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Interim Hearings – Week of August 20, 2018

Aug 15

posted by TexasLRL in 85th Session, Interim hearings

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.

 

House Select Committee on Texas Ports, Innovation & Infrastructure (San Antonio)

Charge: Benefits and needs of Texas' Inland/Dry Ports

 

House Committee on Urban Affairs (Houston)

Charge: Housing needs in areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey and related flooding, including local, state and federal governments' responses, and changes in affordable and low-income housing needs

Charge: Recommendations to improve and accelerate the response to existing and future housing needs related to Hurricane Harvey and future natural disasters, including set-asides and how best to rebuild and revitalize

 

August 22

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Charge: Mandate reduction

Charge: Monitoring; specifically, updates on construction of facilities as a result of tuition revenue bonds and development and implementation of the Texas OnCourse program, and monitor the following:

  1. SB 2118, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to authorization by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for certain public junior colleges to offer baccalaureate degree programs.
  2. HB 2205, 84th Legislature, R.S., relating to the State Board for Educator Certification, educator preparation programs, educator certification, issuance of certain teaching permits, and certain procedures for investigating educator misconduct.
  3. SB 887, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to a requirement that certain participating institutions under the student loan program administered by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board provide loan debt information to certain students.
  4. SB 802, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to a study and report regarding best practices in the transfer of course credit between public institutions of higher education.
  5. SB 810, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to open educational resources.
  6. HB 2223, 85th Legislature, R.S., relating to developmental coursework offered by public institutions of higher education under the Texas Success Initiative.

 

August 23

House Committee on County Affairs (Dallas) 

Charge 1: Emergency response activities, impact of natural disasters on county finances; Charge 2: County ordinance-making and enforcement authority to deal with flood risk in unincorporated rural and suburban areas

Charge 3: Defendants' and inmates' behavioral health needs, mental health services upon release from the criminal justice system

Charge 5: Monitor agencies and programs under the Committee's jurisdiction and implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature

 

This entry was posted on August 15, 2018 at 3:15 PM and has received 958 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: State Budget Timeline

Aug 14

posted by TexasLRL in Resource highlights, Legislative process

The LRL's state budget timeline has been updated to reflect the budget process for the 2020–2021 biennium. Currently, state agencies are in the process of developing strategic plans and Legislative Appropriation Requests (LARs). The LARs documents will be available in the Legislative Budget Board's database here.

 

You can click through the timeline to see what is scheduled to happen in each date range. The LRL will add links to budget bills and related documents as they are released.

 

Past budget timelines are available in PDF form just below the timeline, as well as a variety of other budget resources. Be sure to check back for updates as budget planning progresses for the upcoming biennium.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2018 at 3:15 PM and has received 1536 views. Print this entry.

Current Articles & Research Resources, August 9

Aug 9

posted by TexasLRL in Current Articles, Research Resources

In this weekly post, we feature helpful research tools and recent articles of interest to the legislative community. 

  • Explore sunset reviews of occupational licensing in Texas and other states. (National Conference of State Legislatures, July 2018)
  • Consider the quality and safety of tap water in the U.S. (NPR, July 27, 2018)
  • Note the deadline to apply for an emergency grant to repair Hurricane Harvey damage to historic sites is August 15. (Texas Historical Commission, accessed August 8, 2018)
  • Look up at the night sky this weekend to see the Perseid meteor shower. (Mashable, August 8, 2018)

Members of the Texas legislative community may request the articles below here or by calling 512-463-1252. 

  • "Tear gas to tweets." By Jessica Mendoza. Christian Science Monitor, July 30, 2018, pp. 24-30.
    Examines how protest movements have evolved since 1968, from attempts to raise public awareness to promoting change within government through increased representation. Comments that despite well-intentioned laws and changes in public opinion, these movements still tend to coalesce around race, gender, and inequality.
  • "The Dallas tech surge: Demand is climbing — and so are paychecks." By Brian Womack. Dallas Business Journal, July 27, 2018, pp. 12-14.
    Discusses the rising cost of business for tech firms in the Dallas-Fort Worth market.
  • "Pollution and the law: Prosecuting Flint." Economist, July 28th-August 3rd, 2018, pp. 21-22.
    Explains the types of lawsuits that have been filed in response to the Flint, Michigan water contamination crisis. Considers the extent to which government officials can be held accountable for their actions on the job.
  • "Electronic health records associated with lower hospital mortality after systems have time to mature." By Sunny C. Lin, Ashish K. Jha, and Julia Adler-Milstein. Health Affairs, July 2018, pp. 1128-1135.
    Suggests that national implementation of electronic health records [EHRs] in hospitals should yield improvements in mortality rates, but the investment will take time to be realized. Notes that small and nonteaching hospitals appear to have the most to gain.
  • "The role of community health centers in addressing the opioid epidemic." By Julia Zur, et al. Internet Resource, July 2018, pp. 1-12.
    Examines findings from a 2018 survey of community health centers on activities related to the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorder [OUD]. Reports that most community health centers have seen an increase in the number of patients with OUD in the past three years, but they face many treatment capacity challenges in responding to the opioid epidemic.
  • "COST's principles of state business tax conformity with federal tax reform." By Douglas L. Lindholm, Karla Frieden, and Ferdinand Hogroian. Journal of MultiState Taxation and Incentives, August 2018, pp. 14-19.
    Summarizes the Council on State Taxation's [COST] principles of state business tax conformity with federal tax reform. Argues states should carefully analyze potential revenue changes and tax policy implications.
  • "Polysubstance abuse among adolescents in a low income, rural community: Latent classes for middle- and high-school students." By Roderick A. Rose, et al. Journal of Rural Health, Summer 2018, pp. 227-245.
    Examines rural adolescent substance use, noting that opioid misuse is associated with initiation of illicit drugs prior to age thirteen. Observes patterns of younger adolescents in certain groups turning to prescription drugs and inhalants.
  • "Fixing the hole when the rains come in: How to narrow the gap between coverage and damage in catastrophe insurance." Milken Institute Review, Third Quarter 2018, pp. 46-53.
    Discusses risk management in catastrophe insurance. Considers costs of natural disasters and the role of public policy to incentivize private financial institutions to manage risk.
  • "School district crisis preparedness, response, and recovery plans — United States, 2006, 2012, and 2016." By Judy Kruger, et al. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), August 3, 2018, pp. 809-814.
    Examines school districts' implementation of policies to improve school crisis preparedness, response, and recovery plans. Notes that large districts (greater than or equal to 10,000 students) were significantly more likely than were small districts (less than or equal to 4,999 students) to provide funding for or offer crisis preparedness training for school faculty, staff members, and students' families.
  • "Harvey highlights Houston MUD bond development funding." By Laila Assanie and Michael Weiss. Southwest Economy (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas), Second Quarter 2018, pp. 3-7.
    Considers the possibility of funding new housing infrastructure with municipal utility district [MUD] bonds after the historic flooding from Hurricane Harvey. Discusses MUD creation, taxing powers, and the growing reach and influence of MUDs in the Houston housing market.
  • "Another use for drones: Investigating car wrecks." By Jenni Bergal. Stateline (Pew Charitable Trusts), August 6, 2018, pp. 1-5.
    Reports more police agencies are using drones to reconstruct vehicle accidents, reducing staff time and the time roads are closed. Notes some states that require police to get a search warrant to use drones for surveillance are adding exemptions for crash reconstruction.
  • "Bordering on empty." By Naveena Sadasivam. Texas Observer, August/September, 2018, pp. 12-21.
    Argues climate change is having a significant toll on the Rio Grande and the water infrastructure of the Rio Grande Valley. Discusses how hotter, dryer weather affects cities and towns, irrigation districts, and the agriculture industry in the area.
  • "Price-formation studies." Texas Public Power, July-August 2018, pp. 5, 7.
    Summarizes two recent reports from the Energy Regulatory Commission of Texas [ERCOT] that address the Public Utility Commission's Project to Assess Price-Formation Rules in ERCOT's Energy-Only Market. Related information at: http://interchange.puc.texas.gov/Search/Filings?UtilityType=A&ControlNumber=47199&ItemMatch=Equal&DocumentType=ALL&SortOrder=Ascending.  Reports at: http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/144930/Study_of_the_Benefits_of_Marginal_Losses_FINAL.pdf  and http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/144930/Study_of_the_Benefits_of_Real-Time_Co-optimization_FINAL.pdf

The Legislative Reference Library compiles this weekly annotated list of Current Articles of interest to the legislative community. Professional librarians review and select articles from more than 300 periodicals, including public policy journals, specialized industry periodicals, news magazines, and state agency publications. Members of the Texas legislative community may request articles using our online form.

This entry was posted on August 9, 2018 at 3:15 PM and has received 969 views. Print this entry.

Interim Hearings – Week of August 13, 2018

Aug 8

posted by TexasLRL in 85th Session, Interim hearings

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.
 

August 13

House Committee on Urban Affairs

Charge: Process of cleaning firefighters' equipment, and associated health risks

 

Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations

Charge: ETJ [extraterritorial jurisdiction] limitations and notice

Charge: Municipal Management District uniformity

 

August 14

Charge 2: Non-traditional methods of resolving legal disputes and interacting with the legal system; self-help resources, access to justice for unrepresented litigants, online dispute resolution 

Charge 4: Specialty courts 

Charge 5: Jurisdictional threshold 

Charge 6: Office of Court Administration's guardianship compliance program  

This entry was posted on August 8, 2018 at 3:00 PM and has received 1298 views. Print this entry.

Dates of Interest for the 86th Regular Session

Aug 7

posted by TexasLRL in Legislative process, 86th Session

What are the key deadlines for the 86th Regular Session? Official deadlines will be set when the House and Senate adopt their rules, but until then, the Texas Legislative Council Drafting Manual provides a perpetual calendar (shown below) that can be useful. According to the Manual:

 

1st day of session: January 8, 2019

 

60-day bill filing deadline: March 8, 2019

 

Adjournment sine die: May 27, 2019

 

Post-session 20-day deadline for governor to sign or veto: June 16, 2019

 

Effective date (91st day after adjournment): August 26, 2019

 

  Table can be viewed in the Texas Legislative Council Drafting Manual. 

 

Other upcoming dates of interest include:

 

July–August 2018: State agencies develop strategic plans and associated Legislative Appropriations Requests (LARs). These are submitted to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) and the Governor's Office of Budget, Planning, and Policy (GOBPP). View LAR submissions.

 

September–December 2018: Legislative Budget Board and the GOBPP hold hearings on each state agency’s strategic plan and LAR and prepare separate budget recommendations to be presented to the 86th Legislature (Texas Government Code §§ 322.007, 401.043–401.0445). See more budget deadlines in our timeline.

 

November 6, 2018: General election for federal, state, and county officers (Section 1, Article XVII, Texas Constitution; Texas Election Code § 41.001).

 

November 12, 2018: Bill prefiling begins (House Rule 8, Sec. 7 and Senate Rule 7.04(a)).

This entry was posted on August 7, 2018 at 3:00 PM and has received 7381 views. Print this entry.

Current Articles & Research Resources, August 2

Aug 2

posted by TexasLRL in Current Articles, Research Resources

In this weekly post, we feature helpful research tools and recent articles of interest to the legislative community. 

  • Read about precautions to take if wildfire smoke is in your area. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, July 31, 2018)
  • Review how much it costs to run a state's prison system, state by state. (24/7 Wall St., July 26, 2018)
  • Consider what states are doing to combat robocalls. (Stateline (Pew Charitable Trusts), July 25, 2018)
  • Examine the facts related to 3D printing of guns. (The Weekly Standard, July 31, 2018)

Members of the Texas legislative community may request the articles below here or by calling 512-463-1252. 

  • "Income-share agreements: Higher returns." Economist, July 21st-27th, 2018, p. 57.
    Reports some universities are working with investors to offer students a different approach to paying tuition and fees — "income-share agreements" [ISAs]. Explains ISAs spare students the higher payments associated with private loans and lower their debt burden.
  • "U.S. Supreme Court and schools: 2017-18." Education Week, July 18, 2018, p. 20.
    Summarizes recent United States Supreme Court rulings on K-12 education, including school funding, immigration, teachers' unions, and an assortment of First Amendment issues.
  • "Regional transportation council looking at possible projects." By Paul K. Harral. Fort Worth Business Press, July 16-22, 2018, pp. 8, 10.
    Details the North Texas Regional Transportation Council's consideration of transportation initiatives based on hyperloop technology.
  • "New approaches in Medicaid: Work requirements, health savings accounts, and health care access." By Benjamin D. Sommers, et al. Health Affairs, July 2018, pp. 1099-1108.
    Assesses views from low-income adults in Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas (representing three different Medicaid policies) on health savings accounts, work requirements, and Medicaid expansion. Finds that current Medicaid innovations may lead to unintended consequences for coverage and access to health care.
  • "The prospective role of charity care programs in a changing health care landscape." By Matthew Ralls, Lauren Moran, and Stephen A. Somers. Internet Resource, July 2018, pp. 1-5.
    Explores the current and future role of charity care programs [CCPs] in offering and organizing free- and reduced-cost health care to individuals. Notes that CCPs predict an increased demand for services but have concerns about funding.
  • "The natural gas grid needs better monitoring." By Gerad Freeman, Jay Apt, and Michael Dworkin. Issues in Science and Technology, Summer 2018, pp. 79-84.
    Explains that outages affecting the natural gas pipeline system are not well-documented, nor are they tracked by the federal government. Discusses the reliability of the natural gas pipeline system and how it affects electric power plants.
  • "Potential policy approaches to address diet-related diseases." By Michael F. Jacobson, James Krieger, and Kelly D. Brownell. JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), July 24/31, 2018, pp. 341-342.
    Suggests local, state, and federal jurisdictions, as well as private companies, take policy actions to address recent reports indicating higher obesity and sodium consumption rates.
  • "Lessons from the opioid epidemic: How public schools have become the safety net of last resort for traumatized children." By Zoe Carpenter. Nation, July 30/August 6, 2018, pp. 12-19.
    Examines the opioid crisis in West Virginia, the state with the highest rate of death by overdose: 43.4 overdose deaths per 100,000 compared with the national average of 13.3. Discusses the "atrophy of public services across small-town America," including the lack of counselors and family support in public schools and rural health clinics ill-equipped to handle addiction.
  • "McPolitics." By Yascha Mounk. New Yorker, July 2, 2018, pp. 59-63.
    Considers the transformation and homogenization of the two political parties into "nationalized" parties and away from an older system that saw interest and power at the local level. Argues nationalization has led to the "rise of two political mega-identities" and intense partisanship. Suggests common ground and moderation can still be found.
  • "Not just for lawyers: Environmental impacts of natural gas pipelines." By Ed Comer. Public Utilities Fortnightly, July 2018, pp. 42-45, 78.
    Discusses major legal disputes currently affecting the utility industry. Focuses on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's consideration of the environmental issues related to natural gas pipelines. Related information at:https://ceq.doe.gov/
  • "Underwater." By Jen Schwartz. Scientific American, August 2018, pp. 44-55.
    Explores the chronic and extreme flooding experienced in coastal communities along the Atlantic coast. Discusses buyout programs operated by local and federal governments to move people away from such areas.
  • "Power in the bank." By Daniel Shea. State Legislatures, July/August 2018, pp. 38-41.
    Points out the benefits of energy storage and the technology's limitations under current regulatory and market structures.
  • "Technology tests transparency." By Pam Greenberg. State Legislatures, July/August 2018, pp. 46-47, 49.
    Discusses how states are using technology to manage an increasing number of public records requests and to address the challenges new digital formats create.
  • "Home delivery: Where is all the new housing?" By Luis B. Torres and Wesley Miller. Tierra Grande, July 2018, pp. 2-5.
    Examines why new home inventories in Texas are below what is considered a balanced market. Attributes this imbalance, which is affecting housing affordability, to a variety of factors, including rising land prices, sluggish labor productivity, and regulations.

The Legislative Reference Library compiles this weekly annotated list of Current Articles of interest to the legislative community. Professional librarians review and select articles from more than 300 periodicals, including public policy journals, specialized industry periodicals, news magazines, and state agency publications. Members of the Texas legislative community may request articles using our online form.

This entry was posted on August 2, 2018 at 3:15 PM and has received 1077 views. Print this entry.

Interim Hearings – Week of August 6, 2018

Aug 1

posted by TexasLRL in 85th Session, Interim hearings

Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.

 

August 7

House Select Committee on Opioids & Substance Abuse

Charge:  Impact of substance abuse and substance use disorders on Texans who are involved in the adult or juvenile criminal justice system and/or the Child Protective Services system 

Charge: Specialty courts in Texas that specialize in substance use disorders 

 

August 8

House Select Committee on Opioids & Substance Abuse

Topic: Public testimony on all previously considered committee charges

 

House Committee on Public Education

Charge:  State mechanisms for identifying and rewarding educators

Charge: Charter school system in Texas

 

August 9

House Committee on Public Health and House Committee on Human Services (Joint hearing)

Charge: Children involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) due to substance abuse or mental illness

Invited testimony on residential child care facilities, particularly the number of licensed facilities, recent complaints received regarding treatment of children at these facilities, and the status of  pending licenses

 

This entry was posted on August 1, 2018 at 3:00 PM and has received 1005 views. Print this entry.

Resource Highlight: 12th–15th Legislature Enrolled Bills Now Available

Aug 1

posted by TexasLRL in Legislation, Resource highlights, Search tips

Basic bill information for enrolled bills from the 12th–15th Legislatures (1870–1876) is now available in the Legislative Archive System (LAS). This includes bill numbers, captions, chapters numbers, and session law scans. We've also added the joint and concurrent resolutions that were published in the General and Special Session Laws to LAS from these sessions.

Enrolled bills from the 12th–15th Legislatures are accessible through both the direct search and the advanced search. When using the advanced search, select "View All" for the bill status.
 

Please note that enrolled bills from the following two sessions are only accessible through the direct search in LAS:

  • 12th Adjourned Session (Sept. 22, 1871–Dec. 2, 1871)
  • 14th 2nd Regular Session (Jan. 22, 1875–March 15, 1875)

For related information about these and other sessions, don't forget to check the session snapshot and the scanned House and Senate Journals.

Since LAS is a work in progress, complete information is not available for all bills and all sessions. Visit LAS' status page for more details about this ongoing project. For assistance using LAS, please contact the library.

 

 

This entry was posted on August 1, 2018 at 11:10 AM and has received 1391 views. Print this entry.

Current Articles & Research Resources, July 26

Jul 26

posted by TexasLRL in Current Articles, Research Resources

In this weekly post, we feature helpful research tools and recent articles of interest to the legislative community. 

  • See which airports have the least secure Wi-Fi. (Fortune, July 18, 2018)
  • Review the EPA's assessment of the response to the Flint water crisis. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, July 19, 2018)
  • Read about Google's Chrome browser flagging sites that don't use HTTPS. (ZDNet, July 24, 2018)
  • Consider U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's answers to questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee. (U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, July 21, 2018)
  • Explore a visual representation of spending on health care in the United States. (California Health Care Foundation, April 6, 2018)

Members of the Texas legislative community may request the articles below here or by calling 512-463-1252. 

  • "Security retrofit." By Charles Sosnik. American School Board Journal, August 2018, pp. 24-26.
    Offers suggestions on how older school buildings can be renovated to improve security and reduce incidents of school shootings.
  • "Employment and wages: Labour party." Economist, July 14th-20th, 2018, pp. 25-26.
    Explains the benefits of labor shortages. Suggests that a labor market in which firms must compete for workers should help resolve America's biggest economic problems — inadequate wage growth and slow productivity growth.
  • "Physicians' participation in Medicaid increased only slightly following expansion." By Hannah T. Neprash, et al. Health Affairs, July 2018, pp. 1087-1091.
    Provides data and analysis on primary care physician participation in Medicaid before and after the 2014 expansion. Reports that most physicians in expansion states maintained or slightly increased their Medicaid participation; there was no significant change among physicians in non-expansion states.
  • "Work to protect landowners from eminent domain laws continues." By Robert McKnight. Houston Business Journal, July 19, 2018, p. 46.
    Summarizes the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association's efforts related to eminent domain.
  • "Sales tax holidays: An ineffective alternative to real sales tax reform." By Dylan Grundman. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, July 2018, pp. 1-5.
    Finds that sales tax holidays are poorly targeted and too temporary to change the regressive nature of a state's tax system in a substantial way.
  • "Trends and characteristics of occupational suicide and homicide in farmers and agriculture workers, 1992–2010." By Wendy Ringgenberg, et al. Journal of Rural Health, Summer 2018, pp. 246-253.
    Identifies patterns specific to suicide and homicide rates in the agricultural industry to aid in targeting prevention strategies.
  • "Red-state rumblings: After nearly a decade of Republican anti-tax 'experiments,' are voters fed up with being the guinea pigs?" By Bryce Covert. Nation, July 30/August 6, 2018, pp. 20-24.
    Examines the effects of recent large-scale tax cuts in Oklahoma, Kansas, and other Republican-led states on teachers, school funding, business creation, and job growth. Comments on the ensuing backlash by teachers in Oklahoma.
  • "Life after Roe." By Ramesh Ponnuru. National Review, July 30, 2018, pp. 14-15.
    Considers potential changes to the political landscape if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Predicts Congress would likely deadlock on any new laws, and therefore, state supreme courts and state legislatures would possibly control a variety of new laws.
  • "The big question." By Joshua Rothman. New Yorker, July 23, 2018, pp. 26-28, 30, 32.
    Discusses a variety of books and studies that explain why our "intuitive comparisons between the past and the present are unreliable," with many polls showing people believe the past was better despite data to the contrary. Suggests this view has affected our politics.
  • "Source water protection: Pursue sustainability to protect source water." By Adam West. Opflow, June 2018, pp. 20-23.
    Provides a case study of a water utility in Arkansas that uses sustainability principles and best practices to support water source protection efforts.
  • "How labor regulation harms unskilled workers." By Warren Meyer. Regulation (CATO Institute), Summer 2018, pp. 44-50.
    Suggests mass government regulation that raises the price of labor and limits business growth will prompt employers to turn to fewer, higher-skilled workers and automation.
  • "Autonomous vehicles: No driver ... no regulation?" By Joan Claybrook and Shaun Kildare. Science, July 6, 2018, pp. 36-37.
    Discusses autonomous vehicle [AV] technology and calls for some regulation of AVs. Points out recent fatal crashes involving AVs and explains that voluntary federal guidelines fall short of addressing the public's concerns about AVs.
  • "Finding common ground: School safety." By Ben Erwin. State Legislatures, July/August 2018, pp. 22-25.
    Reports on the different approaches state legislatures are taking to address school safety concerns. Notes more than 200 school safety bills and resolutions have been proposed since the shootings in Parkland, Florida.
  • "H-town: Houston and hurricanes." By Robert W. Gilmer. Tierra Grande, July 2018, pp. 6-9.
    Discusses the economic impact of eight major storms, including Hurricane Harvey, on Houston. Argues Houston's economy has proven resilient but flood management and infrastructure continue to be a challenge.

The Legislative Reference Library compiles this weekly annotated list of Current Articles of interest to the legislative community. Professional librarians review and select articles from more than 300 periodicals, including public policy journals, specialized industry periodicals, news magazines, and state agency publications. Members of the Texas legislative community may request articles using our online form.

This entry was posted on July 26, 2018 at 3:15 PM and has received 798 views. Print this entry.

“A Texas Treasure: A.R. 'Babe' Schwartz” on Display at LRL

Jul 24

posted by TexasLRL in LRL news, Members of the Legislature, Texas Treasures

"Failure to have the views of the minority represented is failure to have a democracy.  The minority side of the house is seldom comfortable. You can become unpopular by just jogging people's conscience. If you keep telling them they know what is right, but aren't doing it, then you get to be a thorn under their saddle." – Babe Schwartz  

 

Sen. Babe Schwartz fought for what mattered to him throughout his career, and what a career it has been! You can learn more about Sen. Schwartz’s life and contributions in our exhibit, “A Texas Treasure: A.R. 'Babe' Schwartz.”

 

Born in 1926 to Russian immigrant parents, Aaron Robert “Babe” Schwartz grew up as a self-described “beach bum” on Galveston Island. After graduating from Ball High School, he proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1944–1946, and then in the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1948–1953. Schwartz graduated from Texas A&M in 1948 and earned his law degree at the University of Texas in 1951. Later that year, he married wife Marilyn; they went on to have four sons and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

 

While in law school, Schwartz worked for the chief clerk's office in the Texas House of Representatives and in the Texas Legislative Council. He returned to his hometown to serve as a prosecutor in the Galveston County attorney’s office for a few years, but he was eager to run for office. Schwartz served as a representative from 1955–1959, and then as a senator from 1960–1981.

 

"I always felt it necessary to be a little better educated, a little better prepared, a little better briefed than my opposition." – Babe Schwartz

 

A thread that runs throughout Sen. Schwartz’s life is his affinity for the Texas coast. One of his first jobs—at age 11—was on the beach, renting beach chairs, umbrellas, and other shoreline gear. While serving in the legislature, he was instrumental in the creation of the 1959 Open Beaches Act and the passage of the Coastal Public Lands Management Act of 1973. He chaired multiple committees, many relating to beaches and the coast. After his terms in the legislature, Schwartz went on to serve as a lobbyist, often for environmental causes, and he taught law school courses including Ocean and Coastal Law. In honor of these contributions, "Babe's Beach," a stretch of shoreline west of 61st Street in Galveston, was dedicated in May 2016.

 
As his quotations above suggest, Sen. Schwartz also made quite a name for himself as a fighter who was willing and prepared to go nose-to-nose in the chambers. He participated in at least seven filibusters. Lt. Governor Bill Hobby even gave Schwartz a pair of boxing gloves after one of his debates.

 

"There are few people in recent Texas politics who have had as much impact as Babe has. He has provided a rallying post on bill after bill. He has been the real conscience of the Senate on any number of bad appointments over the years. He's experienced and perceptive and he can frequently catch a bad bill no one else sees. He has no reluctance to stand up and take on any issue that he perceives to be adverse to the public interest. His departure leaves a great void that will be difficult to fill." – U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who served in the 63rd, 64th, and 65th Texas Legislatures with Schwartz

 

Visit the LRL to see some of Sen. Schwartz’s memorabilia and to learn more about his life and career.

 

Sen. Schwartz passed away on August 10, 2018, at age 92. We will miss you, Babe!

This entry was posted on July 24, 2018 at 11:00 AM and has received 1955 views. Print this entry.

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