Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 34
And 34 is consider and take appropriate action on legislative matters including, a, update on legislative activities, b, hjr 13, proposing a constitutional amendment providing for the election and staggering of terms of county Commissioners following a change in boundaries of a customer's precinct.
c, redistricting of congressional and legislative districts and implications for Travis County.
and d, amendments to the priorities, policy positions and the positions on other proposals sections of the Travis County legislative agenda.
mr. Eckstein.
>> good afternoon, judge Biscoe, members of the court.
just a brief overview of what's going on with the legislature.
this is the ultimate day of the special session.
they are scheduled to go home tomorrow.
this is the 169th straight day that they have been in session so as you can imagine they are as eager to go home as you can imagine.
there is an old -- I remember seeing a convert was saying this start starts off slow and fizzles out altogether and that's sort of the motto for this special session.
there are two bills that have to get done.
one is fiscal matters bill, senate bill 1.
the house has already concurred in the senate -- excuse me, the senate has already adopted the conference committee report and the house is scheduled to consider it this afternoon.
the other bill is senate bill 3, which is the wind storm association bill.
the senate is debating the conference committee report on that bill and is expected to adopt it as we speak, and at 3:00 the house is supposed to come in and do it.
if those two pieces of business get done today, there may be an opportunity for the legislature to adjourn sine die did but it must tomorrow at the latest.
I don't think anybody is lugubrious about the loss of 170 consecutive days they will be in session and people will get a break.
there are 22 bills the county has been monitoring including the fiscal matters bill that could affect the county either stayed in the bills if we liked them or stayed out if we don't.
we will have a full report.
with that I would like to move on to item b which is the house joint resolution.
this is the one we discussed the last two weeks.
it has to do with staggered terms of Commissioners following redistricting.
the court indicated some concerns about that and asked us to draft a resolution.
you have in your backup a draft resolution for the court's consideration and possible action today.
and at this point, judge, I would recommend that the court adopt that.
>> questions, comments regarding that recommendation?
>> is there any time to make a difference with this?
>> well, I think it's good for us to get it on the record because I think there's a likelihood that this bill or something like this will come back in future.
and the resolution is specifically drafted to express the court's concerns about the policy concept and also to express its opposition to a specific bill.
>> move that we approve the recommendation and oppose the bill.
>> second.
>> discussion on the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
and do I have the original of that resolution?
>> I believe you do, judge.
>> okay.
>> the other two items on the subparts c and d have to do with updating you on the congressional and legislative redistricting.
as you know, last week the house and senate both passed a congressional redistricting bill.
that bill is still sitting on the governor's desk.
he has until, I guess -- I have to check but I think he has 20 days until after the session ends in order to decide not to sign it but everybody expects him to sign it at some point.
as you know, the county is already involved in litigation involving the drawing of congressional districts and so I believe you will be getting continuous updates about that in executive session.
with respect to the last item on the agenda, subpart d, there are no changes to the legislative agenda that we would recommend at this point.
>> okay.
is that it?
>> that's it for 34.
>> when you bring back the overview or update --
>> yes, sir.
>> -- can you contact the Travis County health care district, the matter involving family planning.
>> okay.
>> there was a provision in there that really impacts the health care district's budget.
>> directed specifically toward them.
>> so we may as well know what that is.
get a Commissioner Eckhardt and get a second viewpoint after you talk to the health care district.
>> their viewpoint will be dead on.
it was targeted at them.
>> now, one of us gave them sterling advice during the budget process that they did not follow.
but let's see what it is and what they view the impact as being.
>> yes, sir.
>> anything else on item 34?
do you have in mind that overview being next week or the week after?
>> we could do either way, judge.
probably next week is fine with me.
we'll have at least a brief summary of particularly what happened during the special session and also during the regular session.
>> let's also have new agenda language.
>> yes, sir.
>> okay.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
