Results 1 to 4 of 4
Thread Information
Users Browsing this Thread
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Threaded View
-
04-27-2009, 01:52 AM #1
TX: Second Chance for Some Legislation
Chance for Some Legislation
Ben Philpott, KUT News
AUSTIN, TX
(2009-04-27)
The 2009 Texas Legislative session continues to move along at a slow pace - especially in the Texas House. This session's bottleneck includes several high profile bills that have yet to come to the floor for a vote. KUT's Ben Philpott reports on a 2nd option lawmakers have to get their bills passed.
Lawmakers often say that the Texas legislature is designed to keep bills from passing. Tyler Representative -Republican Leo Berman - calls it the legislative gauntlet.
Berman: "It can be blocked in committee. It can be blocked in one of the two calendars committees. And then if it does actually make it to the floor - it can be blocked again on the floor."
Berman has experienced first hand those blocking techniques as he's worked to get bills that would tighten penalties on hiring undocumented workers - and cut those workers off from state funded programs --- through the House. He says the difficult system becomes harder to navigate if you're carrying a controversial bill.
Berman: "Some representative attempt to block bills of people who - I wouldn't say they don't like - but of people whose legislation they don't particularly care for."
So without much hope of his legislative agenda getting to the floor this session - Berman has instead begun trying to add some of his proposals to other bills as amendments. Just this week he tried to add an amendment to a grant program that said none of the program's money could go to undocumented citizens. Changing a bill into an amendment is a second chance for plenty of bills during the final days of every legislative session - especially for what some consider controversial ones.
Representative Frank Corte - is used to carrying what he says are controversial bills. The San Antonio Republican has carried a handful over the years that have created emotional debate. This year his firebrand is HB 36 - which would require an ultrasound to be performed and a viewing offered to a woman seeking an abortion. He says he'd like to get a vote on the bill - but thinks its nature will make it hard to find legislation to amend.
Corte: "That bill may be hard to amend. I don't know if there's any other vehicles - as we refer to them as. I think that the opposition would be really keen not to bring up a bill because they would know that would be a potential."
But that doesn't mean he won't be keeping an eye out for any chance. Corte's bill had a committee hearing last week. It has not been set for a floor debate. A similar bill stalled in the Senate. Reporting from the Texas Capitol.
www.publicbroadcasting.netSupport our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
US Border Patrol apprehends 13 undocumented migrants from the...
05-17-2024, 05:26 PM in illegal immigration News Stories & Reports