Friday, February 13, 2009

The 81st Texas Legislature - Collin County winners and losers

By Bill Baumbach of The Collin County Observer

Joe Straus, the new Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives published his list of committee appointments Thursday.

The Collin County delegation lost two chairmanships while picking up one.

The local winner was Plano's Brian McCall, who gained the chair of the powerful Calendars Committee.

As expected, Parker's Jodie Laubenberg lost her gavel on the Public Health committee.

Rep. Jerry Madden of Plano was also demoted. He will not be chairing the Corrections Committee. However, Madden will continue to have a powerful voice in prison and justice reform issues as he remains on the Corrections Committee and will serve as its Vice-Chair. In an article on Burkablog, Texas Monthly's Paul Burka notes that Madden and the new chair Rep. Jim McReynolds, (D-Lufkin) will be able to work together smoothly.

Rep. Ken Paxton from McKinney was a big loser - Straus stripped him of both his committee Vice-Chairmanships.

Here are the committee appointments of the Collin County delegation to the 81st Texas Legislature:

It would seem that Madden and McCall will be able to wield considerable influence in the 81st, while both Paxton and Laubenberg have been sent to well deserved exiles in Siberia.

Both local state senators will chair important senate committees: Sen. Shapiro retained her gavel in the Senate Education Committee and Sen. Estes (whose sprawling 30th Sen. District is mostly rural) will chair the newly created Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee.

In the opinion of this writer, both Speaker Straus and Lt. Governor Dewhurst did a reasonable job in their committee appointments. If Collin County citizens want more influential representation in the next legislature, those voters will just have to elect better representatives.

Pegasus News content partner - The Collin County Observer

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