Teamwork

Last week started off in the best way possible, with a celebration of sportsmanship.

Two young El Paso men, from opposing schools, provided one of the year’s best sporting moments back in February.

Mitchell Marcus and Jonathon Montanez, on opposing sides of the Coronado v. Franklin issue, created a spontaneous and unforgettable moment on Feb. 12, 2013.

Mitchell, who has a developmental disability and is the senior team manager for Coronado, had never played in a game for his team. With 2 minutes left and his team up by 10, Peter Morales, Coronado head coach, called Mitchell into the game. Mitchell’s teammates continually gave him the ball, but the shot wouldn’t fall, and with seconds to go the ball bounced off Mitchell and out of bounds to Franklin.

Enter Franklin Cougar Jonathon Montanez, who called out to Mitchell, passed him the ball, and stood with the players, coaches, refs and crowd as Mitchell shot … and scored!

I was honored to share their story and present them on the Senate floor, along with Coach Montanez. Unfortunately, Todd Bostic, the Coronado coach, was not able to make it. However, the parents of both young men were present.

Priorities

That said, however, the simple fact is we’re not always going to agree. One major example of that is in how we set priorities. I and many of my colleagues believe we need to spend more of our surplus in this state on human infrastructure, particularly education and health care.

The majority, however, simply doesn’t see it that way, despite the support from the public for these views, and despite the fact that education is enshrined in the Texas Constitution.

We managed to move a little way down the road on Tuesday, however, when the Senate unanimously passed SJR 1, which allows Texas voters to approve more investment in roads, water, and most importantly, education.

I voted for it because it represented the best opportunity to add sorely needed funding to education. Although it’s not the increase our students, teachers and parents deserve, it does better than 2011, when ultimately needless cuts decimated our school system.

Could it have been better? Yes.

We offered amendments to make it better – including one to make affordable health care more accessible to Texans through Medicaid — but were outvoted.

SJR 1 as introduced would have taken $3.5 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively, from the so-called Rainy Day Fund – officially, the Economic Stabilization Fund — for road and water projects.

SJR 1 as amended will reduce that total of $6 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to $5.7 billion while dedicating $800 million to education. It does that by dropping the water spending by $500 million and road spending by $600 million, then adding $500 million to formula funding for schools and $300 million to the DATE, or District Awards for Teacher Excellence, program.

Given the priorities of our statewide leadership, this move forward for our students, teachers and parents ought to be considered a win. It reflects well on the Senate ranking members that we were able to move this far, although I look forward to one day completing the journey to fully equitable school funding, as promised in the Texas Constitution, and expanded access to health care.

Speaking of teamwork

The first set of my bills to move out of the full 83rd Legislature passed late last week; I was proud to work with other members of the El Paso legislative delegation to make it happen.

Friday, Texas House passed SB 332 and SB 457, which I authored and Rep. Marisa Márquez sponsored in the House. Both bills were on El Paso County’s legislative agenda.

SB 457 eliminates a time-consuming requirement to seek an Attorney General opinion regarding open records requests for confidential autopsy information while maintaining current provisions for release of information.

SB 332 gives the Commissioners Court oversight of the operations of the Emergency Services District No. 1 and No. 2 and the authority to approve or deny the ESDs’ budgets and tax rates.

During the past year, audits and media reports have highlighted significant issues at the Emergency Services District No. 2 involving expenditures, including delivery of $35,000 in merchandise to an address not associated with any volunteer fire department, and vehicles that were refurbished at ESD expense being sold to board members without board approval at below-market prices.

The County Medical Examiner

Also Friday the House passed SB 336, another bill on the El Paso County legislative agenda. It was sponsored in the House by Rep. Joe Moody.

The bill allows the county to appoint a medical examiner with a provisional license granted by the Texas Medical Board; the bill allows the county to appoint a person who is licensed and in good standing in another state, is seeking licensure in Texas, and has been granted a provisional license to serve as medical examiner.

Despite an extensive, almost three-year search, El Paso County has had a difficult time filling its Chief Medical Examiner position. The medical examiner provides critical services, including autopsies and trial testimony. In addition, being able to fill this position quickly will save the county funds that could be used elsewhere; the county currently has an expert on a contract, which is more costly to taxpayers than hiring someone on a permanent basis.

Coming up

I expect that soon the Texas House will pass SB 120, which I authored and is being sponsored in the House by Rep. Naomi Gonzalez. The bill was the legislative priority for the entire El Paso delegation, and Reps Joe Pickett, Marisa Marquez, Joe Moody and Mary Gonzalez all did their part as both co-sponsors and advocates.

SB 120 transforms the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso from a branch of the current Lubbock-based health sciences center to its own health sciences center and an independent component institution of the Texas Tech University System.

In plain language, this means a health sciences center with its own president and administration, schools with degree-granting authority, and greater local engagement in key hiring and funding decisions regarding the El Paso campus.

This is a huge win for El Paso and the region, and you’ll be hearing much more about this as it comes to fruition.

One more bill update

Last week Texas Senate passed SB 1046, which will help the city and county streamline rules for developing in the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction – known as the ETJ, which is an area outside the city limit but still subject to some municipal regulations. It now moves to the Texas House.

Currently, both the city and the county have subdivision authority in the ETJ, which often leads to conflicting standards that have to be reconciled before subdivision plats can be processed. This will allow the city and the county to better serve the private sector by coordinating development standards and policies.

Looking back and looking ahead

On Thursday in El Paso, the Labor Justice Committee (LJC) and Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project (PCRP) had a news conference to announce El Paso’s first indictment and arrest of an employer for criminal wage theft. Those groups worked with local law enforcement and prosecutors to implement SB 1024, which I passed last session to allow for greater criminal prosecution of wage theft.

While implementation of SB 1024 continues to be a challenge, we are making progress.Because non-payment of wages is especially common for low-wage workers it is a major quality-of-life issue. Working families with no margin for temporary hardship cannot afford to miss even one paycheck. I expect that enforcement of this law will encourage legitimate employers and discourage those who fail to do business the right way.”

Those who think they’ve been a victim of wage theft, or are involved in a wage dispute, are urged to contact one of the following agencies: Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project (915) 532-3799 x10; Labor Justice Committee, (915) 532-3799 x17; Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, (915) 585-5100; or Border Network for Human Rights, (915) 577-0724.

Vote!

Today is the first day of early voting. Do it!

Sincerely,

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