Category: Uncategorized

Jenny LaCoste-Caputo of the San Antonio Express-News breaks word that the lawyer who filed the last school-funding lawsuit in Texas is preparing a new one.

“David Thompson, former general counsel for the Texas Education Agency and attorney for West Orange-Cove ISD, whose lawsuit was the subject of the Supreme Court ruling, said a second lawsuit claiming the new business tax amounts to a personal income tax, is imminent.”
LaCoste-Caputo reports this little gem in the middle of a story about San Antonio area school superintendents who are finding that the so-called funding solution passed by the lege this year doesn’t do much besides solve the state’s need to comply technically with the last lawsuit filed by Thompson.

“That’s a real concern, not just immediately but in the long term,” said one super. “We’ve gone so long without any additional revenue for maintenance and operations. We’ve cut and cut and cut some more; meanwhile our fuel costs, our utility costs, everything is going up every year.”

“Lawmakers passed this with no real understanding of what these new taxes would generate,” said another super. “There are a lot of traps in this law.”

Which is why we spend so little time on legislative shenanigans when it comes to school funding. The main purpose of the last session seemed intent to produce lying headlines, with bad faith so heavy as to crush all scales of measurement.

Here’s what Thompson told the Dallas Morning News in May:

“David Thompson, a lead attorney for school districts in the lawsuit that resulted in the Supreme Court’s ruling, said that the plan will definitely require monitoring on issues of adequacy and equity. Still, he said, the Legislature has ‘done something that is very significant, and I personally applaud them.’ “

Let’s All Declare Victory and Drop It?

“WASHINGTON, June 20 — In a decision that puts an overhaul of immigration laws in serious doubt, House Republican leaders said Tuesday that they would hold summer hearings around the nation on the politically volatile subject before trying to compromise with the Senate on a chief domestic priority of President Bush.”

Can it be true that the issue has been turned down to a simmer until after the elections? The scorpion promises not to sting?

This item relayed from blogger Marc Campos:

A Message From Carol Alvarado

Mean spirited Houstonians are gathering signatures on a petition that would force the City of Houston to call a city charter referendum that would compel police officers to demand proof of citizenship when interacting with Houstonians. If adopted by the voters, the city charter change would create a hostile relationship between the police and certain communities and limit their effectiveness in protecting Houstonians from crime.

In order to protect all Houstonians, it is imperative that the Houston Police Department maintain a respectful, professional and trusting relationship with the residents of all of the city’s many neighborhoods and among all of the city’s diverse ethnic communities.

This ill-advised city charter referendum threatens to divide the people of our diverse and welcoming community; tie the hands of the professional men and women who serve in our police department; and stigmatize the City of Houston in the eyes of the nation and the world.

ACTION ON OUR PART IS REQUIRED!

You are invited to attend and participate in a community meeting to help develop a strategy to defeat this mean spirited assault on our community.

PROTECT HOUSTON – COMMUNITY MEETING

6 P.M., MONDAY, JULY 24, 2006

CWA UNI*N HALL
1730 JEFFERSON STREET
HOUSTON, TX 77003

Your presence and involvement on this key public policy issue is requested. Please attend and bring other concerned Houstonians.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO RSVP:

CONTACT 713-861-2244 OR EMAIL
info@carolalvarado.com.

Pol. Adv. Paid For By Protect Houston, Massey Villarreal, Treasurer.

Protect Houston website:
http://protecthouston.com/

More from Marc Campos
“Alvarado Leads“

“The juice ain’t worth the squeeze,” says a report about new Medicaid rules that will require everyone to prove citizenship beginning July 1.

Because there is very little evidence of citizenship fraud in Medicaid, new federal regulations requiring strict citizenship documentation may very well increase the overall cost of the service, says a report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

http://www.cppp.org/research.php?aid=536

North American Competitiveness Council Promotes Regional Growth

Regional officials also review progress on Security and Prosperity Partnership

Washington — U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Mexican Economy Minister Sergio Garcia de Alba and Canadian Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier joined North American business leaders to launch the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) June 15 in Washington. In March, U.S. President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Vicente Fox announced the creation of the NACC as part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) initiative. The NACC officially was launched June 15 and will be made up of 10 high-level business leaders from each country, who will meet annually with senior North American government officials to provide recommendations and help set priorities for promoting regional competitiveness in the global economy.

At the NACC launch, Gutierrez welcomed the contributions of the North American private sector.

“Today is a continuation of President Bush’s strong commitment to our North American partners to focus on North America’s security and prosperity,” he said. “The private sector is the driving force behind innovation and growth, and the private sector’s involvement in the SPP is key to enhancing North America’s competitive position in global markets.”

In a June 15 interview with the Washington File, Luis Pinto, executive director of the North American Business Committee at the Council of the Americas and participant in the U.S. Council of the NACC, echoed Gutierrez on the important role of the region’s business community.

“Success in the 21st century demands regional strategies,” Pinto said, “The leaders understand that the role of government is to create the environment for success, but the private sector is the engine of growth.”

Pinto added that as part of the secretariat of the U.S. section of the NACC, the Council of the Americas looks forward to working with representatives from the private and public sectors of Canada and Mexico to advance the SPP agenda.

At the NACC launch, North American government officials and business leaders committed to work together more closely to advance regional competitiveness. The Washington meeting of Gutierrez, Garcia de Alba and Bernier — the SPP prosperity ministers — also provided the officials with an opportunity to reflect on progress in expanding prosperity since the establishment of SPP in 2005.

Among the accomplishments was the first convocation of officials from the regulatory, trade and oversight agencies from the three North American countries to identify a core set of elements for a Regulatory Cooperation Framework. Other progress included the ongoing liberalization of rules of origin, which helps reduce cost and facilitate cross-border trade and the establishment of a North American task force to combat counterfeiting and piracy, according to a Department of Commerce press release.

While the SPP ministers reflected on these accomplishments, SPP security ministers –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Canadian Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Mexican Secretary of Government Carlos Abascal — also are taking stock of progress on the security component of the SPP and will release a report in July.

In the fall, the SPP ministers will hold a meeting with the NACC to discuss priorities, update work plans and consider new initiatives, according to the Commerce Department.

For more information, see Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

A press release on SPP accomplishments is available on the Department of Commerce Web site.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)