Rep. Maldonado: Deep breath and sock it to 'em

Big day for Rep. Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock, tomorrow. “I’m going to be the second freshman to get the hazing treatment,” said our neighbor to the north.

Yes, she’ll be laying out her first bill on the floor in the morning (nah, she won’t be the House’s first lawmaking virgin this session: That honor already went to Rep. Chris Turner, D-Burleson.) House Bill 1332 is her clean-up language on school text books: Currently, if a student loses a book, they have to replace it, but that doesn’t apply to electronic equipment like textbooks on CD or laptop computers. Her bill will close that loophole, and provide waivers for poor families.

Before she gets to that, she’ll be laying out HB 2806 (tackling seniority issues for police and firefighters returning after an excused absence to serve in the military) before Defense & Veterans’ Affairs and HB 1789 (restricting use of municipal hotel occupancy tax to conference and tourism facility enhancement) before Ways and Means.

And, yes, she’s still happy she won her election.

This article appears in March 27 • 2009.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.