After winning overwhelming support for another term as House speaker, Joe Straus heads immediately to his happy wife, Julie.

Photo by Jana Birchum

The 82nd Legislature of the state of Texas was gaveled to session on Jan. 11, beginning a 140-day slog during which one of the biggest freshman classes in history must face one of the most challenging budgets on record.

On the House side, as widely predicted for months, the attempt to remove San Antonio Republican Joe Straus as speaker fizzled out. An unofficial, nonbinding vote of the House Republican Caucus on Jan. 10 showed that Straus, who already had the backing of most Democrats, held 70 Republican pledges in his back pocket. Rep. Warren Chisum of Pampa, the establishment conservatives' choice to retake the gavel, withdrew his nomination after that vote, and when the House gathered, tea party favorite Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, used a personal privilege speech to tell members that he was also pulling out. That left Straus as the sole nominee, but Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, decided to play dog in the manger, calling for a record vote. When all the buttons were pushed, it was 132 for Straus, 15 against, and two present not voting. Those ayes have already received fair warning from right-wing groups such as Empower Texans that a vote for Straus will count against them when legislative scorecards are drawn up.

Meanwhile, the storm clouds of the state's pressing budget shortfall were already gathering in the Senate. In a speech to the chamber, Senate Finance Committee Chair Steve Ogden laid out some bleak numbers. While warning that both education and health and human services provisions will undoubtedly face cuts, he proposed reforms to both school finance and the state's franchise tax. Attempts to fix the woefully underperforming business tax fell flat in 2009, but Ogden put them back on the table. "None of us were elected to go out and raise taxes," he told his fellow senators but added that it was time for them to repair what they had broken. For more on the budget and other expected legislative woes, see "This Way to the Big Top!"