*** UPDATE 5/27 ***

With a only week left in the 81st legislative session, bills should be flying out of the House and Senate, but since May 22, there has been a massive slow-down in the House of Representatives. What’s going on?

In short, Democrats are using a legislative strategy called “chubbing”—excessive questioning and offering of amendments on non-controversial bills—to slow the legislative process so that they can avoid a debate on the contentious Voter-ID Bill (SB 362).

Rep. McClendon’s HB 498 came one step closer to becoming law on Thursday evening as it passed to third reading in the Texas House. HB 498 establishes an Innocence Commission, which would investigate and work to prevent wrongful convictions in Texas. The commission, composed of lawyers and academics, would release an annual report detailing its findings, recommendations, and any proposed legislation.

HB 1736, which would compensate those who have been wrongfully imprisoned, has passed through both the House and the Senate. The House concurred on a Senate amendment this morning, so the bill is now headed to Gov. Perry's Office to be signed.
Call Gov. Perry's Citizen's Opinion Hotline at (800) 252-9600 to let him know that you support this bill.

The Texas Senate passed its version of the 2010- 2011 state budget with a vote of 26- 5 this evening. Democratic Senators Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, Rodney Ellis of Houston, Mario Gallegos of Houston, Eliot Shapleigh of El Paso and Kirk Watson of Austin voted no on the bill.

The Senate’s budget must still be reconciled with the House version of the budget that is expected to emerge from the House Appropriations Committee next week.