Thread: TX: Delay over technicality could kill border bill

Delay over technicality could kill border bill
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
El Paso Times
Article Launched:05/04/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

AUSTIN -- Gov. Rick Perry's plan to spend $100 million on the border stalled out in the Texas House on Thursday after a tearful and emotional debate over rules that govern the chamber and political priorities.
"Members, this is stupid. I'm ashamed to be here, and I'm ashamed of this House," said a teary-eyed, frustrated state Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, who is sponsoring the border plan.

After more than three hours of debate over the bill, lawmakers pointed out a technical error that required the legislation be sent back to committee, delaying a vote for several more days.

In the waning days of the session, as deadlines loom, delays could result in the death of a bill.

Swinford said the border security bill, which would determine how the $100 million from Perry is distributed, was too important to stall on a technicality.

"It's all about me and not about thee," he said. He added that he cried because he was thinking of the stories he had seen and heard about death, drugs and exploitation on the border.

House Speaker Tom Craddick told legislators they could vote to suspend all of the rules governing legislation in the House to proceed Thursday and vote on the bill.

That was a move many legislators said they had never seen. Swinford delayed his bill before the House was set to vote on whether to suspend the rules.

Nearly all legislators agreed they wanted to increase security on the Texas-Mexico border. The disagreement centered on who would be responsible for overseeing those functions.

"It's got the basis of a lot of good things," state Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso, said. "The question has become 'Who is in charge?' "

The bill would give Perry's office primary control over distributing the money and would allow his staff access to a law enforcement database containing sensitive information.

Swinford said moving control of border security money out of Perry's office could jeopardize a deal he has made with Texas congressmen to get border sheriffs more federal money. "I will kill the bill before I go back on my word," he said.

Critics of the bill said a political office should not control law enforcement operations. They also argued that the bill had too few accountability measures to ensure that funds were distributed and used appropriately.

Swinford met with lawmakers and said he would attempt to respond to concerns about distribution and accountability for the dollars.

The bill could be back up for a vote in the House as soon as Monday.


http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_5813923

www.news8austin.com


Heated House debate over border bill erupts
5/4/2007 10:40:48 AM
By: Associated Press
Tensions erupted in the Texas House on Thursday night when debate on a contentious border security bill melted down and had to be delayed.

Some Democratic lawmakers raised an objection to the legislation based on a technical rules violation.

After proceedings stalled for a while, House Speaker Tom Craddick upheld the objection, which is known as a point of order. That frustrated the bill's sponsor, Rep. David Swinford, R-Amarillo.

The bill now must go back through the legislative process and is expected to be scheduled for House consideration again next week. Time is an issue because less than a month remains in the session.

HB 13 would give border sheriffs more money for resources to help patrol the state's border with Mexico. It also would define in state law many aspects of the sometimes cloudy line between city, state and federal law enforcement agencies along the border.


Copyright 2007 Associated Press, All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





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http://www.news8austin.com/content/your ... rID=183597

Has this idiot allowed any of the ENFORCEMENT BILLS out of COMMITTEE yet????????

OR is he only concerned about giving money to Perry via his own bill?

No This guy is a real piece of work, he has stalled the bills, folks in Texas call him and the others on the commitee and ask to get these bills to the floor.

May 5, 2007, 1:45AM
Border bill debate focuses on 'sanctuary cities'
Democrats say GOP making issue politics instead of border security


By R.G. RATCLIFFE and GARY SCHARRER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Republicans on Friday claimed Democratic lawmakers are trying to kill a border security bill because it would outlaw "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants, but Hispanic legislators said that is a political "red herring."

The legislation got temporarily derailed Thursday night, but Republicans and Democrats expect it to pass rather easily when it comes back early next week.

"There can be no doubt: this bill was killed for political reasons by members who have personal opposition to the governor and are opposed to ending the practice of so-called sanctuary cities," House Republican Caucus Chairman Rep. Frank Corte, R-San Antonio, said in a statement.

But Latino Democratic lawmakers said the so-called "sanctuary cities" provision in House Bill 13 is "meaningless" because it just requires cities to do what they are already doing: arresting immigrants who commit crimes. They said Republicans have made the border security measure more about politics than security.


Houston policy questioned
True sanctuary cities are ones that have adopted formal policies of not enforcing federal immigration laws. Republicans have accused cities such as Houston of being sanctuary cities because they do not arrest people just for being illegal immigrants, most of whom have committed a civil, not criminal, violation of federal law.
Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, said the language in the bill simply enforces the status quo of how police departments treat illegal immigrants.

"It's kind of meaningless language," Farrar said. "They (Republicans) are doing the boogeyman tactic, a spook around every corner."

Farrar said her main concern is to make sure the law enforcement aspects of homeland security are done by a police agency and not by a political office like the governor's.

Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, said Republicans have tried to make the claim that because city police are not breaking up day labor sites they have a "sanctuary city" policy. He called that a "red herring."

Noriega said Reps. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, and Juan Escobar, D-Kingsville, negotiated language in the bill with sponsor Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, that was acceptable to Hispanic lawmakers because it was limited to criminal activities.

Escobar, a retired Border Patrol officer, helped make the bill more appealing to minority legislators by changing a provision so local law enforcement officers would only be obligated to pursue people who commit federal crimes. The original bill also would have made them responsible for detaining those who run afoul of civil violations, such as illegal immigration.

"It makes it much more acceptable to everybody," Escobar said, adding that hard-liners would have preferred the more rigid language.


Procedural flaw
Noriega said many Hispanic lawmakers became worried that the border security bill was just going to turn into "immigrant bashing." He said that "was probably the big elephant in the room."
The House spent about four hours debating the border security legislation Thursday night before Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, found a procedural flaw in the bill.

House leaders were forced to stop debate and return the bill to the House State Affairs Committee, which fixed the error, and it is expected to return to the House floor Monday or Tuesday.

Still, some cities, including Houston and San Antonio, want lawmakers to vote against the measure because of fear they will lose homeland security grants if they fail to comply with several vague provisions in the bill prohibiting a city from enacting any "rule, policy or ordinance" that does not fully enforce federal drug and immigration laws.

Houston spokesman Frank Michel said the city also is concerned the bill could cost Houston homeland security funding in the future.

"We contend that we are in compliance with all federal laws on immigration," Michel said. "It would just declare by fiat that we're out of compliance."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 77335.html