Category: Government

Press release from Sen. Robert Nichols

Green seemed to be on everyone’s mind this week at the Capitol but not because of St. Patrick’s Day. Most are thinking green as in dollars and where the dollars in the state budget will go.

Five things that happened this week at your Texas Capitol are:

Sunshine Week and more transparency

Texas got its report card back this week, and the news was good: an ‘A’ in government transparency from the Sunlight Foundation. This announcement came during Sunshine Week, a time to focus on how our state is doing in regards to the public’s ability to access information on government’s activities.

While this news was great, there is always room for improvement. One effort toward greater transparency is Senator Kirk Watson’s SB 1297, which would allow government officials to interact with one another through an online message board posted on their agency’s website. This adapts the Open Meetings Act to the electronic age, and is a way to allow the public access to government’s online meetings in the same way they have access to physical ones. It is a bipartisan effort, and one that I support.

Something brewing in the beer industry

Five bills representing the most dramatic change in Texas beer laws in 20 years passed out of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee this week. Under terms of the bills, Saint Arnold’s Brewery in Houston, as well as other craft breweries around the state, would be able to sell a limited amount of beer on site. In addition, brewpubs such as San Antonio’s Freetail Brewing would be able to package some of their product for sale in restaurants, stores and bars.

Currently, beer moves from manufacturers to retailers almost exclusively through wholesalers; current regulations prohibit brewpubs from packaging their product for stores and keeps breweries from selling beer to visitors. Loosening these restrictions would be a big advancement for free enterprise, and should have a large economic impact on the state as a whole.

In an analysis submitted last year to the Craft Brewers Guild, it was estimated that independent craft brewers had a $608 million impact on the state economy and that if laws were changed, they could potentially employ an additional 52,000 people and build a $5.6 billion industry by 2020.

Funding for State Water Plan

On Thursday, the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed HB 4 to fund the State Water Plan. Specifically, HB 4 would create the State Water Implementation Fund of Texas (SWIFT) to provide a fund to finance projects in the State Water Plan. There will be an emphasis on conservation, reuse and rural projects.

Ensuring water availability to all areas of our state for the foreseeable future is an incredibly important issue, as well as a nonpartisan one. It is my hope that we see this bill and related bills given the full attention they deserve.

Battleship Texas

I am pleased to report that on Tuesday Texas Parks and Wildlife announced a $17.5 million contract for the Battleship Texas’ repair to be started in April and finished within 18 months.

The ship is the only dreadnought to have served in both World War I and World War II, and is currently owned by the state and docked in La Porte. Included in the repairs will be replacing parts of the ship’s deteriorated hull and the support structures beneath the twin engines, each of which weighs more than 1,000 tons. Without this action, the engines would be at risk of crashing through the ship’s bottom.

The Battleship Texas is a treasure for all Texans, but holds special significance for me. My uncle, Jack Bowling, a Rear Admiral in the Navy, served upon it at one time. Every time I look at or read about the ship, I am reminded of his long service to our country. I could not be more pleased to see the Battleship Texas soon restored to her former glory.

Pecan Pie

This week the Senate was visited by some really tough lobbyists- first graders wanting to make pecan pie the official pie of Texas. After receiving a letter from the kids who live in his district, my colleague Senator Charles Schwertner filed a bill last month to formally designate the pie as the state’s favorite.

The kids were pretty convincing, and the bill passed out of the Senate Committee on Administration this week unanimously. As a big fan of pecan pie myself, I’m excited about this development and look forward to seeing the bill progress to law.

Press release from Sen. Robert Nichol’s Office

March is always a busy month in the Capitol as many families, students and teachers make their way to Austin during their spring breaks. We enjoy seeing everyone, but there is, of course, no spring break for legislators as final bills are filed and committee agendas are full of potential legislation.

Five things that happened this week at your Texas Capitol are:

Bill Filing Deadline

Friday, March 8th was a very important day at the Capitol: bill filing deadline. Each legislative session is 140 days long, and the 60th day is always the last day to submit bills. The following 80 days are used to discuss the bills that have been filed in committee, allow them to be brought up in the House and the Senate, and, ultimately be signed by the Governor. Of course, very few bills make it successfully through this process to become law and the system is designed this way on purpose. The writers of the Texas Constitution envisioned a society with small government and little encroachment on citizens’ rights by elected officials. Many years later, their vision is still being fulfilled.

Mental Health First Aid Training

I recently coauthored SB 955, a mental health first aid bill which is already receiving broad support in the Senate. This measure would provide grants to each of Texas’ 39 Local Mental Health Authorities (LMHA) to train teachers and others as Mental Health First Aid trainers to respond to youth and other individuals who have a mental health problem or are going through a personal crisis.

Participants will learn how to assess risk, listen to and help the individual in crisis and point the individual to professionals who can help. Teachers who choose to go through the training can do so at no cost, and the 12 hours of the program can be counted toward their continuing professional education hours already required by the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

However, in addition to teachers, the bill also provides for many other community members to be able to go through the program if interested, such as police officers, religious leaders, health care workers, and others who often interact with youth. The Department of State Health Services would be required to submit an annual report on the program to the legislature for its review.

Mental health needs are something our entire country is very concerned about right now, and I am proud to be a part of helping teachers and other professionals be trained to recognize warning signs and then know how to intervene.

Medicaid Fraud Workgroup

A focus of this legislative session has been curbing Medicaid fraud, and this week I attended a workgroup hosted on the subject to allow stakeholders to discuss the issue. Representatives from the Attorney General’s office, the Health and Human Service Commission, doctors, lawyers, and others gathered and shared their experiences, frustrations, and suggestions.

It has always been my opinion that getting a group of people face to face to talk about a shared problem can yield many benefits, and I think this meeting definitely moved us closer to reaching a solution everyone can appreciate.

State of the Judiciary

Each session the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court addresses a joint session of the Texas House and Senate to give the State of the Judiciary address. On Wednesday, Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson called for several reforms including the creation of an Innocence Commission. The commission would be tasked with examining each case of wrongful conviction in the state to assess causes and establish reforms for the future. As Chief Justice Jefferson stated, “Wrongful convictions leave our citizens vulnerable, as actual perpetrators remain free.”

Texas Forestry Day at the Capitol

Wednesday was Texas Forestry Day at the Capitol. The members of the Texas Forestry Association represent an industry important to East Texas and the whole state. Generating jobs for more than 166,000 Texans, the industry has a more than $33 billion impact on the state. Representatives from all over East Texas were in Austin to advocate for the industry and the important service it provides to the state both economically and ecologically. Each year, the industry plants 100 million tree seedlings, about four trees per Texan.