Yesterday, the 80th Texas Legislature officially ended. And if you thought this session was fraught with partisan bickering and political vendettas... baby, you ain't seen nothing yet.

On Monday morning, just after midnight, the long-brewing attempt to dethrone the powerful Tom Craddick, Speaker of House, reached a fever pitch as several Republican anti-Craddick members rose up to move for a vote on whether Speaker Craddick should vacate his position. The Speaker's chair fought back with ease by simply refusing to acknowledge them. The plans of the anti-Craddick camp having been thwarted, the rebels started getting desperate... but by then, it was way too late.

The current battle over the Trans Texas Corridor (“TTC”) – essentially a fight between rural Texas, Governor Rick Perry’s office and the urban developers that Perry is backing – appears to be approaching its endgame this week. Certainly this story has all the obvious implications for the State’s infrastructure, but it could also have other consequences that may be less obvious: It could change how millions of Texans vote.

Here’s the present story in a nutshell, as Austinist understands it:

Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) has been fighting the “good fight” against TTC construction projects across the state, including those in the Dallas-Ft. Worth and Houston areas, on behalf of rural Texans, who mostly oppose the construction. Kolkhorst is doing this by seeking a two-year delay on any development agreements associated with these projects. A large number of rural folks in these proposed construction areas have land – in many cases, land that has been in their families for generations – that will be directly affected by the TTC as proposed. Kolkhorst has been brawling it out for most of the session to get this delay, and, for the most part, she's been on her own. Despite the fact that she is an unquestioningly loyal right-wing soldier for the almighty Speaker of the House, Mr. Tom Craddick (R-Midland), we think that Rep. Kolkhorst deserves praise for her work on this issue.

About a month ago, we reported that Rep. Warren Chisum was pushing another weird bill through the Texas House, this time one that would force all Texans to either take a State-approved marriage counseling course or pay an increased marriage fee in order to be married in this state. This bill eventually passed the House, but minus a lot of Chisum's heavy-handed language, thanks to the alert efforts of House members from both parties. Job well done.

BUT, this isn't the end of the story, friends. The bill subsequently went to the Senate for consideration, and there it reacquired the same old intrusive language that would force us to either pay a higher marriage fee (twice the current fee, to be exact) or, alternatively, take a marriage counseling course approved by the State of Texas. And because Chisum's bill was altered, the Senate version came back to the House for another vote. There, surely, this silly piece of public policy would meet its final doom once and for all, thanks to the opposition it had seen the first go-round. But...it didn't. It passed without anyone saying a word.

Last week, Senate Bill 1317 passed the Senate in a highly partisan vote thanks in large part to lobbying efforts by Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. The bill itself, if made law, would limit the scope of a city's jurisdiction by making it illegal for any city to regulate air pollution (or, presumably, anything else) beyond its borders. However, despite what many Senators who voted for this bill will tell you, this bill isn't about municipal jurisdiction. Nor is it about air pollution. It's all about the next Texas governor's race, which will take place in 2010.

The true underlying purpose of this legislation is to prevent Houston Mayor Bill White from using a Houston nuisance ordinance to fight air pollution whose source is outside the city's jurisdiction. Why, you ask? Because Bill White and David Dewhurst have both made it clear that they're running for governor in 2010, and Dewhurst's Republicans don't want White (a Democrat) to have an advantage on environmental issues in that race.

Paul Burka lays out the whole story here.

Images of Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Houston Mayor Bill White courtesy of Wikipedia