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June 2, 2023 2:29 PM
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Copyright June 02, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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June 2, 2023 12:09 PM
Switching jobs, looking for work, taking a break, or retiring altogether. It's all in this edition
The House peaced out but the Senate
is still here.
Word on the street is that
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will have the upper chamber in town for the next
few weeks passing legislation and sending the Senate messenger to leave those
bills at the door of the House, which is empty other than tourists.
This is already such a
productive summer.
Meantime, post-regular
session stuff is starting to happen. People switching jobs, looking for work, taking
a break, or retiring altogether. There’s a little of all of that in this week’s
edition of People on the Move. For those who are unaware, this is where the Capitol
community learns the career news of those who are moving up, moving on, or
moving out. You can always share your news – or someone else’s – by sending it
to ksbraddock@gmail.com. Please use “POTM”
in the subject line for faster service. Thanks so much.
Here’s the latest edition.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright June 02, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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June 1, 2023 3:35 PM
DeGuerin previously defended former Congressman DeLay and former Senator Hutchison; Hardin was on investigating team leading up to former President Bill Clinton's impeachment
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Copyright June 01, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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June 1, 2023 2:34 PM
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Copyright June 01, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 31, 2023 1:32 PM
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Copyright May 31, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 30, 2023 6:25 PM
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Copyright May 30, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 30, 2023 6:18 PM
After staying silent on specifics of property tax reform for months, Abbott now demands specific legislation; like Rick Perry a decade ago, Abbott faces a noncompliant Senate because he is likely overstepping his authority by using his proclamation to write legislation
“If the Texas House and
Senate do not do a thing together, then that thing does not happen.”
Those are the words of former
Speaker Joe Straus, who like Speaker Dade Phelan has had the joy
of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blasting him on a daily basis.
Meantime, Gov. Greg Abbott has now finally told us all what he’d like
the Texas Legislature to do about property taxes.
Abbott, who for five
months stayed publicly silent on the details of any property tax plan, issued his
proclamation for a special session last night instructing the members to “cut
property-tax rates solely by reducing the school district maximum compressed
tax rate in order to provide lasting property-tax relief for Texas taxpayers.” The
House tonight is passing such a legislative package.
But Lt. Gov. Patrick
pushed back immediately, telling a crowd this morning at the Texas Public
Policy Foundation that there was an unsuccessful candidate for governor
who ran on a platform that included fixing property taxes solely through tax
compression. Patrick didn’t name him, but that candidate was former Sen. Don
Huffines.
Then Patrick went on to
lead a revolt against the governor as the Senate passed a property tax bill including
tax compression and an increase in the homestead exemption up to $100,000.
The House didn’t even take up that plan as Speaker Phelan ruled it wasn’t
germane to Abbott’s micromanagement.
So, this is already a
mess. How did we get here?
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright May 30, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 30, 2023 3:48 PM
Conservative publication The
Daily Wire got this scoop:
Six members of Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office are taking a leave of absence to defend
Paxton in his upcoming trial in the Texas Senate after he was impeached over
the weekend.
The Daily Wire learned
from two sources familiar with the matter that the six officials were offended
by the entire process and they do not see a better use
of their time right now than defending Paxton.
The six officials are Judd
Stone, Solicitor General; Chris Hilton, Division Chief, General Litigation
Division; Joseph N. Mazzara, Assistant Solicitor General; Kateland Jackson,
Assistant Solicitor General; Allison Collins, Senior Attorney; and Jordan
Eskew, Executive Assistant.
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Copyright May 30, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 29, 2023 9:14 PM
Abbott said "Special session #1 will focus only on cutting property taxes and cracking down on illegal human smuggling."
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Copyright May 29, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 29, 2023 6:40 PM
Patrick appoints committee to consider rules for the trial: Birdwell, Hinojosa, Creighton, Flores, Huffman, King, West. The Senate stands adjourned Sine Die after Patrick said he wasn't sure whether they'll be called back in by the governor tonight or in a few days
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Copyright May 29, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 29, 2023 6:16 PM
Phelan tells members not to pack their bags just yet
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Copyright May 29, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 29, 2023 4:10 PM
Murr, chair, A. Johnson, vice chair, Geren, Moody, Canales, Leach, Longoria, Meyer, Cain, Vasut, Spiller, Gamez
The resolution is
here.
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Copyright May 29, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 29, 2023 1:30 PM
"Phelan’s last offer was an 8% appraisal cap for all commercial properties, which would cost taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars in just a few years," Patrick said, adding that Abbott was there when it was said. "If Phelan drops the 8% cap for business property, then we have a deal. There is still time."
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Copyright May 29, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 29, 2023 11:01 AM
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Copyright May 29, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 29, 2023 10:27 AM
Some House Republicans are again privately grumbling about Sen. Bettencourt’s tax advisor business as a “conflict of interest” and a roadblock in working out a deal; Bettencourt’s previously said they should “get a life.” Meantime there’s still a chance for rules suspensions to get a deal today but it’s highly unlikely
While amateurs and haters
think that reporting on public statements of officeholders is the only reliable
way to figure out the true status of legislative negotiations on priority issues,
political professionals know it is always much more complicated. Policy
disagreements get mixed with egos and end-of-session frustrations, causing
otherwise reasonable people to act irrationally. That’s putting it mildly.
After last night’s property
tax talks broke down, some members were shocked on the Texas House
floor when they found out they would not be voting on a negotiated deal and instead
the chamber was gaveled out until later this morning with the clock ticking
down before both chambers are constitutionally required to adjourn Sine Die.
Amid all the frustration,
here’s where things seem to stand.
The deal, as offered last
night by House negotiators to the Texas Senate, was:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright May 29, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 28, 2023 10:40 PM
By the end of the evening other priorities including tax incentives and electricity seemed to be on track, but negotiations broke down on a grand bargain for property taxes
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Copyright May 28, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 28, 2023 9:24 PM
Time is ticking down and fast action is happening across priority bills including property taxes, tax incentives under HB5, one of the electricity priorities, and more
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Copyright May 28, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 28, 2023 8:01 PM
Here are the entities receiving GI subpoenas, as
announced by Rep. Charlie Geren:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
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Copyright May 28, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 28, 2023 2:00 PM
Why Speaker Phelan was able to hold his Republicans despite direct threats from Trump; Paxton Impeding an FBI investigation adds another level of angst to the Senate while the House provides roadmap to felonies
Per our understanding of
the statute, if the Texas House delivers the Articles of
Impeachment to the Senate today or tomorrow, the Senate
must set a trial for removal of the Attorney General before it adjourns sine
die. So, if the House Acts and if
the Senate follows the law, the likelihood of an immediate special session is
irrelevant to the timing of the future trial since a special session is
legislative and the Senate trial is quasi-judicial and does not need the
Governor’s involvement.
Key question: If you cut
off from his 800 lawyers at the Office of the Attorney General,
will Ken Paxton’s billionaire benefactors consider him damaged goods and
cut him loose or will they pay the freight to get to a Senate trial where the actual facts supporting the allegations will be front and
center? Or does Paxton have the cachet to mount a substantial legal defense
fund?
When and if a trial begins,
procedural arguments as presented on the House floor yesterday are mooted. The
facts will be presented and all of the witnesses will
testify under oath.
Paxton has major
challenges when it comes to fighting off the facts.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Harvey Kronberg
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Copyright May 28, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 28, 2023 1:40 PM
This year might represent the biggest mother lode of mockable material y’all have ever given to the writers of Loco and Dissent
It’s that time. The Loco
and Dissent Calendar writers apparently had some of the same sources that
Quorum Report did in timing this calendar for release on the day
after the vote to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton.
For the uninitiated, the
tradition of the L&D Calendar goes back to the days when there was no
internet at the Texas Capitol. Copies of the anonymously written satirical
calendar would be printed out and members would find them on their desks on the
last day of the session.
Then after Mr. Kronberg
took QR online in 1998, the writers began to reach out anonymously offering
this deal: QR could have distribution rights as long as
we did not edit it at all and made it free for our readers. It’s a fun
tradition – somehow the baton was passed to me at some point – and each year
the writers ask if we’re still interested. Well, of course. Who couldn’t use a
laugh after all this?
A decade ago, I had never
heard of it when Mr. Kronberg, our then-colleague John Reynolds, and I
were at a dinner when suddenly Harvey jumped up from the table and said “I’ve got to go!” He had just received the Loco and
Dissent Calendar in his inbox and had to rush to his computer to post it to QR.
Ten years later, of course it can be posted from anywhere.
One other thing about it
and I know it doesn’t matter how many times I say this, but it is true: We have
nothing to do with the production of the calendar. It is often
racy and profane. We usually do not even bother to read it before publishing. We
also take no ownership over whether it’s funny or not. Again, we didn’t write
it. The contents belong to anonymous writers, who session after session seem to
capture what the entire community was mocking privately all along. We could all
use a self-awareness check from time to time.
Here is the Loco
and Dissent Calendar for the 2023 regular session of your Texas
Legislature.
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright May 28, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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May 28, 2023 12:59 AM
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Copyright May 28, 2023, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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