Corpus Christi Caller-Times. April 24, 2015.
How can God be everywhere except pre-K?
We have a question for the most devout Christian churchgoers among our readers. Their answer is important not only to them, but to Texans of any faith or lack thereof:
Do you recall ever having been warned from the pulpit about the evils of pre-kindergarten - that it’s an abdication of parental responsibility to Satan so that he can raise children as he sees fit?
The question, unfortunately, is as relevant as it is ridiculous. The Texas Legislature is deciding whether to approve a modest pre-K program championed by Catholic Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. A group of unofficial advisers to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has declared the pre-K proposal a godless socialistic threat to parental rights.
We have our political differences with the governor. But we are confident that he of all people would never put small children on the path to socialism or damnation, which he probably thinks are synonyms.
We also know, deep down - like true believers know deep down that God is good - that Patrick doesn’t buy this drivel. The lieutenant governor was caught as unawares and probably was as dismayed as was Moses when he came down from Sinai with the Commandments, only to find his flock worshipping a golden calf.
Patrick’s dismay could be read between the lines of his carefully worded attempt to distance himself from his hand-picked advisers without insulting them. He said he had no advance warning of their position, that he’s pro-pre-K and that the statements by his advisers were “the individual viewpoints of Texas citizens.”
Distancing oneself from one’s carefully chosen wackos without calling them wackos is quite a challenge. Patrick’s attempt to meet that challenge was entertaining. But we’re not hanging his wacky followers around his neck for entertainment. We’re doing it because, despite Patrick’s best attempt to telegraph that he isn’t that stupid, he still might be boxed into doing something as stupid as opposing pre-K.
Look no further than Patrick’s handling of the open carry bill for past behavior predictive of this possibility. During his election campaign, Patrick took gun-nuttiness to the extreme. Then, early in the legislative session, he made a surprisingly sane and pragmatic statement about passage of open carry not being a priority. The gun nuts got hold of him and set him straight, and he set the nutty open carry bill on a path to passage.
Patrick’s demagogic so-far-right-he’s-wrong style of politics has consequences. His speedy recovery from his nanosecond of sanity on open carry was one. It also could have unfortunate consequences for pre-K.
Or it could render unintended aid to the pre-K bill. That’s our hope. His advisers’ position is so bereft of logic that it might embarrass Patrick and other right-of-crazy members of the Legislature into doing the right thing.
Patrick’s advisers actually dispute what research has confirmed overwhelmingly - that pre-K is effective. They also call it “a program that removes our young people from homes and half-day religious preschools and mothers’ day out programs.” The primary remover of young people from this list of things is their parents’ inability to afford them. Since when do mothers who work outside the home get mothers’ days out?
The bill favored by Abbott would make $130 million available for performance incentives for current pre-K programs. We agree with the critics who say it’s too cheap to accomplish much. Only false prophets would disparage it as expensive mischief. Expanding pre-K to full-day would be God’s work.
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Houston Chronicle. April 23, 2015.
Let’s move on: A judge’s ruling should mark the end to Houston’s nondiscrimination fight.
A couple of weeks have passed since a state district judge ruled that petitioners did not collect enough valid signatures to force a ballot referendum on Houston’s nondiscrimination ordinance, and so far the city has not descended into flames and restrooms remain free of routine molestation. No surprises there.
Cities across the United States have had nondiscrimination protections for gays, lesbians and transgender people for years. Dallas has had a similar ordinance for more than a decade, and the state of Minnesota first prohibited discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations more than 20 years ago. If Houston’s nondiscrimination ordinance actually risked inflicting the imaginative parade of horribles that opponents predicted, some friendly Minnesotans likely would have warned us with a kindly “don’tcha know.”
On the other hand, we know well the dangers that come from discriminatory policies - public strife and backlash from businesses. Indiana learned this lesson last month when concerts, conventions and business expansions were cancelled in reaction to a state law that created overly broad protections for discriminatory acts.
There’s a reason why companies like AT&T and United Airlines supported the nondiscrimination ordinance in Houston, and why groups like the Texas Association of Business are working to block some of the more egregious anti-LGBT legislation in Austin: Diversity is good for business.
Companies today more than ever have to appeal to a broader spectrum of society. The workplace and its workers are changing. Companies must keep up as they compete for the rising tide of Millennial employees and consumers who overwhelmingly support LGBT issues.
“Think about the energy industry that is trying to recruit the best and brightest talent here,” Christina Gorczynski, campaign director for Texas Wins, a group that aims to prevent discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, told the Chronicle editorial board. “And they have all these people who are like: ’I don’t want to live (where people discriminate). I don’t want to be in that kind of environment.’”
A company’s bottom line shouldn’t dictate political debate, but these big corporations know they have to operate in a society that has shifted its taboos concerning homophobia. Dragging out the fight over Houston’s nondiscrimination ordinance will only weaken our economic competitiveness.
So after days of testimony at City Council, months of public debate, a referendum campaign and a lawsuit, you can’t claim that nondiscrimination opponents didn’t fight the good fight. But now it is time to bury the hatchet. Legal appeals risk keeping the non-discrimination ordinance in courts - and headlines - for years. Houston received enough bad press after the Parker administration’s clumsy and inappropriate attempted subpoena of pastors’ sermons opposing the ordinance. The last thing Houstonians should want is continued collateral damage. If we are going to be a city of opportunity, then our political leaders must guarantee that it is opportunity for everyone.
Whether Space City or the energy capital of the world, Houston has always been a place that looks forward. It is time to leave this fight in the past and move on to what’s next.
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Fort Worth Star-Telegram. April 28, 2015.
A gulf apart on tax cuts
Members of the Texas House sent a powerful message when they voted 141-0 to cut the state sales tax.
The measure faces one more House vote before it goes to the Senate. A clash is anticipated there because senators want to cut property taxes instead of the sales tax.
The House has it right.
Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, put it well: “Today the House voted to provide all Texans with tax relief that encourages job creation and economic growth.”
Emphasis goes on the “all Texans” part. House Bill 31, by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, would trim the state’s portion of the sales tax to 5.95 percent from the current 6.25 percent.
That won’t draw a lot of attention per transaction, but for both consumers and businesses it’s worth $2.6 billion over two years.
The Senate’s property tax cut for homeowners, about $2.4 billion, won’t be very noticeable either. And as Bonnen pointed out, it could be negated by local property tax hikes or by rising appraisals.
But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has stood fast for property tax relief, not sales tax relief. With Straus and the House now on the opposite tack, there’s quite a gulf between them.
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San Antonio Express-News. April 28, 2015.
Time for genuine pot discussion
Several bills have been introduced this legislative session dealing with marijuana. Ideally, this would spark genuine and broad debate on the issue. After all, four states have essentially legalized the substance for personal use and 19 others - including the District of Columbia - for medical uses.
But we’re in Texas, so we’re not confident that sort of broad and high-minded debate will occur. Nonetheless, if this session ends with at least changes on medical marijuana, this could be a great start in a state notorious in the not-too-distant past for sending folks to prison for possessing even small amounts.
Of the bills dealing with medical marijuana, the least controversial involves cannabidol (CBD), an oil derived from marijuana. Though studies are mixed on its effectiveness, according to a recent Express-News report by Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, it is not a substance that gets its users high and the anecdotal evidence has been glowing. The bill is sponsored in the House by Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth and in the Senate by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler.
CBD is one of the 85 active ingredients of marijuana. If a doctor is willing to approve of its use through a prescription, legislators should not substitute their knowledge for the physician’s.
A bill by Democratic Rep. Marisa Marquez of El Paso and Sen. Jose Menendez of San Antonio would allow much of the infrastructure that now exists in some of those states that allow marijuana for medical uses. This bill differs from the one on CBD in that it would allow for wider use to deal with a broader range of illnesses, such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and PTSD. Registered patients could not be arrested for possession of up to 2.5 ounces and would be allowed to grow small amounts for their own use.
Again, if a doctor doesn’t object, legislators shouldn’t.
One bill would repeal all marijuana offenses in Texas. Other bills would decrease the penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, allow research on hemp or allow an affirmative defense for marijuana possession for medical users and for doctors for discussing the substance.
We understand the political realities in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott threw cold water on decriminalization recently, casting doubt on whether he would sign any such bills. And a sizable number of Texans likely don’t approve of marijuana use for any purpose, despite what’s occurring in other states.
But surely Texans can find common ground on marijuana use for medical relief. This isn’t decriminalization so much as medical necessity when other treatments have failed.
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The Dallas Morning News. April 26, 2015.
We can’t ignore studies linking fracking to Azle earthquakes
Just about everyone in North Texas not associated with the oil and gas industry has long suspected a link between some aspect of drilling and seismic tremors. However, two separate studies released last week offer more than anecdotal evidence of this connection and provide yet another reason that state officials must not strip cities of their authority to limit drilling operations.
For the past year, experts from Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas and the U.S. Geological Survey investigated the swarm of tremors that rolled through Azle in 2013. They crunched numbers and found that two wastewater wells near drilling sites were generating the highest pressure close to the faults. They then estimated how pressure from those wells built up along the faults and compared it with the timing of the quakes. Bingo. It matched.
Independent experts call the finding, published in the journal Nature Communications, the most conclusive link between seismic activity and injection wells. But it is not the only such finding. In a separate investigation, the Oklahoma Geological Survey last week established the same connection between wastewater disposal wells and the hundreds of tremors across the Oklahoma plains in recent years. Once a denier of man-made earthquakes, Oklahoma’s Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, now promises swift action to protect homes and property.
We hope this new information is a catalyst for more proactive oversight in Texas as well. Initially, the Texas Railroad Commission’s staff seismologist, Craig Pearson, said the new findings would not prompt the agency to suspend drilling activities in Azle “because we have not seen any continuation of any large-scale earthquakes in the Azle area.” But late Friday, commission Chairman Christi Craddick said the agency was considering shutting down the two wastewater disposal wells in light of the study. Hearings are now set for June 15-16 to allow XTO and EnerVest, the well operators, to show why the wells should not be closed.
This is a good step. Texas needs the commission to be integral in balancing the rights of drillers and homeowners. Cities, however, also need to retain a meaningful voice in deciding whether to allow drilling in their communities.
Earthquakes are occurring at higher rates and intensity and pose a greater threat to Texans living nearby. North Texas’ earthquake risk is now on par with that in Oklahoma and parts of California, experts announced last week.
Not all disposal wells pose problems, and more study is needed to fully understand the implications of the recent findings. However, state lawmakers will be making a huge mistake if they continue to pursue legislation to strip cities such as Dallas and Denton of the power to regulate drilling and disposal wells. As new research emerges, communities deserve the right to tailor their own local guidelines.
But there’s one thing none of us can do: pretend that a problem doesn’t exist.
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