Lawmakers Say State Should Override Perry on Stimulus

If Gov. Rick Perry doesn't request billions of federal dollars that Congress is preparing to make available to Texas, El Paso lawmakers want the Legislature to go after it. State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, is drafting a resolution that would give legislators the power to bypass the governor and request federal stimulus money. State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, and Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, filed a similar resolution Monday. The U.S. House version of the $800-billion-plus stimulus package includes an amendment that allows state legislatures to request money if their state's governor does not. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., added the amendment out of concern that Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford would not accept money designated for the state. More

Editorial: Straus’ Committees Should Reflect Urban Texas

The 15.4 million Texans who live in the state's four largest metropolitan areas are the people Joe Straus needs to think about most this week. They live in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio areas and, collectively, make up a majority of the state's 24 million residents. The new speaker of the Texas House should address the realities of their lives as he makes committee assignments for the 2009 Legislature. More

Texas Senate Adds Three New Committees

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made few changes in Senate committee appointments for the 2009 legislative session, leaving most committee chairs filled by the same senators who served in the previous Legislature. Dewhurst did expand the number of Senate committees to 18 in the organization he announced Friday, after elevating three subcommittees to full committee status. One of the new committees is economic development, which will be chaired by Sen. Chris Harris, R-Arlington. The other two new committees are focused on higher education and agriculture. Both will have the same chairs they had last session as subcommittees - Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, respectively. More

Vendors Seek Payment for Hurricane Ike

The state has $134 million in unpaid bills stacking up for the emergency response to Hurricane Ike – and vendors, tired of waiting on government bureaucracy, want their money. Jack Colley, the state's emergency management director, told the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that he's had to tell the vendors they must wait. Committee chairman Steve Ogden said the state should already have the authority to pay the bills from the deadly Sept. 13 storm. A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry said that slow payments from the federal government are the chief cause of the delay. More

Report: Buyers Found Good Deal on DFW Foreclosure in 2008

Investors who buy foreclosed properties on the courthouse steps on average pay about 60 cents on the dollar. But only about 900 such deals were recorded in the Dallas-Fort Worth area last year, according to a report released Wednesday by Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service. That amounts to only 4 percent of the residential properties foreclosed last year in the four county area. The rest of the real estate was taken over by the lenders who then put the properties up for resale. More

National Green Building Standard for Homes Approved

The “National Green Building Standard,” a joint effort by the International Code Council and the National Association of Home Builders, is designed to be compatible with existing building codes. It also will provide an alternative to non-standardized green rating systems, such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design rating system. More

Highlights from the Texas Legislature

The Legislature took on a somber tone Wednesday as lawmakers honored the family of a man who died in prison, only to have DNA testing show years later that he did not commit the rape he was convicted of. Other business included Comptroller Susan Combs warning of insufficient water supplies and concerns about Glaveston Hospital. More

Files on Craddick’s Computers Deleted

Before the House voted Speaker Tom Craddick out of his job, state officials wiped his computers clean and deleted scores of electronic files, raising concerns that public records may have been destroyed. Files on one shared computer network drive were saved, but unless Craddick specifically requested them, computer hard drives and electronic records associated with individual employees were deleted, officials said. More

Texas Democrats to Take Lead in Choosing Federal Judges

Democratic House members from Texas met Wednesday with the top White House lawyer over how to pick federal judges - and they emerged signaling a far diminished role for the state's Republican senators. Also, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he may scrap a tradition that lets colleagues block nominees who lack approval from both home-state senators. Texas is one of 14 states with two GOP senators, setting up a clash with the majority Democrats and the Obama administration. More