Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

On the Senator’s desk... The conference committee report for HB 2, the education reform bill, was debated on Wednesday, July 20th until midnight, the close of the special session. Senator Shapleigh and Senate Democrats, unhappy with the proposed legislation, challenged Senator Shapiro and other proponents of the bill to explain why the final product resulted in continued inequity in funding. Ultimately, the proposed legislation did not pass and the special session ended with no education reform bill being passed. At 10:30 P.M., Governor Perry called a second special session to allow the Legislature to continue to work towards a solution. The Senate Education Committee started the process over on Thursday. The full Senate will meet on Monday to begin again.

Chamber echoes...
In a press release issued today, July 21, 2005, Senator Eliot Shapleigh explains, "the two recent sessions failed because of failed priorities. Under the most recent versions of HB 2 and 3, nine in ten get tax hikes and a bare 3% increase to cover inflation at schools that serve 4 million Texas children while the wealthiest 10% get tax cuts and millions of new dollars for schools that serve 400,000 children. While 70% of Texans want to close loopholes and stay away from sales taxes, HB 2 raises sales taxes and stays away from loopholes."

Among those who visited Austin this week ... Luis Lugo and family visited on Monday.
On Wednesday, Clyde and Susan Pine with Sydney and Savannah stopped by the office and visited with Senator Shapleigh and his Capitol Staff. Ram Guzman along with some other folks interested in a key business infrastructure to create jobs in El Paso visited the Capitol on Thursday.

In Committee this week... Governor Perry called the second special session to address school finance. Specifically, the session is directed to address education reform issues, teacher compensation and retirement issues, property tax reduction and homestead exemption needs, and telecommunications deregulation. Bills addressing these exact issues were debated during the first called special session, but did not pass. Senate committees met Thursday morning to begin moving bills from the first special session through the process again.

Bills filed... The second called special session started at 10:00 AM on Thursday. By Thursday afternoon 18 bills had been filed in the Senate, including an education reform bill and a tax-shift bill. Senator Shapleigh will file five bills in the Second Special Session, including the El Paso Medical School faculty funding bill.

Upcoming News... Education reform and property tax reduction (and the subsequent tax shift) will be considered on Monday by both Legislation chambers. Things to watch include the debate about setting a new sales tax rate, with the House pushing for a higher rate amid protest from many groups, organizations and citizens that it is unfair to 9 in 10 Texans, and the debate about equity in funding.