Voucher standoff could doom major Texas school finance fix

The lengthy debate on Senate Bill 5 was expected to doom at least some of the dozens of bills behind it on the House calendar.

“But if this does not work out the way we want to. Rarely has West Virginia had this opportunity in the midst of a awful crisis; we don’t want to lose this moment”.

Republicans in the House have claimed the changes they made in the latest version of the health care bill were all aimed at lowering premiums for consumers.

“We have been clear that discriminatory legislation would have a chilling effect on economic development, make recruitment and retention more hard and stifle investment in Texas“, Chris Wallace, president of the Texas Association of Business, said in a statement. “I know all of you have a place in your heart for these children”, he said. But the chamber also voted overwhelmingly to instruct its negotiators to reject any form of vouchers, recalling its stance while devising the budget in April when the House voted 103-43 to declare that public funding should stay with public schools.

“This is a smart move by the Legislature that will save taxpayer money”.

It was Senate payback for the House, which, while devising its version of the state budget, voted 103-43 to declare that public funding should stay with public schools – similar to stances it has taken in previous sessions.

The vote in the House on SB 1010 was 84-1, with Delegate Patrick McGeehan, R-Hancock, being the only “no” vote.

Prezioso’s proposal was rejected by an 11-20 margin.

Under the proposal, which met a chilly reception in the state House, the state sales tax would rise from 6 percent to 7.25 percent. House Majority Leader Daryl Cowles said later that the “huge” increase in the sales tax bothered him the most. “I simply did not believe they would vote against both disabled children and a substantial funding increase for public schools”, he said in the statement. “I don’t want to talk about it”.

But Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), the sponsor of SB 2078, finds that unacceptable, and has requested that the bill go to conference committee to work on the “wording” of the amendment.

HB2433 passed the House 52-47. And now the House had voted unanimously to refuse to concur.

Who will decide what the Senate’s health bill looks like?

“The report makes clear that Trumpcare would be a cancer on the American health care system”, said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., using the nickname Democrats have tried pinning on the bill. This number is important because if Republicans seek to pass both tax reform and health care reform through the reconciliation process, the tax cuts associated with health care provide a lower baseline for the tax overhaul to be revenue neutral.

“There is no reason to come here session after session and make it more and more hard and drive women back into the shadows of illegal abortion, because that is exactly what this will do”, Howard said.

The next fiscal year begins July 1.

The new estimates could give talking points to House Republicans, or to Democrats, who voted unanimously against that bill.

Moreover, in a teleconference with the Public Resources Advisory Group, Hamilton said he learned that striking the state income tax would likely lead to a further downgrade of the state’s bond rating, which was already lowered to AA- several months ago.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has said the measure from the House has “ambiguous language”.

Major changes to the bill aimed at revamping the state’s controversial voter identification law have caused a showdown in the final week of the Senate’s legislative session. Their amendment proposed a sales tax increase to 6.5 percent.