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TALES...LEGISLATIVE ROUNDUP - Page 5

© Coy Holley

these districts can set up appropriate plans in which the teachers are not required to pay out of their pockets money probably much more needed for other expenses to either pay for skyrocketing health care insurance OR (worse than that) do without it entirely--and you get a bunch of teachers pounding on the Capitol like very mad buzzards and vultures after carrion. The recent edition of TX Monthly gives examples in which teachers in a few cases may have to take their ENTIRE paycheck just to deal with their medical concerns...[Thankfully--Hillary is NOWHERE near here, because if she was, she'd try to mess THIS one up, too...Ah, well-- that's neither here nor there...]...

RYLANDER IN THE HEAT OF THE PLAYPEN--It seems that the Comptroller's in the hot seat because she thought it would be a good idea to use an unused office in her agency's building as a place that is available to all children and grandchildren of agency employees. But the problem is that even some of her own agency's employees don't know about this unique service offered by their bosses. The GSC and former Dem rival Land Commissioner David Dewhurst also seem to have a beef with Rylander because her office didn't request or receive permission to use the office for that purpose EVEN though permission IS required for ANY permanent conversion of office space...

BONDS--ROAD BONDS???--Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) and other Leg lawmakers have set what might be another controversial proposal on the table on bonds for the purpose of road construction throughout the state. The proposal would call for the state issuing about $1 billion worth of bonds that would be paid back with gas tax revenue earmarked for highway construction as well as selling other highway bonds and pay those back with future federal aid. The proposal also calls for the building of more toll roads throughout the state and measures dealing with truck safety and reducing red light violations and accidents involving teen-age drivers...

PERRY SAYS VOUCHERS A NO-GO THIS TIME--The Gov., Lt. Gov., and Education Commissioner Jim Nelson are now basically saying for this session that the idea of state-paid vouchers for private schools to help take care of school tuition in poorly-performing public schools (originally pushed by Bush while he was Gov.) is pretty much dead in the water and DOA this session. The proposal died without even a vote in the Senate...

OTHER BILLS--Sen. Duncan (R-Lubbock) has filed a bill that would create a special Research University Fund to aid universities that are close to, but not quite at the top tier of universities [(Ex.) Texas Tech] that might be taken from the General University Fund...Rep. Isett (R-Lubbock) is

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