Texas Lege Session Formerly Comes To End With Mixed Bag of Accomplishments, Expectation of a Special Session

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Staff Writers, Texas Tribune
If Texas’ less-than-theatrical 83rd legislative session is remembered at all, it will be known for accords, not discord.

Lawmakers put down their partisan swords to expand financing for water infrastructure, women’s health, public education and the mentally ill, steering almost entirely clear of bitter ideological battles over immigration enforcement and abortion.

The state’s Republican majority pulled its weight in a few key areas, passing legislation requiring drug screening for unemployment benefits and preventing measures to expand Medicaid, the joint state-federal health care program for children, the disabled and the very poor, under federal health reform.

But Republicans themselves warded off some of the session’s most anticipated battles, like Sen. Dan Patrick’s “school choice” effort to finance scholarships so public school students could attend private schools.

Sent-to-Gov-Perry — **Interactive: Bills Sent to the Governor**
(Texas Tribune)

And House Speaker Joe Straus’ reluctance to tackle redistricting — though Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott wanted to — was an effort to keep Democrats in the fold, which is unlikely to last if the governor calls them into a special session on the issue.

Indeed, many of lawmakers’ hardest-fought initiatives this session — preventing wrongful convictions and prosecutorial misconduct, reforming high school diploma requirements and high-stakes testing, and curbing the authority of regents of the state’s public university systems — did not fall along party lines.

Behind the curtain, there were many forces at play: a more robust state budget; the biggest freshman class in years; a Republican base just small enough to require allegiances with Democrats or the Tea Party, depending on the issue; and the soon-to-be-revealed political aspirations of Perry, along with the chessboard of elected officials waiting for him to make his move.

In many ways, the most gripping stories of the 2013 legislative session happened outside of the House and Senate chambers.
Read more of this story at Texas Tribune

RELATED STORIES:
• $197 billion, two-year budget heads to Perry (Chron.com)
• Eyes turn to Gov. Perry on last day of Texas Legislature (KPRC 2 News)
• Major Education Bills Headed to Governor’s Desk (Texas Tribune)
• Medicaid expansion ban survives, sent to Perry (Austin Statesman)
• House approves tighter limits on higher education agency’s powers (Austin Statesman)
• Legislature extends school tax breaks for companies (Austin Statesman)

• Legislature Passes Major Testing Reform and Charter School Bills (Texas Observer)
• Lawmaker Transparency Bills Got Little Traction (Texas Tribune)

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