Banner Day for Ds in the House
Woah!
Rep. Lon Burnam and Rep. Terri Hodge, both liberal Democrats who have kicked and flailed to get a bill on the floor for at least four years, passed bills today.
Hodge's lets prisons reinstate good-conduct to prisoners who have lost it, as a way to use it as a disciplinary tool.
Burnam's creates a tax holiday for energy efficient appliances.
Both reps have been in the doghouse, basically, since the Republicans got into power in the House in 2003.
Hodge joked that she wanted to go ahead and get final passage immediately (third reading) before the body changed their mind.
And Burnam got a freshmen-style hazing after Ways and Means Chair Jim Keffer went to the back mic and said, "Mr. Burnam is this your first bill?"
Then he and Fred Hill started bantering - "How'd this happen?" "Wouldn't have happened in MY committee" "Was I even there? Ritter, did you do this?"
Good stuff. This is interesting, actually, because it had become obvious that these guys wouldn't be getting anythng on the floor for as long as Tom Craddick was speaker.
Times, they are a-changin.
Comments
The bill to give good time back really does no good for those who are getting out. They are forced to sign the good time back over to the State when they are released and it does nothing to help them. This appears to be one of those feel good bills that actually does nothing good.
Why could the bill not have included good time and work time be returned and applied to the sentence or to the time of parole once an Inmate is released?
This bill looks good on paper, but it actually is not good for anything but the State. It in no way helps an Inmate.
Does the Legislature not know the rules? They can get a rule book and learn the rules and then maybe the bills would come out of the House with better results.
This bill should be explained better and just to say they passed a good bill does not do the job, it is not a good bill until the good time and work time are given back and may be used to give someone their freedom who has earned over 100% of what they can earn and still they have to sign it back to the State when they are released.
These rules are in the Official Handbook and surely if I can understand them a legislative person can read and understand the readings and write a bill that would actually help.
Posted by: Barbara Peterson | April 16, 2007 10:21 AM
Thanks - for the record and to be clear, this posting doesn't say they passed a good bill. Or a bad bill. (That would be outside my authority.)
It just says they passed a bill. That, in itself, is a banner day for a few of these reps.
Posted by: Brooks | April 16, 2007 11:10 AM