The future of school vouchers in Texas doesn’t lie on the floor of the House or the Senate. The fate of the issue rests in room 611 of Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. Sen. Gregory Luna, a longtime opponent of vouchers, is the key vote in keeping Sen. Teel Bivins‘ voucher bill, SB 10, from reaching the Senate floor. A diabetic, Luna has been hospitalized for several weeks due to circulatory problems in his legs. Two weeks ago, he had surgery on his left leg. Last week, doctors operated on his right leg. It’s unclear when Luna will be ready to return to action, but he has made it clear that he will do whatever he can to kill Bivins’ voucher plan. On April 16, Luna wrote to Lt. Gov. Rick Perry saying, “I am committed to fighting vouchers at all costs, for I passionately believe that they are destructive to public education.” Luna asked Perry to give him at least 24 hours’ notice before allowing the voucher bill to be considered so that he can be present for any vote on the issue. Perry agreed to honor Luna’s request. But on Wednesdayafternoon, as the Senate began discussing the school finance bill — also written by Bivins, R-Amarillo — the chamber was buzzing with speculation over whether pro-voucher factions would attempt to add a voucher amendment to it.
Austin Democrat Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos was prepared for any discussion of voucher amendments, saying “if need be, there will be filibusters” to kill the amendments.
Much is riding on the voucher question. Perry, a Republican and voucher proponent, received $1.5 million in campaign contributions from James Leininger, the San Antonio-based hospital-bed magnate who has promoted vouchers for years and has even provided funding for a small, private voucher program in San Antonio.
However, it appears that due in part to Luna’s opposition, school vouchers are unlikely to be passed by the Legislature this session. House Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, is a staunchopponent. And it seems unlikely that Perry would want to expend any more political capital this session on an issue that appears to be failing. Perry has to prepare for the possibility that he will be governor in the near future. If that is going to happen, he doesn’t want to make enemies on the voucher question, or anything else. While the Senate appears unlikely to pass a voucher measure, there is still a possibility that a House member — like maverick Rep. Ron Wilson, D-Houston — will try to attach a voucher amendment to some House bill. During the last session, a voucher amendment in the House died after a 67-67 tie. Stay tuned. — R.B.
House OKs Byrd Bill
After more than two hours of often-emotional debate, the House gave preliminary approval Tuesday to Texas’ first comprehensive hate crimes law — dubbed the “James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act” by its author, Houston Democrat Senfronia Thompson. Nine Republicans (including staunch gay rights opponent Warren Chisum, R-Pampa) split ranks and joined 74 House Democrats in voting for the bill, which would provide stiffer penalties for crimes committed because of the victim’s “race, color, disability, religion, national origin or ancestry, or sexual preference.” Chisum amended the bill to include “sexual preference,” rather than the more controversial “sexual orientation”; three amendments by Sugar Land Republican Charlie Howard added gender, age, and “status as a pregnant woman” to the bill’s protected classes.
The legislation, named for the victim of last year’s racially motivated dragging murder in Jasper, would also provide training for police officers to recognize hate crimes, create a division in the attorney general’s office to assist in hate crime prosecution, and provide funding to help small towns prosecute such crimes.
Debate on the legislation, postponed for a day to give Thompson time to fix some errors, was riveting. Several proponents, including Harold Dutton Jr., D-Houston, and Paul Moreno, D-El Paso, recalled their own experiences with prejudice. “When you grow up like I did, and the first job you get is one where you can stand and mop the floor, you can wash the dishes, you can serve the food, but you can’t order from the menu, you start to wonder why,” said Dutton, who is black. “And then along comesthe Civil Rights Act of 1964 … It was designed todo exactly what this bill does today. It’s designed to weed out of the workplace not hate for black people, not hate for old people, not hate for those with disabilities, but to weed out conduct that causes that same protected class an injury.”
Others in the chamber disagreed. Wayne Christian, R-Center, who represents Jasper County, where Byrd was murdered, suggested that this is special treatment, and that by passing the bill, “we’re erecting a fence that future generations will look back on and say, ‘they built fences between this group and that group.'”
Paul Sadler, R-Henderson, the soft-spoken, reticent chair of Public Education, called his vote for the hate crimes act “a defining moment” in his legislative career. “There are votes and bills that tell the world who we are, what we value, what we cherish, and what we believe. This is one of those bills,” Sadler said.
The legislation, which headed to the Senate after its third House reading on Wednesday, faces several tough battles along the way to passage, including a possible veto by Gov. George W. Bush. But for now, groups like the Lesbian-Gay Rights Lobby of Texas are tentatively celebrating what could be an enormous victory. “This is by far the most comprehensive hate crimes bill we have ever had,” said LGRL director Dianne Hardy-Garcia.– E.C.B
Chemical Bonding
Who says giant chemical and petroleum companies don’t look out for the little folks? Representatives from the Texas Chemical Council, Occidental Chemical Corp., and Mobil Corp. testified three weeks ago against a bill that would have redirected tax-exempt bond financing away from their projects into the affordable housing market, but industry lobbyists have since had a change of heart. “Now they’re helping us,” says Tim Thetford, senior legislative aide to the bill’s author, Rep. Harryette Ehrhardt, D-Dallas. “We’ve seen a dramatic change in people’s opinions when we talk plain, simple numbers.” These are the numbers: 350,000 Texas families are in severe housing crises — spending at least half their monthly income on rent or mortgages. But Texas only allots a small fraction (7.5%)of the roughly $1 billion in “private activitybonds” the state issues annually — tax-free bonds which can be used to finance low-interest loans for a variety of economic and educational incentives — to developers of low-income rental housing. The Legislature earmarks over a third of the bond money for corporate industries to expand or invest in pollution controls, and another 31% to finance low-interest mortgages for home buyers. The bond money available for affordable housing projects funds only 1 in 15 applications annually; meanwhile, one in three of the chemical companies’ applications is successful.
The compassionate CEOs now say they’re proud to back a bill that will help stabilize housing costs in the communities where their employees live. Of course, they’re especially happy because they didn’t have to give up any of their government subsidies for wastewater treatment facilities at their chemical plants and refineries so more could be used for affordable housing; Ehrhardt had to compromise her original proposal to prevent the big boys from killing it. Her bill now proposes raising the developers’ allotment to only 16.5%, not 25%, and leaves chemical companies with their full cut (they forfeit only the right to claim the roughly $100 million in bonds that go unused every year in other programs), and the bill has sailed into the House Calendars Committee.– K.F.
This article appears in April 30 • 1999 and April 30 • 1999 (Cover).