Thursday afternoon Texas House Speaker Joe Straus released the interim committee charges for the Texas House of Representatives.
The TAC Legislative Department will provide analysis of the charges in an upcoming edition of County Issues.
The charges study a range of issues crucial to Texas’ future, including ways to attract more manufacturing jobs and build on economic development efforts; enhance public and higher education; improve wildfire response and address water needs made more critical by the drought; improve the state’s transportation infrastructure; reduce state debt; and make government more efficient and effective.
House committees will conduct comprehensive studies of the issues outlined in the interim charges during the 15 months between now and the next legislative session. The findings will ultimately form the foundation of legislation to be considered during the 83rd Legislative session in 2013.
“During a time of ongoing budget challenges, I am also especially interested in greater transparency, accountability and efficiency in our state budget, and greater effectiveness in state services such as reducing wait times for drivers’ licenses,” Straus said.
The interim charges are developed in two ways: members of the Legislature submit priorities for study, and the speaker includes his own priorities for review. Each of the House’s standing committees will study specific areas. The charges also include areas of special focus driven by pressing current events such as the ongoing drought and its impact on the state water plan, which will be reviewed by the House Committee on Natural Resources.
In addition to charges for each of the standing committees of the Texas House, Straus also identified two comprehensive charges that every substantive committee is to consider during the interim. These charges focus on economic growth by (1) improving the state's manufacturing capability; and (2) finding ways to increase transparency, accountability and efficiency in state government. Each committee is to submit a final report no later than Dec. 1, 2012.
By Nanette Forbes
TAC Legislative Staff
Recent changes to the state election laws and a proposed amendment to the state constitution will affect the time for filing for office in the March primary election.
A county official who intends to run for a different office in the March primary election should not file as a candidate before Dec. 2, 2011 and until the state canvass of the constitutional amendment election has occurred.
As currently written, Article XVI, section 65 of the state constitution (known as the resign-to-run provision) forces a vacancy in office of a county officer who becomes a candidate for an office other than the one he or she currently holds when more than one year remains on the officer’s current term of office. In the past, county officials have been able to avoid being forced to resign by delaying filing for office until Jan. 2 preceding the primary.
A recent change in the election code removes this option, however. Senate Bill 100, adopted during the last regular legislative session to accommodate federal laws related to overseas military voters, moved the filing deadline from Jan. 2 to the second Monday in December. This year, the deadline is Dec. 12. This earlier deadline would cause an officer seeking a different office to run afoul of the resign-to-run provision.
In an effort to overcome this problem, the Legislature has proposed an amendment to Article XVI, § 65. If adopted by the voters at the Nov. 8, 2011 constitutional amendment election, Proposition 10 (SJR 37) will extend the one-year “safe” period by an additional 30 days, enabling an officer to comply with the new December filing deadline without automatically resigning from office.
However, even if the voters approve this change to the constitution, the amendment will not become law until the returns of the election are canvassed by the governor. This year, the state canvass will occur between Nov. 23 and Dec. 8.
If Proposition 10 is approved and the governor canvasses the returns on or before Dec. 2, a county official may file for another office on Dec. 2 without triggering the resign-to-run provision. However, if the canvass occurs after Dec. 2, the officer should wait until the canvass to file for a place on the ballot.
Constitutional Amendment Election: Nov. 8, 2011
State canvassing period: Nov. 23, 2011 – Dec. 8, 2011
If canvass occurs on or before Dec. 2: Filing on or after Dec. 2, 2011
If canvass occurs after Dec. 2
Filing on or after canvass Last date for filing: Dec. 12, 2011
By Bruce Barr
County GIS Analyst
In a recent TAMUtimes article, John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas state climatologist and professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M, states that the current Texas drought could last another five years, or even until 2020.
“We know that Texas has experienced droughts that lasted several years. Many residents remember the drought of the 1950s, and tree ring records show that drought conditions occasionally last for a decade or even longer,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “I’m concerned because the same ocean conditions that seem to have contributed to the 1950s drought have been back for several years now and may last another five to 15 years.”
The professor is referring to a La Nina temperature pattern present in the Pacific Ocean that tends to create drier than normal conditions in the southwest. With 57 percent of counties having an average Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) rating higher than 600, the chances of wildfires across the state will persist along with the drought.
KBDI values of 600-800 are often associated with more severe drought and with increased wildfire occurrence. Intense, deep-burning fires with significant downwind spotting can be expected. Live fuels can also be expected to burn actively at these levels.
The current drought has cost Texas untold billions of dollars in losses to the agriculture and agriculture related industries. But as counties have learned with the exceptional number of wildfires this year, combating them also puts an unprecedented stress on county resources.
Not only is county heavy equipment called on to assist with state and local agencies, county personnel are often the mainstays of volunteer fire departments, the front line of wildfire defense. Sheriff’s offices and constables and reserve deputies are called upon to assist with evacuation and re-entry of affected neighborhoods. Depending on the length of the evacuation and the extent of the fire zone, these same law enforcement officers could be working additional patrols looking for looters or managing media vehicles and gawkers.
While federal agencies may offer reimbursement for larger events covered by presidential disaster declarations, the expense of responding to smaller daily fires often isn’t recouped. As the drought lingers, unfortunately, the wildfires will also. Drought Workshop Scheduled for Nov. 14 Tom Boggus, state forester and director of the Texas Forest Service, will be a presenter at the TAC Fall Administrative Workshop Nov. 14, 2011, at the Omni Marina Hotel, Corpus Christi. With longterm meteorological forecasts predicting current dry conditions could continue through the decade, Boggus will discuss how the Texas Forest Service and counties must work together to mitigate the impacts of a persistent drought on local ecologies and economies.
For more information, contact Bruce Barr at bruceb@county.org.
By Bruce Barr
County GIS Analyst
“In serious drought conditions, Texas does not and will not have enough water to meet the needs of its people, its businesses, and its agricultural enterprises,” wrote Edward G. Vaughan, chairman of the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), in the preamble to “2012 Water for Texas.”
“2012 Water for Texas,” the water plan issued by the TWDB, is written for drought conditions, and its purpose is to ensure that the state has enough water available to function somewhat normally, if in a conservation mode, during a drought of record event over the next 50 years. According to the Lower Colorado River Authority, the drought of record was the decade-long drought that affected Central Texas from the late 1940s through the late 1950s.
“Water for Texas 2012” predicts the water availability for each of the 16 planning regions in Texas and also outlines the region’s water management plans and the associated costs for implementing them.
A draft of the plan is available and will be open for public comment through Oct. 25. The public also had the opportunity to give input at regional meetings across the state during the last month. Additional responses may be submitted in writing to Kathleen Ligon at kathleen.ligon@twdb.state.tx.us or P.O. Box 13231, Austin, TX 78711.
Water Plan Workshop Scheduled for Nov. 14
Carolyn Brittin, Water for Texas 2012 leader and deputy executive administrator of Water Resource Planning and Information for TWDB, will be a presenter at the TAC Fall Administrative Workshop Nov. 14, 2011, at the Omni Marina Hotel, Corpus Christi.
As well as discussing the various grants available to counties from the TWDB, Brittin will talk about the 2012 water plan, which looks at water availability in Texas up to the year 2060. Brittin will discuss how implementation of the plan will affect future growth.
For more information, or to get a copy of the water plan, contact Bruce Barr at bruceb@county.org.
Tuesday Lt. Governor David Dewhurst issued select interim charges to six Senate committees and one subcommittee focusing on the extreme drought conditions and destructive wildfires that have burned across Texas this year.
"Texas is currently facing an unprecedented wildfire season compounded by one of the worst droughts in our state's history," Dewhurst said. "The drought has had a devastating and far-reaching impact across the entire state, and the legislature must use all of the resources at our disposal to prepare and respond in the event these severe drought conditions persist."
The past twelve months — from October 2010 through September 2011 — have been the driest in Texas since 1895, when the state first began keeping rainfall records. Over roughly the same time period, Texas responded to more than 24,000 fires, burning over 3.8 million acres and destroying more than 7,000 homes and businesses.
By Laura Garcia
TAC Deputy Legislative Director
Legislation that would fund the federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and Secure Rural Schools (SRS) programs for an additional five years has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. The County Payments Reauthorization Act of 2011 (S. 1692) is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and has 26 cosponsors thus far.
The PILT program provides financial support to eligible counties to help offset losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal lands within their boundaries, while the SRS program provides funds to counties with national forest lands to support local public schools, county road improvement and maintenance projects, forestry projects and wildfire risk reduction programs. Many Texas counties are recipients of funding from these programs.
The legislation would guarantee continued full federal funding of the PILT program through 2017. It would also provide more than $1.5 billion to the SRS program, though there would be an annual reduction of 5 percent in payments each year. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The National Association of Counties (NACo) is encouraging affected counties to ask their senators to support the bill.
House Ways and Means Approves Repealing 3 Percent Withholding Mandate
A bill that would repeal the federal mandate requiring certain state and local governments to withhold 3 percent from certain payments was approved by the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means on Oct. 13.
The legislation, H.R. 674, sponsored by Rep. Wally Herger (R-California), would repeal a provision of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 that requires counties that spend $100 million or more annually to withhold 3 percent of their payments for certain goods and services and remit the amount to the Internal Revenue Service. This mandate is currently scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2013. The bill presently has 269 cosponsors and is supported by several organizations, including NACo and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
By Laura Nicholes
TAC Legislative Staff
Texas' first statewide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "Partnerships for Public Safety Symposium" took place in San Antonio Oct. 12-14.
Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton and ICE Assistant Director Harold Hurtt, formerly police chief of Houston, thought it would be beneficial to join sheriffs and ICE representatives together to learn how the agencies can work to improve public safety.
Bexar County Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz generously assisted in welcoming and hosting the gathering of approximately 100 law enforcement participants to the city.
Hamilton said although his Travis County office has a close working relationship with ICE, he frequently hears from smaller counties that they do not know much about the federal agency.
“There’s just so much that these agencies can do together,” Hamilton said. "The main goal was for sheriffs to learn what ICE does.”
ICE field office leadership was on hand to outline its priorities and share information about its various departments and programs. Among the many topics on the agenda were: human trafficking/victim’s witness coordinators, Secure Communities, detention standards, bulk cash smuggling/financial crimes, asset forfeiture, intellectual property rights enforcement, information sharing and communication and “what’s working well in Texas.”
During discussions of what is working well in Texas, many attendees agreed that Secure Communities tops the list and has significantly contributed to the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the state. What is not working so well is communication and sharing of intelligence between the various federal, state and local agencies and regional communication posts along the Mexican border.
While the goal of this first symposium was to provide an introduction to ICE and the resources it can provide to local agencies, there are plenty of topics still to be addressed. Issues sure to be revisited by the next Legislature include immigration reform, maintaining security along the border and the specific law enforcement and incarceration challenges that counties and local law enforcement face when dealing with undocumented persons.
Having a better understanding of the roles, missions and responsibilities of the stakeholders will be an asset when those legislative discussions begin.
Hamilton and Hurtt indicated they intend to make the Partnerships Symposium an annual occurrence. Hamilton also said the next symposium may include non-governmental organizations. “I’ve gotten positive responses from the sheriffs who attended,” Hamilton said. ”They say they learned a lot and they are asking that this be an ongoing event.”
The Texas Association of Counties (TAC) is honoring state legislators for their dedication to working for the betterment of counties and their taxpayers. TAC has named these honorees “Friends of County Government.”
TAC Legislative Director Paul Sugg noted the valuable individual contributions of each legislator and remarked on one similarity among them — an unwavering support of local control.
“These legislators have proven themselves true friends of county government through their consistent support of issues important to counties, including decision-making at the local level,” Sugg said. “They understand that property taxpayers benefit from local control, instead of the state imposing a one-size-fits all system on Texas’ 254 diverse counties.”
Sen. Carlos Uresti was recently honored with the award in the Bexar County Commissioners Court. TAC invited county officials from the senator’s home district to attend. Several award ceremonies are planned for the rest of the year. County officials will receive invitations by mail and email as each ceremony is scheduled.
Scheduled Ceremonies (as of Oct. 19):
Rep. Lois Kolkhorst: 9 a.m., Oct. 25, Washington County Commissioners Court
Rep. Doug Miller: 8:15 a.m., Oct. 27, Comal County Commissioners Court
Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr.: noon, Oct. 27, Cameron County Commissioners Court
Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa: 9:30 a.m., Nov. 8, Hidalgo County Commissioners Court
Rep. Todd Hunter: 9 a.m., Nov. 9, Nueces County Commissioners Court
Rep. Tryon Lewis: 10 a.m., Nov. 14, Ector County Commissioners Court
Rep. Jim Jackson: 9 a.m., Nov. 15, Dallas County Commissioners Court