OPENING DAY - The first week of the 81st Session of the Texas Legislature has come and gone.  Opening day was a thrill, made even more exciting by the presence of a large group of constituents who braved the traffic on IH-35W to join us for the opening festivities.

 

The race for the Speaker of the House was over prior to the opening of the legislative session. 

We were sworn in at Noon on Tuesday, January 13, 2009, amidst the usual pomp and circumstance.

 

Former Speaker Craddick (R-Midland) graciously stepped aside, and Rep. Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) was elected by acclamation as the new Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

The new speaker is currently organizing his staff, and many Democratic members of the House are now in Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration.

HOUSE ACTIVITIES - The House reconvenes this Thursday, when we will resume the early session organization activities.  Until committees are appointed, no bills may be referred for consideration.  Committees are ordinarily appointed in late-January, or early-February.  Given the new speaker, I believe it will be early to mid-February before we know our committee assignments.

REGARDING THE BUDGET - Texas is in far better fiscal shape than other states, but . . . Texas is being impacted by the nation's economic woes.  Comptroller Susan Combs delivered the "biennial revenue estimate" last week.  She reports that the Legislature will start with $77.1B available for general revenue spending (includes cash balance) in the 2010-2011 biennium.  That's 10% lower than what was available to budget writers two years ago.  She expects actual general revenue to drop by $2.2B to $75B.  Deficit spending is prohibited by our Constitution. The new margins tax was expected to produce almost $6 billion per year, but in fact, it is producing only about $4.4 billion annually.  $14.2B every two years is required to offset tax cuts we made in 2006 for local school property taxes.  The $8.5B property tax relief fund will be short by about $5.5B for the biennium, and we'll be doing some soul searching to make up the difference as budget writers contemplate the state's biennial budget.

ONGOING COMMUNICATION - Once we get into the busy activity of session, I don't know how often I will be able to communicate with you.  Many of you have heard me characterize session as "orchestrated chaos."  And managing the flow of information is like trying to drink water from a fire hydrant.  We are so busy processing the incoming information, working on our bills, and trying to dispose of bills that may be threatening to my constituents that it is difficult to process everything and feed back to you useful information in a timely fashion.  Also, the pace of session moves so rapidly that news that is 30-minutes old may be too dated to be useful.

Just know this, I'll try to periodically communicate.  In the meantime, you need to know that your communication to us is important.  Due to the volume, I may not be able to respond to each call or piece of correspondence, but I read every letter, fax, and e-mail.  And I am made aware of every call you make to our office.  I need and consider your input, and I never press that voting button without YOU at the forefront of my consideration.

Thank you for allowing me the privilege to serve you in the Texas House.  Please keep the Texas Legislature in your prayers as we set about addressing the important business of the state.  And thank you for your interest and participation in YOUR state government.

Sincerely and humbly yours,

Vicki