Friday, April 21, 2006

and the special session continues

The good news is that James Leininger has decided not to disrupt this pivotal special session with school voucher propaganda:

San Antonio multimillionaire and school voucher supporter James Leininger said Friday he won't push Gov. Rick Perry and legislative leaders to include a voucher program in the special session on school finance.

Leininger, who has spent some of his personal fortune into a private scholarship program in San Antonio, said he doesn't want a fight over using taxpayer money for vouchers to derail the special session.

Less exciting is the fact that professional sports team lobbyists are exerting their influence, attempting to exempt their broadcast revenue from the business tax proposed in Perry's plan. In a Dallas Morning News online poll, over 90% of voters felt that broadcast revenue should not be exempt from the new business tax.
Lt. Governor Dewhurst has launched an advertising blitz targeting Dallas, Houston, and Austin in support of the Senate's education plan, saying that he wants Texas constituents to know what their legislators are voting on. The governor is also planning a $6 million media campaign focusing on tax reform. Perry aides say they are not mad about Dewhurst's promotional campaign, but they have a different emphasis when it comes to the special session.

Here's to the hope that the Lege will get something accomplished in the twenty-something days they have left. They've got a lot of distractions, but they've also got a deadline. The Texas Supreme Court has given the Texas Legislature a deadline of June 1 to do something about the tax system as it concerns school finance.

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