Results tagged “senatebill”

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...

On Wednesday, Sen. Kirk Watson (Austin) – former Mayor of Austin – helped the Texas Senate pass Senate Bill 1688, which seeks to increase the powers given to the City of Austin with regard to development along the State Highway 130 toll road, east of Austin. Here’s part of the official Bill Analysis for this piece of legislation: “This bill addresses a new challenge facing the City of Austin – the creation of a...

For those of you with the good sense to stay away from political news of late, you may want to actually pay attention to this one. As you are no doubt aware, somewhat-interested citizen, the Texas Legislature convenes every two years. During this six-month gallivant through the time-honored traditions of glad-handing, grand-standing, good-timing, soap-boxing and general ballyhoo, various bills are brought up for debate and possible passage. Thousands of bills are filed every session, but...

In the 80th Texas Legislature – going on right now in case you haven’t been near the Capitol lately and seen all the people with megaphones and message-slathered posterboards on the lawn – a bill has just been filed that would regulate commercial party boats on Austin’s local lakes. Senate Bill 997 – filed by freshman State Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin), former Mayor of Austin and former candidate for Texas Attorney General – would essentially...

Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) will soon present Senate Bill 368 in the Texas Legislature, a bill that would create a statewide smoking ban if passed. The bill is essentially the product of diligent efforts by the anti-smoking interest group Smoke-Free Texas, a health-minded group seeking to prohibit smoking in all “public places” throughout the entire state. S.B. 368, if passed, would circumvent all other municipal smoking bans, such as the one here in Austin. It...

Our local film industry has been booming in recent years - "Friday Night Lights", "Sin City", and "The Alamo" being just a few of the dozens of works produced in our city since 2000. Last week, Governor Perry signed Senate Bill 1142, which offers grants and financial incentives to filmmakers shooting in Texas.

The past few days have been fantastic for Austin's oenophiles: late last week Governer Perry signed into law Senate Bill 877, allowing wineries across the country to ship their wares directly to consumers here in Texas. Today, the US Supreme Court took this one step further, effectively declaring it unconstitutional to prevent out-of-state wineries and Internet merchants from shipping wines to customers in states who would otherwise require them to go through large distributors.