The Glory of Being Glen: Leading what he calls a “rag-tag army of
environmentalists, consumers, women, children, gays, and lesbians,” Rep. Glen Maxey (D-Austin) is finishing what may be his most successful term
so far. Though he’s been around the Lege since 1981, first as a legislative
aide, then as a lobbyist
for gay and lesbian organizations, Maxey hit his stride this session – his
third – as floor whip for the Legislative Study Group (LSG), the liberal
counterpart to the Conservative Caucus. He’s also authoring or sponsoring a
slew of bills, some 104 in all, though he insists that the number is not the
point.
“It’s never been my goal to see how many bills I could pass,” he says. “It’s
the ideas. You can pass 100 bills and not change anything about anyone’s life.”
And when Maxey talks about changing people’s lives, he means the ones who don’t
have money to hire lobbyists.
Under Maxey’s guidance, “welfare reform” has come to mean job training for
teens, and adult literacy and learning programs. Thanks to Maxey, Texas will be
the first state to offer HIV testing kits for people to use at home. Gov.
George W. Bush signed the bill at the end of April. Another bill would
require human service agencies to inform people facing long-term institutional
care of all their options.
“A lot of people are locked away in institutions or nursing homes because
nobody ever told them there were other options,” he says. “That’s going to save
the state money.” While Maxey claims to be the “most liberal member of the
legislature,” he also embraces fiscal conservatism. Pointing to a proposal to
create a state health care purchasing pool, estimated to save the state $50
million, Maxey says “that’s money that can be spent on the kinds of things my
constituents need.”
The only openly gay state official in the history of Texas, Maxey
says that one of the things that makes him the “proudest” is his leadership
role in the LSG. “When I got elected, a lot of [House] members would say,
`Don’t let Glen get out front, because he’s gay and that would cause a lot of
heartburn’,” he says. Now, Maxey circulates on the floor, polling his fellow
politicians and spreading information on the LSG’s stances. “I know I can
out-organize anybody,” he says. “My sexual orientation is no longer a factor.”
Rep. Kevin Bailey (D-Houston), the leader of the LSG, has nothing but
praise for Maxey. “I don’t know of another member I can count on more,” Bailey
says. “Glen’s one of the most honest and hardworking members in the
Legislature.” – Andrea Barnett
DON’T BASH ME: With less than two weeks to go, the Lege is still considering at
least 10 bills that could hurt Austin. Among them are HB 3193, which would
allow Circle C Ranch to create an autonomous water district; SB 298, to
lower water quality standards throughout the state; SB 1396, to de-annex the
Harris Branch MUD; and SB 1016 and SB 1606, to allow FM Properties to
circumvent Austin’s regulations. Most of the bills have passed the Senate and
are awaiting action by the House.
DON’T PESTICIDE ME: After the Senate shot down their “reform amendments” to the
Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) sunset bill, farmworkers and
environmental groups asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take
over responsibility for enforcing Texas’ pesticide laws.
In an April 25 letter to Jane Saginaw, regional administrator of the
EPA, the United Farm Workers, Texas Citizen Action and several other groups
claimed that TDA chief Rick Perry has “fired or run off the vast
majority of the experienced personnel” at TDA, and began deliberately cutting
down on pesticide enforcement. The letter also alleges that EPA intervention is
merited because the TDA itself has violated federal pesticide laws by failing
to properly regulate the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide, and
misrepresenting data to the EPA. More on this later. – Lee Nichols
DON’T SAY IT, DON’T EVEN THINK IT: The revision of the state’s education code
took some curious turns last week as House members rejected a Senate proposal
for a pilot program on educational vouchers. The voucher question could now be
dead until the next legislative session. Members moved to change the way
textbooks and other instructional materials are adopted, allowing school
districts to choose books that don’t adhere to state-mandated essential
elements and still be reimbursed 80 percent of the cost. The committee also
decided to put local school board members under a new rule that members of the
Legislature themselves do not face – recall elections.
Legislators spent a great deal of time dis-cussing what to do about
ineffective teachers, and whether abolishing continuing contracts for educators
was the way to accomplish that. Large school districts, such as Houston, offer
teachers continuing contracts to save on paperwork; action at the state level
mandating only term or probationary contracts appears to be at odds with the
cry for more local control in school affairs.
According to a schedule worked out between Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock and
House Speaker Pete Laney (D-Hale Center), the House and Senate will vote
on the conference committee education bill on May 24; if the bill must go back
to conference committee, the final action on SB 1 would occur on May 28 – one
day before the end of the session. With down-to-the-wire timing like this, the
chances of a special session on the education code grow more likely, but
sources close to Laney say he doesn’t like special sessions. Thus, nobody’s
supposed to even be whispering the words “special session.” –
Roseana Auten
PAYING FOR EDUCATION: The last budget behemoth to get our columnar scrutiny is
the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the organization that oversees and
administers public school systems in the state. With $10 billion in spending
money for each of the next two years, the TEA enters the next biennium with
about 1,100 full-time employees and some lofty goals.
One of the new items in the TEA budget is a $50.4 million proposal for an
“Alternative Program for Serious Offenders,” a fancy name for a school for
expelled students. The money, about $25 million per year, has been approved by
the Senate and is listed as a priority by the House.
The agency also asked for a 5 percent teachers’ salary increase ($350
million), money for five additional days of staff and professional development
($1 billion), and funding for an incentive program for schools with students
who score well on advanced placement college tests ($14 million).
On the negative side, the House neglected to appropriate money to continue an
adult literacy and education program ($83 million). Both the House and Senate
greatly reduced the TEA’s request for technical support, from $379.4 million to
between $13 and $16 million. Teacher recruitment was slashed from $3.1 million
to $610,000 in both appropriations bills.
Like other state agencies, TEA may be hit by federal spending cuts in areas
like subsidized school lunch programs, vocational education, and the drug-free
schools program. TEA public information director Joey Lozano summed up the
situation: “We don’t know what to expect.” – Andrea Barnett
This article appears in May 19 • 1995 and May 19 • 1995 (Cover).