16 Lewis bills signed by governor

As of Friday, 16 bills out of the 1,458 signed by Gov. Perry were either authored or sponsored by Rep. Tyron Lewis, R-Odessa.

The representative successfully pushed through the law-making process bills in education, waste disposal and tax reform, among others.

The special session ends Wednesday, and the 82nd Legislative session was a rollercoaster of difficult decisions, from budget cuts to redistricting. Lewis is in the district this weekend, hearing from constituents. He also spoke Saturday desk – doubled check at the Far West Texas Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ annual meeting. He’ll be back in district late next week, after the special session ends.

Higher education was one major focus of Lewis’s legislative agenda. Gary Johnson, an OC Board of Trustee member, said he was instrumental in getting funding restored to the OC.

“He stayed after them,” Johnson said. “He kept OC in the forefront and I think that really helped.”

Lewis also authored a bill that would allow colleges and universities to develop fixed tuition rates for students who transfer from a junior or community college after successfully earning an associate’s degree.

“In today’s society, you need a well educated workforce,” Johnson said.

The bill, HB 2999, will make it more affordable for students to continue their education and help junior and senior colleges work closer together, Lewis said. The program is voluntary for schools.

“It’s taking students (from community college) and moving them forward,” Lewis said.

Lewis also tackled controversial issues with the bills he authored and sponsored. Senate bill 1504, sponsored by Lewis, set restrictions on amount of radioactive waste imported into Texas. The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission decided in January to establish rules to allow a number of states to import low level waste to Waste Control Specialists’ landfill in Andrews County. The bill puts limits on waste from other states, charges a 20 percent fee on all waste from other non-party states, ensures Texas and Vermont guaranteed space in the landfill and extends the deadline for other states to join compact at a higher fee with the legislature’s approval. Previously, Texas and Vermont were the only parties in the compact that could use the Andrews facility.

“It was a big issue even though it’s totally safe,” Lewis said. “It’s really good for Texas and it will have a good economic impact for Andrews.”

There were a couple issues local taxing entities watched closely this legislative session. One was changing the way oil and mineral interests were calculated for property tax purposes. Before 2007, minerals were valued on the average of the previous year’s actual pricing. Then the Texas Legislature changed the formula to include a market condition element from the Texas Comptroller’s office. The average of the previous year’s actual prices was multiplied with the Comptroller’s prediction of what prices will do in the current year.

“It yielded unrealistic numbers,” Lewis said. “It was not to be used to determine mineral market value.”

Ector County Commissioner Freddie Gardner said the change will help the county.

“It’s really hurt us the way the formula has been done in the past,” Gardner said.

The new bill will replace the market condition from the Comptroller to a price adjustment from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). EIA is an agency in the Department of Energy that collects and analyzes energy information. The price adjustment is seen by some to be more reliable because the agency will make a prediction based on market events.

“We’re back to realistic, real world numbers that everybody can live with,” he said.

The other issue concerned the planned purchases of two Odessa power plants by a tax-exempt municipal corporation.

The pending sales of two Odessa power plants announced in December 2010 and January to High Plains Diversified Energy Corporation, based in Lubbock, set off a wave of anxiety among local taxing entities. State Sen. Kel Seliger and Lewis authored legislation that would limit that exemption to property within the service area of the governmental utility’s parent city or cities. Lewis sponsored Seliger’s bill in the house, which was recently signed by the governor.

“Very pleased to have closed that loophole,” Lewis said. “We want to make sure that can’t happen again.”

The sales of both power plants were canceled earlier this month after a Lubbock judge ruled High Plains was formed incorrectly and couldn’t issue municipal bonds.

Gardner said Lewis works tirelessly for the people in his district.

“We couldn’t have a better representative to represent our district,” Gardner said.

The next three days of the legislative session are expected to jam-packed, Lewis said. He’s working on one last bill he’s authored, HB 79, which is an omnibus bill that streamlines and standardizes the judicial process. Versions of the bill were introduced by Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock and Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, in the regular session, but died before it could pass both houses.

Lewis authored or jointly authored 54 bills in the regular session of the legislature. He authored two bills in the special session.

@OAgovernment