Travis County Commissioners Court
April 4, 2006
Item 28
28, though, a is to consider and take appropriate action on request for payment of annual dues to the county judges and Commissioners association of Texas in the amounted of $2,100. And 28-b, consider and take appropriate action on other associations to which the county has membership.
>> and I am -- having had information on the a side of this, questions were raised about so what exactly does our 2100 get us? How is it that the dues increase occurred and to get some more information for you. I was playing phone tag with jim allison, but we finally talked late yesterday, so I apologize that you did not get this until here on the dais although I ran into the judge last night. In general dues are in three different tiers based on population. A low of 1300, that's the current number. The highest at 4,000, but only harris and dallas fit into that category. We are in the middle tier. The last dues change was six years ago, so it has been a number of years since they have done this. Jim tells me that pretty much the totality of the increase that is being asked for is related to the upgrading of the education component that we all are required to accomplish under state law. And it's for a revamping of what we all know as curriculum 2000, kind of take it to the next level and that money is going to be getting different speakers, different course work, the kinds of things that will show up at the different associations related to us getting our continuing education in. Jim says that there are basically three basic components as to what our dues pay for, which are quite modest at even going up to $2,100. Jim works 100% for us. That was a question being asked of us. Who does jim work for? Jim allison is the general counsel for the county judges and Commissioners association and only works for us. He is a registered lobbyist and why that is an important differential is there are right now some challenges going on -- Williamson county was the poster child for this -- about whether tac can indeed do lobbying at the state capitol. About whether that is a legal expense and a legal duty. Unlike tac, county judges and Commissioners association has the specific right to be able to be a registered lobbyist. Jim works 100% on behalf of county judges and Commissioners, and sometimes, even though we are still under the large umbrella of tac and we are all county, there are different interest groups between the Texas association of county and then the individual elected officials that make up county government. And he specifically looks for things related to county judges and Commissioners. A lot of times we don't realize that he's working on our behalf simply because he's there doing it as opposed to reporting in on a weekly basis like it's a bob c.a.n. Or a chris shields doing it on behalf of us. But he's there. One of the biggest things he worked on behalf of the county judges and Commissioners was the tobacco lawsuit negotiations. He works very closely with tac, but tac has its own set of advocates and I works very closely with don lee, but -- also every other county judge and Commissioner in the Texas, along with all members of the state lawyer, in terms of keeping up to date, in terms of all of our education requirements, attorney general opinions, articles of general interest to find out when our education opportunities are out there. And again, as I mentioned, the education component in terms of developing approved curriculum and the keeping of all of our records. Jim told me that membership is indeed discretionary and he gets asked this question on a regular basis, but all 253 other counties are members of this and they are all paid up in full, we are the only ones who have not.
>> taking the lead again.
>> we've done it again.
>> their full budget is about $300,000. It's primarily made up of dues, contributions from the other regional associations, they each wick cik in $12,500.
>> is there a motion? I’ve been shamed into supporting this.
>> thank you. I move that we indeed as quickly as possible pay our $2,100 to Texas county judges and Commissioners association and we continue our membership and get that check out as quickly as possible.
>> any more discussion? All in favor?
>> thank you. [ laughter ]
>> that passes by unanimous vote. All right.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 10:34 AM