Bullying Reporting Requirement Fails for First Time in Six Years

Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) offered an amendment during the April 1st budget debate that would have required school districts to report instances of bullying or harassment enumerated by motivating bias (if any). The required enumeration would have included sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. The amendment (amendment #123 to HB 1) was tabled. 97 House members voted to table the amendment, 49 voted against.

Coleman has offered the same amendment during the last two legislative sessions, both times it passed. In 2007 the amendment passed 77 to 68 [amendment #73 to HB 1] (read LQ's detailed review of the vote). In 2009 it passed on a simple voice vote [amendment #262 to SB 1] (the House rules say that all votes are taken by a simple voice vote, unless someone requests a record vote - generally speaking amendments that pass on a voice vote are noncontroversial).

In both 2007 and 2009 the Coleman amendment was removed by the conference committee. After both the House and Senate approve a version of the budget a committee of House members appointed by the Speaker of the House and Senators appointed by the Lt. Governor meet to find compromises on portions of the budget that differ between their versions. Since, in both cases, the Senate version of the budget did not include the reporting requirement the conference committee was able to remove it.

Why did an amendment that passed during the last two sessions not pass this session?

One reason is that the Republican party made tremendous gains in the Texas House during the November 2010 elections, changing the partisan balance of the House from 76/74 to 101/49 (although two of those changes are due to former Democrats switching parties). The Texas State Republican party has an official plank in their platform calling for the reinforcement of the state's sodomy law. More Republicans in the House means more people voting against the best interest of queer people.

But part of the reason is that six of the members who supported the amendment in 2007 voted against it in 2011: Chuck Hopson, Jim Murphy, Allen Ritter, John Zerwas, Aaron Pena and Larry Taylor - all Republicans (although Pena was a Democrat until this session). Three members who voted against the amendment in 2007 voted for it in 2009: Republicans Geanie Morrison and John Davis and Democrat Ruth McClendon.

I've e-mailed the offices of of the six members who changed their vote to oppose reporting instances of bullying. I eagerly await their response.

Day 42: 'Flurries' - But No Blizzard

Today is the 42nd day of the 82nd regular session of the Texas Legislature. The Senate reconvenes at 11 am, the House at 1 pm.

The House is finally starting to get to work after waiting 30 days for committee assignments. With committees in place the speakers office is able to start referring bills. The Dallas Voice Instant Tea blog described this as a "flurry of activity', which is somewhat true, but not completely accurate. Bill referral is the only part of the process that is guaranteed; all bills get referred to committee. Bills are referred in the order they are filed (for the most part) - so it might look really good when HB 24, HB 130, HB 170, HB 172, HB 208, HB 224, HB 415 and HB 604 all move on the same week, but the truth is that was always going to happen.

For some of these bills referral to committee is the last movement they will make, since the committee chair is under no obligation to schedule them for a hearing. I will reserve my excitement for when these bills start getting scheduled for hearings.


In "how did I miss that" news: The Department of State Health Services' commissioner, Dr. David Lakey, has disbanded the Texas HIV Medication Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee was made up of health service providers and people living with HIV/AIDS who provided input to the way the Department structured it's HIV medication programs. Commissioner Lakey testified before the House Appropriations committee on Friday that the elimination of the advisory committee was necessary for budgetary reasons. The Texas HIV/AIDS Coalition is encouraging people to contact the members of the Appropriations subcommittee on Human Services and ask them to "Tell Commissioner Lakey to reinstate the Texas HIV Medication Advisory Committee and work with community stake holders. People living with HIV/AIDS and community stake holders should not be shut out of the process!"

Representative John Zerwas (512) 463-0657
Representative Dawnna Dukes (512) 463-0506
Representative Susan King (512) 463-0718
Representative Craig Eiland (512) 463-0502
Representaive Warren Chisum (512) 463-0736
Representative Charles Schwertner (512) 463-0309


The big state legislature news story for the last week has, of course, been in Wisconsin where that state's newly elected governor is attempting to prevent collective bargaining by some public employee unions - most notably teachers. Texas is one of only 5 states that currently doesn't allow for collective bargaining by teachers unions. Interestingly enough those five states rank 50th (South Carolina), 49th (North Carolina), 48th (Georgia) 47th (Texas) and 44th (Virginia) in average state SAT/ACT scores. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. If you are in Austin and would like to show solidarity with the public employees of Wisconsin there is a candlelight vigil tonight at 6:45 starting at the AFL-CIO headquarters (1106 Lavaca St.) and marching to the capitol.