By J. Lyn Carl, Gallery Watch.com
Austin, TX – From a point of order to terse exchanges with the sponsor of HB 2292 (the health and human services reorganization bill), Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos did not go quietly into that good night Wednesday as the deadline for hearing bills in the Senate approached. And he was joined by some friends.
Barrientos, whose earlier point of order try was overruled, offered an amendment to the legislation that would strike Section One of the bill.
The Travis County Democrat said he has two concerns - first, the cuts in services that arise from the bill - cuts "to our fellow Texans who so much need these services." His other concern, said Barrientos, is the possible loss of jobs in the health and human services agencies as a result of the legislation.
"Some people call them FTEs," said Barrientos of workers who might lose their jobs. "I call them my fellow Texans."
Barrientos, long a champion for state workers, said estimates are that the bill will result in up to 2,000 state employees being laid off. "They use the word 'attrition,'" he said, "but the fact is there will be layoffs - some say up to 5,000."
With the discussion beginning after 9 p.m., Sen. John Carona asked if the intent of Barrientos' amendment and other subsequent amendments were intended to continue through the midnight hour, aimed at killing the bill.
"If I wanted to filibuster, I could filibuster until 9 o'clock tomorrow night," said Barrientos. "But my intent is not to kill this bill by filibuster or by offering inane amendments."
Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) then offered amendments that suggest imposing a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes, noting that tax would more than make up the revenue necessary to offset cuts in health and human services. He said estimates are that such a tax would generate $1.5 billion. He also proposed a constitutional amendment election to let the people of Texas decide the fate of such a tax.
"I believe this money that we generate will help those under the umbrella of DHS," said Gallegos.
Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) took up the charge, noting an election would allow the people of Texas to decide if they wanted to see services cut or instead increase revenues through a cigarette tax that would provide additional revenues. He pointed out the number of children in Texas who will no longer be funded for Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
"Will your amendment help the 130,000 children who will lose CHIP coverage," asked Shapleigh. He cited a number of other scenarios relative to human services that could cause a shift in costs for services to local taxpayers and questioned if the Gallegos amendment and proposed cigarette tax could also help Texas teachers struggling to pay for their health insurance.
"This money will do exactly that," said Gallegos.
"The choice is cheap cigarettes or children's health?" asked Shapleigh.
Sen. Nelson said she would accept the amendment, but a voice vote showed the amendment failed. Sen. Jeff Wentworth asked for a record vote but was denied by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who had already called for and announced the result of the voice vote. A motion to reconsider the vote failed.
Barrientos then took the floor again after all amendments were offered and Nelson moved for passage of the bill.
"This is what the Senate is supposed to be about - deliberation," said Barrientos. "I could have filibustered this bill, a very important bill. But I'm not going to filibuster." He said he did not want to kill remaining legislation before the midnight deadline that loomed just two hours away.
"I would ask for you to reflect on what we do here in this grand old building. We are here as representatives of the people of Texas - not any particular group or organization, no matter how powerful they may be. We are here to represent the people of Texas, and not only the people of our own districts.
"Blood is the same...it is red Texan blood, red American blood. We have a shortfall in our budget. We're behind the eight ball and we've got to do something about it. In the name of effectiveness, in the name of saving money we are trying to balance a $10 billion shortfall on the backs of state employees and the people we're trying to serve. This is not the way to do it."
Barrientos said the people of Texas "are not going to like this methodology" and said that all the legislature has been doing is "passing the buck."
"Probably one of the most important responsibilities of state government is to ensure that we do provide the necessary services to those who need them," said Nelson in closing on the bill. The health and human service mission of this agency is one of the most important duties we have in state government. We were faced with a challenge this year of meeting the needs of those who need help in this state and doing it with a tighter budget."
She said the committee worked hours upon hours looking for ways to streamline, looking for efficiencies and "some of them were painful."
"This bill attempts to reflect the decisions that were made by the conference committee. This bill attempts to eliminate those unnecessary duplications of agency administration so we can meet those needs. If we do not pass this bill, we will have to find some other way to come up with that money.
"I would urge you all to see this as a very critical component of meeting our state's needs within our budget."
"Everyone knows across the state that we don't have enough money to meet our needs," said Gallegos in response. He said his attempt was to allow Texans to vote on the opportunity to generate desperately-needed revenue. "I still believe that once we pass this legislation, all we're doing is shifting the burden back home. Our hospital districts are going to have to raise taxes.
"There's nothing bad about offering an amendment looking for money. We're talking about Texans who need help."
The bill was passed from the Senate by a 22-9 vote.