April 29, 2011

The stretch run has started for the 82^nd Texas Legislature.  There are 31 days left in the legislative session.  May 12^th is a really big day, as it is the last day for any House bill to be taken up on the House Major State or Regular Calendar – local bills will have until May 20th.  The deadline for the House to consider Senate bills is May 24^th.

There has been a significant issue on the House Major State Calendar each day this week, so there has not been much time for other issues.  As the saying around the Capitol goes, “there are a lot of bills that are dying.”
 

Working the House Calendars Committee

There is both good and bad news in the House Calendars Committee.  Late yesterday afternoon, you got an AGC VoterVoice email asking you to contact the 15 members of the House Calendars Committee asking them to set HB 1031 by Representative Paul Workman that deals with the State Breach of Contract/Sovereign Immunity issue.  If you have not made a call and/or sent a fax, please stop and take the time to do so as soon as possible.

Another bill in Calendars that is being worked by AGC and others is HB 628, by Representative Callegari.  We continue to visit with members asking that HB 628 be set on the House Major State Calendar.  Staff was dealing with an issue on this bill with a group yesterday afternoon, but the moles continue to pop up even as we have this bill in Calendars.

There are several bills that fall in the ugly category and AGC is working to delay the consideration of these bills.
 

HB 1390-Retainage Compromises-Passes House on 2nd Reading

A compromise has been struck on HB 1390 by Representative Deshotel.  The bill passed the House on 2nd reading today. 

A big thank you goes out to all who made calls on HB 1390.  We asked you last week and again this week to make calls.  Our concern that was expressed to the House members helped to get a compromise worked out.  The bill was set for last Thursday, but the House did not get to it because it got hung up on other bills.  Late on Thursday, a call went out asking the groups (TCA, ABC and AGC) to meet again to see if there was a chance to work something out.  Robert Bass, the AGC point person on the issue, spent time working on it over the holiday weekend.  The groups did meet late on Monday afternoon and were able to agree to several changes in the legislation.
 

Breach of Contract Bill-Need Examples

Representative Paul Workman has requested that AGC contractors provide examples of how sovereign immunity has impacted construction jobs with state entities.  If you have an example of how you have been harmed or threatened by a state governmental entity, please send these examples to AGC Texas Building Branch as soon as possible.  We will make sure that the names of the AGC members are not made public.  Representative Workman would like to have these examples to use as his bill on state breach of contracts is debated on the House floor.  Send your stories or examples to Mike chatron@agctbb.org or Corbin corbin@agctbb.org.  Thanks for your help on this important issue.
 

School Background Checks Bill
Passes House

HB 398 by Representative Jim Jackson, which makes a technical correction in the school background check law, was passed by the Texas House on April 26th.  The bill has been sent to the Senate.  The House companion (SB 1042 by Senator Glenn Hegar) was passed by the Texas Senate on April 14th.  The plan was to wait for the Senate bill to be passed out of the House Public Education Committee, however it became apparent that the Senate bill was being held up, along with most Senate bills, by the House leadership – a little tit for tat that the Senate and House play with each other when they think the other chamber is not moving their bills as quickly as they should.  So, we passed the House version and now have both bills passed out of their original chamber.  We will see which one moves first.
 

Public Private Partnership Bill
in Calendars

HB 2432 by Representative John Davis is in the Calendars Committee waiting to be set on a House Calendar.  The Senate version, SB 1048 by Senator Mike Jackson, was referred to the House Economic and Small Business Development Committee on Tuesday.  One would expect the Senate version to be moved out of committee pretty quickly.
 

Calendars Has 441 Bills Today

The backlog is building in the House Calendars Committee which has 441 bills as of this morning.  Following are some key bills in the Committee:

HB 800 by Representative “Doc” Anderson – Interlocal Co-ops & Roofing Contracts – arrived in Calendars on April 21st.

HB 51 by Representative Eddie Lucio III – deals with green building – arrived in Calendars on March 15th.

HB 1428 by Representative Deshotel – trust fund protection for retainage – arrived in Calendars on April 1st.

HB 1497 by Representative Howard – reallocation of career and technology education funds – arrived in Calendars on April 14th.

HB 1860 by Representative Deshotel – liens on removables – arrived in Calendars on April 18th.

HB 2989 by Representative Deshotel – deals with employee misclassifications – arrived in Calendars on April 12th.

HB 3040 by Representative Chisum – deals with lender default notices – arrived in Calendars on April 19th.

Immigration bills – there are numerous bills in the Calendars Committee that deal with the illegal immigration issue.  Some are border security, others deal with voting and still others with indigent care and police enforcement actions.  There is nothing in Calendars that deals with employment issues that is bad for the industry.  It is certain that something (not sure exactly what – possibly several bills) is going to be scheduled for a House Calendar, but there is nothing to get excited about at this time.
 

Other AGC Bills

HB 2010 by Representative Smithee that is the TCA/AGC indemnification legislation was heard in the House Insurance Committee two weeks ago.  It has been held in the committee as pending business.  The Senate version – SB 361 by Senator Duncan has passed the Senate and is also in the House Insurance Committee.  We know discussions are taking place among committee members to find some language that is acceptable to be passed out of the committee. 

HB 958 by Representative Workman that deals with the statute of repose is still in the House Business & Industry Committee as pending business.
 

Other Legislation

HB 1987 by Representative Workman and HB 1739 by Representative Walle that deal with mandatory workers comp insurance for construction projects were heard and are still pending business in the House State Affairs Committee.

HB 3020 by Representative Gutierrez that calls for mandatory rest breaks on construction projects was heard and is still pending business in the House B & I Committee.

SB 1389 by Senator Gallegos that would require a mandatory 10 hour OSHA class for all workers on public works construction jobs was heard and is pending business in the Senate State Affairs Committee.

SB 671 by Senator Gallegos that would create a state OSHA has not had a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee.
 

House Passes Redistricting Bill on Wednesday Thursday

The House started its debate on the House Redistricting bill on Wednesday morning and finally passed the bill in the early morning hours on Thursday.  There were no significant changes in the maps that were presented – most dealt with minor changes within certain counties.  As drawn, it is generally recognized, that based on past election history – there are 92 safe Republican districts (a district that is 55% or more Republican).  Representative Paul Workman is in the one Travis County district that has been drawn as a safe Republican district.
 

Budget Update

A possible summer special session to adopt a budget bill is looking more likely.  The House has sent its version over to the Senate where most Senators appear to want to raise the spending level over what has been proposed by the House.  Can the Senate get the 21 votes it needs to bring the bill to the floor for debate?  The Senate version that passed out of Committee will spend some $3 billion in rainy day funds.  Lt. Governor Dewhurst spoke out about this expenditure, and the games on the budget have begun in the Senate.

At this point, the House version would spend $77.6 billion in state general revenue funds.  The Senate version calls for $85.7 billion in GR funds, which is a cut of $4.4 billion from the current GR funding for this biennium. 
 

AGC Web Site Has Legislative Information

Don’t forget that the AGC TBB website – www.agctbb.org has information about bills that are being followed by AGC.  The state’s Texas Legislature Online website - http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ is another good source for AGC members to keep track of all the issues that the 82nd Texas Legislature is dealing with this session