Last session, nearly $5 billion was diverted in this way. So this was supposed to be the session that changed for good. Those in control came into the session talking about taking steps to end the state’s reliance on diversions and deception — park fees would pay for parks; clean air money for cleaner air; utility fees for utility relief … The list goes on.

So what’s really happened? Not much. They buried my proposed constitutional amendment that would have put the state on a firm course to ending diversions of these dedicated funds — but my Senate Joint Resolution 24 never even received a hearing.

And the House passed a bill that would continue the same old deceptive way of doing business, except it would put a cap — one that would expire in just two years — on the total amount of money they could divert.

Initially, that cap was set at $4.8 billion, practically what’s being diverted now. The current version has a slightly lower cap of $4 billion, and it still expires in two years. There’s still no plan for breaking this bad habit.

That’s like someone vowing not to drink anymore, but instead quietly deciding to just drink a little less for a while.

[BOLD:] Will those in control reform the budget to create honest accounting and more transparency? Or will this be another missed opportunity?

On May 27 – Memorial Day – the 83rd Texas legislative session wraps up. On May 28 at 7 p.m., you can talk with Texas Senator Kirk Watson, Chairman of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus, about the what’s REALLY been going on at the Capitol for the last four months.

RSVP below and talk with Kirk about how it all turned out.

That sentence seems impossible.

Anyway, Cooper’s a very bright kid – he loves science and math. He’ll pursue both at Baylor University (his choice, I swear) and will even live in a new dorm called the East Village where science and engineering kids will live. We’ve talked about how important it is that he not sell off his meal card for pocket change; I still intend to discuss it some more.

Obviously, we’ve spent a good chunk of the past couple of years looking at colleges. On one of the visits, Cooper talked with a Dean of a College of Natural Sciences and her Associate Dean. I sat apart from the three of them as they discussed his interests and everything he’s done in high school (“founder and president, Austin High Chemistry Club”).

As it became obvious to the Dean that this kid was for real, she turned to me and asked, without laughing or any apparent irony, whether he got his science acumen from me. I told her no.

So she looked at him and asked, “Where do you think you get it?”

He smiled and replied, “My brother Preston says I’m adopted.”

We all laughed. Then he said, “But I always tell him, ‘Remember, you’re the tall one.’ ”

He’s gonna do great.

Legacy forecast

It’s less than two weeks from Sine Die, the last scheduled day of the legislative session. And while the possibility of a special session is always there, legislators have a way of getting things done when it means not spending the summer in Austin.

(By the way, don’t take that overwhelming desire not to be here personally. If you’d spent the better part of four months away from home, you’d want to get back there too. Besides, most legislators keep running in election after election for the right to come back here every other year, so we must be doing something right.)

So there’s a strong likelihood that the legislature’s clock for tackling big problems this year will run out in 13 days. And if the book on the session really does close on Memorial Day, then what will the record look like?

Pensions progress

First, I’m hopeful there will be some notable victories.

In the past week, for example, the Senate has passed two bills restructuring Texas’ retirement funds for teachers and employees in a fair way, protecting the state’s finances and benefits for our public servants.

Senator Robert Duncan, from Lubbock, carried both bills, and he’s worked hard with us to find middle ground that’s good for the state and its employees, teachers and future retirees. It’s been a true privilege to work with him in helping to negotiate these agreements on behalf of employees and teachers around Austin and across the state.

This is a technical issue but an important one, since so many public servants depend on those funds and the systems are so critical to the state’s budget. Also, far too often, retirement and pension funds become the focus of political fights, with folks looking to shrink government by whittling away at the benefits for public employees and educators.

These changes that the Senate’s approved will help ensure that the funds will be stable and reliable for future generations. They’ll raise both systems toward a state of what’s called “actuarial soundness,” which means the pension funds will be collecting enough revenue to cover obligations for future retirees.

And, most importantly, the bills will help protect these funds from becoming props or casualties in future political fights over state government.

I’m quite proud of the progress we’ve made in the last couple of weeks on addressing these funds. I’m also optimistic that the House will ratify that progress by approving these changes before Memorial Day.

I wish there was that much hope on other big issues facing the state.

Missed opportunities?

The progress we’ve made on pensions sort of shows how much work there still is to do on other major challenges.

On basic issues such as budget transparency, healthcare investment, and the basic economic building blocks of schools funding, water supplies and transportation networks, I’m starting to worry that the legacy of this legislative session will be one of missed opportunities.

I’ll be writing more in the next week about these issues and the opportunities for addressing them before the clock runs out on Memorial Day. Check in on my web site, as well as my Facebook and Twitter pages, for updates. I’ll let you know what’s happening – good, bad and ugly – as the session hits its home stretch.

As much as we love this state and are proud of its successes, the fact is that Texas can still do better. I’d hope that regardless of our political party or beliefs, we all can agree on that basic premise: that this isn’t as good as it gets and Texas can do better and be better for Texans, our kids, our economy and our future.

The next two weeks will decide whether Texas actually does better.

And if you can be favorably compared with a honey badger, well, so much the better.

I’ve been deeply honored over the past few weeks to receive awards from a couple of groups in our community.

The Austin Business Journal honored me with its W. Neal Kocurek Commercial Real Estate Special Achievement award. Folks specifically cited my work as mayor to revitalize downtown, and my efforts last year to pass Proposition 1, which voters approved in November to improve health care across Travis County – in part by helping to create a new medical school at UT.

For that ceremony, the ABJ put together a unique and really great video of some good friends of mine saying very nice things about me.

In the midst of those compliments, I was compared to a honey badger.

It’s … well, it’s probably easier to just watch the video, and you really should.
Interfaith Action of Central Texas also honored Liz and me with its Hope Award for “inspirational leadership to the people of Central Texas and … outstanding accomplishment in service to our community.”

It was a touching ceremony, in part because our sons Preston and Cooper introduced us. And it’s a powerful honor to be recognized by Interfaith Action, which does so much good for so many people in our community.

As I said at the ceremony, Austin has given Liz and me so much more than we could ever give to it. I also pointed out that we have lots of things to be proud of, but those two boys bring us the most pride.

Passing bills

We’re down to just three weeks left in the legislative session. This week, major legislative deadlines are starting to kick in, and thousands of bills that haven’t advanced far or fast enough in the process will start to die.

As we pull into this home stretch, there are big, tough questions that still have to be answered about the budget, our schools, and how Texas will provide water and other basic necessities for future generations. I’ll be writing more about those issues in the next few weeks.

But in the midst of those headlines and deadlines, a lot of quiet progress is being made on a wide range of bills that will make a difference for Texans.

Here are four of my bills that have passed both the House and Senate and are on their way to the Governor’s desk:

Increasing penalties on hit-and-run fatalities: Senate Bill 275 would remove any incentive that people might have to flee the scene of an accident, encouraging them to stop and help accident victims rather than driving away. The bill increases the crime of failing “to stop and render aid” from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony – the same level as intoxication manslaughter.

Reforming investor-owned water utilities: Senate Bill 567 is my bill overhauling the state’s oversight of investor-owned water and sewer utilities – and protecting customers from excessive rates imposed by these private providers. Among other things, the bill allows the Office of Public Utility Counsel to intervene in water rate cases on behalf of residential and small commercial customers.

Ending the use of carbon monoxide for euthanizing dogs and cats: Senate Bill 360 would prevent animal shelters from using carbon monoxide to euthanize dogs and cats in Texas. As of 2011, there were 29 shelters across the state still continuing with this unnecessarily cruel and expensive practice.

More tools for transit: Some cities in Central Texas are interested in providing more transit options, even though they’re not part of Capital Metro’s service area. Senate Bill 276 lets cities partner with Capital Metro on projects such as express buses or services for the elderly or people with disabilities. Georgetown and Kyle both supported this bill; I hope it helps the region continue its work to create a truly comprehensive transportation system.

That’s just a start. So far, I’ve passed eight bills through both the Senate and the House of Representatives (including the four above), and another nine of my Senate bills are out of their House committees and awaiting votes by the full House.

We’re starting our sprint down the home stretch. I’m confident that there’ll be more to report by the time we finish.

It didn’t go as well as it usually does.

Of course, I’ve voted many times. The neat people who work the polls – being the sorts of concerned citizens who follow local politics – tend to recognize me, though of course I still show the required identification.

Yesterday, that’s how it started. I said hello to the nice woman; she called me Senator. I flashed my state-issued license (I’d left my voter registration card at home). She scanned it.

And then she sort of frowned. She scanned it again. And again.

Then she told me that the computer had identified me as someone named Virginia.

It’s very disappointing. I thought I’d sufficiently buried that part of my past.

The good news is I was able to vote, using a different ID. I hope things work out as well for Virginia.

Big win in the “Kumbaya” session

The Senate took a big vote last week. It covered schools, roads, water supplies – you know, just those little things that will help determine how prosperous Texas is in the 21st Century.

Really, the fact that it covered education at all was a tangible win for Texas and its schools and kids. And let’s just say it: it reflects a ton of work that Democrats have done over the months and years to increase support and funding for public education in this state.

Also (and maybe this is the biggest headline), it passed unanimously.

If you saw all of this go down this past Tuesday, it would be understandable if you had “Kumbaya” – or some other song about peace and harmony – running through your head (if that song was this one, you’re welcome; if it was actually “Kumbaya,” well, I hope you like it better than I do).

Heck, you might even have felt a little cheated that some politicians could take up a big issue with a big price tag and big implications for a huge number of people without the whole thing degenerating into the food fight scenefrom a movie that might not be completely appropriate for this family-friendly newsletter.

Anyway, with that vote and a number of others before it, some folks have taken to calling this the “Kumbaya Session.” To tell you the truth, I have no idea whether all of the good feeling will last through the four weeks we have left before the clock runs out – there are controversies and fights, most of them quite avoidable, that could yet make things unpleasant.

But why focus on the negative? Let’s talk about what happened last week.

The constitutional amendment

A week ago, the Senate unanimously passed a proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution that, if also passed by the state House of Representatives and approved by voters this November, will put $2 billion into water projects, $2.9 billion into transportation, and $800 million into schools.

We were also able to secure the commitment from budget writers that the state will put an additional $1.4 billion – over and above what’s been put into education in budget votes thus far – straight into Texas schools.

That $1.4 billion comes from unexpected revenues related to property taxes. The other $5.7 billion (the sum total earmarked for schools, water and transportation) would come from the state’s primary savings account, known around the building as the Rainy Day Fund.

Many of us have been working for much of the last two sessions to put some of this Rainy Day windfall into basic priorities and necessities, especially Texas classrooms. The fund is projected to have nearly $12 billion in it when the budget we’re writing wraps up in 2015.

It took a few hours of sometimes tense discussions last week to nail down the full $2.2 billion commitment to schools (that’s the sum of the $800 million in Rainy Day funding and $1.4 billion in unexpected, reinvested property tax revenues). And we’re proud of that result.

But as meaningful as that total is, Texas still could’ve done better.

Could’ve done better

Senate Democrats offered an amendment that – fairly and evenly – would have put $2 billion apiece from the Rainy Day Fund into transportation, water projects and schools.

That’s $1.2 billion more than the Senate’s budget writers proposed. It also would have put our schools and kids on par with our roads and water. And it would have taken a big step toward providing resources for schoolchildren that a judge indicated were needed when he declared earlier this year that Texas’ school finance system is unconstitutional.

Unfortunately, that amendment, along with others that would have put more money into schools, failed on party-line votes. Each of these amendments offered a chance to help Texas kids. It’s really a shame that the folks in control of the Senate chose to pass them by.

But even without those amendments, last week’s work still represents a significant win for members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who’ve worked so hard to increase funding for public education. Texas schools simply would not have received these badly needed resources without this effort.

We say it all the time: Texas can do better, for our schools, our kids, our teachers and our future. With last week’s effort, we’re proud to say, Texas is starting to do better.

Specifically, S.B. 303:

• Improves the notification and appeal processes for families or surrogates when a Do-Not-Attempt-to-Resuscitate Order is used;
• Requires an independent ethics committee reviewing disagreements to treat all patients equally, without regard to permanent physical or mental disabilities, age, gender, religion, ethnic background, or financial/insurance status.
• Ensures that artificially administered nutrition and hydration cannot be withdrawn from a patient, unless continuing to provide that treatment would harm the patient;
• Ensures the process is applied only to patients for whom life-sustaining treatment would be medically inappropriate and ineffective, and difficult for the patient to endure;
• Provides the family or surrogate with a patient liaison to help guide them through the process;
• Provides the family or surrogate with a free copy of the patient’s medical record; and
• Invites the family or surrogate to attend the ethics committee meeting at which future care for their loved one will be discussed.

I believe this bill is a move in the right direction. The bill is supported by Leading Age Texas and the Texas and New Mexico Hospice Organization, along with others.

It was a difficult, sad week, but I and a whole lot of others have taken comfort in the heroism that so many Texans and Americans displayed in helping and saving people they hardly knew.

If you didn’t get a chance to contribute to relief efforts or donate blood, there’s still plenty of need and it’s not too late. Start here for a list of places where you can help.

Thanks for all you do, and thanks to the many, many anonymous heroes from the past week for all they did to help their neighbors and us all.

Time for budget honesty

This was supposed to be the session in which Texas got serious about ending budget diversions. This was going to be the year when we’d finally start spending taxes and fees that Texans thought were going to worthy purposes on those actual purposes. We all know Texas can do better when it comes to budget honesty – this was the year it was going to start doing better.

I’ve been working on ending these diversions for a while, so I really hoped budget writers would start using dedicated funds the way the state always promises to use them – on things like parks, hospitals and utility bill relief – and stop hoarding them to cover up other budget holes and issues. The state’s piled up about $5 billion in broken promises through these diversions.

But with five weeks left to go … well, I’m starting to rethink this whole “optimism” thing.

$800 million!

The latest offense concerns what’s known as the System Benefit Fund. If the name makes you sleepy, the contents will wake you up: it’s estimated that the System Benefit Fund will have more than $800 million that’s sitting in a bank, not paying for the necessities on which the state has promised to spend it.

That makes it one of the largest secret piggybanks in state government, and money from that account has been diverted repeatedly over the years to certify more spending in the budget.

On Monday, the Senate voted to divert that money to an even more novel use: a pre-election rebate gimmick. The legislation in question basically declares defeat in the long battle to ensure this money is used as intended.

System Benefit background

System Benefit Fund money was raised over the years through utility fees in deregulated markets. It was intended to go toward rate relief for low-income customers. It pays for things like rate discounts and home weatherization for residents who have trouble paying their bills.

But much of the fund hasn’t gone toward that purpose. Instead, that account built up more and more money that was used to allow more spending in the budget. The $800 million represents the estimated unspent balance for the upcoming 2014-15 budget.

If the Senate legislation approved Monday takes effect (it requires voter approval), most of that huge sum would be handed out as refunds of around $119 per customer, no matter how much that resident or business put into the program.

Another diversion, another broken promise

So, to be clear, this legislation refuses to use the System Benefit Fund for the real, legitimate needs it’s intended to cover. It would liquidate most of the fund’s balance so that accumulated money can never be used for its intended purpose. And it creates a rebate program that’s disconnected from the amount of money Texans put toward this need.

This legislation represents another diversion, another broken promise about ever using the public’s money for the very real needs it promised to cover.

These needs still exist, and Texans have paid hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to address them. But they aren’t being met because those in control refuse to spend this dedicated money on this dedicated purpose that Texans thought they were providing for when they paid this fee.

More of the same

Here’s the worst part: this problem isn’t unique to this issue. Most of this winter’s tough talk about tackling budget diversions is blowing away with the spring.

The leading House bill addressing diversions – the one that’s most likely to pass – would freeze the total amount of them at $4.8 billion, just slightly less than the current $4.95 billion amount.

That’s not real reform. That’s like someone promising he won’t keep drinking any more – while making it clear he won’t be drinking any less either.

In the meantime, my proposed constitutional amendment, which really would begin to end this practice and force legislators to budget more transparently, has been languishing in a Senate committee and subcommittee for more than two months.

This shouldn’t be a hard concept: the legislature needs to spend this money on the purpose for which it was raised.

But even more than that, Texas needs honest, transparent budgeting, not pre-election gimmicks.

Texas can do better than cynical giveaways and more broken promises. Let’s reform the budget with real transparency, honest accounting and a responsible end to these irresponsible diversions.