Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

According to state Rep. Norma Chavez, $58.5 million for the medical school's third building could be El Paso’s “ornament” on the “Christmas tree” that is SB 2567 – if it gets brought up.

A last gasp, long shot of an effort to fund the third building at El Paso’s medical school was emerging this afternoon as speculation grew around the Capitol that SB 2567, the fiscal matter bill, might be brought back to life.

If SB 2567 was indeed revived, state Rep. Norma Chavez said she would attempt to amend it on the floor in order to secure funding for a third building at the Texas Tech El Paso Medical Science center -- something originally part of the delegations' joint legislative agenda that got sidelined as the session wore on.

“It’s an opportunity to keep the issue alive and the potential to get the funding. We’re going to make a good effort at it because it is the right thing to do for El Paso,” Chavez said.

The amendment would give the Texas Tech Board of Regents the authority to raise up to $58.5 million through bonds to “acquire, purchase, construct, improve, renovate, enlarge or equip property, buildings, structures, facilities, roads, or related infrastructure” for a third building.

According to Chavez, the amendment has been in the pipeline for some time.

“I spoke to Chairman (Jim) Pitts when we voted the bill (SB 2567) out of our appropriations committee. We spoke about the issue of germane-ness and the ability to work on this…He said, 'Never say never.' ”

SB 2567 changes existing law “by making adjustments and adding provisions to facilitate the administration of the state's financial resources” -- including authority for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to issue bonds and rules for how stimulus funds are used across the state.

SB 2567 technically died at midnight on Thursday along with many other bills -- a victim of the parliamentary meltdown over Voter ID that brought the House to a standstill for five days.

Since then however, bi-partisan momentum has been building in the to revive the bill.

"I’ll be voting to authorize that the bill come up. It’s an opportunity for us,” Chavez said.

Also, with the bill being so broad in scope, it may well become a “Christmas tree” of a bill, meaning it will be the target of amendments (perhaps several hundred) if it is brought to the floor.

“Because so many bills died due to the Voter-ID-Local-and-Consent chubfest, everyone is looking for vehicles (for their dead bills) and that’s what happens,” Chavez said. “They turn into Christmas trees and we’ll have our ornament.”

If SB 2567 is revived today or tomorrow, it will likely mean a very late night for lawmakers at the end of an exhausting week already drowning in a torrent of bills released since the chubbing subsided. (The budget has not yet come up on the House side either.)

“We have a critical last few days, more critical as we have major legislation yet to come to the floor,” Chavez said. “It’s our obligation to make an effort so we’ll definitely file the amendment.”

In order to be heard, House rules will need to be suspended, which will take 100 votes. Republicans have been reluctant to suspend the rules to bring up bills out of order, believing that it lets the Democrats off the hook after their chubbing last week.

The bill is authored by Pitts, R-Waxahachie, the chair of House Appropriations, and because it deals with UTMB Galveston has the support of Speaker pro-tem Craig Eiland, D-Galveston. That’s two pretty big hitters.

The UTMB provisions may also mean the bill counts as an emergency item.