Waco Rep.
Jim Dunnam's feud with the
Texas Department of Transportation continues – he has filed House Bill 2701, which would abolish the
Texas Transportation Commission (which oversees TxDOT) and replace it with a single elected commissioner... Republican Sen.
Jeff Wentworth's Senate Bill 315 – which would create a bipartisan congressional
redistricting commission to help avoid spectacles like the 2003 re-redistricting spearheaded by
Tom DeLay – was reported favorably out of the State Affairs Committee last week without amendments... Both the House Public Education and Senate Education committees scheduled March 17 public hearings on HB 3/SB 3, the newest version of the
school accountability rules... The House made national news March 12 when House Concurrent Resolution 62, praising ex-President
George W. Bush, was mentioned on the "
Still Bushed!" segment of MSNBC's
Countdown With Keith Olbermann. Resolution author Rep.
Charles "Doc" Anderson, R-Waco, withdrew it, telling
Quorum Report it needed more work... Sen.
Royce West, D-Dallas, and Rep.
Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, have filed bills that would make it a felony for a prosecutor to withhold evidence favorable to the accused... Sen.
Dan Patrick, R-Houston, whose first legislative achievement was getting "In God We Trust" carved into the Senate walls, wants a constitutional amendment protecting the "right to act or refuse to act in a manner that is substantially motivated by a
sincerely held religious belief"... Rep.
Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, has filed HB 4237, extending the legal protections provided to the media by the
Privileged Matters Clause to bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and citizen journalists. There are also three
journalism shield laws filed... For breaking news and analysis, visit
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www.twitter.com/legeland.