3rd special session

H

hornpharmd

5,000+ Posts
did not see a previos thread so started this one. Anybody think we will get fixes for the major problems facing our state? Transportation is #2 or 3 top issue in my book. they seem to be working on a deal but there is currently a 4 billion shortfall just to maintain existing roads. not to mention the continued road congestion we are seeing and expected doubling of the state population in next 20 years or so. Do not hear anything about the #1 issue which is water. Then there is the healthcare issue in which we will lose out on big federal dollars if we do not agree to expand medicaid by September.
 
Hornpharmd,

How can you possibly say that water is the #1 issue. Governor Goodhair held a big press conference in the Valley to announce that he had negotiated with Mexico to repay 1 million acre feet of the water they owe us. Surely that solves the problem. It would irrigate Frank Yturria's ranch for at least a day and a half. Kinda like you calling Obama and telling him you'll fix the national deficit by mailing him a $100 check.

As for this special session, like the two before it, nothing will get done that could not have been done during the regular session with adequate (not good or great) leadership. Instead, how many millions of dollars are the taxpayers of Texas shelling out for the "Summer of 2013"?

And our the transportation problem, what do you expect in a city that is the worst laid out in America; where the exiting traffic from 35 for years had to yield to the service road, the entrance and exit ramps were all of 25 feet long, and the only interstate freeway had a grade crossing for the railroad?

As I always say, "TXDOT, comma, created by Aggies for Aggies, run by Aggies, with Aggies. Look it up in Webster's under 'cluster', nothing better exemplifies that term".
 
$4 billion shortfall due to the robbery the state legislature has done on DOT funds for the last 30 years. It's a sad day when I can say Arkansas highways are better than Texas. Hell, even Oklahoma is putting ours to shame.
 
But, Doc, little Ricky's Barcelona buddies will fix all that as soon as they finish lining his pockets with cash again. Leave it up to them and you will pay $1.80 toll to get to your neighborhood HEB.
 
Sen Dan Patrick (R - Houston), who chairs the senate education committee, is showing his *** yet again. CSCOPE has been battered from all sides and will cease to formally exist in the near future. They are going to put the lesson plans online for free for anybody to use. This is a big help for rural school districts that dont have the money to pay for expensive (often crappy IMO) curriculum packages. Schools and teachers would be able to pick what they like and ignore the rest. Not so fast....Sen Patrick to the rescue. His bill, SB9, would make it illegal for districts to use any of these lesson plans. I support Thomas Ratliff (R - Mount Pleasant) who has challenged Patrick to a debate over the content of CSCOPE and the taking away of local control that SB9 presents. Duncan (R - Lubbock) has requested an "advisory opinion" from the AG regarding the use of CSCOPE.

Instead of focusing on this pointless drivel, the education committee should be worried about federal overreach in the area of education. The second round of the Race To The Top grant competition is kicking in. These grants will go directly to school districts and will bypass the state legislatures that have refused to participate because of the federal strings attached (Texas). Its not that big of a deal because less than ten districts nationwide will get a grant, but its funny to watch these clowns in the legislature worry about free lesson plans online while the federal government could potentially bypass them and start running districts in Texas.
 
Patrick's bill means nothing unless Perry adds it to the special-session agenda (lawmakers can't consider anything outside the governor-set agenda). That is possible, though.

Either way, this is just political blowharding in preparation for the Lt. Gov. race.

This session has been filled with our "public servants" trying to feather their nest for future higher office (Davis, Patrick, et al), but instead they are shitting in the Texas nest.

I am so sick of politicians on both sides of the aisle. Nothing will change until "regular folks" decide to run for office, and even then the monied interests will likely destroy them. It's toe the line or go home.

Oh, and TxDOT (while apparently poorly and aggie-run -- is that redundant?) has had their budget looted for years through diversion. The political blowhards talked a good game before this biennial session that they would end the diversion practices, but I don't think they did a damned thing.

TxDOT already has good revenue sources, but it appears a good chunk of it is going to the Dept. of Public Safety (you know, so they can have boats to patrol the Rio Grande because the feds won't do their job), and to Medicaid.

Pardon my rant.
 
No doubt that his bill is worthless as Perry won't add it to the agenda. Completely agree that these special sessions have been nothing but a facade for politicians to try to further their careers and would have embarrassed the average Texan if they paid attention.
 
Transportation, water, and education may not get fixed, but I'll bet that Lucio's mandatory adoption-seminar-before-any-abortion makes it. Priorities......
 
Well, Mr. Deez, the bottom line is, the current crop "ain't a-workin'." Maybe that's an indictment of the party system rather than the individuals. Money is the common factor, though.

There is no doubt that my hopes carry a tinge of naivety, I'll give you that. Satisfied?
 
At least the Tea Party will vote against incumbents in the primaries and so far they have been successful both on a national and state level.
 
link

For those that are interested, here is a list of some water projects going on in Texas. I found it interesting that Austin is the only major city without a project listed. Seems like now would be a good time to get something done as the Highland Lakes storage capacity is at 35% of full level. I also noticed that most of these projects seem to be tapping into resources that will evetually go dry if our growth rate continues. Im not suggesting that we have a better option at this point.
 
I would prefer that cities truly crack down on unnecessary water usage before destroying more land to build more lakes. Water is like crack to you city folks, and that includes those cities large and small.

For example, let's look at Dallas. They've had West Nile virus outbreaks recently, and have had to take extreme measures to eradicate mosquitoes. The outbreak is centered around North Dallas, and it's not difficult to put two and two together to see it's the massive lawn watering causing the mosquito spike.

Couple that with the apartment complexes and businesses that have their sprinklers set at the wrong time, or in the wrong direction, which fills up the gutter more than the lawn. I saw that in Palestine the other evening (water rushing into the gutter) and even at my small-town high school (the street full of water), so this criticism isn't limited to large metro areas.

What I am suggesting would entail larger code enforcement operations, which is cheaper than building lakes, but there is a glaring lack of political will because there isn't much money in code enforcement, the folks with the Texas tropical gardens in their back yard would ***** to high heaven, and frankly, there's less opportunity for moolah to change hands between lake constructors and politicians.
 
Link.

Is fracking an issue in the water debate? This article seems to suggest so. Of course, it finds ways to work "climate change" into the equation.
 
Fracking is a big issue for areas that have a lot of it. Having a supply of fresh water to sell has made a lot of people very rich. I don't take too much issue with the climate change part of this article because the climate has changed in Texas and the scientist doesn't claim that it was caused by humans. She rightly pointed out that overuse has gone on for decades by farmers, ranchers, and cities using west Texas water. A lot of the older people in my family are from west Texas and have talked about the area running out of water for decades.
 
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