LETTER: Legislature fades slowly into the night

A couple of weeks ago, the 82nd Texas Legislative session plus one special session adjourned, sine die, until the first Tuesday in January of 2013.

The successes and failures of this state government's legislative priorities are still being assessed and what will be the long-range impact of the new laws and budget on the quality of life and standard of living in the State of Texas for the next two years.

There were and are however, a few winners and many losers to consider. Legislators started this past session making broad and bold promises to Texans to make hard choices in budget cuts to cover the biggest budget shortfall in state history, to reform and fund education, recalibrate the state's financial commitment to Medicaid, create stricter regulations for immigrants and voters, and above ALL else, not raise taxes.

The budget that Gov. Rick Perry signed off on was balanced through accounting tricks and devastating cuts to education, health care and other human services, criminal justice, and many other essential state services.

The state's commitment to education lost momentum and funding to the tune of $4 billion dollars. The winners: a few Republican politicians seeking reelection and the Rainy Day Fund.
The losers: Texas school children, teachers, property tax payers, and the incoming, but invisible, new students from the increase in population in the fastest growing state in the Union.

The Legislature, controlled by Republicans, chose to ignore the necessary increase, about $4.8 billion, for the Medicaid program to cover new indigent citizens and levels of poverty caused by the growing population. The answer was simply to not budget for it and wait for the fallout, later.

The winners: state legislators who openly hate and criticize the federal and state cooperative program. The losers: the poor and children of uninsured parents and those with physical and mental disabilities in Texas.

Lawmakers passed and Perry signed two immigration bills, one which allows police to request information regarding the citizenship status of those who are stopped for minor traffic violations or other such random circumstances. The other bill requires photo identification at polling places during elections.

The winners: nervous Republican legislators worried about the hoards of illegal aliens voting Democrat and turning them out of their safe and cushy seats/districts. The losers: anyone who is Latin American, Latino, Mexican or well tanned in Tejas.

The last critical consideration, which was ultimately “kicked” to the 83rd Legislature to resolve, was balancing the budget while trying, casually, to continue funding state services at current levels WITHOUT raising taxes or creating new revenue streams.

The winners: Eighteen percent of the wealthiest citizens in Texas, including Governor Perry, Republican legislators and the Rainy Day Fund. The losers are 82 percent of the middle class and the poorest in Texas and the possibility of a state income tax bill.

Finally, while none of our local politicians, Rep. Tryon Lewis, Rep. Tom Craddick, or St. Sen. Kel Seliger were cited in Texas Monthly's “Best and Worst Legislators,” there was a Texas conservative economic group that rated legislators according to certain fiscally conservative criteria.

Ours did not fair well in their ratings. Lewis from Odessa was given a D+ and Craddick from Midland a C+. Senator Seliger from District 31 was given an inexplicable rating of 0?
Texas still has a challenging future in all of these areas.

Indeed, the 83rd Legislature may very well have to revisit and reconsider most of the mentioned and we Texans must hope, pray and most of all participate personally in the decision making processes and patterns of this great state. We cannot, as has been demonstrated, sit idly, and expect 150 House members and 31 Senators, to make crucial, far-reaching decisions for our families and selves and NOT have input.

 Representative governments are only as strong as those who claim to adhere to democratic principles and then demonstrate their apotheosis through participation and forcing political, economic, and social accountability from the elected representatives.

Nowhere in the world is this a more salient and important component to the salubrious and wholesome lives of a citizenry than here in the state of Texas.

May we all continue to learn, move forward and take care of each other.
After all, we are TEXANS!