GOVERNOR DECIDES FINAL OUTCOME OF LEGISLATIVE BILLS
On June 14th, the office of the Governor unveiled the final outcome of the bills which had managed to pass out of both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate during the Regular Session of the 83rd Texas Legislature. During the twenty days following the end of a regular session, the Governor of Texas has the ability to sign bills in to law, pass them in to law without a signature or to veto them. It is during these twenty days that members of the Texas House and Texas Senate find out if the bills they worked on during the session will become law or not.
The 83rd Texas Legislature succeeded in sending a little over fourteen hundred bills to the Governor. Of the fourteen hundred bills, several bills were vetoed by the Governor. Some of the bills that were vetoed include:
• HB 217 which is related to the types of beverages that may be sold to students on public school campuses.
• HB 950 pertained to unlawful employment practices regarding discrimination in payment of compensation.
• HB 1511 which addressed the rates of sales and use taxes imposed by municipalities; authorizing an increase or decrease in the rate of those taxe
• HB 1790 relating to certain procedures for defendants who successfully complete a period of state jail felony community supervision.
• HB 1882 addresses the enterprise zone program.
• HB 2836 pertaining to the essential knowledge and skills of the required public school curriculum and to certain state-adopted or state-developed assessment instruments for public school students.
• HB 3509 is related to endangered species habitat conservation and to the creation of a board to oversee and guide the state’s coordinated response to federal actions regarding endangered species.
• SB 15 pertained to the governance of public institutions of higher education in this state.
• SB 17 which is related to the training in school safety of certain educators of a school district or an open-enrollment charter school authorized to carry a concealed handgun on school premises.
• SB 219 is relating to ethics of public servants, including the functions and duties of the Texas Ethics Commission; the regulation of political contributions, political advertising, lobbying, and conduct of public servants; and the reporting of political contributions and expenditures and personal financial information; providing civil and criminal penalties.
• SB 227 addressed the dispensing of aesthetic pharmaceuticals by physicians and therapeutic optometrists; imposing fees.
• SB 1234 pertained to the prevention of truancy and the offense of failure to attend school.
• SB 1606 which is related to ad valorem tax liens on personal property.
While certain bills were vetoed and thereby failed to make it through the final step of the legislative process, fourteen bills passed into law without the signature of the Governor. A sample of the bills passed in to law without the Governor’s signature includes:
• HB 1600 addresses the continuation and functions of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, to the transfer of certain functions from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, to the rates for water service, and to the functions of the Office of Public Utility Counsel; authorizing a fee.
• SB 567 which pertained to rates for water service, to the transfer of functions relating to the economic regulation of water and sewer service from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and to the duties of the Office of Public Utility Counsel regarding the economic regulation of water and sewer service.
I invite you to examine the complete list outlining the bills signed, passed in to law without signature or vetoed by going to Office of the Governor Rick Perry – News.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
