House members get $132 a day to do nothing until Feb. 8

House members get $132 a day to do nothing until Feb. 8

OK I am going to put names and e-mail links with faces here for this one... this is just one more piece of proof that the rules that the Texas Legislature are antiquated and those in power are more interested in getting along than in healthy debate on the issues.

AUSTIN — House members will be collecting $132 a day for expenses while doing little work on legislation until Feb. 8 because a routine rules suspension fell victim Tuesday to partisan acrimony.
In yet another sign that the House is off to a rocky start following a failed effort to dethrone Speaker Tom Craddick, the leadership was unable to get the necessary four-fifths vote needed to suspend a provision in the Constitution that prevents committees from hearing legislation during the first 30 days of a session and the full House from debating bills during the first 60 days.
Thirty-three Democrats and one Republican, Rep. Robert Talton of Pasadena, voted to block the rules change. The last time the House failed to suspend the rules was in 1981.

During a colorful and contentious debate, members of the speaker's team warned that the public would not understand why lawmakers are collecting their pay and per diem but not working on legislation per diem.
"Do we just get paid to sit on our patooties?" asked Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Houston Democrat who supported Craddick on the rules suspension.

Other Democrats opposing the rules suspension said they didn't trust the leadership not to try to move bad legislation quickly through the committee process.

"The minority party has been totally disrespected for four years," said Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth.( Image on left)

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa,(Image on Right) said the constitutional provision dates to 1930 when the public wanted to make sure that lawmakers gave due deliberation to new laws.

He noted that now Texans are able to watch committee hearings on the Internet and are more aware of the contents of bills.
Craddick said he doesn't bear any responsibility for the breakdown in the House. He blamed "a group that wanted to slow the process down."
In reality, little work gets done in the first month of the session as lawmakers take time to organize their committees and get to know the new members. The long hours and heavy lifting come near the end of each 140-day session.
Issues declared an emergency by Gov. Rick Perry — property tax relief for senior citizens and state tax rebates so far — can be considered.
And lawmakers can vote on a bill-by-bill basis to allow committee hearings, as they did for several transportation bills Tuesday.
"We are willing and able to suspend the rules for any individual piece of legislation that warrants early and expedited consideration," said Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco. "But we cannot wholesale waive our constituents' constitutional rights to be heard without a compelling reason."

Ok I am going to start at the bottom of this article and work my way up with commentary. Rep Dunnam, is wrong, plain and simple, our rights are for a fair and open government, not for stonewalling so that every thing can be pushed into the final 30 days of the session. If he was interested in doing his job he would be pushing for more open and extended debate so that each piece of legislation can be given a full and fair examination.

Craddick is right on about a small group of people including a RINO in Talton who are more interested in slowing things down so that there is chaos at the end of the session.

Burnam is a typical liberal who is crying about not getting his way because he is part of the minority, well now you know what it was like to be a Republican in the Texas Legislature until the 1990s.

Turner is right on the button, these people are up there to do a job and if they cannot be enabled to work during the whole time they are up there then why should they even be getting paid.

Talton has again shown that he is a RINO that needs to be voted out of office. He simply is there to consolidate power and is acting like a liberal Democrat who wants to take his ball and go home.

Your comments are appreciated.