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2005-05-26:
Last minute action alert from Texas PIRG:
2005-05-16:
Two weeks
to go, calendars closed, debates remain on relatively small number of
bills.
SEED Coalition
re Mercury/Coal Bill, SB 1423: www.seedcoalition.org
Criminal
Justice re probation SB 1266: www.criminaljusticecoalition.org
Health
Care for poor women: MEDICAID -- pass SB 747. www.cppp.org
And seek
info on Skills Development Bills: HB 2421/SB 1096. www.cppp.org
HISTORY:
2005-03-15:
Reminders courtesy KPFT
news.
TX-PIRG: http://www.texpirg.org/
A FEW LEGISLATIVE
ISSUES BEFORE THE TEXAS CONGRESS, 2005.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE LINK (April 4):
http://www.solutionsfortexas.info/id314.html
ENVIRONMENT:
March 8 Lobby
Day
Texas SEED Coalition <http://www.seedcoalition.org/>
sent the following pursuant to a past event:
Diverse Coalition Announces four legislative priorities for
a Cleaner Texas
The priorities include:
1) Increasing renewable energy in Texas to 20% by 2020
2) Cleaning up power plant pollution, with additional reductions in
nitrogen oxides and sulfur, and a 90% reduction in mercury at all coal-burning
plants
3) Locally elected government authority to protect water supplies
4) Strong enforcement of existing pollution laws
There are other pressing environmental issues as well, and many of the
ACT groups will be addressing other issues too.
SEED Coalition is a member of the Alliance For A
Clean Texas (ACT), an alliance of more than 25 environmental, public
interest, consumer rights and religious organizations dedicated to improving
public health, quality of life and the environment in Texas by working
for change at the regulatory and legislative levels.
For
more on this topic, see Alliance
for Clean Texas; associated alert for March
8 Lobby Day provided by Houston
Sierra Club.
DEATH
PENALTY: March 15 Lobby Day -- Innocence emphasis
Please see Texas
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty which will give you more
than this direct link: DP
Bills Filed 2005 Legislature
(Also see our calendar for rallies
and lobby days.)
Priorities
include stopping executions; not subjecting juveniles to the death penalty;
same for people who suffer mental impairment; a moratorium while a study
commission works. The state must not kill in our name. Jump to summary.
FAMILIES:
March 14 Lobby Day -- Social Justice.
Priorities
include:
* Reduce prison sentences for low-level drug offencers
* Increase access to drug treatment and other comunity-base solutions
to crime so families can stay together
* Reduce the length of felony probation sentences and reduce the number
of technical voiolators returning to prison
* Remove barriers to re-entry for returning prisones so they can become
productive citizens
Bus/carpooling
being organized. In Houston, call Ethea Farahkhan, 713.876.3030
Sponsored in part by:
Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (http://www.criminaljusticecoalition.org/)
Texas Inmate Families Association (http://www.tifa.org/)
HEALTH
CARE -- Restore CHIP funding. Care for the elderly. Help the less fortunate
among us.
*FEB 15: HHS agencies have revised their “exceptional
item” lists, so that all the requests now are for funding that
is NOT included in the Legislative Budget Board’s proposed budget
(SB 1) as introduced. Major decisions about whether to add funds to
SB 1 will be made in the next few weeks. This Policy Page, http://www.cppp.org/pop_228.pdf,
updates what's in--and what's missing from--major health programs in
the state budget bill for 2006-2007. (THIS LINK HAS SEVEN PAGES
OF INFORMATION!)
* FEB 11, from CPPP: State Budget Proposes to Cut More Than 4,800 Local
Eligibility Workers
The proposed budget for health and human services programs includes
a reduction of 4,809 eligibility staff at the Health and Human Services
Commission (HHSC) by fiscal 2007, a 60 percent cut in staff. These staff
are responsible for enrolling people in CHIP, Food Stamps, Medicaid,
and TANF. The proposed cuts are related to HHSC’s “integrated
eligibility initiative,” a plan to replace the majority of local
eligibility offices with three call centers, an Internet application,
and volunteer assistance from community-based organizations. If adequately
staffed, HHSC’s plan offers some promising ideas for a more accessible
and more cost-effective system; however, the model needs to be tested
before the legislature approves such a drastic reduction in staff, who
have already been cut 37 percent since 1997. Go to http://www.cppp.org/pop_227.pdf
to read the complete policy page.
*See also the Center
for Public Policy Priorities FEB 4 notice about start of public
hearings on Health and Human Services February 7.
=> Lobby
Day about women's
health, March 1.
(See also Health
Care for All Texas)
EDUCATION
-- Make it equitable, equal opportunity.
For one door into the maze of legislation, see Texas Early
Childhood Education Coalition at http://www.tecec.org/
Another: Texas Counseling Association at http://www.txca.org
5)
Medical Marijuana -- Give juries a way to leave terminally ill patients
in peace. HOUSE
BILL 658
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