Travis County Democratic Party—An online resource for getting involved in Democratic Party politics in the Austin, Texas area, including upcoming events, blogs, and constantly updated news.

Dear Democrats,

Last week the Texas Senate and House moved forward in the budget process. Both add funding to public education based on enrollment growth from 2011, and both restore some portion of the $5.4 Billion cut last session, but Democrats in the House and Senate contend that this is only a starting point. As the process continues, there will be other opportunities to increase the level of funding for public education.

After last session’s cuts Texas dropped to 49th in the nation in per pupil spending. The good news is that, despite reluctance by the far right to fully fund our public education system, Democrats stand with the majority of Texans. A recent bipartisan poll conducted by the Texas State Teachers Association showed 2/3 of Texans approve of using the Rainy Day Fund to restore the funds that were cut last session

In last week’s “Watson Wire”, Senator Watson called the Senate’s budget bill, SB 1, a “down payment, not a new normal.” Before sending the bill to the full Senate for approval the Senate Finance Committee added an extra $1.4 billion for public schools and $746 million for higher education to the base budget that was released in January. Watson said that even though the bill would restore a portion of the $5.4 Billion that was cut in 2011, it was not a permanent solution. This proposed increase in funding is a start but it still amounts to less than population growth plus inflation.

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Over the weekend I interviewed University of Texas “U Dems” President Nathaniel Norris about this year’s 60th anniversary fundraiser held last week. The event also honored 3 current or former Texas State Representatives from Austin.

Last week was a big anniversary for U Dems, how did you celebrate?

This year the University Democrats turns 60 and every year we try and throw a fundraiser to support the organization and our activities. This year’s theme was a birthday party. There was a gospel choir from UT that sang the Eyes of Texas, the National Anthem and the Happy Birthday song. We played a video montage of last years’ activities that also included our plans for this year and our vision for the organization’s future. There were a lot of members from the community that came out and a lot of students, it was a good showing. We raised over $4,000 and it was the biggest showing I’ve ever seen at a U Dems fundraiser.

We honored two current Austin state reps Donna Howard and Mark Strama, as student advocates. We gave them student advocate awards on behalf of the University Democrats for the work that they do for college students and public education, not just in Austin but across the state of Texas. We felt like they had done a lot recently for students. We know that Strama is retiring his seat and wanted him to know how much we appreciate all the work that he has done.

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The state balances its budget by counting nearly $5 billion in unspent funds that were raised for specific programs. Some lawmakers in both parties, though, are calling for more transparency in the budget. To change their ways, lawmakers would have to go back to what they were trying to avoid: choices between taxes and cuts.

Dear Democrat,

This year’s SXSW brought not only big names in music but also big names in politics. Former Vice President Al Gore; Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker; and Bill Gates were among the panelists at this year’s festival. For the last 20 years SXSW Interactive has been the home of cutting-edge technology and digital communications. Ever used Twitter? It was launched at the festival in 2007 (and now you can follow us @TCDP).

Developing new ways to communicate is important, but equally important is developing a message that is positive and engaging. Democrats and progressives can certainly attribute some of our success to social media and online organization but as long as voter registration and turnout remain low, especially in Texas, we still have a lot of work to do.

Mayor Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) is one of the most followed American politicians on Twitter with over 1.3 million followers (about as many as my college friend and political commentator Ana Marie Cox (@AnaMarieCox). His charisma and online prowess helped him secure a place as an official surrogate of the Obama Presidential campaign. He even helped launch his own video-based social media network called “Waywire” to help cut through the “oligarchy” of traditional media and democratize what information is important to us. He believes we must use new social technologies to bring people and their government closer together and that officials should be more accountable, available and engaged. Part of that accountability is more transparency, and again, Austin is at the forefront in Texas. Our state Senator Kirk Watson filed a bill to modernize the Opens Meeting Act that he says will increase the efficiency and transparency of government. Discussing the bill Watson said, “The public should know as much as possible about what government is doing…technology is helping put to rest the notion that transparency must be sacrificed in the name of functionality, or vice versa.” (more…)

April, 9th Is Blue Ribbon Lobby Day at the Capitol and I spoke with one of the organizers, President of the Capitol Area Democratic Women’s club Lize Burr about what to expect.

What is Blue Ribbon Lobby Day?

Blue Ribbon Lobby Day is a day of legislative action for Democratic and progressive women (and men) to stand up for Texas women. What we are doing is putting the focus on 1 of the 4 key voting blocs that got President Obama elected: young people, African Americans, Latinos and women.  We have one of the lowest rates of women voter participation in the country. Our organizing during the legislative session happens with those great issue organizations that do the advocacy and policy work, but it means that we don’t work on our Democratic Party activity, organizing and network during the session. So what we thought was we really need to maintain our organizing as Democrats during the legislative session and this is a great opportunity for us to do that.

How did Blue Ribbon Lobby Day come about?

Like most ideas it started over dinner, actually a series of dinners. We were talking to women in Houston about the work we did last fall, but also what we needed to do going forward. Then, just before session started, I got a phone call from Diane Mosier, she said we needed to have a women’s lobby day. She said I think we’re going to call it “Blue Ribbon Lobby Day” and we’re going to wear blue ribbons to show that we’re true blue Democrats, and i said, “yes”. And, walking through the capitol on the 1st day of session 2 or 3 other women approached me and said, we need to do a women’s lobby day – it was obvious that the time was right.

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AUSTIN — A key Senate panel approved a two-year, $195.5 billion budget Wednesday that begins a slow march back from education cuts and gives new attention to the mentally ill.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 15-0 for a budget that would spend $94.1 billion of state general revenue — an increase of more than $5 million from a Senate draft in January.

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Travis County and others across Texas would be allowed for the first time to open their own prisons for teenaged lawbreakers under legislation poised to gain fast approval in the Texas Senate.

Approved unanimously late Tuesday by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, and designated for final approval by the whole Senate with just a consent vote, Senate Bill 511 allows counties to operate so-called “post-adjudication” lockups to house offenders who previously would have been sentenced to state lockups operated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, delivering his maiden speech as a freshman senator, took to the floor on Wednesday to rail against President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and to call on Congress to defund it.

“It hurts everybody struggling to climb the economic ladder,” the Texas Republican argued during a 40-minute speech. “Do not allow this bill to be implemented … and potentially push this economy into a recession.”

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chided Cruz for harboring a conservative “obsession” with health care that has led Republicans to fight the same battle again and again.

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Dear Democrats,

Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured in the nation, and our top state officials including Governor Perry, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and Attorney General Greg Abbott continue to make accessing affordable health care more difficult – especially for the poor. Instead of working to help Texans stay healthy, their grandstanding could cause the state to lose over $100 billion. The total amount our state stands to lose is over $100 billion. Fortunately, as we often do, Texans are starting to speak out about the harm being done to innocent people for the sake of politics.

In the past few weeks hundreds of people from all over the state rallied at the Capitol urging state legislators to expand Medicaid. It is not just the right thing to do, but it is also the economically smart thing to do. Former chief revenue estimator, Billy Hamilton estimated that accepting the federal funds could result in $67.9 billion in total economic output including $2.5 billion in local revenue and 231,000 jobs by 2016. Travis County alone could receive over $200 million if the state opts into Medicaid expansion. Statistics like these are the reason the chorus of voices pushing to expand Medicaid are growing in volume, especially at the local level. Travis County through Central Health’s Medical Access Program, covers folks up to 100 percent of the poverty level, as opposed to just 23 percent of the poverty level covered by the state–Medicaid expansion could help reduce this gap. Austin City Council and the Travis County Commissioners’ Court have passed resolutions in support of accepting the federal dollars. Republicans elected at the state level brag about opposing the Obama Administration but both the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Hospital Association, and others, are also urging the state legislature to act on behalf of the quarter of Texans without health care. (more…)

Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) is the newest member of the Travis County Senate Delegation and 1 of 4 recipients of the University of Texas’ Presidential Citation, the university’s highest honor, for her work on higher education. Four UT students will receive scholarships in the honoree’s names. Named a Distinguished Alumni in 2003, Sen. Zaffirini herself holds B.S., M.A. and PhD degrees from UT.

“This award is especially meaningful because it comes from my alma mater and because higher education is my passion,” said Senator Zaffirini. “It is an incredible honor to join the ranks of past Presidential Citation honorees, including Texas icons such as Lady Bird Johnson and Joe and Dr. Teresa Lozano Long.”

Redistricting has her new district stretching into Austin from the border, touching San Antonio and Corpus Christi, but does not include UT. Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) believes the new district is, “probably one of the more diverse districts in Texas…But I can’t think of anyone better equipped to do that than Senator Zaffarini”. When the Senator herself was asked about the challenges of such a diverse district she said, “It’s an exciting district, and I’m looking forward to representing it…My goal is to work so hard as to warrant their trust and confidence.”

She may be unfamiliar to many of her new constituents but in Austin she is known as a champion of the University of Texas and higher education in general.  For the first time since 2006 she will not be Chair of the Higher Education Committee in the Senate but will still remain on that committee and active in higher education issues this session. As the new Chair of Senate Committee on Government Organization she will oversee the sunset review of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. She is also a co-chair the Joint Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence and Transparency. (more…)