Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Last week was the first opportunity for state representatives to file bills for the upcoming 81st session of the Texas Legislature. Bill filing opened on Nov. 10 and will close on March 13, 2009.

Four hundred bills were filed Nov. 10, with the number rising to 543 by the end of the week. These included proposals to abolish the Trans-Texas Corridor superhighway [HB 11], require pregnant women seeking abortions to first have ultrasounds [HB 36], as well as several aimed at freezing university tuition and lowering property taxes (see attachments).

Some quirkier bills were filed too. One sought to ban “novelty” lighters [HB 90] that resemble children's toys while another proposed the constitutional establishment of a “right to hunt and fish.”

El Paso legislators filed a total of 41 bills.

State Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, filed two bills. The first [HB 157], if enacted, would allow citizens to register and vote at polling places during an election. Citizens “who would be eligible to vote … but for the requirement to be a registered voter,” would be “accepted for voting at the precinct of the person’s residence.” The second [HB 158] proposed a raise from $60 to $75 for the personal needs allowance for certain Medicaid recipients in long-term care facilities.

District 29 state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) filed a total of 36 bills. The bills, collectively termed the "Texas Families Agenda," represent what Shapleigh wishes to see done in Austin come January.

"Supporting Texas families to succeed in tough times is our top priority," said Shapleigh in a press release Nov. 10. Among the proposals filed, education, health care and access to affordable credit stood out. (Read the press release here.)

On credit, Shapleigh filed bills aimed at “combating predatory lending,” by setting the maximum interest rate for pay-day loans at 36 percent [SB 248]. He also proposed “developing sound financial literacy skills for the 21st century” through improving public school education [SB 197]. Click here to view a Fox News report on payday loans featuring Shapleigh.

“Texas is the most uninsured state in America. El Paso is the least insured big city in America,” said Shapleigh, who filed numerous bills collectively aimed at creating “a universal health care system for Texas.” Proposals involve expanding CHIP coverage and developing “student loan forgiveness programs” for medical graduates “in return for service in undeserved rural and urban areas” [SB 202]. Shapleigh also introduced several bills that aimed to “end tuition deregulation in Texas.”

Neither of El Paso's state Reps.-elect, Marisa Marquez (HD 77-D) and Joe Moody (HD 78–D), filed bills.

“We cannot file until we are technically sworn in," said Marquez, adding, “I have a few (bill ideas) but as far as the technicalities go, I haven't solidified that yet. We’re still doing research on the district." Marquez said that health care for seniors and high school education -- 60 percent of District 77 residents do not have a high school diploma -- would be among her priorities.

“The bills I will be filing will reflect those things and those issues that we spoke about during the campaign,” said Moody, which he made clear included insurance reform, BRAC funding and gambling rights on Tigua property. Click here to read a synopsis of Moody’s pre-election positions on El Paso issues from the NPT archive.

It is not uncommon for new representatives to enjoy a slow start to their legislative careers. For example, Shapleigh files around 85 bills per session (excluding special sessions), but during his first term in 1997, he only authored 27. Former District 78 state Rep. Pat Haggerty filed 41 bills in 2007 but only five as a rookie in 1989. However, District 79 state Rep. Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) urged observers not to pay too much attention to how many bills are filed or passed.

“It’s hard for people to understand … you can file lots and lots of bills. You can pass lots and lots of bills. And if you're passing lots and lots of bills they probably don’t do very much,” said Pickett, who filed who filed three bills last week. (Click here, here and here to read them.)

“Really meaningful legislation is hard to pass and our system is set up to not make it easy,” Pickett said. He explained that with good legislators the number of bills doesn’t continue to rise, but “peaks and then goes the other way,” as they work out how to be more effective.

Pickett also dismissed the importance of the House Speaker race. According to the Dallas Morning News earlier this week, “If a new speaker comes to power, the House committee leadership will change drastically, along potentially with its priorities.” But Pickett maintains that “the speaker position doesn’t effect someone like myself as much because of the personal relationships we (senior Representatives) have with each other.”

According to Shapleigh, most bills fall under three categories: legislation (new laws, amended laws), appropriation (government funding) and regulation (changing how the government governs Texas). All bills go through the same process after being filed. They can be defeated at multiple points along their journey to enactment. According to the Houston Chronicle, only 1,498 bills and resolutions out of 6,362 were successful in the 2007 session (for example, El Paso state Rep. Chente Quintanilla (HD 75-D) managed to pass only one out of 14 during that session).

“Filing bills is the easy part ... They can file bills all day long. What makes a difference is if and when they start moving through the process,” said Pickett, who passed five of the 17 bills he filed in 2007. Furthermore, most bills are local in stipulation and so only about 150 of statewide consequence become law, said Pickett.

After filing, bills are eventually assigned to a committee. A large number of bills are never reported out of committee and are never heard from again, according to Texas Legislature Online. (Click here to see a diagram of the legislative process. You can read more about the process here.)

Bills that do survive the committee process must navigate the floors of both the Senate and the House before landing on the governor’s desk, where they can be vetoed. (Rick Perry is very trigger happy when it comes to the veto. Click here.)

But passing legislation is not the only way representatives can serve their community. According to Pickett, it is common for representatives to hitch their horses to someone else's wagon in return for a free ride. During the committee process, El Paso representatives can request a bill author to add “a sentence of two” (that would benefit El Paso) to their piece of draft legislation. “I do a lot of things that way,” said Pickett, adding that it works both ways: “There are people who come to me that use my stuff as vehicles.”

The downside for the state representatives is that from the viewpoint of constituents keeping score, there’s one less bill notched on the bedpost.

NPT asked Pickett what makes a successful bill. His response: “One that does not cost any money … (and) does not negatively effect anyone else.”

El Paso’s chances of doing well out of the 81st session will depend upon the unity of the delegation sent. In particular, El Paso must secure funding for Fort Bliss expansion and the construction of a third building at the new medical school. As such, Shapleigh wants the delegation to meet once a week in order to foster the required unity. Either way, Pickett is confident the delegation can get things done in Austin:

“You’ll see us again as a delegation get behind an agenda. We always have about 10 or 12 initiatives that we work on together…No matter what, we will have an agenda that we all agree on as a delegation …There will be a concerted effort.”