SENATE WORKING HARD TO FIND SCHOOL FINANCE SOLUTION

The Lieutenant Governor announced this afternoon that there is not enough time for the Senate to pass a bill on Public School Finance Reform, given procedural rules, before time expires on the special session.

There was still no word at press time whether the Governor will call another special session or wait until the regular session in January.

In his news conference, Dewhurst noted that there was agreement that significant, additional money was needed for financing schools.The latest version of a plan under consideration is discussed below.

A last ditch effort was being considered Friday by Texas Senators in an attempt to find a solution to the school finance problem. A draft of an outline plan was making its rounds around the capitol, but it is far from clear that the plan would garner Senate approval not to mention concurrence by the House of Representatives.

The plan would cut school property taxes by up to a third, broaden the state's only business tax, legalize slot machines, raise the sales tax by a half-cent and provide about 1.1 billion more for public education. No legislative language outline of the plan has surfaced at this time. To review click here.

The 30-day special legislative session expires Wednesday, but because of procedural rules, the Senate must adopt its plan by sometime this weekend or perhaps early Monday for it to have a prayer of a chance of becoming law.

In the Senate's plan, the state franchise tax would be lower - how much lower was unclear Thursday - and broader, taking in all corporations along with most business partnerships such as law, engineering and accounting firms and doctors' groups. This revamped franchise tax would raise an extra $4 billion or more annually, according to one estimate.

"Senators are committed to a real, workable plan that can be presented to the constituents back home as a long-term viable solution, said Senator Ken Arbrister, (D-Victoria). "We're not interested in a fill-in-the-blank stopgap deal," Armbrister continued. "We're looking for a permanent solution for the problem."

While there were many details to be worked out, the question is whether the legislation can be passed by the whole Senate. "We've made a lot of progress in the last 24 hours, but I don't want to underestimate how many details have to be worked out," Dewhurst said. "We've got a lot of work in front of us."

Thursday, Dewhurst said he expected the Senate to break up into small groups and work through the weekend. If a bill cannot be crafted before the session expires, Gov. Rick Perry has indicated that he would call lawmakers back for another round. However, there is also speculation that he may wait for the issue to be handled in the regular legislative session set to convene in January of 2005.

Just before the House was set to act on its version of the school finance package last week, Perry served notice that the portion calling for a tax on private employers' payrolls was unacceptable. The move prompted House leaders to redraft the legislation without the payroll tax provision, resulting in a bill that would spend more money than it would raise.

Sen. Florence Shapiro, (R-Plano) who is carrying the school finance legislation in the Senate, said she and other key players are trying not to become sidetracked over whether elements of their plan can gain acceptance in the House and the governor's office.

"That's the most frustrating part of what I'm doing right now," Shapiro said. "We're here [in the Senate] trying to decide what we can live with on our side. To even begin to guess what another 150 [House] members are thinking is impossible right now."

HUDDLESTON UNVEILS SCHOOL FINANCE POLL

Dallas businessman, independent producer, and TXOGA member, Albert Huddleston, owner & chief operating officer of Hyperion Energy, L.P., has spent the last three years seeking to reform Texas system of public school finance and wean it from its dependence on property taxes.

As reported in the Petroleum Weekly Digest, Volume 6, Issue #16, Huddleton presented his education/tax reform package to the Senate Finance Committee on Monday afternoon, April 26th.

Today he released a significant poll of 1,002 respondents conducted by Republican pollster Mike Baselice. The poll demonstrates support for a slightly higher sales tax combined with a business activity payroll tax if the funds were dedicated to schools and bought down property taxes. To review the poll, please click here.

U. S. SENATE KEEPS ENERGY PROVISIONS IN JOBS BILL

by Alby Modiano, US Oil & Gas Association

Tuesday's victory in the Senate to keep the energy tax provisions in the JOBS bill was a great step forward in achieving comprehensive energy legislation. Passing the remaining authorizing provisions of his energy bill (S. 2095) is Chairman Domenici's next goal. When speaking to the US Oil & Gas Association Board of Directors on Tuesday, he made it very clear that he was as committed as ever to passing comprehensive energy legislation.

A list of those Senators who voted with Senator McCain to strip out the energy tax provisions include:

Democrats: Biden (D-DE), Boxer (D-CA), Corzine (D-NJ), Dodd (D-CT), Feingold (D-WI), Graham (D-FL), Hollings (D-SC), Kennedy (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Republicans: Gregg (R-NH), Kyl (R-AZ), McCain (R-AZ), Sununu (R-NH)

The House has not yet completed work on companion legislation, but the Senate passing the JOBS bill will encourage the House to act.

BILLS OF INTEREST

The following are bills which have been introduced
in the current special session of the Legislature on Public
School Finance. We will update this list every week during the session.