The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - September 19, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Thursday, September 19th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, arguably the most niche but impactful debate over the Texas House Speakership has nothing to do with Democratic chairmanships. Rather, it highlights the application of weedy parliamentary procedure and centers primarily on one man, and his name isn't Dade Phelan. Hugh Brady is one of two parliamentarians in the Texas House, a position that holds a lot of power and influence. Unlike the Senate, which often treats rules as formalities to bend

Starting point is 00:00:45 at the whim of the GOP supermajority, the House has no such consensus, and that means far less flexibility to, for example, ram three legislative days through the same calendar day. That puts more onus on the chamber's 409-page book of rules teeming with run-of-the-mill directives on daily operations and responsibilities. But it's not merely a listicle of inconsequential policies on floor attire and decorum. The biggest thing the rules do in terms of a legislator's ends is affect, or more acutely, kill, policy. Next, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has again filed a lawsuit against Harris County over a guaranteed basic income program that will give $500 monthly stipends to select low-income residents. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Texas blocked implementation of the county's Uplift Harris GBI plan, providing no-strings-attached stipends, after Paxton filed suit in April, with the court noting that the program likely violated a state constitutional prohibition on granting public funds to individuals. Last

Starting point is 00:01:52 month, however, Harris County commissioners approved an updated version, dubbed Uplift Harris 2.0, that will instead provide preloaded debit cards, purportedly with some restrictions on how the funds may be spent, as a way to comply with the restrictions imposed by the Texas Constitution. In other news, a Dallas judge denied the Office of the Attorney General's request for a temporary injunction against the State Fair of Texas' new rule prohibiting the carrying of firearms at its 2024 event. The OAG sued the City of Dallas and the State Fair, a non-profit organization that runs the operations, alleging a violation of Second Amendment rights and the state constitutional carry law passed in 2021. The temporary injunction request is meant to

Starting point is 00:02:38 pause the rule until the court considers the full merits of the argument over the policy. The state contended that the organization could not prohibit firearm carry on public grounds as per the 2021 law. Also, Fort Worth and Dallas approved their city budgets and tax rates for the upcoming fiscal year this week. Fort Worth kept its tax rate flat and below the no new revenue rate at 67.25 cents per $100 valuation. When the budget was first presented by City Manager David Cook on August 13th, the $2.79 billion budget included a tax increase of about a half cent. Then Mayor Maddie Parker and all of the Fort Worth City Council members sent Cook a letter requesting that the budget be adjusted based on a tax rate at or below

Starting point is 00:03:25 the fiscal year 2024 rate of $0.6725. The City of Dallas unanimously approved its budget and tax rate at this week's City Council meeting. The adopted rate is a $0.031 reduction from last year's rate and is below the no new revenue rate. In addition, a bipartisan group in Congress, including Representative Troy Nels, is hoping to add new federal courts to address a significant case backlog that has delayed civil and criminal cases for years. The Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved, or JUDGES Act of 2024, will create 63 permanent new judgeships across the nation, including at least four in the state of Texas. Congress last expanded the federal court system in 2003, adding 34 district court judgeships.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Since then, the population of the U.S. has grown by nearly 15%, with Texas adding 8 million more residents, and the federal caseload has grown as well. Last but not least, a Travis County judge has issued a temporary injunction extending a block on the release of the Texas Education Agency's A-F school accountability ratings, while a case against them proceeds through the courts. The judge's order asserts that the 2023-2024 TEA rating system is, quote, unlawful, ultra-virez conduct that violates Texas law and would cause probable, imminent, and irreparable injury or harm to plaintiffs. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and

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The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - September 19, 2024

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