As the Texas Legislature hurtles toward the mandatory, sine die end of the biennial session on May 30, the situation in Austin remains fluid even as the extreme budget crunch colors every debate with the possible exception of the social and political legislation that the enlarged Republican majority will undoubtedly pass this session.
While the number of veteran reporters covering the Lege has been greatly diminished in recent years, the multiplicity of blogs, Web reporting and online access to legislative deliberations has expanded insights into the process. Presented here are reports on current issues before the House and Senate, gleaned from those sources, personal interviews and a little guesswork based on past performance.
— James Shannon
Gambling’s last gasp?
Although a bill to permit a statewide referendum on casino gambling has been declared dead on arrival since before the start of the legislative session, it appears the comatose patient may still have a flickering pulse. But prospects for such legislation remain in critical condition.
A poll released March 28 showed 86 percent of respondents want to be allowed to vote on whether to allow casinos slot machines across the state. The Texas Gaming Association officials who commissioned the survey said an expansion of gambling in Texas could generate more than $6.6 billion in revenue and more than $1.2 billion in taxes a year and create nearly 40,000 new full-time jobs.
Complicating the struggle are some serious issues in each legislative branch. On the House side, longstanding family gambling interests effectively prevent Speaker Joe Straus (R- San Antonio) from taking a lead role in legislation promoted by that industry.
In the Senate, gambling prospects – even for a referendum – face a major hurdle in Sen. Robert Duncan. The Lubbock Republican, an implacable gambling foe, chairs the State Affairs Committee. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has referred all gambling bills to that committee, which could effectively kill the already slim chances for gambling in this session.
As for the notion gambling could help soothe the state’s budget woes, Duncan reminded lawmakers any additional revenue would not come for several years and indicated he did not plan to hold hearings on the gambling bills.
Trial lawyers learn the best way to avoid hearing an answer you don’t like is to not to allow the question to be asked, which would apparently apply to Duncan’s view of a referendum that would likely result in some form of voter approval for gambling.
As if the equation was not complex enough, there are differences among the groups who support gambling. The Texas Gaming Association favors Las Vegas-style casino gambling while Win for Texas, a group that includes the racetrack owners, wants to install video-lottery terminals at the 13 racetracks in the state. That bill, HB 2111, makes no mention of allowing Las Vegas-style casino gaming in Texas.
The San Antonio Express-News blasted Duncan in a recent editorial that noted, “Texans are already gambling in casinos and playing slot machines at racetracks. They’re just doing so in states other than Texas. A 2007 report from Texans for Economic Development found that Texans gambled about $2.4 billion in other states. … But if Duncan has his way, voters will never have a chance to consider any of the 17 legislative proposals that would tap that revenue.”
The Express News, a Hearst newspaper along with the Beaumont Enterprise and Houston Chronicle, concluded, “When it comes to gambling, Texans are plenty grown up. They can decide for themselves whether the benefits of an expansion of gaming in the Lone Star State outweigh the costs. Texans should be able to determine whether their gambling dollars help pay teachers and pave roads in Texas or in Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Nevada. What they don’t need is paternalistic lawmakers thwarting the legislative process.”
Texas to increase taxes on 28,000 small businesses?
Will Newton is executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business/Texas, the state’s leading small business association. He is sounding an alarm as he calls on lawmakers to keep their promises of no new taxes as they begin considering the next biennial budget.
“Make no mistake about it,” said Newton. “If the Legislature does not extend the $1 million exemption during this session, 28,000 small businesses will see a tax increase in 2012.”
In 2009, the Texas Legislature increased the business tax exemption for small businesses to $1 million in gross receipts, up from $300,000 in gross receipts. This exemption increase spared 40,000 small businesses from paying the state’s business tax in 2010 and 2011.
The exemption is scheduled to drop back down to $600,000 in gross receipts in 2012. In Texas, there are 28,000 small businesses whose gross receipts fall within the range of $600,000 and $1 million, according to the Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts.
“As Congress considered extending the Bush-era tax cuts last year, the case was made that inaction to extend the cuts would result in a tax increase,” Newton added. “By eliminating the exemption for 28,000 small businesses, Texas will be imposing a new tax on them. Period.
Extending the exemption will cost the state roughly $150 million over two years. But NFIB/Texas argues that the state provided a revenue stream when it passed the exemption in 2009.
“The fact is, this exemption was fully funded in 2009 and we should not have to continue finding new sources of funding. Lawmakers need to stick to their promises of no new taxes.”
Remember the Alamo
In a session where Texas lawmakers struggle with an unprecedented budget deficit, there is still time to remember the Alamo. A House committee is considering bills that would impose changes on the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), a nonprofit group that has operated the shrine to Texas liberty since 1905.
Last year, the Texas Attorney General’s office launched an investigation of the group following allegations of mismanagement. Although the results of the investigation haven’t been made public, DRT members appeared before the House Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism to defend their group.
Also making an appearance was Sarah Reveley, a former DRT member who said she was the one who complained to the AG about potential mismanagement and wants the group of which she was once a member removed from Alamo operations.
Two bills authored by Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, would both transfer oversight of the Alamo to the Texas Historical Commission and allow admission to be charged there.
This proposal is complicated by the steep budget cuts already facing the Texas Historical Commission, but it appears the handwriting is on the wall for the end of free admission to the historic site in the middle of downtown San Antonio.
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