March 17, 2006

Governor Rick Perry Tells Lawmakers to Be Back
in Austin for Special Session to Begin on April 17

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Forget the extended Easter weekend that some key players thought they'd be granted. Governor Rick Perry informed lawmakers Friday morning that he's calling them back to Austin on Monday, April 17 to begin a special session on school finance and taxes.

The Republican governor decided not to wait until the Tuesday after Easter to convene the special legislative gathering but is giving state lawmakers all morning and part of the afternoon on that Monday to travel to town before they are gaveled into special session at 2 p.m. for the fourth time in the past 25 months. The upcoming special session has the potential to be as contentious as two special meetings of the Legislature last summer and another that was held at this time two years ago on the still unresolved question of how to fund the state's public schools.

Perry's announcement drew immediate criticism from Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, an independent gubernatorial candidate who will have a key role in the spring special session as the state's chief revenue estimator. “This should have been done months ago to give lawmakers the time they need to fix our unconstitutional school finance system," Strayhorn said. "In a Strayhorn administration, the children and the teachers will come first. In the misplaced priorities of a Perry administration, the special interests come first.”

A post-Easter start date will delay another special session on school funding until after the April 11 primary runoff elections. Three current House members - Republican State Rep. Scott Campbell of San Angelo and Democratic State Reps. Al Edwards of Houston and Richard Raymond of Laredo - face challengers in next month's runoff elections.

The House will have three new members who've never participated in regular or special sessions as legislators - Democrats Ana Hernandez of Houston and Donna Howard of Austin and Republican Kirk England of Grand Prairie. All three new members won special elections within the past three months. While England and Hernandez will probably cast votes that are similar to those recorded by their respective predecessors - former Republican House member Ray Allen and the late Democratic lawmaker Joe Moreno - Howard is more likely to give Democrats who've been opposed to the GOP leadership's school and tax plans an extra vote that they didn't have when Republican Todd Baxter represented northwest Austin in the House during the school finance and tax debates over the past three years.

There's also been speculation that Perry would order the Legislature to convene on Monday, April 17. But Perry - the only state official with the authority to order lawmakers back to Austin when they're not here for a regular session - has only indicated that he will call a special session sometime this spring without hinting about a specific starting date.

Perry could conceivably wait to call a special session until the House and Senate appeared closer to a consensus on how to fund the public school system while cutting local property taxes on which it relies heavily. The Republican governor's special tax commission that he appointed former Comptroller John Sharp to lead is expected to recommend a package that would give legislators the opportunity to reduce property taxes by almost $6 billion by revamping the state's business tax, increasing the cigarette tax by $1 and earmarking about $1 billion in surplus funds for tax relief. Property taxes would go down an estimated 33 percent under such a scenario.

But the potential for another stalemate lingers with some lawmakers reportedly hoping to use the entire $4.3 billion surplus that Strayhorn has projected for property tax cuts while Democrats and some Republicans believe that a tax reduction package should include other finance measures such as a teacher pay raise. Some members of the Tax Reform Commission and the Legislature have expressed an interest in financing property tax relief with higher sales taxes - a proposal that Sharp says would not be needed if the business tax is expanded and smokers are required to pay more.

In addition to legislative campaigns that will be nearing a midpoint after the runoffs are held, a spring special session will be set against the backdrop of a race for governor as Perry defends his position in the face of challenges by Strayhorn, who's running as an independent, and Democratic nominee Chris Bell. Perry faces more opposition in his bid for re-election from Richard "Kinky" Friedman. Strayhorn and Friedman will be on the November ballot if they round up a sufficient number of petition signatures from voters who did not participate in the Democratic or Republican primary elections this month.