Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

IMMIGRATION

Will the state crack down on illegal residents?

For the first time since the issue blew up on the national scene a year or two ago, Texas lawmakers will address the costs, benefits and rights of illegal immigrants.

Dallas Democratic Rep. Roberto Alonzo has offered a bill that would allow immigrants to have driver's licenses and, by extension, car insurance. Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, has filed legislation that would require proof of citizenship for anyone getting an occupational permit – including food handlers' permits. Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has filed a bill that would challenge birthright citizenship – the idea that children born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil are automatically U.S. citizens.

Other bills would restrict illegal immigrants' access to health services and education, direct the state to keep track of the economic impact of illegal immigrants, and sue the federal government for recuperation of money spent on services for them.

Gov. Rick Perry has criticized some of those pieces of legislation he called "divisive" and has kept with his middle-of-the-road approach to immigration issues – to the chagrin of the state GOP. He has vetoed the driver's license bill, but he also berated the idea of a wall on the border.

Karen Brooks

FACT

An estimated 1.4 million illegal immigrants live in Texas.

INSURANCE

Will Texans see any relief?

Critics of credit scoring by the insurance industry are again expected to seek restrictions on the practice in Texas, and consumer groups are pushing for stronger penalties for companies found to be overcharging their policyholders.

Texans pay the highest premiums in the country, and the state has been locked in a long-running dispute with State Farm, the state's largest insurer. Regulators contend Texas homeowners are owed millions in refunds from big insurance companies.

Lawmakers are also expected to take up proposals that would shore up the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association – the insurer of last resort for hurricane and wind damage – after the major hurricane season of 2005 and predictions of similar weather patterns in the near future.

Experts have warned that the insurer would run into serious financial difficulties if a major hurricane on the scale of Hurricane Katrina hit heavily populated areas along the Texas coast. The problem has been compounded by the decision of major insurance companies to drop wind coverage for thousands of policyholders along the Gulf Coast.

Some of the proposals are expected to authorize the association to issue bonds and have more flexibility in setting rates to generate additional funding.

Terrence Stutz

FACT

Texans pay nearly twice the national average for homeowners coverage, a national study found last year.

GAMBLING

Can slot-machine and casino advocates beat the odds?

Gambling-friendly lawmakers and lobbyists are back to the races, seeking resort-style casinos, video slot machines at racetracks, gaming on Indian reservations or some combination of the three.

Most acknowledge their chances are slim; with the state probably sitting on a huge budget surplus, there's little financial pressure to bring in gaming revenue. But early proposals are loaded with incentives, from money to help students pay for college to health care funding for the state's neediest residents.

The Texas Gaming Association, backed by several major casino companies and led by hotel and casino developer Jack Pratt, is pushing a measure that would annually direct close to $1.6 billion to a college tuition fund for Texas students.

The bill, estimated to bring a total of $3.2 billion to the state and $800 million to city and county governments, would open the door to 12 resort-style casinos in Texas, including two apiece in Dallas and Harris counties, one each in Bexar, Tarrant and Travis counties, one in Galveston and one on South Padre Island.

The organization hasn't identified a sponsor for its bill. And lawmakers question whether gambling lobbyists and racetrack enthusiasts – who have been political foes in the past – will be able to settle their differences.

Meanwhile, expect social conservatives to continue their staunch opposition to any expansion of gambling.

Emily Ramshaw

FACT

More than two-thirds of states allow slot machines, and more than half have casinos, most on Indian reservations.

ELECTRICITY

How far will free-market legislators go to cut prices?

Lawmakers are hearing from constituents about sky-high rates, and one proposal would end the state's experiment in deregulation. But other legislators want to tinker with the structure of the market or force the biggest players to shrink to even out the field.

Many lawmakers are asking: Are the former utility monopolies, such as TXU Corp., so large that the free market just isn't working? The two leading the debate, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, and Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, plan to hold hearings in hopes of building a consensus on the issue.

A key debate could be whether to limit power generation ownership within regions of the state. Power companies may own only 20 percent of all generation for the deregulated areas. Some lawmakers worry if that generation is concentrated in one area, though, the company could still enjoy a monopoly.

The Public Utility Commission also wants to push consumers to change electricity providers in order to stoke competition. They proposed forcing everyone who hasn't switched to make a decision or be assigned to a provider.

The commission also wants a role in the permit process for new power generation plants to ensure that no company gains an unfair market advantage from new plants. Currently, a new power plant requires only an air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Elizabeth Souder

FACT

Since deregulation began, only about 30 percent of Texans have switched electric companies.

TAKS

Will students soon be taking different tests?

Senate leaders are considering a plan to replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills with new end-of-course exams in core subject areas such as math and English. Among the tests to be replaced would be the state's high school graduation exam.

"This will give us a better picture of what students have learned and the progress they have made in each subject," explained Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano.

Ms. Shapiro said high school students would be expected to pass end-of-course exams in certain subjects to get a diploma, continuing a testing requirement that has been in place in Texas for nearly two decades.

House leaders sought a switch to end-of-course tests in the 2005 session, but the idea was put on hold while lawmakers focused on a court order to fix the state's school finance system.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and other legislative leaders are also pushing a proposal that would require all high school students to take one of the nation's college entrance exams – the ACT or SAT – so that education officials can track how well Texas students are doing compared with other states.

Officials estimated that such a rule would cost the state about $12 million a year.

Terrence Stutz

FACT

Nearly 3 million Texas students take the TAKS test each year.

CPS/FOSTER CARE

Is the state doing enough to protect children?

It's Round Two in the overhaul of Child Protective Services.

In 2005, lawmakers gave the troubled agency about $250 million in new money, primarily to hire about 850 new child-abuse investigators and to raise investigators' salaries by $5,000.

Recent deaths of foster children in North Texas, however, have raised questions about how well CPS and Child Care Licensing, a sister agency, regulate private firms that recruit foster parents.

Also likely to get a second look from lawmakers is their mandate in the 2005 protective services overhaul bill that the state privatize even more of its care of abused and neglected children – including management of their cases, therapies and efforts at family reunification. The outsourcing is on hold for now.

"Last session was about investigations," said Scott McCown, a child advocate who heads the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank. "This session is going to be about [foster] care. The questions are going to be privatization and providing enough resources to enforce the standards we've got and make sure there are enough quality placements for these kids."

Robert T. Garrett

FACT

On any given day, about 21,000 Texas children are in foster care.

ETHICS

Can lawmakers police themselves?

AUSTIN – Reform-minded lawmakers are ready to shine a light on gray areas of ethics laws that have done little to stop corporate money from infiltrating political campaigns and a state board member from accepting a $500,000 gift.

A proposal that would make appointees, whose decisions affect millions of public dollars, declare the worth of any gift over $50 seems to be a sure bet – at least four bills have already been filed by both Republicans and Democrats to require such disclosures.

But other laws that would better define how political campaigns can raise and spend money face tougher roads.

In the 2002 House races, more than $2 million in corporate money that did not have to be disclosed under state laws was funneled to pro-Republican political action committees. The money was used for polls, phone banks and fundraising, and it helped Republicans take over the Legislature.

It is illegal in Texas to spend corporate or labor union money on political races, but one group that raised and spent corporate funds, Texans for a Republican Majority, argued that such spending was administrative costs, not political activity. TRMPAC has since faced a civil lawsuit, which it lost, and criminal indictments that are still pending. House members have tried to clarify how corporate and union money can be used and may do so again, but the prospects are uncertain.

In addition, lawmakers will try again to impose caps on campaign contributions, but past efforts have gone nowhere.

Christy Hoppe

FACT

Texas is one of the few states that set no limits on donations to candidates for state offices.

Also on the agenda ...

COAL PLANTS: Some officials and lobbying groups want to slow the process for approving construction of 19 new coal-fired power plants. Gov. Rick Perry accelerated the permit process last year, saying the state urgently needs more electricity.

SEX OFFENDERS: Lawmakers have filed a flurry of bills to lengthen sentences and punish repeat child molesters with the death penalty, but prosecutors and victims' advocates are wary.

WATER: Texas lawmakers are looking for ways to ensure parched cities don't run dry – but look for Dallas officials to oppose any plans that send North Texas' flows downstream.

BUDGET: The state will have a big surplus, so big that Republicans may fight over how much state spending can increase. The surplus must cover local property tax cuts.

PRISONS: Leading lawmakers want to invest more in rehabilitation to free up beds in prisons, but criminal justice officials say the state will still need to build new units.

VOUCHERS: Proposals to let students use taxpayer money to attend private schools, which have divided lawmakers in the past, face even more opposition with more Democrats and moderate Republicans joining the House this year.