81st Texas Legislature
The 81st Texas Legislature opened on January 13 in Austin and elected a new Speaker of the House. Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) was elected unanimously to replace three-term speaker Tom Craddick from Midland. Straus' election is expected to bring dramatic changes to the House, beginning with a complete revamping of House committees which are not expected to be announced until the second full week of February.
In the Senate, the Senate Finance Committee has already begun conducting hearings on the state's budget. In early January, Comptroller Susan Combs reported that legislators will have $77.1 billion, $9.1 billion less than in the current budget, to pay for the state's basic expenses in 2010-11. However, the state's Rainy Day Fund is estimated to have $9 billion available for the 2010-11 budget, $6.7 billion of which is already in the bank. Many groups will be lobbying lawmakers to use at least some of that money to avoid cutting services.
TARA Legislative Agenda
TARA has two main goals in this session of the Texas Legislature. The first is to prevent passage of any legislation that is harmful to the Texas rent-to-own industry. This includes bills that specifically target rent-to-own operations, as well as bills that would adversely affect businesses in Texas such as tax bills.
To achieve this goal, TARA monitors and tracks all bills filed during the session. Members can view which bills are being tracked by the association at any time by going to the link entitled Bill Tracking on the HOME page or on this page.
Second, the association is pursuing legislation to remove the state's property tax on rented inventory. In 2007, TARA was able to get this legislation passed in the House of Representatives, but the bill ultimately died in committee in the Senate. This session, the association is attempting to resolve these issues in the Senate first, before proceeding in the House.
At this time, TARA representatives and lobbyists are meeting with Senate leaders to resolve the issues with legislation. If this can be accomplished, and a bill is filed. all TARA members will be asked to get involved by contacting their state representatives and and senators and asking their support for this legislation. We will keep you informed of our progress through this web site and our new TARA Membership Update.
Passing A Bill
The following charts shows the process a bill must go through to be passed by the Texas Legislature. This chart assumes the bill originates in the House. The process is reversed for bills originating in the Senate. Identical bills can orginate in both the House and Senate and be progressed at the same time. When one identical bill passes one chamber, the other is abandoned and the passed bill is progressed through the second chamber.
