The final stretch of the Texas lege...

It's only a couple weeks left until the end of session. Will Rick gets legislative wins he can campaign on? That is the question, and the Houston Chronicle  attempts to answer it (link). Excerpt follows...

Lawmakers adjourn June 1 and next year's Republican primary race against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is looming, so the next two weeks are critical to his agenda. But Perry is fond of pointing out that major legislation often comes together in the final few days of the Texas session.

"I don't ever worry. I'm always a positive man," Perry said last week when asked whether he fears that one initiative he supports — a cap on the state's top 10 percent college admissions law — could be running into trouble. The measure won passage in the Senate but has yet to reach a vote in the House.

Some of his top goals were resupplying the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund, which he uses to create jobs in Texas; changing the state business tax to exempt small companies with less than $1 million in revenue; and approving a voter identification law.

Not having Tom Craddick as Speaker has skewed the closely divided Texas House much further to the left than many people imagined, considering Republicans still allegedly have a majority. There may be 76 Republicans in there, but there are really only 55 or 60 non RINO Republicans. Where did I come up with that number? Just look at the vote on the S-CHIP expansion (link). Excerpt follows...

The House on Friday voted 87-55 to send to the Senate a bill expanding eligibility for the Children's Health Insurance Program — but not before making a couple last minute changes.

The legislature increased the eligibility up to 400% of poverty in some cases, and 300% in most cases. This is not fiscal responsibility. This is how a lot of blue states and a few red states racked up tens of billions in debt and ruined their reputations. How will Rick respond to these liberal threats to Texas' preeminence?

I hope he vetoes the hell out of certain legislation.