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Posted
2 hours ago, tokamak said:

House and Senate reached a deal on property tax cuts. Seems like it's basically Patrick & the Senate's plan that won out.

Has Abbott said if there will be more special sessions? I was kind of hoping the tax cut stuff would continue to drag out, so there wouldn't be time for any additional fuckery.

Abbott has vowed to bring another session in the late summer/fall specific to school vouchers.

 

Posted
39 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

Abbott has vowed to bring another session in the late summer/fall specific to school vouchers.

He will probably have to give up on that one, as the rural districts are fighting back, in some cases putting the Rs on blast, such as Alpine's recent social media posts.  Those smaller school districts can absolutely get an incumbent booted out of office.

Posted
1 hour ago, pyrohornIII said:

Abbott has vowed to bring another session in the late summer/fall specific to school vouchers.

 

He’s just waiting for school to start so teachers can’t come and testify against this bullshit.

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Posted

That's part of it, but he's headed into dangerous waters with Friday night lights to deal with.  Lots of ISDs have been mute on pushing back, but our superintendent urged the people attending graduation to call our Rep and let her know it wasn't something good for our community.   The more he pushes this, the more activity you'll see, and I don't doubt there will more ISDs pushing back.  

Now the question is what is he planning to do about this since he's surely aware of the timing.  

 

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Posted

From that article:

Quote

 However, none of that money will go toward additional public education funding, according to legislation filed by state budget leaders on Monday.

Quote

“I promised during my campaign that the state would return to property taxpayers at least half of the largest budget surplus we have ever had,” Abbott said in a statement after Monday’s announcement. “Today’s agreement between the House and the Senate is a step toward delivering on that promise. I look forward to this legislation reaching my desk, so I can sign into law the largest property tax cut in Texas history.”

So basically they are doing nothing to actually help improve Texas public schools.    Just doing all this to win votes by "cutting taxes!"      Same old song and dance.  It's sad how far we've allowed our state to regress in so many ways.   When I was a kid, my dad would always brag on Texas, usually set off by traveling on some well maintained highway.  "Texas leads in roads, schools, universities!  All the important things."  

The only things we lead in now are greed and ignorance, intentional or not.   And I guarantee you that corporations are going to come out way better than all the citizen homeowners combined.

And once the surplus runs out, what then?  That 12.6 billion puts a pretty big dent in it. 

At some point they will go out of power, and Dems will get elected and have to clean up this mess by increasing taxes just to get back to even, much less improving things.   So the Republicans will run against tax increases and ignore the damage they've done Texas by dumbing down the majority of the population.  

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Posted
From that article:
 However, none of that money will go toward additional public education funding, according to legislation filed by state budget leaders on Monday.
“I promised during my campaign that the state would return to property taxpayers at least half of the largest budget surplus we have ever had,” Abbott said in a statement after Monday’s announcement. “Today’s agreement between the House and the Senate is a step toward delivering on that promise. I look forward to this legislation reaching my desk, so I can sign into law the largest property tax cut in Texas history.”
So basically they are doing nothing to actually help improve Texas public schools.    Just doing all this to win votes by "cutting taxes!"      Same old song and dance.  It's sad how far we've allowed our state to regress in so many ways.   When I was a kid, my dad would always brag on Texas, usually set off by traveling on some well maintained highway.  "Texas leads in roads, schools, universities!  All the important things."  
The only things we lead in now are greed and ignorance, intentional or not.   And I guarantee you that corporations are going to come out way better than all the citizen homeowners combined.
And once the surplus runs out, what then?  That 12.6 billion puts a pretty big dent in it. 
At some point they will go out of power, and Dems will get elected and have to clean up this mess by increasing taxes just to get back to even, much less improving things.   So the Republicans will run against tax increases and ignore the damage they've done Texas by dumbing down the majority of the population.  

Bingo. Republicans consume our seed stock, shouting about how full they can make the plates (mostly the plates of the rich)…then responsible people have to come in and replenish that seed stock so we don’t all starve in the long run, all while the republicans yell about how much more everyone had on their plate to stuff themselves with when THEY were in charge. Rinse, repeat.
We are consuming our surplus. We are consuming our most important capital (our people, especially educated people). The ant and the grasshopper writ large.
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Posted

This is reminds me of Perry’s tax cut. I know we will get bent over in two years

I’d rather they spend the surplus on construction and infrastructure

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Posted
1 hour ago, pacman said:

A Historian who supports actual history,

Texas GOP, "Fire him!"

It's fucking embarrassing - quite a few members of Middleton's family went to UT Austin.

I'm really surprised that Abbott and the legislature haven't ordered that traces of Texas's reasons for seceding to be removed from the state website.

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

So basically suburban citizens have to save us?

This is the way. 

Edited by YChang
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Posted
1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

No, I have less.  I think we are fuuuuuuuuucked.

Yep--we're fucked.  Those are people moving from San Bernardino to Prosper because they think California has become a liberal shithole.

Little do they appreciate that San Bernardino was always a shithole.

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Posted (edited)

MQS, his Empower Texans cronies and their various associated groups - and the billionaires that fund them - have done more to hurt the Lone Star State and ruin the so-called Texas mystique over the last two decades than anyone else.

Edited by sasquatch69
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Posted (edited)

This is quite a read. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/14/influenceable-texas-politics-ken-paxton/

Notable from the above link: Brad Parscale, who ran Trump's digital efforts in 2016 and ended up running his 2020 campaign until he was drummed out, has moved to Midland and is now apparently working for Tim Dunn, the billionaire behind Empower Texans (and many other far-far-far-right-wing efforts).  Not a good sign, as Parscale is known for a lot of dirty tactics.

Edited by sasquatch69
Posted
36 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Word on the street is that we've got another Special Session coming pretty soon, on school vouchers and such shit.

I hate this governor so, so, so much.

This was always the play. Wait for teachers and administrators to return to the classroom so they can’t testify in opposition.

Posted
2 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

This was always the play. Wait for teachers and administrators to return to the classroom so they can’t testify in opposition.

Even if teachers testify in opposition, Abbott and the rest of the Rs wouldn't give a single shit.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Even if teachers testify in opposition, Abbott and the rest of the Rs wouldn't give a single shit.

Agree but there is enough pushback in the rural parts of Texas I think in this instance that opposition is more important than normal.

Posted (edited)

They are never getting onboard.  Abbott is not going to win on this.  Ever.  No one wants it outside of a handful of whackjobs that don't have the votes to do anything about it.  He apparently thinks he can wish it in to existence though.

Edited by kevwun
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Posted
6 minutes ago, kevwun said:

They are never getting onboard.  Abbott is not going to win on this.  Ever.  No one wants it outside of a handful of whackjobs that don't have the votes to do anything about it.  He apparently thinks he can wish it in to existence though.

I don't know.  I'm worried this one might have some legs.

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Posted
53 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

If he was out late at night with Claudia Ordaz…

Approve South Park GIF


I’m sure his wife and constituents can forgive him for hanging with a Democrat, they were just talking about bipartisanship issues.

IN!

1516356550797?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=Y83i

Posted

Has the Governor considered this next attempt to be declared a "Triple Special Session"?  See, it's one more.  I mean, numerically one more.  But also like one more as in 'extra power and influence.'  Like the "goes up to 11" of legislative meetings.  How many do you have to hold until you get the free set of steak knives, dude?  

Posted

Didn't know where to put this. Remember that video for schools where Columbus said "Hey, being a slave is better than being dead, right?" Well, guess which state became the second after Florida to approve material from PragerU?

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/prageru-among-educational-lesson-plans-allowed-in-texas-schools-under-new-law/

"As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Prager University Foundation (“PragerU”) offers a free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education. "

 

Posted

The legislature did some interesting things with CPS that start September 1.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB730

Essentially, they cut the legs out from under CPS enforcement. It was Republican sponsored but was passed 143-0 with the speaker not voting. As I’ve reported before, his wife does a lot of ad litem work.

It’s definitely pro-family, but not pro-child.

Here is a preview of the forms that will be given to all adults involved with a CPS case. Also, anonymous reports to CPS are no longer accepted. If a reporter wishes to remain anonymous they can call it in to LEO who will protect them.

I’m curious to see the results. For the first time, evidence in CPS cases will be acknowledged admissible in criminal cases. And all parents will have access to court appointed legal representation. But CPS won’t have their current latitude to do removals. But it’s almost as though workers will be reading Miranda rights from now on.

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Posted

Providing attorneys to all parents who have kids removed is actually a great idea, IMO.

With the anonymous reporting, I wonder if that information will still be redacted from court filings and reports? What I mean is, someone can no longer call in a report without providing that info, but that info is still protected, like it is now? I would hope so. Otherwise, that’s fucked.

The whole system is borked. I’ve worked a ton on CPS cases and I can tell you that a lot of stuff goes the opposite way than you describe. Parents getting railroaded by shit judges with no regard for the family code or rules of evidence, etc.

The problem is, to me, is that they are just so grossly underfunded, which causes carelessness and corner-cutting that consistently fucks up in either direction.

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Posted
2 minutes ago, scottsins said:

The problem is, to me, is that they are just so grossly underfunded, which causes carelessness and corner-cutting that consistently fucks up in either direction.

The problem is the state doesn't give even one half of a fuck about children. They're a useful totem in the culture wars, but their protection, nurturing, and development into healthy adults is empirically NOT a priority for the state.

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Captainant said:

The problem is the state doesn't give even one half of a fuck about children. They're a useful totem in the culture wars, but their protection, nurturing, and development into healthy adults is empirically NOT a priority for the state.

The State of Texas does not believe that children are our future.  It doesn't want to teach them well and let them lead the way, or show them all the beauty they possess inside.  Nor does it give them a sense of pride to make it easier, or let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be.

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Posted
Providing attorneys to all parents who have kids removed is actually a great idea, IMO.

With the anonymous reporting, I wonder if that information will still be redacted from court filings and reports? What I mean is, someone can no longer call in a report without providing that info, but that info is still protected, like it is now? I would hope so. Otherwise, that’s fucked.

The whole system is borked. I’ve worked a ton on CPS cases and I can tell you that a lot of stuff goes the opposite way than you describe. Parents getting railroaded by shit judges with no regard for the family code or rules of evidence, etc.

The problem is, to me, is that they are just so grossly underfunded, which causes carelessness and corner-cutting that consistently fucks up in either direction.

I agree with your first point.

Unsure about the anonymous reporting, I’ll try to find out more. I think it is to cut down on CPS being the go-to number to call during custody disputes. The calls rack up when it’s time for parents to legally hand over their kids and they don’t want to do they try to use the state as interference.

I tell my wife this legislation is a good thing, the first time they get blamed for a child death they can wave this paper around and say “not on us, parent was non-compliant, talk to the judge or your legislator.” My guess is that public defender’s budgets will get emptied and the courts clogged up, but CPS will be less involved in “social work” stuff. It absolves the agency, IMO.

To your point about parents being railroaded - it’s interesting because I don’t get to see that side, but I do not doubt it happens. I only get the amateur bystander’s look at the worst of the worst cases.

I do believe that this will increase the number of child deaths, though.
Posted
On 8/14/2023 at 2:38 PM, hornmpa96 said:

Yep - The Rural Rs in the House haven’t gotten onboard yet. Hopefully they continue holding out.

They still don't have the votes but it's a fairly thing margin. Assuming this next special goes nowhere, Abbott is going to call them back after the new year in the middle of primaries to really try to put the screws to the holdouts.

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Posted

I agree with your first point.

Unsure about the anonymous reporting, I’ll try to find out more. I think it is to cut down on CPS being the go-to number to call during custody disputes. The calls rack up when it’s time for parents to legally hand over their kids and they don’t want to do they try to use the state as interference.

I tell my wife this legislation is a good thing, the first time they get blamed for a child death they can wave this paper around and say “not on us, parent was non-compliant, talk to the judge or your legislator.” My guess is that public defender’s budgets will get emptied and the courts clogged up, but CPS will be less involved in “social work” stuff. It absolves the agency, IMO.

To your point about parents being railroaded - it’s interesting because I don’t get to see that side, but I do not doubt it happens. I only get the amateur bystander’s look at the worst of the worst cases.

I do believe that this will increase the number of child deaths, though.

I did a little digging. The reports of abuse are still confidential, so the identity of reporters is not disclosed. The new change is that the report can not be made anonymously.

As far as the provision for parents’ legal representation, my understanding is that there will be lawyers contracted for a reduced rate for low income families. These would be parents who do not fit the usual indigency standard who currently get a free court appointed lawyer.
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Posted

Thanks for that.

The fact that this wasn’t a political issue makes me thinks the agency asked for the legislation, because it removes a lot of the decision making and puts it on the courts.

What do you think?



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