A New Focus

With HB 3 passing out of the senate late last night, Slick Rick has announced a new focus for the special session-- eminent domain.

With the rash of private property seizures going on across this state, and the fact that 8 years of trying to fix the educational structure of Texas has not been long enough, Rick Perry has chosen to take on something that will derail the session.

Currently there is already legislation in both the house and senate to make it unconstitutional for any private or governmental entity to seize any private land. This will make it nearly impossible for a municipality, city, or county to build new roads, school, hospitals, or any other public good. This is one of the worst ideas Perry could have come up with, especially because the education debate is not close to over.

Either the conference committee will have to dramatically alter the bill as it is written now or the Texas Supreme Court will rule that the taxing system that HB 3 establishes will be unconstitutional because it is inequitable.

Like so many things in legislative Texas politics, this special session has turned into a real mess... and the Republican's have nobody to blame but themselves.