The Texas Legislative Session Ends
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 8,821
Likes: 0
From: HouStook TX
The Texas Legislative Session Ends
http://www.click2houston.com/news/4548790/detail.html
Average Texans Faces Myriad Of Changes In Daily Life
Legislative Sessions Ends Without Snack Tax, School Funding Decision
POSTED: 8:11 am CDT May 31, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas -- With another legislative session come and gone, Texas lawmakers left the Lone Star State better for some Average Joes, worse for others and standing still on some of the biggest issues of the session.
Texas State Capitol
If you're a state employee, you're getting a pay raise. If you're a teacher, you won't.
You'll still have to go to Louisiana to play the slots, but if beer, smokes and Fritos are your thing, those threats of new snack, cigarette and alcohol taxes fell flat.
And if you're putting on the pounds eating fast food for lunch every day, forget about suing that sandwich maker. Texas won't allow it.
Much of the 140-day session was dominated by talk of what lawmakers hoped -- and warned -- they would deliver to the Average Joe.
Property owners heard their taxes were going down. They won't. That idea collapsed with the failure of the school finance plan.
Threats of increased sales and alcohol taxes, new taxes on snacks, bottled water and a brief flirtation with a proposed water tax all eventually went down the drain.
And while some lawmakers hoped to pave the way for slot machines in Texas, that option crapped out under pressure from social conservatives and liberal groups who joined forces to dash any expansion of gambling.
The nation laughed when the House voted to ban suggestive cheerleading on the sideline. But while the bumpin' and grindin' may still go on under the Friday night lights, it's a sure bet that the attention will cause schools to tone down the routines.
The session affected Texans of all ages. Children in abusive homes should get help from the state after lawmakers paved the way to hire thousands more Child Protective Services caseworkers.
Teenagers cruising the streets could find themselves crossways with the law if they're caught talking on a cell phone while driving. Lawmakers passed a bill that prohibits minors from using cell phones and pagers while driving for six months after getting their driver's license.
For the rest of Texas drivers, things could speed up or slow down, depending on the stretch of road. One bill allows cities to alter speed limits in urban areas, while another raises speed limits to 80 mph on some rural spans of highway.
Pregnant teenage girls face a new hurdle to get an abortion. Instead of just telling a parent they plan to have one, they now must get their consent in writing first.
The state is going to ask high school athletes if they take steroids. If enough say they do, mandatory testing could be in the near future.
And if you want cheaper prescription drugs, a state-sponsored Web site will help Texans buy them cheaply and safely from Canada.
While crime doesn't pay, sitting on a jury will fatten the wallet a bit. Lawmakers boosted jury pay from $6 a day to $40. If it happens to be a capital murder case, there's a new option there, too. If signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry, capital murder juries could sentence convicts to life in prison.
Some bills sound like new laws but really just clarify ones already on the books.
Parents can still spank their children. Gay people can still take in foster children but still can't marry. The marriage ban was already in the law and now voters statewide will decide next November whether to write it into the state Constitution.
Hazing at colleges and universities is still against the law but the penalties will get tougher. Rowdy students can still drink in the wee morning hours of their 21st birthday after attempts to put a cork on celebration guzzling until 7 a.m. failed.
State lawmakers left the Capitol Monday with plenty of unfinished business. Attempts at school finance reform failed miserably and Gov. Rick Perry hasn't said yet if he'll sign the $139 billion state budget.
A veto would bring everyone back to Austin for more rounds of late-night debates and backroom deals to negotiate the best way for Texans to live their daily lives.
Legislative Sessions Ends Without Snack Tax, School Funding Decision
POSTED: 8:11 am CDT May 31, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas -- With another legislative session come and gone, Texas lawmakers left the Lone Star State better for some Average Joes, worse for others and standing still on some of the biggest issues of the session.
Texas State Capitol
If you're a state employee, you're getting a pay raise. If you're a teacher, you won't.
You'll still have to go to Louisiana to play the slots, but if beer, smokes and Fritos are your thing, those threats of new snack, cigarette and alcohol taxes fell flat.
And if you're putting on the pounds eating fast food for lunch every day, forget about suing that sandwich maker. Texas won't allow it.
Much of the 140-day session was dominated by talk of what lawmakers hoped -- and warned -- they would deliver to the Average Joe.
Property owners heard their taxes were going down. They won't. That idea collapsed with the failure of the school finance plan.
Threats of increased sales and alcohol taxes, new taxes on snacks, bottled water and a brief flirtation with a proposed water tax all eventually went down the drain.
And while some lawmakers hoped to pave the way for slot machines in Texas, that option crapped out under pressure from social conservatives and liberal groups who joined forces to dash any expansion of gambling.
The nation laughed when the House voted to ban suggestive cheerleading on the sideline. But while the bumpin' and grindin' may still go on under the Friday night lights, it's a sure bet that the attention will cause schools to tone down the routines.
The session affected Texans of all ages. Children in abusive homes should get help from the state after lawmakers paved the way to hire thousands more Child Protective Services caseworkers.
Teenagers cruising the streets could find themselves crossways with the law if they're caught talking on a cell phone while driving. Lawmakers passed a bill that prohibits minors from using cell phones and pagers while driving for six months after getting their driver's license.
For the rest of Texas drivers, things could speed up or slow down, depending on the stretch of road. One bill allows cities to alter speed limits in urban areas, while another raises speed limits to 80 mph on some rural spans of highway.
Pregnant teenage girls face a new hurdle to get an abortion. Instead of just telling a parent they plan to have one, they now must get their consent in writing first.
The state is going to ask high school athletes if they take steroids. If enough say they do, mandatory testing could be in the near future.
And if you want cheaper prescription drugs, a state-sponsored Web site will help Texans buy them cheaply and safely from Canada.
While crime doesn't pay, sitting on a jury will fatten the wallet a bit. Lawmakers boosted jury pay from $6 a day to $40. If it happens to be a capital murder case, there's a new option there, too. If signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry, capital murder juries could sentence convicts to life in prison.
Some bills sound like new laws but really just clarify ones already on the books.
Parents can still spank their children. Gay people can still take in foster children but still can't marry. The marriage ban was already in the law and now voters statewide will decide next November whether to write it into the state Constitution.
Hazing at colleges and universities is still against the law but the penalties will get tougher. Rowdy students can still drink in the wee morning hours of their 21st birthday after attempts to put a cork on celebration guzzling until 7 a.m. failed.
State lawmakers left the Capitol Monday with plenty of unfinished business. Attempts at school finance reform failed miserably and Gov. Rick Perry hasn't said yet if he'll sign the $139 billion state budget.
A veto would bring everyone back to Austin for more rounds of late-night debates and backroom deals to negotiate the best way for Texans to live their daily lives.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post