“School districts represented in two of the lawsuits believe that ... the finance system still does not produce complete equity among districts. Regardless of the equity issue, most districts do agree that the current amount of revenue ... afforded to all districts in the state is simply not enough to provide for an adequate education of our children, as required by the Texas Constitution and defined in statute.”

Those questions – whether the school finance system is equitable, and whether it’s adequate to educate the children of Texas – are going to be litigated over many months, and it’ll probably be more than a year before the courts finally settle the issue.

But after a day like Thursday – after seeing so many of the issues that our schools have been left to deal with – does anyone believe that the state’s doing right by our schools and our kids?

Austin: The achievement gap

Finally, in Austin, business and civic leaders sat down at a summit on Thursday to talk over the state of early childhood education, particularly pre-kindergarten programs.

Of course, Pre-K has become one of the most important factors that educators look at in gauging how successful students will be. The numbers show that kids who show up to kindergarten with basic language, problem-solving and other skills are far more likely to pass achievement tests in later years – and far less likely to drop out of high school.

So what did those in control of the Capitol do with this inside knowledge about what works in education?

They ignored it. They eliminated a critical grant program and the $200 million it would have contributed to make Pre-K programs stronger and more accessible across the state.

It was a devastating decision – and that devastation was front-and-center at the business and civic leader summit Thursday. There, the United Way Capital Area discussed results of a report it produced as part of its "Success by 6" initiative.

The report found that for children as young as 3 – barely older than babies – an achievement gap already can be seen between kids from low-income families and students as a whole.

As the Statesman summarized, “Fifty-two percent of Central Texas children entering kindergarten are ready for school, according to the results. But in Dove Springs, Manor and Quail Creek [three generally low-income neighborhoods that were studied for the project], the proportion considered well-prepared for school ranged from 12 to 15 percent.”

It's a giant problem. All of these stories demonstrate giant problems. And the problems will only grow as this cruel budget and broken finance system settle over the parents, teachers and administrators who are trying to cope with it all.

So the worst thing about Thursday might not even be Thursday. It might be that there'll be more days like it.

• It went on forever and seemed to get worse and worse.
• There was no end in sight.
• Nothing seemed to work.
• What I thought I knew one time didn't work the next time.
• I couldn't figure out what success was supposed to look like.
• It really hurt.
• I was covered in filth and it stunk.

A goat rope with, y'know, democracy. 

Take this redistricting. Please!

Good news and bad news 

But there was some good news: the Supreme Court ordered the judges to keep Voting Rights Act-related concerns in mind as they work through this. That’s a big deal, because some had worried that the Supreme Court would use this case to throw out vital portions of the Voting Rights Act. That doesn’t seem likely to happen at this point.
 
The bad news, however, is that almost everything else is up in the air right now, particularly when it comes to this year’s legislative and Congressional elections:

• We basically have no maps.
• Thus, if you live in Texas, you have no way to know for sure who you’ll be voting on this year to represent you in the legislature or in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• The primary elections, which had already been postponed from March until April, now probably can’t be held until sometime after that – unless both of the courts in San Antonio and Washington really hustle.
• The whole mess is now split between a court in San Antonio, which is trying to draw interim maps that the Supreme Court will like, and the court in Washington DC, which is evaluating the legislatively drawn maps in the context of the Voting Rights Act and trying to figure out a permanent solution.

I’m missing Daddy, Grandpa and even Dusty right about now.

Will electrical current run through water? The shocking answer

Doing something

I’ll be talking more in coming months about legislation and strategies to help the state build out the water plan and prepare for its future. Filling out this approach – and passing it through the legislature – will require a lot of hard work and tough choices by a whole lot of different people in every part of this state.

But the principles and values of any meaningful solution should be clear to everyone:

• We’ve got to be as innovative and technologically savvy as we possibly can about the cheapest, most straightforward, least controversial water supply strategy there is: Conservation.
• We’ve got to take a hard look at every dollar the state spends on water and make sure the projects we’re funding align with the priorities we share.
• We’ve got to bring every possible partner to the table and explore public-private partnerships to stretch our resources as far as possible.
• And we absolutely must stop pretending and promising that Texans can get something for nothing. We’ve got to have a realistic, mature conversation about what it will take to build our future, what that will cost, and how we can responsibly cover that cost without hurting our economy or our people.

It probably goes without saying that water will be one of my most important priorities as I prepare for next year’s legislative session. But it also should be among the top priorities for every legislator and every Texan.

After all, excuses will mean nothing to our children and grandchildren – particularly in the face of a long-foreseen catastrophe.

Luckily, we still have time to act. Let’s not waste it.

Please sign up

Get your friends, too

So go on over to www.kirkwatson.com/austins-health.  There, you’ll find information about:

• The “10 in 10” goals.
• The diverse organizing committee helping to implement them.
• The committee’s mission statement.
• News and updates about medical education in Texas and beyond.
• Reports on the economic impact of a medical school in Austin.

There will be more features to come; we’ll keep you posted as we add them.

And, of course, we have the sign up page.  Please go there now and put your name down, and post the page on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere so others can sign up too.

Please be part of our healthcare community.  It’s one of the best things we can do for our health, our lives, and our economy.  We’ll need your help to do it.

But for those not ready to get back to work ...

Preston, Cooper and I enjoyed our "big" Christmas gift by attending both the Holiday Bowl in San Diego (Texas beating California) and the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio (Baylor beating Washington) on consecutive days.  (Yeah, it was a little exhausting.)

We flew to San Diego, rented a convertible, went to the San Diego Zoo, and ultimately attended a football game that was mostly a defensive display.  But the right team won (UT 21 - Cal 10).  Hook 'em Horns!

Here are a couple of pictures of the boys at the zoo.

 

Cooper Watson, on the left; Preston Watson, on the right

 

Early – early – the next morning, we flew from San Diego to San Antonio, hooked up with Liz, my brother Kyle and his wife Marianne (both also Baylor grads), and went to the second bowl game in two days that evening.  

That game was highly offensive (especially if you don't like lots of excitement and points).  It looked like they'd told both defenses that there was no need to actually tackle anyone, or like the defenses were playing touch football while the offenses were playing tackle.
 
Even when Baylor had 60 points (that's right, 60), I thought they might still lose.
 
They didn't.  The final score was Baylor 67 - Washington 56.  Sic 'em Bears!
 
Here's a picture at that game.
 

A very fun couple of days.  

Now, delete this thing and get to clearing your inbox.

Happy New Year.

At Ballet Austin with the Bon Bon dancers after the performance.

Relief ... is here 

Great collaboration for our community

I was also excited to take part in a ceremony last week commemorating a $3 million grant that the St. David’s Foundation made to the UT-Austin School of Nursing and a facility there that’s now known as the St. David’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Underserved Populations.
 
This type of collaboration – between generous Central Texas leaders and our flagship research university – is actually more common than many people know.  It exemplifies the massive assets we can bring to bear in our effort to build a medical school and health science center in Austin.
 
The St. David's Center works with low-income people, folks with disabilities, children, the elderly and others who tend to be underserved when it comes to healthcare.  The $3 million grant will help the center with its work to reduce health disparities through research and programs that promote healthier lives and lifestyles.
 
School of Nursing Dean Alexa Stuifbergen and Earl Maxwell, chief executive of the St. David's Foundation, both deserve a ton of credit – not just for pulling off this great partnership, but also for the tremendous amount of good they’ve done in our region and across the state.
 
It’s the kind of work that will help us build a medical school, health science center and other vital healthcare resources in Austin.

"Sexting" punishment to fit the crime

You may remember that earlier this year, I passed a bipartisan bill clarifying the state law governing “sexting,” a 21st Century legal issue that’s starting to confront kids, parents and prosecutors.
 
Before my bill passed, there was a possibility under state law that kids who send sexually explicit images electronically (the practice known as “sexting”) might actually be prosecuted under child pornography laws.
 
My bill sought to make sure the punishment would fit the crime.  It said minors who engage in sexting would face what’s known as “conduct in need of supervision,” while 17-year-olds would face no more than misdemeanor charges.  The bill still ensures prosecutors have the discretion to pursue felony charges against budding predators.
 
The San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board had an update on the issue, and some kind words for my bill, in a piece that ran last week.  You can find it here.
 
Thanks for your interest and your support on this and the other legislation I was able to carry and pass this year.  I’m looking forward to updating you in 2012 as I start putting together my agenda for the 83rd Legislative Session.

I'm a walking, talking Wikipedia page about how much our hometown University does to change the world.  I know how to proudly hold my horns high.  I know all the words to The Eyes of Texas.

No man’s land

 
Enough said.
 
Actually, let’s get some more context on that:
 

 
There you go.
 
Oh, and by the way, the Austin High lacrosse team went 8-0 this weekend at its tournament at the Hampshire Dome in Nashua, N.H.
 
Suffice it to say that it was a big sports weekend in the Watson household, even if the Watson household was about 2,000 miles away from the actual Watson house. I’m pretty sure my breathing’s back to normal.

New maps

There’s a lot of news right now about redistricting and the maps that will be used to elect your state representatives, state senators and congressional reps. Here’s where we are:
 
Under the Voting Rights Act, the State of Texas is required to get clearance of any redistricting measures from the United States Justice Department. The state elected to bypass the Justice Department review process for the election maps that were drawn up during the legislative session earlier this year. Instead, the state filed an action in a federal court in Washington, DC.
 
Well, earlier this month, that three-judge panel in federal court rejected the state’s effort to get immediate approval of the election maps. Very importantly, the court said that the state used an “improper standard or methodology to determine which districts afford minority voters the ability to elect their preferred candidates of choice.”
 
Democrats in the Texas Legislature made this point over and over during the legislative session. And, frankly, those in control of the Capitol just kind of ignored us, choosing instead to draw inappropriate maps that we argued created a retrogression in minority voting strength.
 
That meant a different court – this one in San Antonio – had to draw maps that would apply for the 2012 elections while the legal proceedings over Texas redistricting work themselves out.
 
Last week, the San Antonio court released proposed state legislative maps.  Here's what the lines will probably look like in Central Texas:
 
Texas Senate:
 

 
Texas House of Representatives:
 

 
My district, Senate District 14, still looks a lot like it did following the legislative session. Unfortunately, and unnecessarily, Travis County still gets split among four different state senators, though Austin and Travis County appropriately remain the anchor of District 14.
 
More generally, these new maps create more opportunity districts for minorities across the state.  They’ll allow communities of interest to elect the candidates of their choice.  And they fix discriminatory problems from the previous map, particularly in Dallas and Tarrant Counties and along the southern border.
 
Stay tuned for more news about redistricting – and the always-controversial congressional maps – later next week.

Water 

There was also a bit of news last week on Texas’ water situation.
 
The executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality decided on Thursday to recommend that the Lower Colorado River Authority be given more flexibility in how it manages water supplies during brutal droughts like this one.
 
Among other things, he said the LCRA should have the power to protect water supplies for people living in both larger cities and smaller communities, as well as for industries that are vital to the Texas economy. That flexibility could also require the LCRA to curtail water for some customers, including many agricultural customers, whose rights to surface water are "interruptible" under the law.

This wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the right one. More than that, it demonstrates the difficult situation that really all of us face given Texas' limited water resources, the crippling drought conditions, and the stubborn (bordering on – if not in fact – irresponsible) failure by those in control of state government to implement the state’s long-range water plan.
 
The state still hasn’t created a state-wide framework for water conservation, even though the water plan itself says that almost a quarter of our future water supply will need to come from conservation measures, and we’re still waiting for the projects that the water plan calls for.
 
Now, the TCEQ’s decision (should the commission certify it next month) won't add to our region's water supply. Nor will it avert even harder decisions if this terrible drought gets worse.
 
But this drought, and these sorts of difficult choices that the drought’s forcing, should focus all of us.
 
Individually, we must each do our part in conserving and protecting this essential resource. And while state agencies should be commended for addressing a tough situation the best way they know how, legislators must respond to this crisis.  Without a real, honest commitment to implement the state’s water plan, the hard choices facing Texans in and out of government will only get harder.
 
It’s time to take action and make sure that our children, grandchildren and future generations have access to the same clean, reliable water supply that’s fueled our lives and economy.

First, it’s a ton of fun, with families, teams and individuals all taking part, and with a one-mile walking course to make sure everyone can participate.

Second, it’s 10 miles shorter than a half-marathon, though I may have mentioned that.
 
And third and most important, it’s for a great, great cause.  Proceeds from the race and the pledged donations support breast cancer screenings, treatments and research.
 
As you know, cancer research is one of the most critical issues in my life and my public service.  So it was great spending Sunday running with thousands of folks who were so fired up for such an important effort.

Again, some of the more-observant of you might point out that the San Antonio half-marathon also benefited the Komen Foundation.  To that, I'd say, "Yeah. Okay. But did I mention that this one was 10 miles shorter?"

The Honesty Agenda – now online 

Med School Movement 

Also last week, we had the first meeting of the organizing committee I’ve put together to help build a medical school, health science center and teaching hospital in Austin.
 
It was a great meeting.  The group adopted a Mission Statement (which you can see here) along with what I call a Decision Tree, a series of questions that will illuminate how we’ll create these essential new resources.
 
It’s all part of a process I’ve used time and again to help achieve major challenges like this one.  It breaks down into phases I call the 5 P’s:

1. What’s the passion to do the project? Why do it? What's the big vision?  The Mission Statement we adopted speaks to this item.

2. What are the possibilities?  What are our strengths and weaknesses in trying to achieve something?  What are the opportunities and threats to getting it done?  What are all of the things we could possibly get out of it?  If we could wave a magic wand, what would we create?

3. What’s practical?  What can we actually achieve given limitations such as resources or time?  How do we implement magic-wand solutions in a practical world?

4. What’s the plan?  Step-by-step, how do we actually bring about all of the practical parts, and what’s the timeline for doing it?

5. Who are the people involved?  Who needs to be at the table in completing our goal?  Who’s going to be accountable for carrying it out?
 
I feel like we’re already well on our way in step #2 and heading fast into #3.  With this process, including the Decision Tree, the community can be sure that everyone’s asking the hard questions and asking the same questions, and the very diverse group on the organizing committee (click here to see who’s on it) can know we’re working from the same answers.
 
I’ve also started blasting out news clippings and other information about medical education in Central Texas and in general, as well as updates about this effort.  If you want to be on the list, just email me at kirk.watson@senate.state.tx.us.

I must say, I’m enormously encouraged by the progress we’ve made, and I’m more confident than ever that we’ll get where we need to go.

For more, check out this video of my interview this month about the medical school with Dr. James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at UT.

 

About Prop 8

Finally, I need to talk about Proposition 8, the proposed constitutional amendment that would have implemented my Water Stewardship bill from the last legislative session.
 
As you may know, Prop 8 didn’t pass in last week’s constitutional election, even though it cleared both chambers of the legislature unanimously and won the endorsement of more than 30 newspapers around the state.

The amendment would have allowed landowners to receive a property tax incentive if they managed their property in specific ways that conserved water or improved water quality.  The bill wouldn’t have cost the state money; it simply would have encouraged better stewardship of Texas’ water.

Unfortunately, I don't think that was made clear to voters. As I said last week, the ballot language was quite confusing, and there’s no question that played a role in the election outcome.

What’s next 

Most folks know that Texas is in a drought right now. But those in control of our state aren't revealing they understand just how serious it is.
 
The drought has already caused billions of dollars in losses, contributed to devastating wildfires, and forced some water providers to at least consider harsh conservation measures.  Worse still, even though our state water plan outlines how to secure a clean water supply for our children and grandchildren, those in control of the state haven’t declared how they’ll pay for the tens of billions of dollars in projects that the plan calls for.
 
So securing our water supply will require more than just cost-effective, innovative mechanisms (such as, frankly, the Water Stewardship legislation).  It also demands major public investments – and the public commitment that goes with them.
 
So I’m not giving up on the Water Stewardship bill.  Instead, I’m going to keep working hard to show why we need that and everything else.
 
And all of us who care about Texas’ future must make sure voters know not just what this constitutional amendment would have done, but also what the needs of the state are – and what will happen to us, and those coming after us, if we don’t meet those needs.

Well, not quite all

I had to share a great picture.

The Austin High School Lacrosse team scrimmaged the Westlake team the night after Halloween in what was billed as the "Costume Brawl" Scrimmage. The kids wore costumes while playing. 

Cooper Watson, our 16-year-old junior, went as a gladiator.

No?  Really?  What's up with that?

There are only three days of early voting left – the last day is Friday.  Then comes Election Day on the following Tuesday. 

On Wednesday, you'll awake.  Either you’ll feel great for having done your duty as a citizen, Texan, and all-around decent human being ... Or you’ll be forced to confront the bitter cold (well, cool anyway) of the Texas winter with the empty feeling of having missed an election.

I myself voted just this past week.  Terrific experience.  Just took a second.  And you can see how happy and full of joy I look:

So, really.  Go vote.  Today.  While you still can.  Seriously, why wouldn't you?

Yes on Prop. 8

As I’ve mentioned, I’m supporting all of the proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot.  But I’m especially pushing for Proposition 8, which would create Texas’ first statewide water conservation tool by implementing the Water Stewardship legislation I passed during the legislative session.

Last week, the Statesman ran my editorial explaining why you should support Prop. 8.  Also, the Texas Tribune ran this story about how the initiative will conserve water and improve water quality for future generations of Texans.

And, just in case all of that wasn’t enough, last week I posted 8 Reasons to Support Prop. 8 on both Facebook and Twitter (and again, if you’re not following me both places, you really should).  Here’s the list:
 
Reason #1: Prop. 8 will protect the future of children's drinking water.  See this video.
 
Reason #2: The Austin Chronicle endorsed Prop 8.  Here’s the write-up.
 
Reason #3: Texas recently suffered from fires across the state. Water is a precious resource needed during a drought.
 
Reason #4: The Houston Chronicle endorsed Prop. 8 because it's supported by "farmers and city dwellers ... Republicans and Democrats."  Here’s what they had to say.
 
Reason #5: More than 90 percent of Texas is in some form of moderate to severe drought.  We must protect Texas' most precious resource – water.
 
Reason #6: Texas needs a reliable water source.  Read more here on the case for Prop. 8.

Reason #7: Texas will see better quality and quantity with our water supply.  Some frequently asked questions here.

Reason #8: Texas’ clean water supply is dwindling, and we need partnerships with landowners to preserve water resources.

That enough for you?  Good.  Now get down to the polls and vote for Proposition 8.

One more thing ...

Finally, before we forget, let me just say ...

Great job, Rangers.  We’re all proud of you.

Of course, I rode my Hog out there to be a part of it all.  

 

It was a nearly "porkfect" day. I put some "pigtures" on my Facebook page.

It's also that other wonderful season of the year.

Part of what made this weekend so great, I think, is that we're finally entering a new season.  It's one we've all been waiting for.  You can feel it in the air.
 
It’s a time of change.  Of anticipation.  A time to come bounding out of your house to do something that you just can’t do in the summer.
 
Yes, it’s election time.
 
Yesterday, early voting started on 10 amendments to the state constitution.  Those amendments, and the laws they’d enact, can’t pass if they aren’t approved by voters.
 
So, other than it just being your duty to go vote whenever election time rolls around, it’s also your chance to play an important role in the legislative process.  To get more information about early voting in Travis County, go here.  For Bastrop County, try this.  And if you live anywhere else in Texas, check with your county clerk’s office or try the Secretary of State’s page.
 
One way or another, please don’t miss it.
 
Go vote.

A word on the amendments 

As you may remember, I’m endorsing all 10 of the amendments for passage.  My summaries are below.
 
But before we take another look at those, let me write a little bit about the way these propositions get on the ballot in the first place.
 
The process is important because, it seems like, a few folks may have a knee-jerk reaction against one or more of the amendments just because they think they have to be against something on the ballot.
 
The truth is, they don’t.  And neither do you.
 
First of all, constitutional amendments can’t pass without the vote of two-thirds of each legislative chamber.  Obviously, that’s a very high hurdle to clear, and it means these initiatives can’t even make it out of the legislature without wide-ranging and bipartisan support.
 
Furthermore, I feel that constitutional amendments actually tend to get more attention in the legislature than standard bills – if only because legislators all know that we can’t change or fix anything without another constitutional amendment.
 
And finally, as individual policy measures, it’s pretty easy to support all 10 of the propositions.

What you’ll be deciding 

Here again is a summary of what you’ll see on the ballot now that early voting’s started.
 
The big issue for me, as I’ve discussed before, is Proposition 8, which would enact the Water Stewardship legislation I passed during the regular session.  This law would encourage landowners to manage their property in a way that conserves water and improves water quality for future generations of Texans. This was more than a bipartisan effort that passed unanimously in both chambers of the legislature.  It also won the support of a wide range of business, environmental and agricultural groups.
 
Proposition 8 will let property owners have their land appraised as agricultural (generally resulting in a lower tax bill) if they manage it in a way that improves water quality and quantity.
 
However – and this is important – the law would only apply to folks who already qualify for the agriculture valuation.  That means it wouldn’t cost the state money, and it wouldn’t open what’s known as the “agricultural exemption” to anyone who doesn’t already qualify for it.  But it would encourage practices that help the state’s water supply.
 
So vote “yes” on Proposition 8.  Seriously.
 
Here’s the full ballot, which you also should vote “yes” on:
 
Proposition 1 would allow creation of a tax exemption for disabled veterans’ spouses.  The state already provides a full property tax exemption to veterans who are completely disabled.  This proposition would extend that benefit to the surviving spouses of those veterans as long as they continue to meet certain conditions.
 
Proposition 2 would allow the Texas Water Development Board to issue continuing debt, with no more than $6 billion outstanding at any time, for projects that help state and local entities improve the state’s water supply.  More than 90 percent of the state is in moderate to severe drought right now.  We need tools such as both Prop 2 and Prop 8 to meet our future needs.
 
Proposition 3 would let the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board issue debt to pay for student loans, subject to restrictions such as a maximum amount of debt outstanding at any one time.
 
Proposition 4 would allow counties to issue tax-supported bonds to develop or redevelop certain areas within the county.
 
Proposition 5 would let cities and counties contract with each other without having to meet certain obligations created by the state.
 
Proposition 6 would give the state flexibility in how it calculates money that’s available to schools from the state’s Permanent School Fund, allowing the state to distribute up to $300 million more per year for Texas schools and schoolkids.
 
Proposition 7 would let El Paso County create a conservation and reclamation district to develop parks and recreation centers.
 
Once again, Proposition 8 would create Texas' first statewide water conservation tool – protecting water quality in rivers, streams and aquifers, while also helping the state meet its water planning and conservation goals.
 
Proposition 9 would let the Governor, with the written recommendation of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, grant a pardon, reprieve or commutation of sentence to someone who completes deferred adjudication community supervision.
 
Proposition 10 would extend the length of an unexpired term-in-office that triggers the automatic resignation of some local elected officials should those officials announce they’re running for something else.
 
So that’s the list.  Only one thing left to do.
 
Go vote.

Catching up ...

Between my work to bring a medical school to Austin, the constitutional election next month, and another round of debt, diversions and deception in the state budget, there’s been a lot to cover in the Watson Wire over the last few weeks.  So I want to catch you up on some other stuff that I haven’t gotten to recently.

All of these things I'm about to mention, by the way, were covered on my Twitter feed or my Facebook page.  I also posted more updates on the Medical School effort and on Proposition 8, the proposed constitutional amendment on next month’s ballot that would authorize my Water Stewardship legislation.

If you aren’t following me in both places ... well, we need to do something about that.  And by “we,” I mean “you.”

The news

First off, a lot of good people are doing a ton of great work to clean up the devastation that’s left from the September fires in Central Texas.  Last week, the Lower Colorado River Authority set aside $5 million to help with recovery efforts in Bastrop County.  The funds are critical to receiving a federal match of $15 million from FEMA.

That LCRA money came in response to a request from me along with Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald and Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative general manager Mark Rose.  While it will help, there’s still lots of work to be done to help Central Texas recover.  I'm proud to continue working closely with Bastrop County in its recovery efforts.

I also was honored to be recognized by the Texas Municipal League as a Legislator of the Year for work in the last legislative session.  I went to Houston to accept the award at TML’s annual conference.

The group cited me for playing “a key role in defending municipal authority.”  Obviously, those issues of local control have been important for me for all of my time in public service.  I appreciate the recognition, and I’m looking forward to continuing to help.

And I sent a letter expressing my strong opposition to a proposal by Monarch Utilities that would sustantially raise water rates on some Central Texans.

Monarch is an investor-owned water provider serving parts of Northeast Travis County and other areas around the state.  It’s one of the utilities I’m looking into as part of a joint subcommittee I'm chairing that’s investigating the water and sewer rate increases these utilities keep imposing on customers across the state.

Less newsy ...

Lest we forget, there’s also Llama Llama Red Pajama.

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped in on a kindergarten class at Casis Elementary with AISD Superintendent Meria Carstarphen to read the children’s book as part of a national effort to break the record for the most children being read to from a digital story online.  For the story and video, click here.

And, finally, I showed up in a column by Austin American-Statesman columnist Ken Herman about office-holders who use Twitter.  As Herman noted, I’ve been known, occasionally, to let folks know via Twitter about Watson family activities – including the lacrosse teams my kids have played on over the years.

Which led to this exchange (all over Twitter, naturally):

Me: “Finally, my lacrosse play-by-play gets the credit it deserves. But are you really hip if @kherman is the judge?”

Herman: “No. In fact, odds are good that if I mention you you are decidedly unhip.”

So there you have it.  Get a mention by Ken Herman on Twitter, and be uncool.

Maybe I’ll get a horoscope that reassures me about “images of hipness” so I can look at this differently.  I’m embracing my most authentic self, you see.

The Statesman had a great writeup over the weekend about how much work has gone into the development of a medical school, teaching hospital and health science center in Austin.  As it says, this is a “watershed moment” in the long effort to take advantage of the huge economic, educational and health benefits that a medical school, teaching hospital and health science center could offer.

If I may quote myself and spoil the ending, let me just say: We have so many good people ready to do good work that success is immensely possible.  And to not do it and not get started on the path would be extraordinarily regrettable.

This is big. It's going to be hard. But it needs to be done.

What we’re doing; why we’re doing it

If you want to take a look at the 10 goals in 10 years that we’ve set as a community, or learn about the organizing committee I’ve set up to help achieve them, go here.

The fact is, a medical school and health science center in Austin will offer a lift in the quality and type of care available to Central Texans, including additional treatments, more doctors and access to clinical trials.  It will translate into more residency programs, bringing more doctors here and enticing them to remain here after their training.

This nucleus of activity will also create thousands of jobs, a lot of economic activity, and new startup firms, biotech products, and technology.

Furthermore, this effort should lead to things like a comprehensive cancer center (one of my 10 goals in 10 years).  As Doug Ulman (president and CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation) said in the article, "The health care within Central Texas has not kept pace with the growth.”

Doug had another quote that should give us all pause.  He said, “Over the 10 years I have lived in Austin, I don't know one individual (diagnosed with cancer) who has not sought a second opinion outside of Austin.  There is something wrong with that picture."

In other words, people shouldn’t have to leave Austin to get the treatment and cures they need.  A medical school and health science center will help folks stay here and get better here.

And we have so many assets to help make this a reality.  The Seton Healthcare Family, St. David’s Healthcare, more than 200 biotech and life science companies, Dell Children’s Medical Center and Pediatric Research Institute ... the list goes on.

Hook ‘em

And, of course, there’s the University of Texas at Austin, which is very well-positioned to provide so many of the programs and so much of the infrastructure that’s needed to create a successful medical school here.

The university’s commitment rang through once again last week during a forum I participated in with UT President William Powers Jr.

President Powers declared there that UT wants to establish a “world-class medical school,” and he enumerated some of the benefits it could bring.

He also noted the critical pieces that UT already has created to support a medical school, including nursing, pharmacy, biochemical engineering, social work and chemistry programs, to name a few.  To quote the Statesman article on that appearance, those programs represent "the big part of the iceberg” when it comes to a medical school.

Don’t forget the healthcare district

We also have Central Health, Travis County’s healthcare district.

Not only is Central Health playing an active role on the Organizing Committee I put together, but it’s going through its own process to build consensus around steps the community can take to improve health and healthcare in Central Texas.  (This is very much in-line with my 10-in-10 goal of creating modern, uniquely Austin health clinics in our neighborhoods and across the community.)

This week, Central Health will start working with community leaders to build support around ways to make Austin a healthier place.  As part of that effort, the district is issuing a long report (what it calls a white paper) offering a look at where Central Texas stands on health and healthcare.

This report covers a ton of ground, including on the need for a medical school, teaching hospital and health science center in Austin.  It states that the region will need to add nearly 3,000 physicians by 2020 to keep up with our growth.  For many communities, medical schools are the main source of new doctors because graduates frequently practice in the areas where they were trained.

In addition, it says, a medical school and related facilities will probably increase the availability of not only primary care physicians, but also – and this is important – medical subspecialists who will improve care for the uninsured and underinsured, fuel research discovery and clinical trials, and stimulate new industry growth (such as technology and biotechnology) and entrepreneurship.

“This type of expansion would attract businesses with high wage jobs requiring a more educated workforce, and support additional economic development,” the report says.

And for a kicker, it quotes the economic research firm Texas Perspectives, which projects that “expanding academic medicine in Central Texas, such as by developing a medical school – along with its ripple effect of investment in the local economy – could produce an additional $2 billion in annual economic activity and earnings and nearly 15,000 permanent jobs in the region through spending related to education, life sciences, and other sectors to support these growth areas.”

This is too big an opportunity for Austin – and we have too many assets – to miss our chance.  As I and many others keep saying, it’s time for Austin to have a medical school, and everything that goes with it.

I’ll keep you posted on our progress.

No pill's gonna cure my ill

I fully intended to be open and transparent about the training and weight loss program I'm on.  That was my intention when I thought I'd be in a position to brag about how great I'm doing.  Of course, I'm trying to be ready to run a half marathon in mid-November.

Let's just say that, for now anyway, it's better for me to keep things to myself.

A few months, later the guy runs into the kid and asks what he ever did with that dead dog.  The kid says, "I held a raffle. I asked, 'Would you be willing to pay $10 for a dog?'  I collected $1,000."

The older guy is flabbergasted.  He asks, "Weren't people upset when they found out the dog was dead?"  The kid says, "Not really. Just the lady who won. So I gave her $10 back."

Folks, that kid has the skill set necessary to write the Texas budget.

Bad news for budget honesty 

More money, more problems (passing bills)

The big picture: So this is what running a business looks like?

The worst part of all of this is, this isn’t really the bad news.
 
No, the bad news is that these diversions aren’t an isolated problem.  Really, they’re just part of the pattern of debt, diversions and deception that’s allowed those in control to balance a less-than-transparent budget for years.
 
And in case you’re wondering how long it’ll be until all of this catches up with them ... well, I’d say about 15 months.
 
The budget passed this year was very hard.  It’s required widespread cuts in classrooms across the state.  It’s led to a 10-figure shortfall in healthcare funding.  And there have been so many layoffs among state, school district and other public employees that it’s pushing up the state’s unemployment rate.
 
But that’s not the end of it – not by a long shot.

• Many expect the state will come into the next session facing a budget hole of $10 billion or more.
• More than 100 school districts are preparing to sue the state alleging that it’s failed to meet its constitutional obligation to provide a fair and adequate school finance system.
• The widely and wildly unpopular Margins Tax has been in need of reform for two sessions and isn’t getting any less broken (it also has been challenged in court as being unconstitutional).
• Those in control of the budget intentionally underfunded the state’s Medicaid obligations by more than $4 billion – a hole they’ll probably have to fill shortly after the session starts, so we know we'll probably start with a budget deficit.
• Oh, and there’s that matter of almost $5 billion in diversions. 

All of this adds up to significant budget problems in 2013.  The sooner we start being honest about them, the easier it will be to solve them.  Those in control of the Capitol like to say we should run Texas government like a business. That sounds great.  Almost fits on a bumper sticker.  

But this ain't no way to run a business.  Unless you want to run it into the ground.  

And now, a weight update

I really need to lose weight.  Some of you, I'm sure, are spending lots of time worrying about my commitment to getting back into shape in time for a mid-November half marathon.  Your thoughts and prayers are highly appreciated.  

I don't mean to sound unappreciative but, frankly, I don't think you're praying or thinking hard enough.  Get after it. Here's the update:

Pounds lost: 3

Running mileage gained:  Progress so negligible that I considered removing the category.

New body parts hurting:  3 (There are 5 hurting, but 2 were hurting when I started the program.)

Another reason to look forward to November

Let’s start with Water Stewardship 

Major propositions

Not quite as major, but still needed, propositions 

It’s time for a Medical School in Austin.

That sounds so good.

Such an easy, obvious declaration.  But despite the certainty behind that statement and the diversity of people who will chant it like it’s a mantra ... it hasn’t happened.  So we wait.  And we watch.

We watch Austin grow into one of the largest cities in the country without a medical school and teaching hospital.  We watch the University of Texas at Austin stand as one of only a handful of Tier One research institutions without a medical school.

Meanwhile, we see all the things a medical school, teaching hospital and additional health resources offer.  And we watch other cities and regions seize these opportunities and assets that we want and need:

-- We see the medical schools and teaching hospitals ... and the doctors who start in those hospitals and spend their lives working in those communities long after their training and residencies are completed.   

-- We see the improved, cost-effective opportunities for medical care open to folks who don’t have or can’t afford health insurance ... and the cutting-edge treatments and cures that people right here at home need to be healthier, or even need to survive, but that they have to travel to places like Houston and Dallas to get.  

-- We see the jobs and economic booms in biotech, health science and medical research that regions with medical schools, teaching hospitals and related assets can jump on ... and the business startups, technology licensing, and tens of thousands of jobs launched by that research and discovery.  

We see all of it.  

And then we look here at Austin and we see ... Well, we see that we don’t have these things.  

As of today, as of right now, that’s going to change.

Just look at who we have in this room, ready to go.

They're here knowing, and I’m here today to say, that it’s time to act.  To look forward.  To say with certainty and purpose that it really is time to create jobs and boost our economy by building on healthcare and medical research.  It’s time for a new way of life that will make this healthy community even healthier.

It’s time for a medical school and health science center in Austin.  And if we look at our history, we’ll see that we have a great chance to fulfill this vision.

Regional History

I deeply believe we’re entering a new phase in Austin’s history, one that makes a medical school – and everything that goes with it – both more critical and more achievable than it’s ever been.  And when we think about transitioning into this new era, it helps to think about the transitions that have come before.

The Fourth Transition

But it would be a mistake to treat medical education and research like it’s some new song from an old band we all liked back in the ’70s.  You don’t just drop the semiconductor wafer, pick up a scalpel, and keep going the way you’ve been going.  This isn’t simply another version of something we already know.
 
This is new, and it’s potentially bigger than any of us have ever seen.

The Assets We Have

Think for a minute about the inventory of assets this community can bring together to help us create a medical school and health science center in Austin:

10 Things in 10 Years: The People

Let’s set 10 goals.  10 steps that lead to a teaching hospital, medical school and health science center.

Let’s reinforce an Austin way of life built around intelligence, inclusiveness and community well-being.

I’ve met, consulted and worked with a large group of dedicated people – many of you in this room – to come up with these 10 concrete outcomes.  Achieving them will require hard work, targeted work and responsibility.  So Central Texas business and community leaders will form an organizing committee to create Austin’s medical school and health science center.

10 Things in 10 Years: The Goals

This impressive group will focus on achieving, over the next 10 years, these 10 transformative and interlocking goals:
 
1.  Build a medical school.
2.  Build a modern teaching hospital.
3.  Establish modern, uniquely Austin health clinics.
4.  Develop a Research Institute and laboratories for public and private research.
5.  Launch a new commercialization incubator.
6.  Start a comprehensive cancer treatment center.
7.  Provide needed psychiatric care and facilities.
8.  Improve basic infrastructure, and create a sense of place.
9.  Bolster the medical examiner’s office.
10.  Solve the funding puzzle.

Pitfalls and Possibilities 

... This is a program that’s much bigger than this committee and even the folks in this room.  This is a program for our community.  It requires the contributions of more people, from more segments of our community, than any single program I’ve seen in more than 20 years of public life.  It will require hard work, creativity, unselfish input and commitment from a truly remarkable group of people, and a truly remarkable number of people.
 
And whatever’s required … is what we must do.
 
Austin must seize this chance and create this fabric for the health of our neighbors, our economy, and our children and grandchildren.  We have to be mindful of the problems and pitfalls of the past, but we must not be intimidated by them.
 
We’ve got to be open, honest and accountable, working to create and build, not destroy and tear down.  We’ve got to make new friends, join new constituencies, and form bonds that ensure everyone who can gain from this project really does.
 
Most importantly, we’ve got to resist the temptation to keep waiting, watching and wishing.  We’ve got to throw out the past and reject the old excuses.  We must not tell ourselves that somehow, sometime, some better deal will come along.

It won’t.

This is the moment.   This is our chance.

It’s time for a medical school, teaching hospital and health science center in Austin.  And I’m looking forward to working with all of you to make it happen.

How you can help

Many of you will be at my Concert Under the Stars at Zilker Park on Thursday.  We’ll be collecting canned and other nonperishable food items and giving them to groups that are aiding fire victims.
 
Please come on Thursday night, and please give generously to those in need.  You can learn more here.

In addition, you can get information about other efforts on my Facebook page, where I've been posting updates about the fires as information comes in.
 
And, of course, please donate through the Central Texas Red Cross. 

There's so much to do to help these communities rebuild. Doing so will take a lot of teamwork.

But particularly after everything I saw last week, there's no team I'd rather be a part of.

Thanks for everything you do. I hope I'll see you soon.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the thousands of Central Texans who have lost their homes or evacuated from their neighborhoods, or who are still caring for and worrying about friends and family members in harm’s way.

I spent part of the weekend trying to assist volunteers, professional firefighters and many others who are working heroically to contain the fires and help people who’ve been affected by them. And this morning, I was briefed on the scope of this tragedy with the Governor and other officials.

Getting a briefing on the fires at Steiner Ranch this morning, with Governor Perry and Chief W. Nim Kidd of the state's Division of Emergency Management.

The pictures in the papers and on TV don’t convey the full devastation.  The fires have blackened tens of thousands of acres in Bastrop and Travis counties, destroyed thousands of homes and wiped out neighborhoods.
 
Even when everything is extinguished, it’s going to take a while for the region to recover.  At the same time, though, people are already coming together to help neighbors and strangers whose lives have been turned upside-down.
 
We’re fortunate to live in such a sympathetic, generous place.  That’s our strength, and it will remain our strength as we face, conquer and recover from this challenge.

 With Lake Travis Fire Rescue Chief Jim Linardos

If you want to help, go to the Central Texas Red Cross site here.  In Bastrop County, they're taking donations of food, clothing, bathroom supplies such as toothpaste, tooth brushes, deodorant and the like at Trinity Zion Church, 151 Shiloh, Bastrop, TX  78602.

In other news

If you could tear yourself from heat-related news last week, there was quite a bit going on when it comes to Central Texas’ infrastructure and economic future.
 
First, I announced a plan to work with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and various community leaders to do a comprehensive, overarching study of the region’s most congested highway segments – and of what we can do to speed up the traffic.
 
The study will focus on:
    •   Interstate 35 between U.S. 183 and Texas 71,
    •   Lamar Boulevard between 45th and Sixth streets,
    •   South Lamar Boulevard from 71 into Downtown Austin,
    •   MoPac Boulevard at 183 on the north and U.S. 290 on the south, and
    •   Loop 360 between MoPac and 290.
 
These projects, which are all in Travis County, are the only ones in Central Texas listed among the 50 most congested road segments in the state.
 
The ultimate goal of this effort will be to identify the best, most cost-effective ways to speed up traffic on these roads, using the considerable expertise of TTI and Central Texas leaders.  That work will help prioritize spending from a $31 million pool of money that the region can put toward projects that would alleviate congestion on these road segments.
 
The $31 million is Central Texas' share of $300 million that voters approved and the legislature set aside to help address traffic on the state's 50 most congested roads.  It can be used for things such as purchasing right-of-way, doing engineering work or helping develop transportation improvements.
 
This sort of project should help create a truly comprehensive transportation system that will open up more room to move for commuters, more space to grow for the economy, and more time for hard-working Central Texans to spend with their friends and family.
 
And hopefully, it’ll yield evidence to those in control of the Capitol of the need to create this essential infrastructure – both for the people who are here and the generation that's coming.

Time for a Health Science Center and Med School

On top of that, on Thursday, UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa laid out his vision for the future of the System’s institutions – a vision that the Board of Regents adopted.
 
A critically important part of that plan for Central Texas is its emphasis on advanced medical education and research in Austin.
 
As I said last week, an advanced medical education and research initiative, growing alongside and in partnership with University of Texas System institutions, represents almost limitless opportunity for Central Texans’ economy, health and quality of life.  I believe in this vision, and it’s been my privilege to work with Chancellor Cigarroa and Executive Vice Chancellor Kenneth Shine on various strategies to make it happen.
 
The Chancellor’s plan is important, timely and welcome.  Over the next 30 days, I plan to offer a path – and a challenge for our community – to build on his statement so we realize these goals that so many of us have shared for so long.  It’s time for us to come together and act, creating a flagship initiative that can fortify our future and lead the world in the fields of medical education, healthcare and bioscience.
 
A flagship health science center and medical school represent a significant opportunity.  We must come together and seize it.

One more thing

Hey.

Have you signed up for the big show on Sept. 15?
 
If you have, take a moment to bask in how bright you are.  
 
If you haven't, why not?

Come on.  Mavis Staples.  Charles Bradley.  Zilker Park.  8 p.m.

I really wouldn't miss it if I were you.

It was great.  And I'm only slightly injured from a wreck I had on a contraption that allows people to speed down a mountain in a bobsled/luge sort of thing.

For the record, this was not a competition between a father and his sons. But I was very far ahead (and almost certainly going to finish first) when I seemed to lose control coming out of one of the steeply banked curves.

I ended up sliding down part of the mountain pretty much uncontrolled.

The boys with their bobsleds/luges just before the run.

Anyway, as a result of the entire week (and not just speed-induced injuries), I've written nothing for this Watson Wire. Sorry.

A Reminder

We're getting a lot of response for the 6th Annual Concert Under the Stars. And I'm not surprised. I've got the legendary Mavis Staples and Charles Bradley performing a big night of R&B. It's exciting.

The concert is on September 15th at Rock Island in Zilker Park. You need to be there. You can sign up by going here.

2011 Concert Under the Stars

I’ll Take You There…
A night of R&B with the legendary

Mavis Staples and Charles Bradley

Save the Date: 9/15/2011 | Zilker Park

Rock Island, Zilker Park | Concert at 8:00 PM
Mark your calendars and register at www.kirkwatson.com/concert.
To RSVP, please fill out the registration form at www.kirkwatson.com/concert or contact Susan Harry at susan@kirkwatson.com / (512) 542-9744.

I know a place. 

Although my desire has been unrequited, I don't begrudge other people who stand up and sing to large crowds.  So for the past six years, I've put on a concert down at Zilker Park here in Austin and invited all of my friends.  We consistently have around a thousand people having a blast in that great venue.

Ain't nobody crying.

This year, we're having a big night of R&B.  The legendary Mavis Staples is the headliner.  Charles Bradley will open up the night.
 
It's on September 15th.  The sponsor reception begins at 6:30.  The music starts at 8:00.  As usual, we'll have things to eat and stuff to drink.

Respect yourself.

You can RSVP by donating right now.  And, of course, you should.  
 
Click here for all of the details.  Oh, and click here to listen to some music.

If You're Ready (Come Go With Me) 

This event has become a tradition.  It gets better every year.  Don't miss out.

Save yourself.  Here's how.

Tonight at 7, I’ll host a live, interactive video Town Hall meeting.

You can tune in from your couch, your desk or pretty much wherever you’ve got a working internet connection.  We’ll be talking about the recently concluded 82nd Texas Legislative Session and the 4 big things you need to know about what happened.

You can RSVP (although you don't have to RSVP to tune in) and ask a question for tonight’s Town Hall here or here.

• Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association,
• Nestor Menjivar, pastor of Principe de Paz Baptist Church, and
• Bee Morehead with Texas Impact.

And tonight, when 7 p.m. CST rolls around, you should either go to my Facebook page (where you can click on the Ustream tab), or to my actual Ustream page at www.ustream.tv/kirkwatson.

I'll see you tonight.

Next Tuesday, I’ll host an online town hall meeting to talk about the recent, dearly departed Texas Legislative Session. We’re going to focus on the 4 Big Things you need to know about what just happened under the dome.

And what are those things, you ask? I guess you’d better tune in. I’ve also put together a very smart panel to help put everything in perspective:

• Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association (one of the best friends that teachers, students and parents have in this state),
• Nestor Menjivar, pastor of Principe de Paz Baptist Church (an advocate for fairness, equality and opportunity for all Texans), and
• Bee Morehead with Texas Impact (a leader at the Capitol on a huge range of budget and equity issues that concern people of faith).

The Town Hall is going to be broadcast via UStream, so you’ll be able to watch it here or here.

But really, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  The first thing you need to do is RSVP and submit whatever question you have.  If you’re partial to Facebook, do that on this events page.  You can also sign up on my web site at http://www.kirkwatson.com/online-office/online-town-hall.

And, most importantly, tell your friends.  Invite them through the Facebook page.  Send links.  Line up babysitters.  Create a drinking game.  Do what you need to do.  Because this legislative session’s going to have as much impact on our state’s future as any I can remember.

Let’s talk about what we’re going to do about it.

Feeling the heat

You know about the drought.

You see the grass and plants turning brown and shriveling up around your neighborhood.  You feel the furnace every time you walk outside.  Even those of you who don’t work on farms or ranches have read about the worries of those who do.

So it’s easy to feel what’s going on.  But it’s still hard to comprehend just how terrible this drought is.

The current dry spell is threatening to challenge the drought of the 1950s in the toll it takes on our state and our water supplies (check out this editorial from the Statesman over the weekend putting it into context).  That punishing period 60 years ago is known by water planners as the “Drought of Record,” meaning it’s the benchmark, for water planning purposes, of what we need to be prepared for if things get historically bad.

In other words, our current trouble may yet become our worst-case scenario.

But the state’s problems aren’t just a matter of short-term weather patterns.  While Texas has done a decent job of planning for our water future, the state has failed to implement the plan – or even figure out how to implement it.

In other words, we know what we’ll need to sustain our people and our economy, and we know what it will take to meet that need.  But those in control have yet to step up to the challenge of making that plan a reality.

People love bragging about the growth Texas is experiencing, but there’s a dangerous inability to talk about the infrastructure – even with something as basic as water – that growth requires.

And if we don’t have that discussion soon or get results from it, then this terrible drought we’re experiencing could start looking closer and closer to the new normal.

Steps in the right direction

I’m proud of a couple of accomplishments from the past legislative session that will help move the state in the right direction when it comes to water.

One is what we call the Water Stewardship bill – a bipartisan measure I worked on with the Nature Conservancy of Texas.  This will create incentives for property owners to manage their land in a way that encourages conservation and improves water quality without costing the state any additional money.

The bill will take effect if voters approve Proposition 8 on the Nov. 8 constitutional ballot.  You can read more about it here and here.

The truth is that there's nothing more important to Texas' present and its future than a water supply that's clean and that won't dry up.  Proposition 8 will help protect our rivers, creeks and aquifers, along with our economy and the opportunity for our children and grandchildren to prosper.

Water (rate hikes) everywhere

Also, this Thursday, I’m chairing a public hearing on an issue that speaks directly to the relationship between water customers and companies in this new environment.

Last month, it was announced that I’d co-chair a Senate subcommittee to examine the rising cost of water and sewer utility service, particularly in parts of the state outside cities.

In these areas, folks are frequently served by what are known as "investor owned utilities" – private, for-profit companies that provide utility service.  The state grants these companies what amounts to a monopoly on service in a particular area and regulates the rates they can charge for their service.

Increasingly over the last decade, big out-of-state utility companies have swooped into Texas and other states to buy far-flung water systems and bundle them together.  As a result, thousands of customers who have nothing in common but the return address on their water bills are paying the same across-the-board water and sewer rates.

And, as you might expect, some of those rates just keep getting more and more expensive – scandalously so, in some cases.

Which brings us to Thursday, when I'll chair a public hearing investigating how these companies are doing their business and what more the state needs to do to protect Texans.  The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in Room E1.016 in the Capitol (in the underground extension north of the dome).  You can watch it live here.

I'll let you know how it goes.  And you can bet that this will be a big priority for me – along with other issues that will define Texas' water future – as I start preparing for the next legislative session.

Can you hear that?

I mentioned a few weeks back that my colleagues unanimously named me Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus.  As I said at the time, I’m very excited about this opportunity to work and focus on the priorities we share with Texas families, teachers, seniors and many others (priorities that, frankly, those in control of the Capitol seem to forget more than you’d expect).

But more than that, I’m excited about this new chance to listen.
 
“Listening” seems like something of a lost art at the Capitol.  Many of the real mistakes from this most recent legislative session – from the non-emergency of anti-immigrant legislation, to the failure to fund growth in our schools, to the taking of dedicated funds promised for one purpose and diversion of them for something else – really boil down, in no small part, to a failure to listen to Texans or to really try to hear them.
 
For instance, I think this legislative session will be remembered in part for the harm it caused two groups of Texans:
Hispanics, who may be hurt more by legislation that negatively impacts voting in Texas, and who were clear targets of the so-called sanctuary cities bill; and
Women, who probably will be disproportionately affected by the budget cuts to teaching positions and other things, and who will unquestionably, in some cases, suffer in their relationships with their doctors.
All of those mistakes could have been avoided if those in control had been more willing to listen.

Of course I hear that

A great deal of my success in public life has boiled down to listening and really trying to hear what people of different backgrounds, experiences and outlooks wanted, hoped for, and were concerned about – and then working toward a solution that meets the hopes of as many people, communities and constituencies as possible.

Way back in the late 90s, when I was mayor of Austin, I ran on a pledge to end the city’s "heads I win, tails you lose" battles that wrongly pitted the environment versus economic development.  I ended up winning re-election with 84 percent of the vote.  
 
Similarly, in this new position of Caucus Chair, success will be determined by how well I and those in my party listen.  
 
As recently as this legislative session, we’ve seen some success in this area.  In the midst of all the pain that was being dished out to Texans in the budget and other bills, we drew public attention to the wide gap between the priorities of those in control and the priorities of the Texans they work for.  A big chunk of my "Honesty Agenda" for fiscal and budget transparency was passed, creating new ways for those in control to listen and hear the folks who elected them.

But we have to do more.  Our success depends on it.

Listen up, or get left behind

There’s no question that Texas is changing.  The demographic shifts are widely known.  

But some folks aren't willing to recognize that they just might not understand the life experiences of others.  

There's nothing inherently wrong with not initially understanding.  But refusing to admit you may not understand is wrong. So is failing to listen to those with a different set of experiences, demeaning a point of view that those experiences created, or arrogantly assuming yours is the only perspective that matters.  

We all have a role to play in Texas' future, and we'll be better and stronger if we do it by hearing each other, embracing what we have in common, celebrating those differences that make our culture richer, and working in concert with one another.
 
We are a diverse group – of senators and of Texans.  And that diversity is, and must be, our best asset.

But it’s only an asset if we can really hear the different voices that make up our present and our future.  It’s only valuable if we can take all of those hopes and dreams and use them to set Texas on a path that’s good for all Texans.
 
It only works if we listen.

How miserable can it get?  Well, I'll observe that there’s no school, no football and no lawmaking (in Texas, it’s because the session’s over; I don’t know what their excuse is in Washington).  Thank goodness for the U.S. women’s soccer team, not just because they’re awesome, but also because we all need some feel-good drama right about now that’s more compelling than Transformers 3.

More summer reading

Some folks are taking the down time to evaluate the good, bad and ugly from the recently concluded Texas legislative session.  I wanted to direct your attention specifically to this Dallas Morning News editorial on the worsening dependency on diversions among those in control of the state budget. 

As many of you know, the problem is that the state habitually takes money (usually raised from fees) that’s supposed to go toward parks, utility bill relief, clean air and other specific purposes, and then diverts it to balance the budget.  This bad habit has mushroomed over the last decade.  The 2000-01 budget diverted about $1.3 billion in this way – the 2012-13 budget is expected to kick that total up to more than $4 billion.

 As the Morning News editorial board puts it ...

Lawmakers cover up financial woes with slick budget trick

Good magicians never reveal their tricks. So it stands to reason that most state lawmakers have little to say about the financial abracadabra they orchestrated during this year’s legislative session. 

Instead of addressing the uncomfortable truth about Texas’ tax system, legislators left billions of dollars in dedicated fees and taxes unspent so that they could overspend general revenue and balance the budget. It’s a slick little trick that papers over some structural deficiencies.

But this sleight of hand amounts to kicking a serious problem down the road. And worse, it’s deceptive.

Most Texas lawmakers are loath to raise taxes. But over the years, they’ve sold the public on an assortment of narrowly tailored fees and taxes that are supposed to funnel money to endeavors such as improving trauma centers or reducing electricity costs for the poor and elderly.

Texans assume that the money allocated to these areas is actually spent as promised. When revenues run short, though, the Legislature pulls a tax and switch. 

Lawmakers decline to spend the dedicated funds but then pretend to have more general revenue to fill in budget gaps. In other cases, they simply ignore the purpose of the tax and divert some of the money to other agencies.

As a result, those worthy priorities such as trauma centers and electricity discounts for the poor and elderly get short shrift.

Lawmakers have gotten hooked on this under-the-radar maneuver, preferring to quietly move the money around instead of tackling tough questions about why Texas’ tax structure continues to come up short. 

This budget cycle, only about 60 percent of $10.5 billion in dedicated funds will be spent on intended causes.

What might have started as a stopgap measure has morphed into a bad budget habit.

State Sen. Kirk Watson, a Democrat from Austin, rightly calls this a breach of promise. And he’s urged his colleagues to reform a budgeting system that he says is built on debt, deception and diversions.

Watson has gotten some traction with his calls for a more honest approach to taxing and spending. Still, the continued hocus pocus underscores the need for a more significant overhaul of the tax structure.

When Texans buy specialty license plates, they believe they’re supporting causes ranging from animal shelters to bicyclist safety programs. And when they buy gas, they expect that the tax will be spent on roads and public schools. Lawmakers are breaking promises as they siphon off money from those and other funds.

The result could be an even deeper financial hole in the future. And then, that budget magic will look more like a budget morass. 

Something fun in the future

At least one thing we can look forward to is the upcoming 6th Annual Concert Under the Stars. 

I've been throwing this little concert every year now for, uh, the past five years, making it what I'd call an old fashioned tradition.  It's always held in Zilker Park.  It's always attracted a big crowd.  It's always a source of great live music.  And it's always a lot of fun.  

This year, it will be September 15th.  Mark your calendar, so you'll have something to look forward to while you sweat.  I'll be announcing the bands a little later.  You should also go to http://www.kirkwatson.com/concert/ and reserve your tickets. 

It was fun.  Playing with #sessionnames, I mean.  I can't really say all of the rest was a pleasant little trip. 

Let us not talk falsely now, the hour's getting late.

I trust you had a great time celebrating our nation's (and my son Cooper's) birthday yesterday.  But I wanted to be sure to direct your attention to a story that ran in the Dallas Morning News about the addiction of those in control to the diversion of state fees that are raised for specific purposes but instead used to balance the budget.  Here's an excerpt:
 
Texas lawmakers, who will do almost anything to avoid raising broad-based taxes, balanced the budget this year with one of their favorite flavors of money: dedicated funds.

To read more, click here (subscription required). 

There are a lot of big bills being haggled over, and a lot of moving pieces in them.

So I'm going to wait to pontificate on the goings-on until after we wrap up on Wednesday, which is the day the law requires this session to end.

Who knows ... I might even be sending a preview of a second very special session of the Texas Legislature. 

I've already started working on the "Subject" line for the next report. I keep thinking of song titles, lyrics or movie titles. Something like ...

"Wasted Days, Wasted Nights"

"Ghost Fili-Busters"

"You Make a Grown Man Cry"

"The Big Layoffski" 

I'm open to ideas.  If you've got one, tweet it to me, and use the hashtag "#sessionnames".  I am, as always, at @kirkpwatson.

Despite the retro-session that won’t seem to end, folks outside the pink building are doing what they’d normally be doing right about now – taking stock of what’s transpired over the last five months and calling attention to the things that are good for Texas and things that are ... less so.

A few recognitions

I’m proud to have received a few pretty neat special recognitions last week for my work during the regular session.

The Texas Tribune ran a piece where its "Insiders" picked the Top Ten Legislators of the Session, and they put me on that list.  

Texas Monthly magazine gave me a shout out with an Honorable Mention as part of its coverage of Texas’ best legislators.  They cited my Honesty Agenda for making the "murky" budget-writing process more transparent.

And the Nature Conservancy of Texas gave me its Texas Legislative Leadership Award, in part for passing water stewardship legislation that would create an incentive for property owners to manage their land in a way that encourages water conservation and improves water quality.

More good bills

In this spirit of retro good-feeling, here’s a look at some of my legislation that’s made it through the how-a-bill-becomes-a-law gauntlet and been signed onto the books.  (I recently wrote about some other successful bills and you can check those out here.)

Senate Bill 1325, Save and Match: This bill’s definitely taken the road less-traveled – it was vetoed last session over a technicality and needed to catch a ride this session as an amendment to a different bill (H.B. 3708).  But it did become law, and because of it, the state will be required to expand the Texas Save and Match program.

The Texas Save and Match program was created in 2007 to help parents and guardians open higher education savings plans or purchase prepaid tuition contracts for their kids.  This year’s legislation will make the program a reality, in part by expanding it so it will be available to more people.

House Bill 1545, November Elections: You may not have noticed, but the City of Austin had a runoff election last weekend.  And if you’re like nine out of 10 registered Austin voters, you didn’t vote in it.  Such low turnout is a real problem in a democracy.  The city is contemplating different approaches to its elections – one might be to move elections to November, when people are often paying more attention and more likely to vote.  However, up to now, the state has required Austin to hold its local elections in May.

This bill is the House companion to my Senate Bill 1133, which gives the city the option – and it’s only an option – to move its elections to November.

House Bills 308, 555 and 1395, Boating Safety: Given the time and temperature of the year, getting out on the lake sounds pretty good.  I picked up and passed three House bills through the Senate to make sure everyone stays safe.  H.B. 308 aligns state law with federal law, requiring – among other things – children under 13 to wear life jackets on any boat that’s less than 26 feet in length.  H.B. 555 makes it easier to report boating accidents by requiring folks to notify the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department about incidents and increasing the threshold for reportable accidents.  And H.B. 1395 will phase-in a mandatory boater education system for folks born before September 1, 1993.  Right now, about 80 percent of reported accidents involve boat drivers who haven’t taken a boating safety course.

Senate Bill 1044, County Conservation Easements: Landowners already have the ability to preserve rural land and wildlife habitat with what’s known as a conservation easement.  This mechanism allows governments, non-profits and others to buy the right to develop property so landowners can keep their property in a natural state without so much pressure to sell it to developers.  Counties needed additional authority to take advantage of this tool.  My bill grants that flexibility, and it creates additional support for an existing state land conservation program.

Senate Bill 1043, Burning Litter: Think for a second about how hot and dry it’s been over the last few months.  Think about all of the grass and plants that have basically turned into kindling.  Now think about someone carelessly tossing a still-burning cigarette or match out the window of their car.

Five of the last 10 years have been designated as extreme fire seasons in Texas.  And 90 percent of all fires are caused by human mistakes.  My legislation should help curb this problem by making it a misdemeanor when someone discards burning litter along a public road and starts a fire.

House Bill 1608, Charitable Contributions by State Employees: Texas already operates a state employee charitable campaign allowing public employees to have money taken out of their checks and donated to their preferred charities.  In fact, the program’s grown into one of the most successful of its kind in the country.  This bill, which is the companion to my Senate Bill 1287, will allow state retirees to participate in the program, too.

Speaking of foreign countries and anxiety ... 

Planning to panic 

Panic move

Real life

There’s a better way

The wrong way 

SB 9, by contrast, reflects little thought and less deliberation about the true problem Texas faces.
 
The legislature needs to listen to the police chiefs, CEOs, domestic violence experts, religious and community leaders and so many others who understand the true threats and opportunities when it comes to immigration in a large southern state such as Texas.
 
Even worse, it doesn’t solve an actual, documented problem facing this state.  Because for all the empty rhetoric about the evils of sanctuary cities, those pushing this legislation have struggled mightily to define what a sanctuary city is or to declare whether Texas even has one.
 
Instead, the bill's simplistic language to this complicated problem is packed with obvious potential unintended consequences.  And it will create a burden on law enforcement officers, property taxpayers and Texans simply going about their lives.
 
This is a policy of panic.  And here’s my advice:
 
Stop panicking.

Texans will pay a steep price for the legislature’s budget failures

For 140 days, Texas' budget writers leaned on the glue and duct tape of gimmickry and denial, trying to patch up the state's rickety budget and school finance system.

Those in control of the Legislature waited until the last minute to finish their project. And as some of our state's seventh-grade teachers could have warned them, they didn't get it done in time. So now they're back in a special legislative session, trying to keep schools across Texas from shutting down next fall.

But let's be clear: The proposals now before the Legislature don't adequately fund our schools. Any theoretical good was undone by a stubborn refusal to put the priorities of Texas first — or keep the state's promise to fund Texas schools and our children's future.

The legislation attempts to hide a failure that dates back to 2006, when those in control cynically promised Texans a tax cut but refused to do the harder work of cutting spending or replacing the lost revenue. It opened a multibillion-dollar hole in the state's finances — one that we'd all have fallen into two years ago without billions of dollars in federal stimulus money.

But that bailout is long gone, and the state's about $4 billion short of what schools need to cope with more students and escalating costs. It's the first time in known state history that Texas hasn't paid for enrollment growth.

Faced with that $4 billion debt to our schools, those in control have come up with a novel scheme. They refuse to reform the broken funding system. They fail to relieve the pain of cuts, some of which are necessary, by using reserve funds that are set aside for just this sort of situation. They allow tax loopholes for special interests. And they compromise the education for a generation of Texas schoolchildren.

The bills before the special legislative session make the broken system permanent by ignoring promises made to local districts. They unilaterally redefine the state's obligation for funding schools and just call it the new normal. They attempt to cover up the state's unwillingness to meet its responsibility, throwing a rug over the cracked foundation of our state's budget.

So who's on the hook for the $4 billion broken promise? You are. Your kids may be packed into bigger classes, their teachers may be laid off, or your property taxes may go up. Unlike the Legislature, districts can't just push their obligations onto others. They have to be accountable.

Most Texas districts would lose money under that plan. Austin ISD alone (not counting another recent round of federal aid) would lose more than $90 million over the next two years.

The debate is simply over how to spread the pain among our children — choosing which students and schools will suffer more than others, and deciding which communities have to lay off teachers and which ones "only" have to eliminate important educational programs.

But the problems run much deeper than the special session or certain bills. They're products of a budget system that's been tainted for years by debt, diversions and deception. The legislation simply creates another deceptive, 10-figure deficit — even as the Legislature continues to divert around $4.5 billion from its promised purposes to make the books balance, and it blatantly misrepresents things like the state's Medicaid obligations.

Sadly, it's possible the only good thing about the special session is that, unlike the frenzied final week of the regular session, Texans can take a couple of days to see what's in the bills. They can talk with school and business leaders about what the bills would mean in the short term and the long run. They can write letters, testify before committees and make it clear that legislators must not break their promises to our schools, our children and our state's future.

We owe Texas no less.

As it turns out, it’s Latin for, “See you tomorrow.”

Yeah, the building melted down over the holiday weekend, so we’ll all be back this morning for another round of legislating in a special session.  But the bills on the table – particularly the proposal locking in the legislature’s broken promise to adequately fund Texas schools – aren’t likely to change much, unless they get worse.

So, one way or another, the 82nd Legislative Session most likely will be remembered for a budget that targets kids and teachers; for procrastination severe enough to embarrass a seventh grader; for a partisan agenda that’s seemed more about making a political statement than making Texas better; and for a continuing dependency on diversions, debt and deception in the state’s budget and finances.

But, hey, you know, everybody’s tired right now.  Everybody’s canceling the one-day vacation plans they made for today.  Everybody’s been sobered by the real work and serious issues we still have to do after 140 days.

And here at the Watson Wire, I’m all about making you feel better.  Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came; on Tuesday mornings, at least, that should be your email inbox.

So let’s take a minute to focus on some of the good bills that came out of this session – namely, mine.

Good bills, part 1

Today, I’m going to focus on a half-dozen bills that are now on the Governor’s desk or that have been signed into law.  I’ll be writing over the next few weeks about other successes from this 82nd Legislative Session.

Senate Bill 449 and Senate Joint Resolution 16, Water Stewardship: This November, Texas voters will go to the polls with the chance to enact an innovative law creating an incentive for landowners to manage their property in a way that conserves water and bolsters Texas’ inadequate supply of it.  The bill, with the accompanying proposed constitutional amendment (known around here as an SJR), allows landowners to utilize a property valuation for tax purposes – one they already qualify for – if they manage their land in a way that improves water conservation and quality.  It’s a unique model for the nation, one I think other states will follow.

Thing is, the vast majority of Texas land is privately owned, so most of our water either flows through or sits under land that’s rightly held by private individuals.  At the same time, our population is expected to double in the next 50 years, but our water supply will, at best, remain as it is today – unless the state finds innovative, affordable ways to meet its needs.  This legislation offers one such approach.  It won’t solve the state’s water problem, but it does show how we can meet this challenge in coming years as our needs grow with our population.

This bill was a bipartisan effort in both chambers, as well as a big priority of the Nature Conservancy in Texas (a group that once gave me its Leadership Award for work I did as Austin's mayor).  I enjoyed working with everyone to get it to the Governor's desk, and I'm looking forward to seeing the difference it will make.

Senate Bill 407, Sexting: No bill list would be complete without this one, which creates new law to guide law enforcement in how it deals with the issue of “sexting.”  It started out as a common-sense, bipartisan effort to address a new, 21st Century legal issue facing kids and prosecutors.  It ended up with so much press attention that folks were suggesting that I should drop the word “sexting” into just about everything so I'd get free media coverage.

Under current law, if prosecutors pursue charges against kids who send sexually explicit images electronically, their only real option is to use child pornography laws that are very harsh, as they should be.  My bill gives law enforcement an alternative – specifying that minors would face what’s known as “conduct in need of supervision,” while 17-year-olds would face no more than misdemeanor charges – while leaving prosecutors the discretion to pursue felony charges against budding predators.

Senate Bill 329, TV Recycling: This bill creates the Television Equipment Recycling Program, which requires manufacturers who offer TVs for sale in Texas to implement a plan through which their customers can give back and recycle televisions.  It’ll give folks a convenient, environmentally responsible alternative to tossing their sets into a landfill or incinerator and allowing the chemicals to seep into land, air and water.

Senate Bill 1331, 911 Lifeline: This is a spin-off of sorts to the Carson Starkey Alcohol Awareness and Education Act, which I passed in 2009 and has middle and high schools teaching kids about the signs, dangers and treatment of alcohol poisoning and binge drinking (it was named for a friend of our family’s who died the year before).  This year’s 911 Lifeline bill provides limited immunity for kids who call for help in an emergency situation involving a potential alcohol overdose.  Hopefully, it'll help kids in a bad situation to make the right decision and save someone's life.

House Bill 1666, Online Harassment: Last session, the legislature passed House Bill 2003, the House companion to my Senate bill creating the offense of online harassment.  That law addresses situations in which a person creates a web page or sends an electronic message in the name of someone else without that person’s consent and with the intent to harm, defraud or threaten someone.  This years’ HB 1666 (again, the House companion to my Senate bill) expands protections against online harassment to include more websites.

Senate Bill 356, Texas Campaign Military Medal (signed into law): It feels good to write about this one right after Memorial Day.  This bill creates a Texas Campaign Military Medal, recognizing the brave men and women who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn or Enduring Freedom.  Before this passed, the only military medal issued by the state has been for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the first Gulf war in 1990-91.

That's it for this week.  I'll have more special session developments, and more bill summaries to brag about, in coming weeks.

"As I (didn't) walk out on Laredo one day"

Yes, after a lot more weeks of waiting than there are weeks left in this session, we’ve finally seen a map showing which senators could represent which voters for the next 10 years.

As Travis County residents have come to expect from the legislature, it’s not a map that represents our communities or respects our history.

For years, the legislature has seemed intent on dividing Travis County wherever and whenever possible.  (You can read more about redistricting here and here).

In 2003, the Legislature spread Travis County voters among three different congressional districts – even though the county is easily big enough to contain a congressional seat within its boundaries.  And now, there are proposals to dilute Central Texas' voting strength even more.

Also, on the State Board of Education map, legislators have refused to unite the county in one district, instead proposing to dilute the county's influence between two of the 15 seats on the board.

And now, on the state Senate map, the county wouldn’t have even one district wholly contained within our boundaries, even though, again, the county could easily hold one.

The district I currently represent – District 14 – would continue to be anchored in Austin and Travis County.  District 14 would have about 67 percent of Austin and around 72 percent of Travis County in it, but the rest of the county would be split between three other Senate districts.  I would also represent all of Bastrop County.

So hundreds of thousands of our Travis County neighbors would be represented in the Senate by folks from around Laredo, San Antonio, and a district that runs around 200 miles up to Abilene.

"Come an' sit down beside me an' hear my ... story"

There’s naturally been an enormous amount of interest in this map for months.  But it became public only last week, less than three weeks before the end of the session and a day before a critical public hearing on it.  And the Senate will probably vote on it today.

Something affecting so many people deserves a lot more openness and input.  And it’s no surprise that the product of such a closed process is such a mess.

For decades, minority voters in Travis County have successfully joined in coalition with like-minded others to elect the candidates of their choice.

There’s no good reason to split up and divide this compact, cohesive and mature coalition in this way.  But that’s exactly what this proposal would do.

Here’s an alternative I proposed that would serve Travis County much better:

"I can see by your outfit that you are a cowboy."

Now the truth is that even under the map that the legislature is considering, I'd know my new district very well.  And the voters in this part of the world know me pretty well, too.

In Travis County, I’d continue to represent folks I’ve been serving and working with for almost 15 years.

And with all of the regional efforts I’ve been involved in over the years, I’ve developed deep friendships and relationships in Bastrop County.  I'd enjoy the chance to represent folks there.

So if this map holds, then this is a district I will run in – and that I’ll win in.

But this isn’t about me.

This is about the people of Travis County, who may soon be divided yet again for no good reason.  And this is about a process that has excluded them.

The state should have been able to do better.

"Cold as the clay"

A big problem is that there's no certainty the state will do better.  In fact, it's quite possible that the state will do worse.

If the legislature can't pass a redistricting map – or, if the legislature does come to an agreement and the Governor vetoes it anyway – then the decision goes to what's known as the Legislative Redistricting Board. The group consists of the Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the House, Comptroller, Attorney General and Land Commissioner.

This is, as a lot of folks know, a pretty one-sided group when it comes to partisan politics.  And redistricting isn't something like the budget, where active constituencies, shared values and a clear vision tend to improve end products over time.

No, this is a partisan exercise.  And we should all remember from 2003 that as diverse voices are cut out of the process, politics gain potency and products get uglier.

First, they’re both very long, very hard, and completely exhausting.

Second, they remind me of how my dad used to tease me when I had something that hurt - like a skinned knee or a bumped head - and started crying and whining about it.

 
He'd act like he was really trying to be compassionate and consoling.  He'd even sometimes take the body part that was hurting and squeeze it like he was trying to help (and, of course, would make it hurt worse).  And he'd tell me in the most soothing tone, "Son, it'll feel better when it stops hurting."  

I still remember the first time he said that to me.  I was 5 or 6.  Even at that age, I recall thinking, "Does he know what he just said?"

Well, we’re in the legislative session’s home stretch now.  Folks are tired.  Folks are getting grumpy.  Folks are ready to be done.

And I keep thinking of my old man's way of telling me that the pain would subside.  That it would be okay soon.  

But I keep coming back to a nagging, endless concern that this session is creating some really bad scars, and I don't think it's going to feel better any time soon.

The budget passes – in its own way

Why it matters

Yeah, Dad, I made a D, but Johnny did a lot worse.

As I and many others have noted, the lone selling point for this budget seems to be that it’s better than the version put forward by the Texas House of Representatives, which takes most of the things that the Senate budget would hurt – and hurts them even worse.

Indeed, the Senate’s escapades from last week are probably mostly forgotten after this weekend’s antics in the House, during which “meltdown” became something of a technical legislative term.  
 
This again begs the question: Why, if people really believe they're doing right and are confident in their actions, do they resort to this stuff?

(By the way, on behalf of the Texas Senate, I suppose I should thank the House of Representatives.  Between its thoroughly irresponsible budget priorities and behavior that might be politely described as “erratic,” the House has become that F-minus student that the Senate, after blowing a mid-term exam, is so relieved to tell its parents about.)

The final details of the budget will be hammered out, largely behind closed doors, over the next couple of weeks.  Rest assured that barring some sort of miracle, the final version brought forward will be even tougher on school kids, parents, universities, hospitals or the uninsured than the Senate version.

And then legislators will vote, and there’s a good chance the legislature will dust itself off, catch its breath, and head home to sleep it off.

But middle-class Texans will be left to deal with the effects.  And I really am concerned the hurting isn't going to stop; it's just begun.

 A good time for optimism

I'm an optimist.  Most of my friends are optimists.  We tend to expect that in the long run, people will do what's right and things will get better.

I'll grudgingly admit, in the most optimistic way possible, that this hasn't been a great legislative session for optimists.  The budget's a mess.  Good people – particularly school kids and teachers – may suffer.  And what some folks describe as the best we can do isn't much better than the worst-case scenario.

But something good did happen in the Senate late last week.  And notwithstanding all the bad news about the state's finances, let's all focus for a second on the good.

First, I amended four big reforms in my Honesty Agenda onto a bill related to the state’s general “fiscal matters.”

This fiscal matter bill is basically must-pass legislation.  It includes more than $4 billion in mostly one-time money the state will need to balance its books over the next couple of years.

So the unanimous vote for my amendment is a strong endorsement by the Senate that these reforms should be law – and a great sign that they will be.  That’s a significant step toward a more open and honest budget that’ll help Texans know their money’s actually paying for their priorities.

The Highlights

You can read my statement on the vote, along with a more complete summary of the provisions in the amendment, here.  But briefly, Friday’s vote means that Texans will:

-- Get more frequent updates on the state’s finances – how much money’s coming in and going out – and make sure those in control of the budget are considering that information at least once a year.

-- Actually be able to see how all of the taxes and fees they pay to the state are being used by elected officials.

-- Have the opportunity to weigh in before some officials can arbitrarily change the budget when the legislature’s out of town.

-- Get to see – in public – that the state’s short-term debt limits are in line with its budget needs and economic situation.

There’s more

To see this openness and accountability in action – and what a difference it can make in how budget writers approach these sorts of issues – just look at a couple of other amendments of mine that the Senate accepted Friday.

One of my changes – to a bill setting health-related fee increases – would have those fees revert to their current levels two years after they take effect.

This will give the legislature time to make sure those fees are really needed – and are really paying for the necessities they’re intended for.  At that point, we can maintain them or let them come back down.

I also amended another bill that (among other things) creates a new fee on process servers.  My amendment will force the state to stop collecting this money when Texans are paying far more than the state is spending on what the fee is supposed to pay for.

Thanks to this change, no one can allow the fee to run up a big balance, divert that balance from its intended purpose (essentially breaking a promise about how it was supposed to be spent) and instead use the money to covertly balance the budget.

The bill also moved one particular dedicated fund – one that’s meant specifically to train judicial and court personnel – into another part of the state treasury.  My amendment included language that should keep the fund from being diverted and used to balance the budget.

A new day, and a clearer one

These steps represent a real departure from the way the state has balanced its books in the past.  And they offer a good model for how Texas can be more open and accountable in the future.

You know, I noted way back in November that this 82nd Legislative Session was shaping up to be defined by pessimism, a mindset that nothing good could come out of this budget crisis.

It’s a tough crisis, without a doubt, with high human stakes and hard decisions at every turn. I’ve said plenty, and I’ll say plenty more, about the damage that some of those choices might mean – today and tomorrow – for our state.

But last week, the Senate did something good.  We took a stand for reform – for a more honest budget.  We made it easier for Texans to get information and to hold their leaders accountable for what it says. 

And we set a precedent that, if we follow it through, could truly change the way people view government, the priorities it fulfills, and what those things cost.

It was a good day.  Appreciate it – there’s no telling how many more of those we’ll have over these last 28 days of the session.

April 26, 2011

Let’s play doctor.
 
Say there’s an ailing patient – we’ll call her Mrs. Schools.

First she goes to a doctor – call him Dr. House (no, not that Dr. House; he's just on TV) – to find out how she can get better.

The doctor correctly diagnoses her and listens to folks who describe how to make her better.  But then he decides it’s easier for everyone involved – certainly him – to ignore all that sound judgment would dictate and not really treat her problems.  
 
Instead, Dr. House prescribes a course of care that involves as little time, resources and, y'know, treatment as possible – sort of a mix of bleeding, starvation, and blind hope that she'll get better.

Naturally, Mrs. Schools (and all of her many friends and children) are horrified.  They go for a second opinion – this time, to Dr. Senate.

Tell me what you see

Dr. Senate declares that Dr. House's approach will kill Mrs. Schools.  He reassures her that she’s exactly right and Dr. House was so very wrong.  And he proclaims, sagely and impressively, that he will save Mrs. Schools.

Naturally, Mrs. Schools, her friends, and her children are overjoyed by this compassionate, far-sighted doctor.  They wait with nervous anticipation for his plan. They even talk of cutting Dr. Senate's grass in gratitude.
 
And then the prescription finally comes.

First off, there’s no real medicine – not even, really, an acknowledgment that Mrs. Schools isn’t as well as she should be.  Certainly nothing to put her on a path to health.

But then she looks closer and sees, to everyone’s shock and horror, that Dr. Senate has prescribed some bleeding and starvation of his own.  Not as bad as Dr. House – not bad enough to kill her for at least a couple of years – but definitely bad enough to make her far sicker.

So Mrs. Schools goes to Dr. Senate and asks, “How can you do this to me?  Didn’t I tell you I’m sick?”

And the Doctor responds proudly, “Hey, you’ll live.  And at least I’m better than Dr. House!” 

I hear their cries

All of which is to say that the mess of the Senate’s draft 2012-13 budget will be up for a vote this week, most likely.

The folks responsible for said mess are working long and hard to be judged by the budget passed by the Texas House of Representatives, which cuts even more horribly into things like schools and nursing homes.  But as I wrote last week, the Senate plan is still utterly inadequate for the state’s needs.  Among other things, it leaves public schools with about $4 billion less than they'd have under current law – which, suffice it to say, does nothing for Texas’ status among the bottom states nationally when it comes to state and local spending per pupil, SAT scores, and high-school completion.

But it’s not just about misplaced priorities, dollars and common sense.
 
This isn’t merely about the malpractice our kids and grandkids will see when they look back at what this legislature wanted to do to schools, colleges and universities, the healthcare system and other basic infrastructure. 
 
And it’s not only that the final draft of the state budget – in establishing some mid-point between the chambers – will probably be much, much worse even than the detrimental, damaging Senate version.

It’s that the Senate's proposed budget will do nothing to reform the mismanagement, denial and lack of honesty that got us into this situation in the first place.

Just say if it's too late for me

There’s a growing awareness – or, at least, a growing willingness to admit – that the state has relied on debt, diversions and deception for so long that the legislature is simply no longer in position to fund the priorities that are important to Texans.

And there's been sporadic talk this session about truly reforming the system.  Those in control of the legislature have already accepted my proposals to increase reporting on the state’s finances and to make sure we all know what’s in the final version of the budget before it’s voted on.

But that’s clearly only a start.  It’s so clearly only a start, in fact, that those in control have talked about reforming the failed Margins Tax scheme that’s created a recurring hole in the state budget.  Some have even suggested everything from a statewide property tax to a business income tax to closing loopholes that benefit certain powerful special interests.

So what came of all that talk?  What happened to all of that bipartisan seriousness to really look at what’s wrong and to fix it so we aren’t dealing with another largely identical budget crisis in two years?

Nothing.

We’ve been left with nothing but a House budget that cuts Texans’ necessities and priorities to an intolerable level, and a Senate budget that pays for a few more of those necessities – but largely with one-time money and accounting tricks.
 
And we have no reform of the long-time, longstanding structural problems and practices that created this crisis in the first place.

The Senate needs to stop comparing itself to House and pretending it’s doing something “adequate.”

Instead, those in control need to pull back this inadequate plan, take the time we all need to reform the system that created this crisis, and show Texans a budget that reflects our priorities.

Call a real doctor.  There’s still time for real healing.

They’ve all worked really hard on this.  And as tired as I am right now, I can’t imagine how a lot of them must be feeling.

That said, we need to be honest about what we’re talking about here.  This budget proposal really paints a grim picture – one that’s far removed from Texans, their priorities, and their history.

It strips billions of dollars from schools, universities, and millions of Texans who don’t have as much political power in the Capitol as they should.

But even more than that, it just throws a rug over the cracked foundation of the state's finances.  It doesn’t shore up the structural problems that have become an open secret at the Capitol.  Nor does it address the shifting sand that's already threatening to create another budget crisis in two years.

Oh, and it perpetuates many of the short-sighted practices that bear real responsibility for the state's current budget mess.  A lot of us, from both political parties, have been calling for reform of the state’s finances for years.  But there’s no significant reform to be found in this proposal.

Bizarro World

Yet somehow, in the bizarro world of Texas politics, those in control of the Senate are talking about their budget like it’s some kind of victory.  Even some folks who don't like the plan are hanging their heads and treating it as though it's the best we can do.

The denial comes from a drama that’s played out in the Capitol over the last several months – one that couldn’t have been scripted much better (although, let’s face it, the plot was pretty predictable).

For weeks, politicians and pundits have focused on a genuinely horrendous plan approved by the Texas House of Representatives to hack away at schools, nursing homes and so many other priorities that Texans hold dear – even knowing that such a devastating proposal would never be approved by the Senate.

So compared to that gore-fest, the milder horror show of the Senate budget must look pretty good, right?

But compared to anything else – Texans’ priorities, Texas’ history, even the status quo – the Senate plan that's now on the table remains unworthy of this state and its people.

And make no mistake: had we been told back in, say, September that the state was about to take about $4 billion from Texas schools and billions more from universities and the uninsured – all the while using the same debt, diversions and deception that have been a staple of the state's budget-balancing practices for years – I suspect most of you wouldn’t have called that a “best-case scenario.”

I doubt you'd conclude it was an acceptable solution simply because "it could have been worse."

No, I’m guessing that you’d have rejected that approach.  You’d have called for honesty, accountability and real leadership, even knowing how great the challenge is.

And you’d have faced down those in control and told them to get to work fixing what they’d broken – even if they had to work into the summer to do it.

Who gets hurt

To understand the mess that’s before the Senate, let’s focus on just one school district – the largest that I represent, and the one my youngest son will graduate from before this budget expires.

Austin ISD is looking at about $100 million in cuts over the next two years under the Senate spending plan.

So the district has already shed more than 100 administrative jobs.  It's announced the elimination of another 1,100 jobs, more than half of them teaching positions.  And there are even deeper cuts to come.

Lost teaching jobs, more crowded classrooms, closing schools, deteriorating support for students ... These are the results of the Senate spending plan.

These are the consequences of a badly broken promise that the state made to Austin and hundreds of districts like it in 2006 – to protect them from the most harmful aspects of a budget scheme that didn't come close to balancing.

This is what you face when your state's school finance system was built on shifting, crumbling sand – and when those responsible for it avoid accountability for fixing it.

In short, this is a disaster.  But it isn’t an entirely natural disaster.

Reform – more than ever

I’ve talked and written at length about the debt, diversions and deception that eroded the state’s finances and left Texas thoroughly unprepared for this economic downturn.

Even the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has pointed out the need for real change in the way the state balances its books.  He clearly needs time – and the legislature needs to take the time – to make the improvements we all should know are necessary.

But the Senate budget perpetuates many of the same practices that hobbled it from the start.

It still spends billions more than the state can sustainably pay for.

It still leans on the sorts of one-time revenue tricks that are now being blamed in part for the state’s budget problems.

And worst of all, it contains none of the reforms that the state needs to avoid a repeat of this crisis in two years.  Specifically, it fails to address structural problems (such as the 2006 imposition of the Margins Tax) that continue to undermine the budget.

This budget proposal shows that one-time gimmicks have become full-time practices in the Capitol. Unfortunately, reform-driven bills – including what I call my Honesty Agenda – are beginning to die as this legislative session starts to wrap up.

Work harder

So this Senate spending plan not only fails to end the legislature’s bad budget-writing habits – it perpetuates them.

It not only fails to prepare Texas schoolchildren for the 21st Century economy – it forces schools to take a step backward.

Indeed, the bill’s main selling point seems to be that it’s better than some other, even more unacceptable plan – that it's good simply by being less bad.

Texas deserves better.  But to get it, Texans will have to demand it.

So let’s spread the word to friends, family members and especially our social network connections about this budget and its failures.

Let’s tell those in control to fix the flawed and frenzied process that’s led us to this point.  Let's show them this plan isn't good enough, and they need to keep working – even into the summer – to come back with a plan that truly represents the priorities of Texans.

And let’s take the time we need to truly solve the real problems facing our state, reform this system that’s failing us, and create a budget that reflects our priorities.

Oh, yeah, the session . . .

The biggest news at Watson Central this past week was probably my announcement with Comptroller Susan Combs Tuesday of several initiatives to make the state more open about its finances. 

After my working with her and her staff, the Comptroller said she’ll proactively implement reporting measures I’ve called for as part of my Honesty Agenda to reform the state’s budget process and create new openness and accountability for the state’s finances.

This is a big step.  It’ll give Texans an unprecedented look at the state’s books every month – and given how difficult upcoming budgets are likely to be over the next few years, we’re going to need it.

I also endorsed the Comptroller’s effort to have legislators do a comprehensive review of the state’s revenue and budget picture (similar to the budget commission I’ve pressed for).  And she endorsed my omnibus bill that contains many of the initiatives I’ve outlined in the Honesty Agenda.

Finally, she pledged to explore new reporting standards regarding fees and federal funds that I’ve called for in the Honesty Agenda.

You can read the full announcement here.  Also, over the weekend, the Statesman ran an editorial about these efforts and why they’re important; you can read it here.

Oh, and that big transparency bill that the Comptroller and the newspaper endorsed?  It got a hearing in the Finance Committee on Thursday.

Since “budget transparency omnibus legislation” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, I think I’ll follow the Senate Finance Committee Chairman’s lead and call it my Kumbaya bill.

A big speech, and some big bills

On Wednesday, thousands of folks gathered at the Capitol to protest the misplaced priorities and lack of accountability that are combining to undermine our state’s schoolkids, nursing homes, and economy.

I delivered a few remarks welcoming everyone to their Capitol.  You can read them here or check out the video:



The same day as the speech, the Senate passed a couple of my bills – which are now over in the House, halfway down the How-a-Bill-Becomes-a-Law trail. 

One would encourage electric utilities to inform their customers about proven energy efficiency and conservation methods.  Another is the part of my Honesty Agenda that would encourage state agencies to put more of the data they already collect online.

Also last week, the Senate passed my bill allowing the state to create (and pay for) a “telehealth” system that will help Texans get healthcare they need in a much more efficient and affordable way.

And there should be some more good stuff on the Senate Floor this week.

The Senate Finance Committee signed off unanimously on my bill to create an incentive for private landowners to conserve water and improve water quality at no cost to the state. 

The Business and Commerce Committee also approved my insurance reform bill to make sure customers know more about what they’re being charged – and what they’re getting for that money.  And it would create a long-overdue, very comprehensive study of the insurance market in Texas and what we can do to bring down rates in a sustainable way.

And the Education Committee passed a bill building on my effort from last session to make sure Texas students know all they need to about the dangers and signs of alcohol poisoning.

Stay tuned.  I seem to be finding my voice.  I'll announce good stuff as it happens.

Find me a find, catch me a catch. . .

The official guide to redistricting probably says that redistricting is the process by which political districts are re-drawn to reflect population changes in the census.  In practice, it's far more political – and oftentimes, the goals are far less lofty.

Regardless of motivations, legislators will begin by drawing maps to determine who your state representative, member of Congress, member on the State Board of Education, and – without question most importantly – your state senator is (though, as you know, I do now and will continue later to consider myself your state senator, real or adopted, wherever you live).

Map lines are drawn with a focus on putting people in specific districts.  They are matched up with other people and, ultimately, matched with an official elected to represent the group of people living in that district.

As with most things, there's a process to redistricting.  You’ll probably be seeing a fair amount of news about that over the next few months.  To help with that, I’ve put a page on my website with news and notes about the process.

I’ll wager that news will break down into two general categories: the silly political stuff, and the really important basics-of-democracy of stuff.

The silly political stuff revolves around how legislators act or react to various maps of their districts.  I won’t get into it too much here, but suffice it to say that if you see someone at the Capitol voting a surprising way on someone else’s bill, or if they just seem a little too happy or a little too unhappy about something, then one of your first two or three questions might be, “I wonder what’s going on with redistricting?”

Up to this minute, I've misunderstood that I could get stuck for good.

But there’s another aspect of redistricting that matters a lot more.

It’s fundamental to the rights of citizens to have their voices heard – which pretty much means it’s fundamental to democracy.  Period.

District lines dictate whether communities are able to elect the officials of their choice, which in turn determines whether their values are represented whenever that official votes on legislation.

In Texas, standards for redrawing district boundaries are guided by two overriding concerns — legal compliance with the U.S. Voting Rights Act, and respect for established and recognized communities of interest.

If these two concerns take priority – and folks in the Capitol can resist the temptations of partisan fights and political land grabs – then Austinites and Texans generally will realize the process as it, arguably, was intended.

Make me a perfect match

The seat I currently serve in – Texas Senate District 14 – demonstrates how important both of these principles will be over the next few months.

Austin and Travis County have for decades served as the core of District 14.  Even before my longtime home had enough people to contain an entire Senate district, it provided the most population and the most votes in the district.

Over the last 20 years, Travis County has grown rapidly, and the district now includes most of the City of Austin.

So let’s be clear – this is Austin and Travis County's seat, which ensures this area is represented in the Texas Senate.

Very importantly, the minority population in Senate District 14 has grown in numbers and influence.  Currently, Hispanics, African-Americans and other minority residents make up more than 50 percent of the population.

Year after year, these voters have elected their candidate of choice.  Before me, former Senator Gonzalo Barrientos won against well-funded opponents on the strength of minority voters.  There’s no question that my service in the Senate also depends on my continuing to be the candidate of choice of minority voters.

Find me a match of my own

Of course, our district is also held together by our shared interests, shared assets, shared points of view, and our ability to work together successfully.  That means our neighborhoods consistently come together to form a unique and effective community of interest.

We see the results.  Hispanic, African-American and integrated neighborhoods unite to elect a diverse slate of public office holders – planning and passing initiatives that make our community stronger.

What does that mean in terms of redistricting?

First, the Department of Justice has made clear that in districts like ours, where minority voters have the strength and numbers to elect their candidate of choice, it would violate the Voting Rights Act to change boundaries in ways that reduce those voters’ strength.  (But don’t take my word for it.  In 2001, when Texas asked the Department of Justice to approve District 14’s current lines, the state noted the growing strength of the minority vote as justification for the boundaries.)

Second, our distinct – and its effective community of interest – has been recognized and reflected for decades in previous redistricting plans that have been approved by the state.

Playing with matches, a state can get burned

So redistricting doesn't have to be a battle this session.  Legislators just need to follow the law, recognize our diversity and our voting strength, and respect the community of interest that we’ve all worked so hard to build and protect.

Unfortunately, there are some pretty partisan folks out there who probably wouldn’t mind turning redistricting into a blood sport.  It certainly has been that before.  And let’s face it: our voting strength and unity could be viewed as political threats to some partisan interests.

But if redistricting does get ugly, we can't turn away or hide until it's all over.  No, we’ll do as we always do — come together with a united voice to defend each other and to protect our community.

Luckily, the facts and the law are on our side.

Now that’s a budget crisis

The way Texas has mismanaged its budget is making some folks feel like they're getting the short end of a lacrosse stick.

We already knew Texas was looking at serious, immediate human pain due to the clear-cutting of health necessities in the proposed budget.

And we knew this budget would undermine the state’s future by slashing teachers, closing schools, packing more kids into overcrowded classrooms, or even forcing school districts to raise taxes.

Well, we now know this budget will be an economic catastrophe, as well.

A report came out last week declaring that the proposed budget up for a vote in the state House of Representatives Friday would lead to about 335,000 fewer Texas jobs come 2013.

Why, who would say such a thing?  From the reaction of those in control of the budget, you’d think the report came from the Institute of Gigantic, Noisy, Odious and Regrettable Explanations (IGNORE, for short).

But, no, this required report came from the boringly named Legislative Budget Board, a state agency that helps legislators assemble and analyze the budget.  The alarmists who are in charge of this group?  The extremists overseeing such crazy talk?
 
None other than the very officials who control the state’s budget and finances. None other than those who should bear responsibility for the broken budget and the fact that the state's broke.

Naturally, not many of those in control were thrilled with this board’s non-partisan, dogma-free assessment.  The general reaction was an assortment of non-denial denials ranging from “It could be worse” to “I don’t believe that.”  Paul Burka at Texas Monthly wrapped up the official protests here under the great headline, "Help! Help! There's a pig in this room! Quick, get the lipstick!"

It would have been reassuring to hear people honestly look at the study and the assumptions that went into it, and then say that the number wasn’t correct or the report was wrong.  And how refreshing would it have been to hear them concede that the numbers are right and show that we need to reform the state's budget and finances?

But we didn’t get that – just more rhetoric and buzzwords and denial about what this budget will mean for the state and its future.
 
Here's a good rule about budget writing: when someone is presented with empirical data and responds with campaign slogans, get nervous.

Raising the stakes

The thing is, this sort of report really challenges the story for those in control – in ways that all of the other negative reports don’t.

I’ve heard it said that the philosophy of those in control rests on a trade-off: as long as the economy is OK, voters will put up with things like tragically high percentages of uninsured people, shockingly low percentages of adults with a high school diploma, rampant pollution emissions, ever worsening traffic, etc. Heck, the reasoning seems to be that Texans will even stand for less than honest budgeting practices and a willingness to cover up mismanagement.

Well, we’re now faced with a budget that – according to the Legislative Budget Board – will by itself create an economic catastrophe affecting tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of Texans, undermining our already delicate economic footing.  It’s like every Texan is about to get a T-shirt that reads, “I’ve tried to make do without teachers and a strong education for my kids, and all I got for it is a lousy economy.”

But don’t take my word for it.  Ask the Economist magazine, which once lauded Texas as a national economic leader and now runs headlines like, “The Texas budget: A blow to the model.”

Those who've created this mess – those who, by the way, control the Legislative Budget Board – owe Texans an honest assessment of the problem, real reform of the system that created it, and solutions that will lead Texas back to prosperity.   I’ve proposed a package of reforms I call the Honesty Agenda to make government more transparent and those responsible for it more accountable, and to help the state get to a point where the budget will be not just balanced but sustainably balanced.  I hope you’ll take a look.

What you can do

But beyond that, there's something specific you can do about this crisis – something Texas needs you to do.

On Wednesday, April 6, a coalition of groups is hosting the Save Our State rally at the Texas Capitol.

This will be one of the largest gatherings of this legislative session.  It’s our chance to demand reform of a broken system, to ask that responsibility trump rhetoric, and to fight a bad budget that will threaten Texas’ future, its children, seniors, and economy.

You can learn more about the rally, contribute to the organizers, and maybe find a ride at www.april62011.org.

I really hope – and Texas really needs – to see you there.

His name is Robert Bernal, He's 85-years-old, and he works as a parking guard on the driveway running around the east side (which is the Senate side) of the Capitol.  I see him pretty much every day during a session.  He’s always smiling.  And every time I've seen him for more than four years now, he always shakes my hand, we exchange the standard "how're you doing," and then, without exception, he wishes me good luck.  

Because of who he is, Mr. Bernal's greeting is always a pleasure.  Because of what he’s done, it’s always an honor.

Robert's a veteran of World War II, and a participant in one of its fiercest battles – the fight for Iwo Jima.  This, of course, is the battle in which a photographer captured the iconic image of Marines raising the American flag in the midst of the fight.  It began on Feb. 19, 1945 and finally ended on March 26, 66 years ago this week.

Robert was part of the crew of one of the landing boats that carried men and equipment on the perilous stretch between the American boats and the beach of the Japanese-held island.

But before that, he was a 17-year-old kid from Austin who got permission from his parents to enlist early in the U.S. Navy.  Trained for the landing craft, he took care of the ropes and cables, lowered the ramp to unload whatever they were carrying, and manned a machine gun.

Robert saw a lot of the war in the Pacific, from the aftermath of the battle of Guadalcanal to the Phillipines invasions.  Then, his crew was sent to Iwo Jima.

The Battle

Military planners expected the battle to last about a week.  Instead, it raged for more than a month.  Japanese troops were literally dug into the island, with most fighting from well-defended bunkers.

By day, Robert’s boat pushed through the wreckage of the battle and the swarm of bullets and shells to deliver supplies and reinforcements to the Marines.  At night, he helped man a machine gun, watching out for enemy saboteurs.

A few days into the battle, the Marines raised the American flag.  It was visible from the beaches and the water, inspiring Robert and thousands more Americans who were fighting that fight, and helping give them the strength to win it.

In the end, more than 6,000 Americans and about 18,000 Japanese were killed in the battle.  Another nearly 20,000 Americans were wounded, and 27 Americans were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions at Iwo Jima.

And 66 years later, this man who did so much for our country is still working for the people of Texas – keeping an eye on things around the Capitol and kindly passing on greetings to me and so many others who walk past.

When this happy, heroic man touches me, both by taking my hand and wishing me good luck, I always feel special.   It's more than just the symbolism of what he’s passed on to all of us.  He graces and empowers me.

And I always walk away feeling that this special patriot has entrusted me with - he's delegated to me - the obligation to do right, to do all I can as well as I can, as I walk into his Capitol.

New media – when we need it the most

For a little while now, I’ve been fascinated by the rise of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms and what they can mean to those of us who are doing policy, organizing constituents and preparing for Texas’ future. (Plus, it's a great way to keep up with people's birthdays.)

The truth is, I’m young enough to be fascinated by the impact of these new tools.  And I’m ... well, let's call it mature enough to have a perspective on what a difference they can make.

Saturday’s extraordinary march on the Capitol in support of Texas children, teachers and schools is a great example.

Thousands of people turned out to protest the state's terrible budget management, the resulting disaster (which I’ve discussed here and here) and the effects that proposed cuts will have on our state’s future.

There are literally millions of Texans whose hearts are very much with everyone who attended the demonstration, but who just couldn’t get away from work or home on Saturday to be there.

In the past, they would have just missed it, maybe caught a glimpse of it on the news or in the paper, and hoped to talk with someone who went.

But now, thanks to tweets, Facebook posts, blog updates and emails, they can follow what’s going on as it happens and communicate with friends and strangers – just like they would in person – about how to do right for our kids and our future.

In that way, these social media technologies help us expand the conversation in ways that were never possible in the past.  So whatever the official number is of how many people rallied on Saturday, the numbers who were energized and inspired by the event are orders of magnitude larger.

And believe me – we’re going to need the energy and input of every single one of them to make a difference this session.

New Media – now playing at SXSW

New media’s been on my mind a lot lately – and not just because everyone’s in town for South by Southwest – or because the little interactive festival now looks big enough to start thumping its older music and film siblings.

Earlier this month, I sat down for an interview with Austin blogger extraordinaire Rachel Farris (known to many of us as @MeanRachel, though, as was noted, she’s really not all that mean; it's sort of like calling me TallKirk) before a few dozen local Twitterers over breakfast.  She wrote a summary of the event that you can read here.

And yesterday, I sat for an interview with Facebook, which is making a splash for the festival – you can watch the video here.

The message, over and over, has been that these tools are vital to the world as we now know it.  At a time when so many feel disconnected and isolated – particularly from their government and from the decisions being made that affect them – these platforms plug people in and bring them together.

And they help people know their elected representatives in very direct, very transparent ways.

As I said in both interviews, folks shouldn’t outsource their b.s.

All of which is to say, if we aren’t already connected on Facebook and Twitter, go here and click “Like,” and go here and click “Follow.”  Let me know what you’re thinking about what’s going on at the Capitol right now.

I’ll be doing the same.

New bills

I’ll close this week with a look at some of the bills I’ll be working on this session.  Friday was the bill-filing deadline for the session (though we can still introduce new legislation in the Senate on a four-fifths vote), so my table’s pretty well set.

Couple these with the bills I’ve written about in the past (including my Honesty Agenda bills on budget transparency and accountability, our bill to make sure appropriate laws are in place regarding the practice of teen “sexting,” and what we’re calling Pathways to Employment Act), and I get really hopeful that as rough as this session has been, we’ve still got a great chance to do some real good for Texans and Texas’ future this year.

Here are some quick summaries with links to the bill text:

SB 1655: This would take a number of steps to make sure more folks have the information they need about insurance rates – making folks better shoppers and, hopefully, helping make rates lower and the market more competitive.

SB 1648: This would set a framework and a strong step for the creation of new medical schools in areas where they’re badly needed – including Central and South Texas.

SB 449: This would create an innovative path to work with the private sector and encourage landowners to manage their property in ways that  increase water quality and water quantity.

SB 1649: This would use a law enforcement fund – the proceeds of which have been diverted for years – to create a grant program supporting border safety and security.

SB 330: This is the bill we almost passed last session that would utilize private-sector forces to make Texas a leader in the 21st Century energy economy.
 
SB 293: This is a great bill I filed before the session even started to encourage the use of cost-effective telemedicine services to help folks get good healthcare without having to go to the doctor’s office.

SB 291 and SB 1331: These bills would ensure that kids know everything they need to know about the dangers of alcohol poisoning – and that they aren’t afraid to take action if their friends are in trouble.

SB 329: This creates a badly needed recycling program for television sets, building on the innovative electronic waste recycling program that one of my bills created a couple of years ago.

SB 517 and SB 1325: Both of these bills will help a state program that encourages parents to save money for their kids’ college education by matching it with money from the state.

SB 1044: This allows counties to participate with the private sector in partnerships that protect open space land by purchasing the development rights to it.

I’m very excited about these bills and everything I’ll be working on this session.  Check in here and on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

 This is going to be a busy week.  The deadline for filing legislation is on Friday.  So expect a flurry of miscellaneous bills and issues and press releases – on top of the committee meetings and headlines and rumors and general bustle.

But if you can get your head above the noise – and if you’ve got a strong stomach – you can get a fascinating look at the state budget, how it’s been broken, and what it’s going to take to fix it.

Connecting the dots

Last week, a collection of very basic data was released that breaks down, county-by-county, what the proposed state budget could mean to communities across Texas.

In Travis County, it says, school districts are looking at nearly $191 million less than they’d normally expect from the state.  If that doesn’t change, it means one of two things: a big-time property tax increase to make up for the legislature’s lack of commitment, or cuts on a scale of 4,750 job losses in county school districts. 

But wait.  There’s more.

As you know, whenever spending occurs in one part of the economy, it triggers activity in another part of the economy.  And according to the table, more than 6,000 private-sector jobs are dependent on the groceries that those school district employees buy, the clothes they wear, the mortgage or rent they pay, the movies they go to, the gas they put in their cars, the restaurants where they eat, etc.

So if the proposed budget goes through, the study says, you can expect a hit to the Travis County economy equal to about 11,000 school district and private sector jobs.  Expand to the five-county Austin region, and you’re looking at more than 8,000 school district jobs alone, and more than 20,000 jobs total.

Clearly, this would be a horrible blow, particularly when we’re already looking at the possibility that thousands of state jobs could also vanish under this budget. 

First the bad news, then ... more bad news

Unfortunately, the data doesn’t get much better from there. 

Another table shows that Austin Community College is looking at funding levels that basically ignore cuts that have already been made, the region’s population growth, the increased cost of health insurance, and the fundamental role ACC is playing in training our work force.  The result – $33.6 million that will have to be made up through things like property tax increases and layoffs.

And a third table says Travis County stands to lose $791.5 million in health and human services money from the current budget, which would put us $1.36 billion down from where we need to be given population growth and the cost of medical care. 

Worse yet, in that scenario, the state would save only a little over a half-billion dollars, because $800 million of that total consists of lost money that we send to Washington in our federal taxes but won’t be getting back.

And that’s the situation facing communities all over the state.  The Dallas Morning News took a look at the numbers and said more than 18,000 school district and related private sector jobs are at risk in Dallas County alone. 

Again, take a look at the numbers to see what your community is facing.

Don’t take my word for it

But really, if you want to know how tough this budget is, ask someone who’s responsible for it.

Right now, two subcommittees of Texas Senate budget writers are working furiously to try to get a handle on the size of the budget problems in health and education, and what to do about them. 

Last week, the Chair of the Finance Committee dropped into one of the subcommittee meetings and declared that the proposed budget “basically decimates public education.” 

Also last week, the subcommittee trying to cut nearly $10 billion from the state’s Medicaid program (which primarily helps children and seniors) got hung up when members found they were having trouble slicing even 5 percent of that total.

It turns out that in both of these areas, there really isn’t that much so-called "fat" to cut.  The only questions are whether legislators intend to keep their promises when it comes to basic needs of our kids, parents, grandparents and neighbors – and, if they don’t, who they’re going to hurt.

Maybe that’s why you’re hearing even prominent budget writers talk about starting to spend down the state’s savings or even raising revenue to pay for these necessities and avoid the need for such deep pain.

Planning for the long run

But the most important budget news last week may have been on the House side, when the Comptroller made a guest appearance at a House Appropriations Committee meeting.

There, she rightly encouraged legislators and the public to think of this budget crisis not as something that can realistically be solved in the next three months, but as a multi-year problem that’s likely to confront Texas yet again in 2013, when we’ll probably have even fewer tools with which to deal with it.

That kind of perspective would have been helpful in, say, September of last year, when some of us were pretty much begging the Comptroller to provide information about the state’s finances, the budget and the crisis we all suspected was coming. 

Because, if nothing else, this effort to reconfigure our healthcare and education systems – which those in control are scrambling to finish up in the next few days – could have benefitted from some time, attention and information before the session started.

But what’s done is done.

Why Honesty matters

At this point, I think the Comptroller is right in saying that a problem five years in the making can’t be solved in the last three months of the session. 

Reliable information and smart planning are about to become essential.  The state’s budget writers are openly eying one-time savings and accounting gimmicks – the sorts of things that might kick the can down the road this year, but will likely end up creating an interim of uncertainty followed by another budget crisis.

It’s a mistake, a big one, to adopt that dangerous approach without committing to reform the system.

That’s why I put forward my Honesty Agenda – a set of reforms that will make information more widely available, ensure Texans know how their money’s being spent, and help the state protect itself from these sorts of budget crises.  This legislation will make sure government is transparent, those in control of it are accountable, and the budget is on the side of middle-class Texans. 

It would be a mistake to support any budget without such reforms – particularly a budget that embraces gimmickry, spends down savings, increases taxes and weakens moral commitments that keep Texas economically competitive.  And I remain hopeful that we can make them law this session.

In the meantime, I guess we’ll all just have to watch, listen, connect all the dots they’ll show us, and brace ourselves for whatever picture we finally see.

A good bill, a great cause

I got to take part in a nice event last week.  Representative Elliott Naishtat and I had a press conference at Caritas of Austin (a support center for the homeless) to unveil legislation we’re carrying that could make a real difference helping folks get back on their feet.

It’s called the Pathways to Employment Act.  It would provide a free state-issued photo ID to those who apply for one and have an affidavit to verify that they’re homeless.

Getting an ID is often the first step for someone who needs a job – obviously, it’s real tough to find steady work without an ID, and it’s often just as hard to scrape the money together for that ID for those who are homeless.

So this bill would help folks take that first step, helping them become self-sufficient while saving money for governments and the community in the process.  It's common-sense for anyone of any party or philosophy.

Last week, Representative Naishtat and I walked the media through the bill and what it does.  Then we helped the Caritas folks, including some dedicated volunteers, get lunch ready for their clients.

 

It was great to work with these community heroes who are doing so much to take care of their neighbors – and ours.  This bill offers one small way for the state to help them out, too.

A long effort

The truth is that addressing homelessness in a meaningful way has been a priority of mine since I was Mayor of Austin.

I talked about this a little bit in a speech last year.  I remember, during that first mayoral campaign, talking about homelessness with folks who were working on it and realizing how complex an issue it is and how much I needed to learn about it.

Then, after I took office, I was struck almost immediately by two things: the severity of the homeless problem in Austin, and the really shocking inability of so many people to address it.

I was amazed, and I remain amazed, at how many folks approached the issue as if we had to choose between taking care of our city – as some people defined the city – or taking care of the homeless.

Not enough progress

We built the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless.  We empowered and formed lasting partnerships with non-profits and faith-based groups.  And we beat back efforts to move the homeless to some part of the region where they wouldn’t be seen – and where the difficult questions raised by their homelessness wouldn’t seem so immediate.

But still, if you ask me to name the one area I was most frustrated by when I was mayor – the part of city government that kept me up at night knowing I wasn't achieving what I wanted, or that I just stayed upset about – it was this one.

The numbers show how much work there is to do. According to the group Green Doors last year, there were more than 5,000 homeless people on any given night in Austin and Travis County, 616 homeless families with children, and 3,000 to 5,000 homeless AISD students. 

The state can do more to help those in Central Texas and across this state who are doing so much to address this issue.  The Pathways to Employment Act is just one small step, but a very good one.

Here's a picture after it was all over:

A big week

It was taken last Friday (before the pain of Sunday) when I gave an interview to MSNBC on the sexting bill I filed a couple weeks ago.
 
The appearance wrapped up what was a very big week at the Capitol.  I tried to chronicle it faithfully on Facebook and Twitter (and by the way, if you haven't "liked" me or "followed" me . . . well, you really should).  But in case you missed it, here were some highlights.

-- On Monday, I held a press conference with Rep. Mark Strama to talk about what we call our Prevention Works bill.  This legislation could reduce the number of abortions in Texas by preventing unplanned pregnancies in the first place – and do it in an incredibly cost-effective manner.

You know, that should be such a common-sense, bipartisan idea: that the best way to prevent the termination of an unplanned pregnancy is to prevent the unplanned pregnancy in the first place.  But for some reason, that logic gets lost at the Capitol.  Instead, folks spend a day taking a break from their conservative rhetoric to issue government dictates about how doctors should treat women patients.

The Honesty Agenda

Credibility matters

 During the hearing, I asked the agency in charge of the state's power grid to release the list of power plants that failed during the freeze.  These power blackouts shouldn't cause an information blackout too.

-- And on Wednesday, Texans learned of a report from a conservative group doing an evaluation of the State Board of Education.  Like most tests of that board that are performed with even a little bit of objectivity, it didn't turn out so well.

 In my view, the report doesn't bode well for the Board of Education's Chair, who needs the confirmation of the Senate this year.  I don't oppose her because of what she believes or what I believe.  I oppose her because she's left this very important board with so little credibility that many, including some conservative groups are all but flunking it.

-- Also on Wednesday, the census numbers came out.  These will be the numbers used in the decennial redistricting of Congressional, State Senate, Texas House of Representatives, and State Board of Education seats.  I've written some about how redistricting will impact Senate District 14.  You can read those posts here – scroll down to the "Newsletters" section and look at the three entries from this month.

-- Then came Thursday, which (as I may have said) was the day some folks decided that being conservative means dictating how doctors should treat women patients.

-- And on Friday, I was on national television talking about sexting.  Weirdly, that may have been a slow day.

Another big week

 

 
It's a shot I took with my phone of our two ridiculous bulldogs, one who's out-lived her breed by several years, and one who's very young.
 
They're pulling on the two ends of the same rope. They growl and pull with all they've got, but ultimately it's just mindless pulling and growling. Nothing substantive really being done.
 
Yeah, it's a metaphor for the political parties and our political system.  But don't spend too much time contemplating it.  You'll go as crazy as them.

Other games we can play

Still playing games

Which brings our time machine back to last week, when about three weeks into its existence (in the Senate, anyway), the all-pain, no-gain draft budget was put out of its misery.

Those in control of the process – the folks who were present at just about every step of the drafting of the draft budget – are no longer treating it like it's a legitimate document.

Now, we're told, there will be more revenue, we just don’t know how much.  There will be fewer cuts, too, they say; but we still don’t have a target for how much money will need to be restored to keep Texans from losing the necessities they rely on.

So, lacking answers, we’re left with the same uncertainty that’s defined this issue for months.  We've been subjected to the same fun and games that cause Texans to criticize the budget process for not being open and transparent and for failing to tell the public how our money is spent.

But rest assured, at some point, we’ll see a proposed resolution to this budget crisis.  And as I wrote last week, I suspect many folks will declare “victory,” if only because it will look so much better than the horror show we’ve watched over the last month.

I hope they’re right.  I honestly hope it’s as good as those folks will probably say it is.  I hope the pain it dispenses is slight and its victims are few.  I hope the budget writers – who are now about as close to Sine Die (when they’re supposed to be done with the budget) as they are to Election Day (when there wasn’t even a political point in denying what we’re facing) - figure things out in the time that’s left and produce a budget that really is good for Texas.

In short, I really do hope they swoop in and save the day. 

Saving the day

• “Saving the Day” should mean solving the root problems of these deficits and putting Texas on a path where we won’t be going through this trauma again in two or four years.

• “Saving the Day” should mean avoiding short-sighted budget actions that weaken our people and Texas’ ability to compete economically.

• And “Saving the Day” should mean instituting fundamental reforms that will make government transparent, hold those responsible for it accountable, and put the state’s finances on the side of the middle class.

It should mean putting protections in place to ensure that this budget crisis never happens again.

And I'm betting you know I believe that it starts with the Honesty Agenda.

My Honesty Agenda

This legislation will make it easier to balance the budget this year.  It’ll allow Texas to spend the next two years strengthening its finances even in the face of difficult, short-sighted, and clearly temporary strategies that spend down savings and exhaust one-time gimmicks.

These proposals, in other words, will allow us to fortify Texas’ fiscal foundation even as the state digs out of the current mess.

Agenda items

1. Ensure that money which is supposed to go to specific purposes is spent only on those purposes, not used to balance the budget.  Stop the dishonest and unfair practice of collecting fees that aren’t being used as the state promised they’d be.

2. Require the Comptroller to provide regular reports about the state’s budget condition, and end the excuses that keep the public from getting this information. 

3. Create an environment that promotes pro-business growth by creating a commission that taps Texas’ vast base of business expertise to fix the state’s finances. 

4. Block those who attempt to score reckless, fleeting political points by eliminating revenue the state relies on – but who don't do the hard work of declaring, openly and honestly, what functions and necessities would be eliminated to make up that money.

 5. Require the state to report what it’s collecting in fees, whether fees were increased during a legislative session, and how much fee revenue is being diverted to balance the budget.

6. Require that raw budget data be posted online so Texans can see how public money is being spent. 

7. Encourage state agencies to post data sets online in an effort to increase accountability and improve knowledge of the agency’s operations. 

8. Allow any member of the legislature to request a report on how bills – even those that cost money in the short-term –   might have a long-term economic benefit for the state. 

9. Require state agencies to report the impact of refusing to accept federal dollars. 

10. Make sure the public can weigh in on budget changes that are ordered when the legislature's not in town. 

11. End unfunded mandates on cities, counties, school districts, and other local governments – and on the taxpayers who support those entities. 

12. Have the state’s Cash Management Committee hold a public hearing and take testimony on the state’s cash flow situation and Texas’ overall economic condition before signing off on the issuance of more short-term debt. 

13. Move the state’s Performance Reviews, which are like agency audits seeking ways to save money, out from under the legislature’s purview (so legislators aren’t in the position of grading their own papers). 

14. Have the Sunset Advisory Committee, which reviews the functions and operations of agencies across state government, itself undergo a review to ensure it’s as effective as it needs to be.

These are basic, balanced strategies.  Many of them are common in the private sector.
 
And make no mistake: this legislation won’t simply help avoid future budget crises in Texas.

It will help solve this one, too.

No joke

• Texans must truly know what’s in the budget;

• Debt, diversions and deception must be flushed out of the state’s fiscal system;

• Those in control must be held accountable for the state’s poor fiscal condition;

• Information must be made more readily available;

• And the budget must be re-written so that it’s on the side of hard-working Texans.

This difficult budget offers Texas leaders a chance to not only balance the books this year, but to put Texas on a path to doing it sustainably so legislators don’t have to keep coming back, session after session, to patch over a structural hole.

However, there are less candid paths open to those in control of the budget, as well.

Already, some groups are urging that the state employ every accounting trick, including the one-time postponement of payments into another fiscal year, to help kick the can down the road.  Revenue will almost certainly increase, probably through fee increases and other mechanisms that those in control will describe as something other than a tax increase but then use for taxing purposes.
 
Some of the decisions will almost surely cause an increase in local property taxes.  And the diversion of funds dedicated to a specific purpose – and the use of them to certify more spending in the budget – is almost certain to increase significantly.

Even worse than that, some have already started to redefine a “budget cut” to hide the impact of what they’re doing.  For instance, it’s a cut – and a major one – if the state leaves school funding static despite an increase in students, leading to a big drop in per-student investment.

This can be done right

He’s got kind of a wispy gray beard, gray hair, a weathered face and dark eyes that reveal they've seen a lot – more, I’ll bet, than anyone truly knows.

Even as an old man, he looks determined.  He looks sort of mad.  He looks like a guy still spoiling for a fight. 

And as he stoically surveys me, I examine him and wonder what he's thinking about all the things he's watching.  I'm distracted by him – even as he gives me a deep sense of exactly where I am and the opportunity I have.

Meet Mr. Steele

His name is Alfonso Steele (the card under his gigantic portrait spells it “Alphonso,” but the history books say “Alfonso”; maybe that’s one of the things he’s mad about).  His giant portrait hangs right across from my desk on the floor of the Texas Senate – near folks like Barbara Jordan, President Lyndon Johnson and Mirabeau Lamar.

My friend Alfonso.  I use his first name because I feel like we know each other pretty well at this point. We've spent a lot of time studying one another and, I must say, there are times I think he may be the only one in that chamber who's actually listening.  

Alfonso entered this rarefied air basically by fighting and, then, by surviving.

Killing time 'til the revolution

He was born in Kentucky, hoofed it over to the Mississippi River, floated down to Louisiana, hooked up with some folks looking to fight in the Texas revolution, and, as they say, got here as quick as he could.  He was 18 at the time. 

Unfortunately for Alfonso, the revolution wasn’t exactly underway yet.  So he did what any self-respecting and aspiring revolutionary would do – he got a job in a hotel at Washington-on-the-Brazos, started grinding corn to make bread for the Texas Declaration of Independence signatories, and bided his time.

He was serving as a private in Sam Houston’s army when the Battle of San Jacinto got started (here’s a link, but really, if you’re not familiar with San Jacinto, you need to think about going back to California).  He was badly wounded but didn’t quit the fight – in fact, Sam Houston apparently ended up riding on Alfonso’s horse for at least part of the battle (though the horse also got shot, I understand).

Alfonso recovered (his horse did not) and he went on to lead what reads like a very normal life.  He headed to Montgomery County (near Houston), got married at 21, and then moved to Robertson County (which is now Limestone County, about 45 minutes east of Waco).

A life less ordinary

Alfonso got relatively famous (emphasis on “relatively” – the only famous people listed on Limestone County’s Wikipedia page are Anna Nicole Smith and Don the Beachcomber) back in 1909, when the 31st Texas Legislature honored him as one of two living survivors of San Jacinto.

And the other guy, whoever he was, died.  So Alfonso was it, earning him a place in the Capitol and the right to be written about in highly informative email newsletters a century later.  He died just shy of a hundred years ago, at the age of 94.

Now, he's up on the wall, sitting in what appears to be a big, dark room, his head turned a bit so he can face me.  Which he does ... every day I'm in the Senate Chamber.

And so, for another 17 weeks of the session, I’ll be looking at Alfonso.  And I have no doubt that he’ll be watching me, too.

The start of the legislative session means a couple of things:

First, I’ve passed the four-year anniversary of serving in the Texas Senate.

And second, I’ve been writing the Watson Wire for a bit less than five years.

That last point, of course, means some of you have been reading the Watson Wire for almost five years.

I’ll let you all contemplate which of the above facts is the most unbelievable.

Anyway, not long after I was getting started with this newsletter, I wrote a Watson Wire about some of the basic principles that have guided my time in public service.  This seems like a good time to revisit some of those – particularly in light of the significant issues that are on the legislature’s plate this year.

1. Be willing to throw away labels.  Too often, labels become an excuse not to hear what someone may really think and to pretend people are a lot more shallow than they really are.  And, given our challenge this year of balancing the budget and doing it in an honest, open way, I think we all will need to do all we can to toss out any unnecessary, artificial hurdles that might make it harder to work together.
2. Listen carefully and speak plainly.  Politics is filled with people talking past one another or regurgitating platitudes. The best work comes when folks really speak openly, make their position clear, truly listen, and avoid pre-packaged talking points.  If we avoid the shadow boxing and really work to address each other’s concerns, we’ll be far more likely to get something done this session.
3. Follow the "84 Percent Rule."  If we can come up with something that 84 percent of the public would look at and say, "That's not exactly how I'd do it, but it's pretty good and it's progress," then we should probably go for it.  I try to not demand my – or anyone’s – concept of perfection.  (And why 84 percent?  I made it up.  Also, it’s because that's what I was reelected Mayor of Austin with.)
4. Be biased toward action.  Too often in politics, people seem to fear failure.  It’s better, I think, to make a mistake trying something than make a mistake missing an opportunity.  And in this session especially, we shouldn’t let fear or habit determine which reforms we’ll try and which ones we won’t.
5. Hope matters.  Public service should have goals of assuring hope – and creating a foundation of opportunity – for prosperity and a better life.  In a time that’s certain to have more than its share of bad news, we should embrace opportunities to do good wherever we can. 
6. Have a short-term focus with a long-term vision.  The "gifts" of cancerincluded the knowledge that there may not be a tomorrow.  As a result, I look for results that are immediately achievable and have benefits long-term.  This session, there will be far too many decisions that pit the present against the future.  I’ll work to make sure we don’t sacrifice one for the other.
7. Know core values and assets, and be willing to admit weaknesses.  You may not be surprised to learn that I try to assess my values, assets, and weaknesses routinely (you may be quite surprised to learn I think I can have weaknesses).  Clearly, this is a time to take that sort of stock at the Capitol.
8. Avoid the nitpickers, naysayers and know-it-alls.  (OK, so maybe there are a few handy labels.)  We all know those folks who kill good ideas by picking them to death, and who love reminding us how much smarter they are.  It isn't called "negative energy" for nothing.
9. Seek out new and different constituencies, and avoid creating unnecessary enemies.  Even when folks disagree, there's no reason to do it in such a way that they never want to work together on something they should agree about.  "Winning" can be achieved without the destruction of those you're disagreeing with.  Furthermore, there’s no way we’re going to get through this session without some unusual coalitions getting together and coming up with new and different solutions to our challenges.
10. Focus on the positive, even in situations that are difficult.  If you’re looking for a tattoo for the session, I suggest this one.
11. Don't take myself too seriously, even when my bull is really good.  Sort of speaks for itself.
12. Enjoy the service.  Frankly, too many people in public service today seem angry, and it’s always too easy to get cynical.  Service ought to be fulfilling, at least most of the time – particularly in times when good public servants are needed the most.  And this is one of those times.

It goes without saying that I fail to achieve any of these at one time or another (occasionally, more than a couple).  But it’s something to work for – the way I try to serve.

 I’m not going to stop doing that, no matter how tough it gets, be it this year or any other.

A great weekend 

Even with the rain, I enjoyed this holiday weekend.  On Sunday, I attended the celebration of the Lake Travis Cavaliers – the girls for winning the state volleyball championship, and the boys for winning the state football championship for the fourth time in a row.  Here are some pictures of that. 

And, yesterday, I celebrated the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by marching from his statue on the University of Texas Campus over to Huston-Tillotson University in East Austin. Here are some pictures of that event. 

New rules ... tomorrow?

And as early as tomorrow, there could be a vote by the state Senate and/or House of Representatives to implement the rules that will govern the session.

As I wrote last week, I’ll propose that the Senate implement a rule to make sure the final draft of the budget is publicly available for five days before it’s voted on – a business week’s worth of budget honesty.  One simple business week to know what's in the budget of a multi-billion dollar enterprise called state government.  I’m hoping that the House will offer up the same rule and we’ll get the session off to a very open, very transparent start.

The proposal got a pretty good boost last week when two major policy groups that frequently work on opposite sides of budget-related issues came out in favor of providing more time to read the final budget draft – both in the context of the rule change.

From the right: Talmadge Heflin, of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said, “In the spirit of transparency, it would give people more time to look at the budget ... We need to try to get more legislators to know what they’re voting on.”
 
And from the left: Scott McCown, of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, said,  “Having the final version of the budget lay out for five days would give the public time to learn what is, and what is not, in the single most important bill of the session – and ensure that Texans have time to communicate with their legislators before any votes are cast.”

You can read all about the love and happiness that budget honesty engenders if you click here. 
  
Also, on Sunday, the American-Statesman came out in favor of the rule change and other aspects of what I'm calling my Honesty Agenda -- a package of legislation designed to make the budget and state finances more open and honest.  You can see what they wrote here, and read up on the Honesty Agenda here. 

Finally, if you want to learn more about the rule change, click here to see the language and here for the letter I sent to my Senate colleagues about the proposal.

The bad news... waits

Now, about that Biennial Revenue Estimate ...

First some background: The Texas Constitution requires the Comptroller (the state’s elected Chief Financial Officer) to release a revenue estimate at the outset of a legislative session.  It’s sort of a declaration of what the credits side of the state’s ledger looks like.  This is known as the Biennial Revenue Estimate.

But the Constitution also allows – some would say “obligates” – the Comptroller to release updated revenue estimates “at such other times as may be necessary to show probable changes” to the last revenue estimate.

So back in September – at the start of the state’s new fiscal year, when it was pretty clear to everyone (except the occasional political candidate) that Texas is facing a budget crisis – I sent the Comptroller a letter suggesting that since there have probably been, y'know, “probable changes” to the state’s fiscal picture, it would have been a good time to get an updated revenue estimate.

And then ... hilarity ensued.  You can re-live it here and especially here.  But suffice it to say that while many words were written and spoken, none actually spelled out the true state of the state’s finances.

“Just wait four months for an update on our budget and fiscal picture,” the people of Texas were essentially told by their CFO – as though the phrase wouldn’t make 5-Hour Energy drink spew out of the noses of private sector CEOs when they heard that from their CFOs.

The bad news... arrives

Well, four months finally wound up yesterday.  And here’s what we now know

• The current (2010-11) General Fund budget is $87 billion.
• The state will probably collect about $77 billion for its largely discretionary General Fund budget in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 (the years this upcoming budget will cover).
• But then, you have to subtract about $4 billion from that to cover the projected shortfall in the current budget (though that deficit may shrink some due to budget cuts that are already happening).
• Based on appropriations requests from agencies and what have you, it’s reasonable to assume (as most budget watchers seem to be doing this week) that – given things like cost increases and population growth – it would cost roughly $99 billion for the state to continue doing all it’s been doing for the last two years without measures like increasing class sizes, slashing health care for seniors, or cutting back on border security.
• So based on this sort of pre-cuts math, the budget shortfall for 2012-13 now stands at something like $27 billion.
• If you were to count our savings accounts (especially what's known as the Rainy Day Fund) and the quarters you might find in every couch in the Capitol, you'd have about $9 billion or so in cash to fill that $27 billion hole.

Makes me long for campaign season, when some folks could, with a straight face, pretend that we didn’t have any problems.

What's wrong

But this revenue estimate – depressing as it is – does more than spell out our budget shortfall.  It also demonstrates the deficit of honesty and openness that has so thoroughly weakened our state’s finances.

The truth is, Texans deserve more respect.  After months of talk about the looming budget shortfall, only now – one day before the start of the legislative session – are we getting an indication of how big a hole we’re truly facing.

The state budget isn’t an insiders’ game. This money and the information about it belong to the people of Texas.

This is exactly why I proposed my Honesty Agenda – to address both the financial deficit and the deficit of transparency and accountability. Here are some other fundamental budget reforms that need to occur:

• Essential budget information, including more regular revenue estimates, must be made widely available to the public.
• Money that’s supposed to go – that was promised to go – to specific state programs should be spent only on those programs.
• Whenever Texas politicians threaten to cut Texans' basic necessities, they should declare who will be specifically impacted and how. They should reveal how Texas will maintain its commitments to essential priorities so that we can be economically competitive. And whenever they threaten to increase taxes or fees, they should tell taxpayers exactly what the money will be used for.
• Legislators should consider the short-term and long-term impact that budget decisions will have on Texas’ economy. Texas politicians need to start accounting for spending and performance.
• The state must create a comprehensive plan to sustainably balance the budget.

Texans should not accept any attempts to drain the state’s savings accounts, deprive our children and neighbors of necessities, or increase taxes or fees until reforms are in place.

I will not vote for a budget that perpetuates a lack of fiscal openness and budget honesty.

The timing of today's revenue estimate, and the bad news it contains, illuminate a deficit in budget honesty. Nothing about the holiday season – or the campaign season – should have forced so many Texans to wait so long for such critical information.

Happy New Year!

If you’re saying that to someone in Texas and it’s an odd-numbered year, then you’re also getting ready – whether you know it or not – for the legislative session.

Yeah, it’s that time of every-other-year again, where 181 new, old, genuine and figurative friends get together to pass some laws – some of which will almost certainly mean a lot to you and your family and friends.

I'm hosting an open house on the first day of the session, a week from today.  Come by the Capitol office (in room E1.810, in the underground extension just north of the Capitol) anytime on Tuesday, Jan. 11 to meet and greet my staff and me.  I hope to see you, next week or any time over the next five months.

The Big Question

This session (which starts a week from today) promises to be especially important because, as you’ve heard, the state is facing a huge budget shortfall – about $20 billion, which would be nearly a quarter of the total budget that the legislature has discretion over.

So that’s a big problem, right?  And it’s coming right after a long political campaign where some folks bragged (a lot) about how great the Texas economy is doing?

Those things might make you scratch your head and wonder, if the state is doing so great, how come the state budget looks so bad?  What happened?

Not an entirely natural disaster

Well, obviously, it’s more than the recession.  I’ve been saying for a while that those in control of state finances have been balancing the budget with debt, diversions and deception.  And one of the biggest problems is that information about the state’s budget and finances simply has not been made available to Texans.

These problems have become so big that they just can't be hidden.  And this ought to be the one thing we don't argue about: the state should be as honest and as open as it possibly can be so that Texans know how their money is being spent, make sure problems aren’t being covered up, and know that the Texas economy is remaining competitive.  

This all goes back to the Honesty Agenda that I proposed a couple of months back and is among my top priorities for the session.  And there’s a very simple first step we can take toward this openness and accountability – and we can take it almost immediately, in the very first week of the session.

New rules for more time 

Next week, I’ll propose a change in the Senate rules that will make sure every Texan has the time and ability to read the final version of the budget before it’s passed.  Oh, and by the way, so will the senators.

Here’s the problem: Every session, the Texas Senate passes one version of the budget and the House of Representatives passes another.  At that point, a few legislators are appointed to what’s known as a Conference Committee, and they get together (often behind closed doors) to add some spending and programs to the budget, remove some investment that some folks care about, and make other changes.

Then, after a month or so of work, the Conference Committee report – which is basically the final draft of the budget – gets filed in both the Senate and the House.  And legislators, advocates, the media, and other Texans generally have about 48 hours, if that, to sort through an almost 1,000 page document.  Even with the best of intentions and effort, folks are left scrambling to discover what's been changed, added, subtracted, divided or multiplied as they try to figure out how lots of money covering lots of items – more than $180 billion in the current budget (which includes $87 billion in discretionary money) – will be spent.

Of course, this rush to judgment is usually right at the very tail end of the session, when things are totally nuts because of the final legislative crunch and the hurricane of last minute activity and distractions.

Well, if we’re going to really reform the process and honor the right of Texans to know what their government is doing by making sure budget and fiscal information is readily and widely available, a simple first step would be to give everyone just a little more time – let's take five days, a simple “business week” – to make sure we’re comfortable with this Conference Committee budget.

What a business week gives us 

Taking one business week would help us all evaluate whether Texas, even in the midst of a tough economy, is maintaining its commitments to schools, health care for seniors, border security, and other moral priorities that will keep Texas economically competitive.

It would allow Texans to see whether the legislature is adopting basic reforms that will open the state’s books to its people, help Texas avoid these budget crises in the future, and eliminate gimmicks, diversions and cost-shifts that might force things like property taxes to go up.

And it would guarantee that we all have enough time to know everything we need to know about how Texas is spending its (make that "our") money.

If you want to learn more about this proposed rule change, click here to see the language and here for the letter I sent to my Senate colleagues this week about the proposal.

The basic truth is that Texas can’t solve this budget crisis without being completely open, honest and accountable about the state’s finances.  And this rule change would help achieve that simply by making sure we all – constituents and legislators – have enough time to read the final version of the budget.

This is simple openness, basic honesty, and a fundamental first step toward accountability.  It will allow us to know how our money will be spent – before it’s too late.

In the legislature, those in control of the budget are talking seriously about lifting protections that help keep some class sizes under control in Texas schools.

The reason for all the serious talk, of course, is the budget.  Education spending makes up 59 percent of the budget that the legislature will be trying to balance next year.  And given that years of short-sighted decisions, including some related specifically to school funding, have helped leave Texas facing a shortfall of potentially $20 billion or more, our schools and school kids are now in danger of becoming collateral damage.

Just last week, the Comptroller released a report showing that changing this law and packing more of our youngest kids into classrooms could cut 12,000 teaching jobs across the state.

Apparently, this clear-cutting of teaching jobs is not a reason to avoid eliminating the class size protections.

Heading the wrong way

One of the more revealing comments on this issue came a few months back.  A legislator with a lot of power over how our kids learn in class opined that there’s no special significance to the current protections on class size (which limit class sizes to 22 kids up through fourth grade), and said, “You really have to get below 18 to make a difference.”

So it seems that, at least according to those in control, there is a goal – a particular class-size target – that could make a real difference in making sure our kids are getting a good education and are really prepared to go into college and the workforce.

But since we’re not at that target, and that goal is tough to achieve, we should just forget about it and head off in the other direction.

It’s like telling a kid struggling with her grades that A’s are too hard to get, so she can go ahead and slide into D and F territory.  

The budget problem in the room

And let's be clear: the reason we're facing this decision is the budget.

These educational protections for young school children wouldn't be an issue – as we've seen in the last couple of sessions, in which they haven't been a major point of contention at all – if the budget picture weren't so dire.

And as I've been saying, this budget is a disaster, but it's not an entirely natural one.  In fact, part of the reason we're facing this particular problem is that the legislature created a structural budget deficit in 2006 – launching a Margins Tax that's utterly failed to meet its expectations and making funding promises to school districts that the state is now having a very hard time keeping.

So we're now looking at a budget shortfall that's well into 11-figures.  To make up that shortfall, those in control are looking at things like erasing protections meant to help our kids learn by keeping class sizes down.  And they have no real plan – at least, none I've heard about – to get Texas back to sound financial ground that will actually allow the state to invest in things (such as schools and teachers) that are patently good for Texas, its economy, and its future.

Now, not everyone's necessarily going to admit that.  One of the chief complaints you'll actually hear about the 22-child class size protection is that it ties the hands of school districts.  And I'm a big, big believer in local control, so I'm looking forward to having that conversation.

But at least one reason districts need flexibility is that they now have to choose between balancing their budgets and ensuring that young students' classes don't get bigger than the state allows.  If schools were getting more support, I suspect, a requirement that there shouldn't be more than 22 kids in a kindergarten class wouldn't seem so difficult.  And yes, I realize that many districts are receiving waivers to this rule right now – to me, that makes it even more important to maintain these protections for our school kids and move campuses in the right direction.

I'll say it again – we've got to be honest about the budget problems we're facing in this state.  We need to tread very lightly before we make decisions that will hurt Texas in the long run.  And we ought to be very skeptical of cuts such as these until there are real reforms that prove such radical actions are necessary.

It’s about more than schools

Earlier this month, the president of the Dallas Fed emphasized how much of Texas’ economic future is riding on the education we’re providing to our kids.  

Here’s his powerful point: "Don't lose track of this simple, unalterable, indisputable, critical fact: We have done well so far; our economy is mighty.  But to stay ahead of the curve and compete in tomorrow's global marketplace, Texas must do better in educating its population."

In other words, Texas shouldn’t be looking for cynical regulatory changes to pull out class-size protections and create an incentive to cut teaching jobs as a back-door way of cutting the budget.

Instead, we should be investing in the state and its future, doing things that are patently good for our economy and our future, and run from short-sighted decisions that will help for a year or two and hurt – a lot – for a generation.

Now, keep in mind, a “quick trip” from Austin to Abilene and back doesn’t feel particularly quick (although there were moments I did a pretty good imitation of Jimmie Johnson). These days, when I have to spend that kind of time alone (or with my family and/or folks who have no choice but to accept me regardless of my appearance), I face a very new, very simple, and hopefully very temporary question: tooth, or no tooth?

You may recall that way back in July, a routine trip to the dentist resulted in me undergoing a series of oral surgical procedures, losing a tooth, and getting a little prosthetic device that makes my teeth appear to be where they’re supposed to be.

But here’s the thing – that device is really no fun.  It’s like having to wear a retainer for dentures or to keep a slug of peanut butter stuck to the top of your mouth.  So when I know I'm going to be alone in a car for four or five hours, it’s a pretty easy answer: no tooth.  I pop that dude out and pitch it in the passenger seat.

This leaves a pretty gaping hole.  Don't worry, it does NOT reduce my ability to do great imitations of everyone from Merle Haggard to the Allman Brothers to Sheryl Crow as I sing like a bird and at the top of my lungs.

But there’s an important rule to keep in mind if you find yourself in this position: the tooth must, absolutely must, be back in the mouth before you’re seen by a) anyone you know, and b) anyone else.

And this rule isn’t as easy to follow as you’d think.  For instance, it’s entirely possible that after four or five hours in a car at the far end of the tail of the day, you’d be so tired and relieved to be at the hotel that you’d just hop out of the car to check in without remembering to put the tooth back into your mouth.

And it’s also possible that, at that very minute, you’d have a couple of friends and constituents, including the ones that invited you to the conference, stroll into the hotel lobby, greet you, and want to catch up. 

And, finally, it’s possible that you’ll be standing there, greeting your friends, and flashing an electric smile with a gap in your mouth that can’t help but remind folks from a certain generation of a slightly more distinguished Alfred E. Newman.

You know, hypothetically.

The good news is, this long process is going well and the ultimate procedure to permanently replace my tooth is right around the corner – in February.

I think I’m going to make it.  I’m not so sure about the fake tooth, though.

Getting back (and out) to clean energy

Getting back to that clean energy conference in Abilene ...

You know, stop right there for a second.  Because the mere fact that there’s a conference about clean, renewable, 21st Century energy out near the edge of the Permian Basin should tell you a lot about where the world’s headed.

For a century, the energy industry has been defined by oil and other fossil fuels that have meant so much to the West Texas economy – and really, to all of the state.

But that industry is fundamentally changing.  It’s moving toward renewable energy, both to solve current environmental challenges and to meet the needs of a growing state, nation, and world.

The conference reflected that economic and technological shift, as well as the growing awareness of it.  It attracted energy executives, chamber of commerce and economic development leaders and business community representatives from the region. 

They heard from two Chairmen in the state House of Representatives – Mark Strama and Jim Keffer – and me about what’s going on with the 21st Century energy economy (in Texas and around the world) and what the prospects are for good, forward-looking energy legislation in the upcoming legislative session.

What’s on the table

I talked some about the very real challenges – particularly regarding the budget and the need to reform it – that will rightfully soak up so much of the  legislature’s time and attention over the next six months.

I also reminded them of some of the other issues – things like Voter ID, immigration and redistricting – that unfortunately lend themselves to politics and could easily become needless distractions next year.

And we all discussed the need – in spite of all of those challenges – for legislation and projects that will ensure Texas continues to be the energy leader in the 21st Century as it was in the 20th Century.

The truth is, there are a lot of good things going on in this state when it comes to renewable energy.  We are, by far, the nation’s leader when it comes to wind power. 

But regrettably, some folks continue to treat renewable energy as less than an economic development opportunity that could greatly benefit the state.  This growing sector of business needs to be a part of how we plan for future jobs and economic stability.  

Instead, some Texas officials are pulling back on many of the kinds of projects that have helped us lead in this economy and industry.

Two years ago, the state approved a bold, $5 billion investment that would build transmission lines to bring power generated in West Texas, including wind and hopefully solar power, to the rest of Texas.

Since then, however, some of these vital transmission lines have been scaled back or scrapped, without anyone thinking or working through some of the legitimate questions and issues raised about the lines.  That’s a short-sighted decision, and I think it’ll keep Texas from moving as quickly as we need to, provide less power than the state needs, and further drive up the cost of electricity for Texans.

Solar future

I also talked last week about the need for comprehensive state policy that will allow Texas to catch up with the rest of the world on solar power and take advantage of one of the biggest resources we have – the sun.

In last year’s legislative session, I passed out of the Senate a bill that would have set a goal for how much of Texas’ electricity would come from solar power and other sources that won’t emit greenhouse gases.  I believe the bill would have passed out of the House, too, had it not been for a needless partisan fight that derailed so much legislation at the end of the last session.

You can read about that bill, which I will pursue again this session, here.  I’ll also work with my colleagues to pass strong, common-sense legislation that will ensure Texas remains an energy leader for the world.

Because Texas didn’t just become an industry leader.  We worked for it.  Our parents and grandparents built the industry and sustained it through good times and bad, and they made spread prosperity across so much of Texas.

We have to make the same kinds of investments, and we have to do the same kind of work.  We’re already behind where we should be – and where so many other states and nations already are.

It may not be easy – probably won’t be, particularly this session.  But it never is.  Our parents and grandparents didn't use that as an excuse, thank goodness, and we owe our children and grandchildren the same kind of effort.

It's entirely because I enjoyed every minute of the long Thanksgiving weekend and, frankly, didn't get around to writing my normally pithy, but somewhat longer, treatise.
 

To prove how much fun I had, look at these pictures:

Yeah, that's right.  The Watson boys did roadwork riding on a rented Bobcat.  We didn't even think about the legislative session that's starting in only 42 days, or the more than $20 billion budget shortfall, or redistricting, or voter ID, or. . . .  

Well, at least, I don't think Preston and Cooper thought about those things.  If they did, they didn't bring them up.

We had a blast.  And you can forget the iPad you were going to get me for Christmas. I want a Bobcat.

The Truth Works

I'm getting lots of great feedback about my efforts to bring more honesty and openness to the state budget process.

I laid out what I'm calling an Honesty Agenda in a recent speech (which you can read here and watch here).

Check out this column about it that ran over the weekend and this long interview I did with the Austin American-Statesman on budget honesty that was in Sunday's paper.

And keep checking back here for updates on the Texas budget, the challenges it presents, and my efforts to make it open and honest.

It was a good race.  The course is really a good one and the whole event was very well done.   I’m already planning to do it again next year (if we aren’t still in session come November 2011).

Plus, I ran a faster time than I'd planned, which has me thinking.  If I ever get really serious about running these races, lose about 25 pounds, and finally see that last growth spurt my father promised I would get when I was about 15, I'll find my young self winning these dadgum things. 

At least that's what I'm thinking.

The Long Run for Budget Honesty

There’s another marathon I’ve been running since right about the day I was elected to the Texas Senate.  That’s been the effort to make the state budget more open, honest and accountable.

I gave a pretty big speech yesterday laying out some thoughts about this budget crisis we’re facing, how it happened, and what the legislature should do about it in the upcoming session.

As I say in the speech, we aren’t going to solve all of these problems – some of them decades in the making – in just seven months.  But we can set a course to start doing the right thing, and lay the foundation not only for offering the fiscal honesty that current Texans demand, but also building the economic prosperity that future Texans deserve.

The Honesty Agenda

You can read more about it here.  But briefly, in the coming weeks, I’m going to file a three-part package of reforms to create an Honesty Agenda for next year’s session and budget talks.

As I said yesterday, all of us elected to serve can, and probably do, believe in the basic tenets of this reform package.  They’re straightforward. They're not partisan. And in a sane world, they wouldn’t be controversial at all. Indeed, they’re the sorts of things that should already be in place.

So this is an opportunity, regardless of other differences we may have about politics and specific policies, to work with each other and with everyone who believes in truly honest and accountable government.  I'm looking forward to working with anyone, regardless of party or any other label, to fix this mess and reform this process.

The agenda will include a series of "accountability" reforms to rebuild trust with Texans by opening the state’s appropriations and finances to the public and requiring real transparency for those in control of the budget.

I’ll also offer a “stability” package of reforms that will modernize government and restore it so legislators, and voters, can have faith in major policy and budget decisions that will set the course of the state and its future.

And I’ll fight to make sure that those in charge set out a path for cleaning up this fiscal mess and building a responsible, truthful, truly moral state budget by taking the time (more than just the five months of a session) and getting the expertise (including some folks from outside the Capitol) to rebuild the budget from the ground up, implementing the values that Texans hold dear.

The full text of the speech is here.  There’s also a write up of it here.

And here are some section-by-section excerpts (click on the headlines to read those full sections):

1. How rough will things be?

... You’ve probably heard things are going to be a little rough under the dome this session.

Really, the only question that’s left is ... how rough will things be?

Well, there’s a fascinating answer that you’re starting to hear from some insiders up at the Capitol. I’ve heard it a few times myself in the last few weeks – the same six words, always from very smart, very accomplished folks who have been around that building for a long time.

The response – these folks’ own legislative preview – their quick synopsis of what to expect next session boils down to this:

“Nothing. Good. Is Going. To Happen.”

“Nothing good is going to happen.” That’s the big quote at the top of the movie poster: Texas Legislature; Opens January 11th; “Nothing good is going to happen.”

This thought, this growing consensus – where there’s an incredible apprehension that crosses party lines and philosophical boundaries – is on the budget.

2. The Options

...  A lot of folks are expecting a gap of at least $20 billion or more between what the state will collect in 2012 and 2013 and what it’s on track to spend.  The whispers are that it will reach $28 billion.

... There are basically just three options we have for closing a hole this big: cuts, cash, and the kitty.

Cuts: The legislature can cut deeply and painfully into basic responsibilities and necessities: everything from schools, to health care, to parks, to public safety, to prisons, to roads.  These are things that all of our people – no matter how old they are, no matter where they live, no matter how they vote – that all Texans rely on and really need.

Cash: The legislature can raise revenue from Texans at a time when folks are already feeling strapped and worried about putting food on the table.  Or those controlling the long-awaited estimates can paint an impossibly, irresponsibly rosy picture of the future and pump up revenue estimates, which will make the problem look smaller now but create supersized problems for the next budget.

Finally, there's what I call the Kitty: Legislators can drain most or all of our savings accounts, starting with the state’s roughly $8 billion Rainy Day Fund, knowing that our hard times probably aren’t over.

3. We’re on Common Ground

So let’s all keep something in mind as we head into what’s obviously going to be a tough session:

All of us – no matter what party we belong to, no matter where we live or who voted for us, no matter what label we associate ourselves with – all of us are in the same burning house. We’re all scared, or should be, looking for a way out, racking our brains to figure out a way to put out the flames, and trying to decide what we want to save, what’s most important to us.

But here’s the good news – I believe in my bones that we can get out of this. We can save our house, we can save ourselves, and we can save our state.

People say it’s impossible to do in this session alone – and they’re probably right about that. But over the next seven months, we can chart a path that will take Texas to the safe ground it used to know, where budgets were not just balanced but sustainably balanced.

We can start to rebuild to the point that it’s possible to follow the example of our elders, who responsibly invested in the roads, water projects, security, schools and world-class universities that were good for them, good for Texas and good for our future.

It's possible to have fiscally responsible government that can meet the essential needs of our people – providing roads and water and education and parks and health and safety and security – that every single person and business in this state relies on, things that strengthen the foundation of individual prosperity.

It's actually fiscally irresponsible to do anything but this.  But to do it, we have to look – honestly and responsibly – at how we got here.

4. How We Got Here

The budget is a disaster ... but it’s not an entirely natural one.

This government – our government – has failed us. It's been irresponsible with our money, less than candid in its accounting of it, and grossly undisciplined in its empty promises of something-for-nothing.

Yes, the economy is suffering – far more than many have been willing to admit in recent months.  And yes, this downturn has taken a real and significant toll on the state and its people.

But the truth is that it took the legislature and others in government to make things as bad as we’re seeing.  The folks in control of the state’s finances left the kindling lying around and had every reason to expect it to ignite. And when it did catch fire ... well, there wasn’t much of a fire department left to extinguish it.

For years, those in control have balanced the budget with a combination of debt, diversions, and deception.

They’ve diverted billions of dollars that had been promised to roads, parks, hospitals, clean air, utility bill relief, and other necessities – using it instead as a special piggy bank to make the books look balanced. ...

Those in control have also relied increasingly on debt, particularly in the area of highways, ending the state’s responsible “pay-as-you-go” approach, leaving us all overly dependent on the hypocritical tax of toll roads, and sending debt service skyrocketing more than 250 percent in 10 years. ...

And, maybe worst of all, they recklessly promised an election-year giveaway without being able to pay for it.

In 2006, those in control revised the Business Tax knowing full well that it wouldn’t cover the check they were writing as part of a tax shift. In the years since, the new Business Tax has failed to live up even to its own inadequate promises.

... And now, in the light of this blaze, many of those responsible for it look at it with nothing but despair and complacency. ... Well, it’s up to us, all of us, to prove them wrong.

We owe it to this state, to its parents, to our schools and our teachers, to our small business owners and innovators, to our elderly and infirm – we owe it to our kids – to reject this immoral notion.

We owe it to our children to force those responsible for these wrongs not only to be accountable for them, but to correct them.

We owe it to our children to put Texas on a path to stability, where it can tend to its necessities and its future.

5. The Agenda

The first step – the very first thing legislators must do – is to start acting like not just grownups but like responsible citizens.  They must reform these broken and burned fiscal practices and the budget-writing process.

Before anything else, we must restore honesty and accountability in the way the state raises and spends money, and rebuild trust with the taxpayers who've given it to us.

... In the coming weeks, I’ll introduce a three-part package of reforms to create an “Honesty Agenda” in the Texas Capitol, transforming the ways that public money is appropriated, reported, and ultimately spent. These changes will truly allow Texas to be run like a business, and they’ll protect Texans from reckless decisions that leave us scrambling to meet responsibilities, provide necessities, and keep the state from building a future.

The first part of this Honesty Agenda will be a series of “Accountability” reforms.  These are bills and rule changes that will rebuild trust with Texans by opening the state’s appropriations and finances to the public and requiring real transparency for those in control of the budget.

(Click here to see details about the Honesty Agenda.)

These are basic reforms.  They’re also absolutely essential.

Texas must – it must – reform its budget process.

It will put us in far better position to weather the fiscal storms that we can already forecast. In fact, it may be the only thing that can repair the damage that’s been done to the budget, restore faith and trust in the legislature, and position Texas to build for its future.

And make no mistake: as I survey bad option-after-bad option for getting out of this year’s budget crisis, I will support none of them – none of them – without these sorts of basic reforms.

I will not vote to raise taxes or fees on Texans when no one will commit to them where their money is going.

I will not vote for budget cuts just for the sake of budget cuts – actions that would make it harder for young Texans to go to college, make us less safe, have us sitting in traffic for longer and longer, and cruelly target the youngest and most vulnerable Texans – when no one will take the time to determine whether those cuts are appropriate or what they truly cost.

And I will not vote to drain all or part of the Rainy Day Fund, or any other savings account, to cover the negligence of those who insist on spending more money than they’re making while they conceal the structural deficits they created.

In short, I will reject all of these understandably tough choices – these pillars of the “nothing good is going to happen” mindset – if very good, very necessary budget reforms are left on the table.

6. Something Good

All of us elected to serve can, and probably do, believe in the basic tenets of this reform package.  They’re straightforward. They're not partisan. And in a sane world, they wouldn’t be controversial at all. Indeed, they’re the sorts of things that should already be in place.

So this is an opportunity, regardless of other differences we may have about politics and specific policies, to work with each other and with everyone who believes in truly honest and accountable government.

This is our shared chance to prove not only that we can spend the people's money wisely, but that we want to and will responsibly work to do so.

This is our moment to assure that we can meet the needs of today's Texans, and that we will live up to our legacy of helping tomorrow's Texans prosper in this growing state and economically competitive world.

This is where we can prove, where we must prove, that we can do better with our most moral document, and put out this fire that's been allowed to burn for far too long.

I'm looking forward to working in that manner.

Because good things can happen in the next seven months. We simply have to be honest – and accountable – about our troubles and the cause of them.

We have to take responsibility for confronting our challenges and stop kicking them down the road to future generations of Texans.

And we have to be thoughtful, careful, creative and fearless in finding ways to balance today’s budgets while building tomorrow’s Texas.

This is our time – right now, even in the midst of this terrible crisis – to reject the failed policies that are endangering our economy and our future.

Now is our chance – perhaps not our best chance, but quite possibly our last – to demand the discipline, honesty, responsibility and accountability that have been missing from the legislative process for too long.

We simply have to commit to it, and get our leaders to do the same.

Yes,  we’ll have to work hard – really, really hard – to make sure they do.  But while good things – even great things – are never easy, they're always – always – within a Texan’s grasp.

Thank you.  God bless you.  And God bless our great state.

But, you know, it’s interesting: after all these years in politics, some of them as a Mayor and now a Texas Senator, I'm proud to say I can still be surprised by how some folks can just miss the point.

There I was on Tuesday night at a post-election gathering here in Austin.  I was talking with folks and watching election returns from my reelection race, all of the Travis County contests, and the other legislative campaigns across Texas.  Plus, there was a little race for Governor here in Texas.  And, as has happened, oh, a million times before at that sort of event, up walked a reporter who wanted to know if I'd talk a minute.

Ego (and maybe common sense) being what it is, I jumped to the conclusion that this reporter (from Austin, Texas) would certainly be asking about my re-election.  I have a really deep appreciation and gratitude to the people of Senate District 14, who re-elected me with more than 60 percent of the vote in spite of the electoral dynamics that turned so many elections the opposite direction.

But she promptly dispatched that silly notion, saying, "I'm not going to ask about your race."  A little surprised, I said, "What do you want to talk about?"

Perhaps the tidal wave that’s about to produce another round of change in our nation’s capitol?

Or the massive re-making of the Texas House of Representatives – and what it will mean for the very difficult budget decisions the Texas legislature faces in a little over two months.

Nope.  Instead, the reporter said, "I want to talk about Prop 19."

My first thought was exactly what you'd expect: "Huh?"

I clarified her question by deftly asking her, "Proposition 19?"  I also started panicking and thinking maybe I'd just missed something in all of the election activity.  Had there been 19 or more ballot propositions that I was, somehow, totally ignorant of and then just didn't see on my ballot?

In a tone that revealed her disdain for my I.Q., she said, "Yeah.  Prop 19.  In California."

Oh, sure.  California.

Wait a minute.  California?

Well, of course.  Proposition 19 was one of those ballot items that had nothing to do with Texas, that no Texan could vote for, and that – let’s be honest – makes it a whole lot easier for Texans to make fun of California.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t answer the question. 

Because, among other things, there’s real work to do.  And that work is getting clearer and clearer.

The morning after

Some folks might have raised their eyebrows at the fact that the state’s Business Tax Advisory Committee didn’t meet until, literally, the morning after an election in which the state’s finances were an issue.

Those eyebrows might have risen higher when it turned out that the only discussion item was a report showing the new franchise tax – revised in 2006 and known by many as the Margins Tax – has utterly failed to live up to the promises that were made about it.

All I’ll say about Wednesday’s meeting is that, if nothing else, it’s a crystal-clear indication that the days of politics and name-calling are over, and the hard work and hard decisions Texans face can no longer be ignored.  And it was more proof Texas needs budget reform, which will help prevent the structural deficits that have been unmasked by the fiscal crisis Texas faces. 

Those in control of the budget have mismanaged the people's money and created big problems for all of us.  Then, they've worked hard to cover them up.  We need budget reform – badly.

You can read a wrap-up of the meeting, and the problems it highlighted, here.  As for what I plan to do about those problems ...

Stay tuned

On Monday morning, I’ll speak at a Legislative Session Preview event at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum.

My speech will begin at 10 a.m.  I’ll focus on the massive challenges we face – as a result both of a recession that Texas wasn’t prepared to face, and of poor financial decisions that created structural problems throughout the budget.

I’ll also highlight my own agenda for the 82nd Legislative Session, including budget reform.  And I’ll discuss some other big issues that, for better or worse, will preoccupy the legislature over the next seven months and shape Texas’ future far beyond the session.

If you want to attend in person, you can RSVP to Yvonne.Reynolds@senate.state.tx.us, or call (512) 463-0114.

And we’ll broadcast my speech via my UStream page – http://www.ustream.tv/kirkwatson (which you can also see through a tab on my Facebook page).

So tune in on Monday morning at 10, and start getting ready for session.

And I promise, there will be nothing about Prop 19.  You don’t even have to ask.

A new approach to a modern problem

One last note: Yesterday, Attorney General Greg Abbott and I held a press conference to discuss our partnership in the upcoming legislative session to prevent the practice of “sexting” – in which minors send or receive sexually explicit images through text messages, email and other means.

The bill language that we’re working on will recognize that sexting is wrong, harmful to all who are affected by it, and illegal.  In addition, it’ll provide education for our children regarding the harm sexting causes, and give prosecutors an appropriate tool to stop this problem.

One study has shown that as many as one-in-five teenagers has sent a sexually suggestive picture or video of themselves electronically, and nearly one-in-three has received such an image.

Unfortunately, the law has not kept up with our technology or our teenagers.  The truth is that technology has changed what it means to be a child and an adolescent in Texas.  And our laws need to recognize that the Texas of today is a very different place than it was when most of those who wrote those laws were growing up.

You can read more about this effort in the Newsroom at www.kirkwatson.com.

Go during lunch. Go during a coffee break.  Go during what you might call a voting break.  If you've got appointments, bring them along.  Hold the meeting on the way to vote and back.

If none of that works, go straight to your polling place – which is, by definition, right around the corner from where you live – after work.  Or, run by the house first and set a good parental example by grabbing the kids and taking them.  The poll workers will love it.

The only acceptable excuse is that you've already voted.  In which case, you need to bug your friends at least as much as I'm bugging you so that they'll vote too.

(By the way, if you're in Travis County, you can find your polling place by clicking here.  If you're not, try finding your county polling places here.)

This is it.  You're out of chances.  There is no tomorrow.

Go vote.  Today.

Boldly in favor of sanity

Increasing voter participation was a pretty big part of the Austin edition of Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity.  Somewhere between a couple thousand and a few thousand people came out to the Capitol Saturday.

Folks watched a broadcast of the rally on a big TV screen that had been set up.  And there were a few interludes for musicians to play some songs and local Austinites to address the crowd.  It was a fun event on an absolutely perfect Austin day.

Here are a couple of pictures from the event.  And here's what I had to say:

Isn't it a great day to be in Austin, Texas?

Thank you all, and welcome to the Austin edition Rally to Restore Sanity.  It may say something about the politics of these times that I’m this happy to see this many people standing in favor of ... well, acting like normal people.

This is our chance to come together, join hands, and make our elected leaders stop calling each other names, stop throwing food at each other, stop stealing each other’s toys ... and stop doing all the other stuff that my boys stopped doing when they turned six.

And I’m glad we’re doing this in Austin, because, you know, this is kind of a weird political event.

Today isn’t about a particular candidate or party or even policy.  Instead, we’re rallying for a change in tone – a new process for getting things done.

We want to support those true leaders who will build coalitions and achieve real, broad-based progress for all Texans and all Americans.

This election has to be about something more than Democrats versus Republicans, or Progressives versus Conservatives, or Coke versus Pepsi, or Tea versus ... your drink of choice.

Let’s remember – really remember – that we Texans have so much that unites us.

We all want affordable insurance and electric bills.

We all want a tax system that makes sense.

We all want better schools, better universities, and better health coverage for our kids.

We all want a budget that isn't $20 billion in the hole.

But more than even all of those things, we want a Texas that aspires even as it achieves.

And remember – just because you think Texas can do better doesn't mean you don't love Texas.

We want true leaders who are more interested in fixing things than fighting over them.

If you haven't voted – vote, and get others to vote too.

My friends, thank you for being here.  Thank you for your passion for making Texas a better place.  And thank you all for being sane and supporting sane people.

Of course, I'm right in the big middle of it.  I hope to do well and have been working hard so that I will.

Obviously, I'm talking about the San Antonio Rock & Roll half marathon, which is coming up on November 14th.  I've been training pretty hard and think I'll be ready.  But, really, can you ever hope to be ready to run 13.1 miles uninterrupted?  And, since the answer is obviously "no," some might ask, why do it?

Well, it's not so I can stay so amazingly buff.  No, my sole purpose is to get the cool shiny medal they give to all of the survivors who are still standing as they cross the finish line.  No matter your time, no matter how slow or where you finish, you usually get a medal with a nice ribbon to hang around your neck.

And then it can decorate your car's back seat.

I'm looking forward to getting my San Antonio medal.

Time’s almost out

Because the other important dates in November get here before the half marathon, I need to pester you again about voting.

The last day of early voting is Friday.

And the election, if you can believe it, is a week from today.

So ... Go vote.  Seriously, do it early so you won’t have to worry about a flat tire coming between you and your civic duty on Nov. 2.  And if you have some odd tradition of "only" voting on Election Day . . . Well, you'd better feel lucky.

If you’re in Travis County, you can get information about early voting here.

Go vote.  No excuses.  You’ll feel better, all around.

A really, really cool medal – no joke

Last weekend was a pretty special one in the Watson household.

I got a very nice honor from Baylor.  My alma mater awarded me its inaugural Pro Texana Medal of Service, which is given to folks whose work in the public or non-profit sector has made a real difference in furthering the university’s mission.

You can read the write-up by the university's magazine here.  It was a pretty big deal, and they stretched the commemoration over a couple of days.

Not at all like a half marathon

First, there was an awards dinner in Waco on Thursday night, which was very flattering and even a little moving.  The university introduced the awards recipients with a video that sort of summed up what we did to justify getting an "atta boy." Liz and Preston went up with me to that event (Cooper had to stay home and study for a test on Friday).

The description of my stuff included a photo of me with the law school moot court team back when I was 21 or 22, which was a surprise, since I assumed I’d destroyed photos showing me with that much hair.

Then we were presented with medals.

Needless to say, it was a special feeling to have that medal draped around my neck.  But it felt even better knowing I wasn’t just about to pass out.

The Big Game

On Saturday, I headed back up there – this time with Cooper – for the Homecoming football game against Kansas State.

It was fun at halftime, when we got to walk out on the field and be recognized again.

And then, Baylor won the game.  I actually saw a headline saying we “overpowered” Kansas State.  That’s a word you don’t hear much in connection with Bears football.  I can see why some of you folks enjoy that word so much.

Anyway, here’s a shot of Cooper on the sidelines just before halftime:

By the way, Baylor is now 6-2 and bowl eligible for the first time since Cooper Watson and the Big XII were born.  And it's ranked in the BCS, AP and USA Today Coaches' football polls.  Just sayin'.

But I re-read it.  And I fell dead asleep.

So I'm saving you from it.  Let me just say, you owe me.  Big time.

Here's all I ask.

So, to pay me back, go vote.

Early voting for the November 2nd election started yesterday.  Find a convenient place and go do it.  The last day of early voting is October 29th.

There's no reason to wait.  Get it done.

And as I said, we’re getting pretty good at the whole thing.

Well,  I guess now you'll believe me when I tell you something’s going to be a good time.

Thursday night was as close to perfect as it gets.  The weather was gorgeous.  The band was truly unbelievable – and as nice and generous as they were talented.

And the maraca player – well, what can you say about that guy

I must admit that when I was a child – starting at about age 5, when my parents first shoved maracas in my hands and told me to play – I sort of resented being forced into monotonous practice for hours on end while the other kids were outside enjoying just being kids.

But they had a dream for their son and, as they say, practice makes perfect.  I can only thank my folks for having the foresight to be sure I was prepared for Thursday night.

The Real Story

Of course, the real story is that Robert Randolph surprised me and handed me the maracas as he and I walked out together for the band's encore.  I was just going to thank the crowd and the band, and then leave the stage.

He unilaterally decided it would be cool to present me with maracas in front of more than a thousand people and put me in a position to perform.  There was really no way I could say no.

So, the real lesson is that I'm simply a natural maraca player – a prodigy, if you will.  I'm frankly shocked that I didn't recognize such a talent in myself and start playing much, much earlier.  (The only problem is that I obviously need to be doing more upper body conditioning, because my arms got really tired from shaking those things.)

Thanks

Seriously, thanks to everyone who came out to the concert on Thursday night.  Here are a few more pictures. You made it a great, truly memorable night, and I deeply appreciate your support and friendship.

I’m looking forward to working with you and for you during the legislative session.

The home stretch

And now for a moment of business.

Early voting for the November 2 election starts in six short days, on October 18 (for more information about early voting in Travis County, click here).

That means, among other things, that I’ll be haranguing you for the next three weeks about doing your duty as an American and a Texan – and about making those very sweet, very dedicated poll workers smile so brightly when you come through the door.

It also means that you need to spend the next three weeks haranguing your own friends, family, neighbors, vague acquaintances, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and pretty much everyone else you know to go vote too.

Seriously, don’t let up.  Don’t take “maybe” or “later” for an answer.

Just remember: if you’re being patriotic and getting others to be patriotic, then you legally can’t be annoying.  It's in the Constitution, I think.

Thanks again – for your commitment, your service, and your support.

In two days (that's, like, the day after tomorrow), I’ll be throwing my annual party (click here for tickets).

At Zilker Park.

Across the river from Downtown Austin.

With Robert Randolph and the Family band playing for a couple of hours.

On what’s shaping up to be a pretty beautiful night (Please don't let me be jinxing it by saying that).

Oh, and no political speeches.  Just a great party with lots of folks, good music, food and drinks.

So (you ask politely) what does that have to do with you?  Well, I'm glad you asked.

In three short days, the concert will be over.  And you’ll be left with either great memories of a very fun night (the kind of memories usually reserved for your wedding, the birth of children, or the first time you were able to stay awake during a legislative hearing), or a potentially life-changing deep regret that you missed it.

Click here to get tickets.  Tell your friends.  And come on out Thursday night.

This really is one of the most fun events of the year, and I’m not just saying that because it’s mine.

Being Ed McMahon ...

I’ve also notified the 10 folks who won pairs of tickets after they signed up to be part of my Facebook network (they know who they are; I’m not sure all of them really want the immortality of being mentioned in the Watson Wire foisted upon them).

Thanks to everyone who signed up, and keep the Facebook connections coming.  There’s going to be a lot going on as we head into the election and next year’s legislative session, and signing up on Facebook (by going to this page and clicking “like”) is a great way of keeping up with it all.

Building on good work

Obviously, I’ve been frustrated for a while about the lack of transportation funding in Texas and the apparent inability of those in control to make the investments that we need – and our children will desperately need – to maintain our economic health and quality of life.  In my view, a stable economic future is dependent on Texas doing much, much better in this area.

The good news is that some of my efforts to get new projects going in Central Texas have been successful.  They will make a real difference for people trying to move around the region.

For example, last week, the Texas Transportation Commission made two grants to Central Texas totaling $153 million.  Earlier this year, the Commission reduced road maintenance funds to free up money for some mobility projects.

(Now, don't get me started on how bad the business model is that Texas has to cannibalize its road maintenance in order to try to find money in the couch cushions to help increase mobility.)

Regardless, I brought the Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (the primary regional transportation planning group, which I chaired until recently), the Texas Department of Transportation (or TxDOT) and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (the Mobility Authority) together to make the case that Central Texas should be at the front of the money line.

I'm proud of the agreement we reached.  And I'm really pleased with how well the Mobility Authority is doing under the leadership of Chair Ray Wilkerson and Executive Director Mike Heiligenstein.

The grants will allow the Mobility Authority to get started on completing the Manor Expressway (US 290 East) project, and to accelerate work on major projects including the MoPac Improvement Project (Loop 1), Oak Hill Expressway (US 290 West), Manchaca Expressway (45SW) and Bergstrom Expressway (US 183 South).

Other Good News

This morning, I’m scheduled to be at a press conference with Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, some Texas transportation officials, and others to announce the start of work to finish the flyovers at the Highway 290-Ben White-MoPac interchange in Southwest Austin.

Congestion around those crossings is notoriously bad.  So, I’m particularly proud that the City of Austin entered into an agreement with the state through which Austin will front the cost of the improvements, and the state will reimburse the city over time.

While those in control of the state budget have created a funding drought that’s afflicting all of Texas, we’re finally breaking ground on these projects today – thanks to the good work of folks from across Central Texas.

And there are other projects going on in Central Texas that are making a real difference for people trying to move around the region.  Here are a couple more examples:

•  Work’s going on to complete the flyovers connecting Ben White to Interstate 35 South, allowing people to navigate that interchange, no matter which direction they’re headed, without waiting at a stoplight.
•  This summer, we announced a creative project in Southeast Travis County to create what’s known as a Superstreet on Highway 71 east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.  This will reconfigure intersections where there are stoplights, allowing more traffic to flow along that very busy road and cutting down the bottlenecks that we all know too well.
•  Back in July, we unveiled improvements to MoPac that will increase capacity, cut down on noise, and allow for the construction of long-promised sound walls to protect residents from the roar of the traffic.
•  Earlier this year, we announced that the state will build an overpass for Riverside Drive over Highway 71, eliminating another traffic light and bottleneck near the airport.  While this was once envisioned as a toll project, we found a way to do it without tolls.
•  And I’m working with officials from across the state to develop and fund a bold plan to build a high-speed rail system connecting Texas’ major cities by leveraging scarce public money to attract and maximize investment from the private sector.

Obviously, these projects don’t cover the region’s transportation needs – not by a long shot.  But they will bring real relief to commuters and everyday residents across the region.

And they demonstrate that, with real leadership and vision, the state can address its mobility needs, get Texans out of traffic, and ensure that we won’t max out the infrastructure that has been our birthright or leave our kids with no excess capacity in which to grow their own economy.

That means you’re running out of time to get tickets.

So I’ll make this easy:

What: The Fifth Annual Concert under the Stars (That “Fifth” thing means we’ve been doing this for a while, and believe me, we’re getting pretty good at it.)

Where: Zilker Park  (Yeah, the big iconic park across the river from Downtown Austin.)

When: Thursday, October 7 at 8 p.m.  (Again, just nine days away.)

Who: Robert Randolph and the Family Band (One of Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 100 guitarists of all time ... just in case I’m not enough of an inducement to get you there.)

Why: Why do you think?  (Seriously, if you have to ask, then you really, really need to be at this deal for the educational experience.)

How: Click here.  (Right now.)

Since that’s out of the way, I’ll see you next week.

Admiral Halsey notified me . . .

Long-time Watson Wire readers (you know who you are) know that since I was elected to the State Senate, I’ve worked very hard – like, Charlie Brown-learning-to-kick-a-football hard – to get folks in the Texas Legislature to pay attention to the issue of climate change.

For the benefit of not-long-time readers (you know who you are, too, and that's okay; we like new friends), it took me two legislative sessions to pass my “No Regrets” bill (you can read about it here), which right now has the state studying strategies that will both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money for businesses and consumers.  The last meeting of the working group was this past week.  Final public comment is being taken.  The report will be out soon and I'll be sure to let you know about it.

I also passed a bill out of the Senate la