David Whitley is a dismal failure as SOS of Texas

By Faith Chatham - Feb. 7, 2019

The Texas Tribune reported: State Rep. Rafael Anchia ...wanted to know: Did Whitley know for sure that any of the (95K registered voters) on the list SOS David Whitley had turned over to the Attorney General had committed crimes by voting as noncitizens?

“No,” Whitley answered, according to Anchia.

“And I said, ‘Well, isn’t it the protocol that you investigate and, if you find facts, you turn it over to the AG?”

“I do not have an answer for that,” Whitley responded, according to Anchia’s recollection of the Monday meeting.

The Senate Nominations Committee meets today (Thursday, Feb. 7) at 9 a.m. in E2.106 to consider David Whitely's confirmation as SOS. Gov. Abbott appointed him in mid Dec. 2018 but he must be confirmed by the Senate.

The former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor is in over his head. He has demonstrated that he falls painfully short in performing due diligence before making statements to the press, releasing data to counties and before turning people over to the Attorney General. We need a better candidate for SOS.

See  Texas Tribune article:

House presses Senate on gas tax holiday

By JAKE BATSELL / The Dallas Morning News - Wednesday, May 23, 2007
jbatsell@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – A summer reprieve from soaring gas prices is still in limbo, but the Texas House gave it an extra push Tuesday.

Earlier this month, House members approved a three-month suspension of the 20-cents-per-gallon state gas tax, arguing that Texas drivers need a break from record prices at the pump. The measure would cost as much as $700 million.

The Senate has offered a chilly reception because of the price tag.

On Tuesday, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, won a 137-0 vote from his colleagues to keep pressing for the gas tax holiday.

Now it's up to a 10-member conference committee to sort out the gas tax holiday's fate.

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, said that adding a $700 million item is "not feasible" this late in the legislative session.

"All of us would love to be able to do something about our gasoline tax," Ms. Shapiro said. "We are seeing the numbers just escalating exponentially every day. But that's not the way to do it, just decide midstream that you're going to stop getting money from the tax. ... I would hope that cooler heads will prevail."

Read more

Toll-road ban includes exemptions

By AMAN BATHEJA - Star-Telegram staff writer -Fri, May. 18, 2007

AUSTIN -- Maybe the second time's the charm.

After three hours of tweaking, the Texas House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a second bill calling for a two-year moratorium on most new privately built and operated toll roads after Gov. Rick Perry threatened to veto a similar measure sitting on his desk.

"The citizens want to take a look at how we're building private entity toll roads and ... make sure it's the right way to go," said Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, the bill's sponsor in the House.

What happened?

After considering a flurry of amendments, the bill passed 145-2. Reps. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, and Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde, voted against it.

The bill had passed the Senate on Monday. The measure retains the moratorium on private toll roads but carves out more exemptions in parts of the state.

Several North Texas lawmakers strongly lobbied to make sure no amendments would jeopardize projects already under way in the region.

At one point, Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, told Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, that the wording in her amendment could be misinterpreted to include North Texas projects that were already in the works. Kolkhorst insisted those projects were exempt from her amendment, but Truitt wasn't buying that explanation.

"Unless you can stand there and tell me unequivocally that these changes don't affect projects in our area ... I'm going to ask you why you can't keep your nose out of our business," Truitt said.

Kolkhorst later revised the amendment and it was adopted.

Several lawmakers relayed serious concerns from constituents with Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, especially the specter of having major roads around the state privately owned for decades.

"This is a tip of the hat to the grassroots," Kolkhorst said. "The populists said, 'We don't like what you're doing.'"

The problem

Perry said he wouldn't sign the original version of the bill because it contained language that would hamper North Texas officials trying to go forward with much-needed projects such as the North Tarrant Express and improvements to Texas 121 between downtown Fort Worth and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Read more

More behind the scenes drama on Senate Voter ID Vote

Uresti Notified Brimer, Nelson, Spaw of Illness
posted by Patricia Kilday Hart - Texas Monthly's Burkablog -Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Carlos Uresti came down with a serious bout of the flu Monday, and left the Capitol after fellow senators noted how bad he looked shivering in the Senate lounge. In particular, Dr. Kyle Janek advised him to get to bed, amidst joking from others present: "What do you think is going to happen? That we'll call up the Voter ID bill?"

It now appears that Uresti's illness may have prompted David Dewhurst to recognize Troy Fraser on the controversial bill, which set in motion an emotional outburst midday Tuesday over Dewhurst's refusal to count John Whitmire's vote.

Read more

Mr. Whitmire Welcomes Mr. Patrick to the Texas Senate

This is one of the highlights of this Legislative Session. Grandstanding, Sen. Dan Patrick, attack one Senator the first morning he returned to the Senate following liver transplant surgery. Patrick has bragged to the press about over 3 billion dollars in budget cuts he could make to the Texas budget, but did not present these items to the appropriations committee or to the House or Senate while budget deliberations were in progress. Senator Whitmire gives the freshman newcomer a lesson in how it should be done in the Texas Legislature.

Take Action to Get Anti-NAIS Bills Passed

There are two Anti-NAIS Bills in the Texas House of Representative.
Representative Rose filed HB 3573 which will repeal HB 1361. This is a great development in the fight against NAIS!!! More information is available on the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance website: http://farmandranchfreedom.org
You can read the bill on the State of Texas website at: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB3573.
There is a very long road between getting a bill introduced and getting it made into law. Right now, the law in Texas allows the TAHC to make NAIS mandatory at any time. So we must get a bill through the House, Senate, and past the Governor's veto that changes the current law.

The committee substitute of HB 461 and HB 637 would be a big step forward by barring a mandatory program and preventing coercion from being used to force people into it. HB 3573 goes further by repealing the statute that specifically gave TAHC authority for NAIS. But even then, the NAIS issue would not be over because the bill does not stop all the problems with NAIS. In several states, agencies have implemented NAIS through their general powers to protect animal health, and used coercive methods to force people into the program. We must make sure that does not happen in Texas. Please urge your legislators to support all the anti-NAIS bills: HB 461, 637, and 3573.

There is a very long road between getting a bill introduced and getting it made into law. Right now, the law in Texas allows the TAHC to make NAIS mandatory at any time. So we must get a bill through the House, Senate, and past the Governor's veto that changes the current law.

The committee substitute of HB 461 and HB 637 would be a big step forward by barring a mandatory program and preventing coercion from being used to force people into it. HB 3573 goes further by repealing the statute that specifically gave TAHC authority for NAIS. But even then, the NAIS issue would not be over because the bill does not stop all the problems with NAIS. In several states, agencies have implemented NAIS through their general powers to protect animal health, and used coercive methods to force people into the program. We must make sure that does not happen in Texas. Please urge your legislators to support all the anti-NAIS bills: HB 461, 637, and 3573.
Take Action

1) Look at the list of legislators at the end of this alert. If the Representative is a co-author of HB 461, send an email saying thank you. Be sure to put "Thank you for supporting HB 461" in the subject line of the email. And tell your Representative about the new HB 3573.

2) If your Representative is not yet a co-author, call, email, or write, asking that he or she sign on to HB 461, 637, and 3573.

3) Call, write, or email you Senator. Tell him or her that you want a commitment to support HB 461, 637, and 3573 if they come to the Senate.

Tell your friends and relatives to do the same!

TIPS:
Always be polite. Explain your views to the staff person or legislator concisely, and ask them for their opinion in return. Engage them in a dialogue and try to respond to the issues they raise. Offer to follow-up with more information, which we can provide. We gain nothing by antagonizing people or being rude, so remember that you can disagree politely!

In-person visits, calls, and faxed or mailed letters are the most effective methods. If you e-mail your legislator, put what you want in the subject line ("Thank you for supporting HB 461" for example). Legislators get many, many emails every day!

CONTACT INFORMATION:
The tables below include the phone number for each legislator. If you don't know who your legislator is, go to http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/ Contact your State Representative and Senator about HB 461, 637, and 3573.