Abbott's War on Local Government
“Wars don’t just go away, they are only postponed to someone else’s advantage.”
Half a millennium has passed since Niccolò Machiavelli wrote those words, but they rang true at the Texas Capitol this week. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus challenged Governor Greg Abbott on the agenda of the upcoming special legislative session, demonstrating that he has no intention of surrendering on the contentious issues that tanked the regular session.
When Abbott called the special session for July 18, he tried to take command by declaring that he would not add anything to the agenda until the Senate passed some agency renewal bills, which Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick used to force the session in the first place. Abbott said he would only add other items to the session call after those agency bills had passed. Then, and only then, would he add Patrick’s priorities: the bathroom bill, school vouchers, and restrictions on city and county governments to restrain property tax increases.
Postponing Machiavelli’s war, Straus told a gathering of the Texas Association of School Boards on Wednesday that he remains opposed to the bathroom bill and private school vouchers, and that he believes the only true property tax reform will come from overhauling the public school finance system. “This is a defining moment for public education in Texas, and we cannot squander it,” Straus said.
Read more: http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/abbotts-war-local-government/
