural gas.

Hopefully the Texas House will see the light on solar power and pass an even stronger set of renewable energy goals that will make the grass grow greener, our air cleaner, and the green economy stronger.

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Go Solar: Make Utilities Give Consumers a Fair Price for Surplus Electricity

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 11, 2009 |

Sun MoneyThanks to Luke Metzger at the Environment Texas blog for this take on pending net metering legislation (read: making sure folks with solar panels get paid back for the excess energy they produce):

On Monday, the Texas House will decide whether to promote solar energy by requiring utilities to pay consumers fair prices for surplus solar power or to codify anti-consumer practices in order to benefit big utilities like TXU. Here’s the story.

Sick of riding the rollercoaster of high electric rates and concerned over pollution and dependence on foreign oil, many Texans are turning to solar power to get more choices than their electric company provides. More than 40 states help consumers do this by requiring electric companies to pay a fair price for the surplus electricity solar panels put back on the grid (known as net metering). In return, the electric grid benefits from a supply of pollution-free electricity during peak-demand time periods, such as hot summer afternoons, avoiding congestion costs and dampening real-time on-peak wholesale energy prices. The more renewable generation that is located at customer’s houses and businesses, the less will need to be charged in the future to all customers’ electric bills for wires, fuel and pollution costs. Incentivizing solar will also help create jobs and attract manufacturers to the state.

In addition to consumer rebates and tax credits, net metering is a key financial driver making solar power a cost-effective investment for consumers. Texas had such a policy in place in the 1980s, but with the restructuring of the electric market, old definitions of electric utilities no longer applied and net metering was inadvertently ended. (more…)

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Voter ID Passes Senate Committee Hearing

Posted in Good Government, Privacy, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 11, 2009 |

After a grueling 23-hour hearing, the Senate passed SB 362, requiring that voters present a photo identification.  No big surprise there.

The AP reports,

No one was surprised that a special Senate panel, which includes all 31 senators and Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, approved the legislation along straight party lines in a 20-12 vote just before 10 a.m. It was, as one Democratic senator observed, a “foregone conclusion.”

Wednesday’s vote all but assures it will pass and be sent to the House as early as Monday.

Andy didn’t make it back to testify, he had to head off to Dallas before his turn came up.  Lots of people didn’t make it to testify… though as many as 150 folks signed up, only around 25 made it through the night to actually speak.

I’m not sure on the official numbers of how many people dropped cards for or against the bill, but I heard through the grapevine that more people commented against it than for.  Thanks to everyone who made it out — get ready to do it all over again in the House!

Reports Vince Leibowitz at Capitol Annex,

The bill is all but assured a similar party-line vote when it comes up before the full Senate as early as Monday for final passage. The bill will then go to the Texas House, where it will likely be assigned to the House Elections Committee.

Sorry my fellow Good Government watchdogs… our work is never done.  And even then, who will watch the watchmen?

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Joe Straus in da HAUS

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2009 |

straus2Joe Straus (R- San Antonio) announced in a press conference this morning that he has enough pledged supporters to win the race for Speaker of the Texas House.

In holding with the national trend towards change and bipartisanship, Straus will replace the great and powerful Tom Craddick with a pledge to bring harmony back to the sharply divided Texas legislature.

Said Democratic strategist Harold Cook in an article in the Dallas Morning News,

“I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like the guy, and in the Legislature, that’s really saying something,” Cook said. “It’s easy to see why people looking for a new tone out of the Texas House are gravitating toward him.”

Other state Dems agreed,

“He is one of the most honest people that I know,” said Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio. “He’s going to be a fair speaker who will rule with an even hand and an open mind.”

We have seen such a bitterly divided legislature in recent years, these reactions sound almost too good to be true.  But it looks as though Straus may represent Texas’ brightest hope for a constructive, pragmatic legislative session.

What’s more, Straus has a positive history on ethics reform, open government, and has shown significant leadership on environmental issues.  As a member of the Regulated Industries Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Efficiency, Straus oversaw the passage of the most important energy efficiency bill since deregulation. Straus’ HB 3693 doubled utilities’ efficiency goals to 20% of load growth by 2010 and directed the Public Utility Commission to study whether increasing the program to 50% of load growth is technically possible.  This report, released by ITRON a month ago, found that Texas could not only meet but exceed that goal.

Straus has also received awards from both the Texas Public Power Association and the  Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club for his work in energy efficiency and contributions to public power.

Public Citizen congratulates Straus on being the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, and looks forward to working with him in the upcoming session.

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