Down, But Not Out
Sorry I didn’t post immediately after HB 3186 saw its untimely demise this week, but I went out and drank to bed Thursday night after it became evident that we weren’t gonna get there.
Lets bring the vitriol down a notch and look at the big picture here. I’ll do a proper post-mortem later, but for now lets remember a few things:
1) All good bills take time to pass. I was one of the primary organizers behind the legislation to give Texas teachers paid health insurance. That took us about 4 1/2 years in a time when the state was pretty flush with cash. Not because we did anything wrong, not because the system doesn’t work, but because that is just how long it takes to tell everyone what you want to do and why. We are WAY ahead of the curve on this one.
2) Nobody expected a bill this good to get filed…much less out of committee, through calendars and given a slot on the floor.
3) Our bill didn’t die because legislators don’t like/want poker. Our bill died because there were some major bad bills ahead of it that legislators didn’t want to get to. That is just the way it goes. Frankly, we are probably better off that some of those bills didn’t get voted on.
So, where does that leave us? That leaves us with about 2 1/2 weeks left of session. The possibility does still exist that we could amend our language onto another eligible bill that has already made it through one chamber. I’ll spare y’all the procedural civics lesson for now, but it is a possibility.
If that doesn’t work, we have 1 1/2 years to get ready to do this again. That isn’t very long. We will need to build up a better organization, raise money and stand together until then.
Stay tuned. The fatcats may be singing, but the fat lady isn’t even getting warmed up.
Fresh Princess says:
May 12th, 2007 at 3:30pm
Like, sticking it on someone else’s bill? Hmmmm, did you call Frist on this?
Lavigne in Austin says:
May 12th, 2007 at 3:34pm
ha. Frist didn’t make it up. it is part of the dark soft underbelly that we call politics.
Fresh Princess says:
May 12th, 2007 at 3:42pm
I know.
Just thought it was a great opportunity to show the similarities the two bills may share. Since those are the two we mainly discuss.
pisswilley says:
May 13th, 2007 at 12:33am
bill wont pass for the next 10 years… sorry ass right wingers… btw, i was one till bushie went stupid with his entire king rule…. teachers getting paid health insurance??? dude, are u drunk?? ever checked the truth of what happened? the family of those teachers are paying 750 bucks a month, they robbed peter to pay paul… tell the truth as is relates to the bottom line, the outcome is the bottom line, not pencil whiping the numbers. as a former public official here in texas i see through the bs u spoused in the teacher comment. this aint passing for the next 10 years here in texas… unless the voters flip to liberal…. btw, i also tired of playing in the seedy backroom here in dallas… and i hate driving to oklahoma….and i emailed my rep’s…. but welcome to texas and bush country/ bible country
Lavigne in Austin says:
May 13th, 2007 at 12:51am
pissy,
dude, i said TEACHERS, not their families. That would take a lot more time and this IS Texas. But thanks for helping me make my point as to how difficult it is to pass big things and how impressed you are with our awesome progress this year.
but the state did gut the teacher health insurance program in future sessions to help pay for property tax cuts. I never saw those. That was after i left the effort. Natch.
pisswilley says:
May 13th, 2007 at 8:01pm
i still stand by my comments, and yes, u did a great job, it’s just a bitch to get something like this done. however, pissing up a rope comes to mind, and u can piss farther than most….so for that congrats…. but the bottom line is the bottom line… it aint passing for the next ten years.
Fresh Princess says:
May 13th, 2007 at 9:12pm
Man, I wish I only paid 750 a month for health insurance!
DanM says:
May 13th, 2007 at 9:13pm
how much money you want to put on that, pisser?