AUSTIN - House leaders overcame a scare in the final hours of the special session today as lawmakers voted 80-57 to approve a must-pass revenue and school finance bill that members rejected less than two hours earlier.
The bill breezed through the Senate with little discussion today, but was surprisingly rejected by the House late Tuesday afternoon in an initial vote.Republicans, who hold a 101-49 majority in the chamber, huddled in a closed caucus to assess strategy and attempt to reverse the outcome.Later, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, told lawmakers that many members had misunderstood elements of the bill and urged them to reconsider the earlier vote.Among other things, there was concern among representatives of smaller school districts that their schools would get "the short end" of funding under the school finance distribution."As the day went on, I got the feeling it was going to go down," said Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, who like King initially voted against the bill.Thirty-two Republicans, many of them representing rural and suburban districts, had joined 47 Democrats in opposing the bill. Among Tarrant County's eight Republicans, only Zedler voted no. Democrats Lon Burnam and Marc Veasey, both of Fort Worth, also opposed the bill.If they had not decided to reconsider the vote, lawmakers faced the prospect of another special session. Many House members were angered by the Senate's decision to adjourn for the session earlier in the day, closing out the possibility to return the bill to a joint conference committee to patch up problems in the bill.SB1 would generate nearly $3.6 billion in nontax revenue - primarily through deferrals, regulatory changes and other measures - to balance the $172.3 billion two-year budget that lawmakers passed during the closing days of the regular session that ended May 30.The bill's most controversial feature is a school-finance component needed to carry out the $4 billion in education cuts mandated by the 2012-13 budget.An earlier version of the bill died after a filibuster by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, on the final day of the regular session, forcing Perry to call lawmakers into overtime to resurrect the measure.But this time there were no fireworks. Davis asked the bill's chief sponsor a few questions but there was no debate.Senators approved the measure by a vote of 21-9.Tarrant impactSchool districts in Tarrant County would lose $260 million over the next two years. The Fort Worth district would lose nearly $40 million. Arlington and Keller would lose about $28.9 million each.The biggest chunk of revenue in the fiscal matters bill - $2.3 billion - would come from a one-month deferral of Foundation School Program payments in 2013. The bill also requires online retailers with a physical presence in Texas to collect sales tax, a provision similar to legislation Perry vetoed during the regular session.It would also continue the Texas Department of Information Resources and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs until 2013. Perry vetoed two so-called sunset bills to continue the agencies but asked lawmakers to include similar legislation in the special session.Meanwhile, the Senate adjourned at 3:25 p.m., finishing their business for the special session a day before it was scheduled to end on Wednesday, and having passed bills on every item that Gov. Rick Perry placed on the agenda.Two bills, concerning tougher immigration law enforcement and invasive body searches by security personnel, were sent to the House, but never finally passed. The TSA search bill was clinging to life and could be revived, though.This report includes material from The Associated Press.Dave Montgomery, 512-476-4294
