The Texas Tribune recently published a chart with you listed as the 2nd “most liberal” Democrat in the Texas Senate. Conservatives tend to use the word as a pejorative, but it must be a badge of honor as the Democratic Senator from Austin?

KW: It is what it is. I don’t tend to take much stock in labels — I’ve found the best governing happens when folks are able to throw them away. I’m proud to be Chair of the Democratic Caucus in the Senate and I will say that for more than a year, Senate Democrats have stressed that Texas can do better for people who are here now as well as for future generations. If you mean that, and you govern like you mean that, you’re naturally going to be looking for ways to make progress. If that makes me progressive, then yeah, it is a badge of honor — in Austin or anywhere else.

Democrats are above the crucial 1/3 mark in the Senate, but, to be successful you have work across the aisle, how have you managed to do that as an outspoken progressive?

KW: Being in the Senate probably does make it easier. There are only 31 of us, so, if you are wiling to work at it, you get to know your peers and counterparts pretty well. The better you know folks, the easier it is to work with them. People generally know where we’re coming from and what we’re trying to achieve, and we know the same about them. That usually makes it easier to work toward solutions that everyone can agree on. Besides, because it takes two-thirds of the Senate to pass anything, senators have to seek out coalitions that are broader than political party lines. It really does force us to work together if anything’s going to get done.

This session you have been talking a lot about truth in budgeting and increasing government transparency in general. Have you received bipartisan support, and what appears to be the fate of those bills?

KW: Well, there’s been more support for the words than there’s been support for the actions. I was actually really excited coming into the session because so many high-profile officeholders were talking about ending diversions and creating a more honest state budget. I filed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have put the state on a path to ending the dishonest, covert practice of diverting special funds away from their intended purposes, and I really thought it would pass. Unfortunately, my proposal was never given a hearing. Budget writers are talking about putting a cap on those diversions for this budget, but that cap will still be at least $4 billion, and it expires in two years. They’re approaching this problem like someone who says he won’t be drinking anymore, but decides he won’t be drinking much less either.

The major headlines this session have mostly been about water and public education funding, is there anything under the radar you have been championing, or a specific accomplishment you are hoping to achieve before sine die?

KW: Quite a few, actually. I’ve worked very hard to reform public-private partnerships in Texas and particularly to give neighborhoods more of a voice when it comes to redeveloping state and government-owned property in Austin and across Texas. I still have hopes we’ll make progress on that, although some pretty powerful folks have come out of the woodwork to slow it down. I was also proud to help negotiate some very important bills that will strengthen pension systems for state employees and retirees in a fair way that asks the state to contribute along with teachers and employees. I was also able to work on standardized testing reform to reduce the number of tests our kids must suffer through and charter schools, issues that began as being very contentious but ended up passing unanimously.

Texas Democrats are energized by all of the national attention on Texas as a potential Presidential battleground state, has that had any effect on the rhetoric or legislation in the Senate?

KW: Not really in terms of contentiousness or partisanship. But you are seeing some real excitement across Texas about Democrats and our future, and there’s no question that’s reflected in the legislature. More than that, I think this session has shown that Democrats really can make a positive difference when we harness the leverage we do have, stick together, kill the unmistakably bad bills and improve others wherever and whenever we can. In the budget drama of the past week, you’ve seen reports of some Republicans speculating about a special session and showing Texas “what a real Republican budget looks like,” assuming Democrats would have less leverage during a special session to shape the budget. That’s a frightening prospect, to be sure, but it does demonstrate that in this session, we’ve made things much better for middle-class Texans than they would have been otherwise while simultaneously highlighting the differences between Republicans and Democrats.

Several high profile Republicans will likely be announcing their 2014 plans immediately after session. Do you have plans for the interim, and what should Democrats be doing to compete?

KW: I know the interim only starts next week, but I’ve been so busy and focused on the session that I honestly haven’t thought much about it. I do think that it comes down to more than just competing in elections — before we get to that point, Democrats need to demonstrate that we do have a positive vision for where we want to take Texas in the 21st Century. That by itself will help demonstrate the contrast between what Democrats are offering Texas versus what Republicans are talking about. You know, this isn’t as good as it gets; Texas really can do better than it’s been doing over the past many years. We need to take every opportunity to show how it can do better, what that looks like and what it means for Texans.

Anything else you would like to tell the good Democrats of Travis County?

Just that I love being their — your — senator. This is a wonderful place, and I’m so proud to be a part of this community. The thing that makes it special are the people who live here and take such good care of it. By the same token, we really are having a positive effect on the state and state policy. In a whole lot of ways, Texas would be less of a state without Austin and the good, passionate people who live here. I see that every day.

I caught up with Rep. Rodriguez at the Austin Environmental Democrats meeting about his 83rd session.

A couple of this session’s major issues came to ahead last week, can you explain?

The main two issues right now are the water bill which was killed on a point of order and the second issue is public education funding. We’re trying to fund education at the level it was before the cuts in 2011 and that’s a very high, if not the highest priority for Democrats in the House and the Senate as well.

The Democratic Caucus met and talked about the water bill which we all liked. We thought it was a good idea and it is definitely worth opening up the Rainy Day Fund and trying to fund that with $2 billion. We have $12 Billion in the Rainy Day Fund so $2 Billion is a small amount relatively speaking, and that would really go a long way to addressing some of our water needs in the future.

Every Democrat in the House supports that, but our thinking was if we are going to open up the RDF for water which is very important, $2 Billion for public education to get us back to where we were 2 years ago is not unreasonable. So the debate for us was not about HB 11, which was the water bill, but how can we get more money for public education. Our plan was $2 Billion for water, $2 Billion for public education and $2 Billion for transportation and infrastructure.

I sat in negotiations with Speaker Straus and other Republicans to try and get us there but Republicans in the House don’t want to touch the Rainy Day Fund for anything but water, and even then they have a number of Republicans who don’t want to touch it for anything. Needless to say you can’t get to the 100 votes you need without Democrats. We said you can have us if there is more money for public education, that’s what the sticking point was. The Speaker and a number of Republicans want to put more money into public education but it’s just getting to that 100 votes that we need.

You are championing a couple of important environmental bills this session, what are they?

I have House Bill 3704 which is the “e-waste”, computer electronic waste and recycling bill. In 2007 and 2011 we passed bills for television and computers, but the only way it could pass and the only way it worked out was you had to mail it in and get some kind of rebate back. What this bill does essentially is make it more convenient so we can increase the amount of recycling we have for those two products. It doesn’t specify how we are going to do that but the manufacturer will have to come up with some ways that are more convenient than a mail in rebate. Unfortunately the Chairwoman won’t let it out of committee and there is not a single Republican vote for it on that committee.

The other bill I have, the bottle recycling bill, had a great hearing and some Republican support.  If you have a can of coke or a bottle of coke in certain states they will have a 5 cent refund, well I want to do that here in Texas. I think it will do two things, first it will create a new cottage industry. You will find people that want to be entrepreneurs who will want to start their own business recycling, and it will also encourage a lot more people to recycle. It has even been shown in other states that it can be a money maker. It tremendously decreases landfill waste, it tremendously reduces littering. You can look at these states and see they don’t have as much of a problem as we do here. Even if you look at Austin which has very active recyclers, the percentage of people recycling is still a small, and something like this has been proven to increase that number.

There is some Republican support but the committee chair said she would not vote it out, so this is really something I want to work on over the interim and work with my colleagues and retailers to say, “how can we do this”. The retailers are the ones who really oppose this.

I am a personal fan of Tesla electric cars and you are carrying the bill that would allow them to sale electric cars over the internet, how is it looking?

They are rather costly but it is a really cool car with zero emissions — it’s an incredible piece of machinery. They are wanting to go down on the price, they have a $30,000 car and they are trying to get there but they need to sale more cars. So what they want to do is sale directly to my and you. My bill would allow 100% battery operated cars to be sold online and once they hit 5000 cars sold a year they will have to go through the dealership model. I like it because not only is the product great, but environmentally its fantastic. I really want to get to where this really great technology becomes affordable for the average Texan. That bill is in Calendars Committee, there is a lot of support for it but the Auto Dealers Association is spending a lot of money against it.

This interview will start my series with the Travis County House delegation and their experience of, and/or, reflection on the 83rd legislative session which will end May 27th.

You have formally announced that this will be your last session, how have things changed since you first took office in 2005?

We had kind of a mini-reunion of my freshmen class today for a few minutes at the mic. There aren’t many of us left, but there weren’t many of us to begin with compared to this year’s freshmen class where there are over 40 new members.  There were 17 of us when I came in and we’re half that, so a lot has changed.

We had been steadily losing seats for about 40 years and the year I was elected, 2004 was the first year in decades that Democrats had a net gain of seats in the Texas House. We gained one in 2004, and in 2006 we picked up several seats and in 2008 we picked up several more such that when I got here it was a 88-62 Republican majority and by the 2009 session it was a 76-74, Republican majority and we were one seat from parity. Then in 2010 there was a tidal wave and we went from a nearly 1 to 1 ratio with Republicans to a 2 to 1 ratio.

They had a 101 vote majority last session and they have a 95 vote majority this session and it has changed the experience of being here. Even when we were in the minority before we felt like we were coming on strong and felt like we had the wind at our backs, but since the 2010 election it seems we’re fighting to stave off total catastrophe.

Last session the budget cuts enacted were so painful to so many people in the state and we were all but helpless to do anything about it because we were so badly outnumbered. We will come back and regain some seats in the next election and we will keep gaining throughout this decade. The demographics of this state are such that we will be in the majority. We need to do everything we can as a party to make that day come sooner but the last couple of sessions have been difficult.

What policy area has been your focus in your tenure?

I have always focused on 3 policy areas. One is Public Education, the 2nd is renewable energy and the 3rd is political reform.

What I would really like to accomplish this session on my way out is passage of HB 376 a bill that improves the quality of childcare for kids before they enter the public education system. Increasingly it is clear that the start we give kids in life before kindergarten has a lot to do with whether or not they will be successful after kindergarten.

The other thing I really want to accomplish this session with HB 742, is an innovative program to provide summer learning opportunities for low income kids. It would be paid for by the state through a competitive grant awarded to the district with the best ideas for summer academies. It would be taught by their best teachers with their incoming first year teachers as apprentices to give them classroom experience and training prior to their first year on the job. So, that in my view is a way to kill 3 birds with one stone. To give at risk kids the opportunity to catch up or get a head of their peers during the summer, give our best teachers a way to earn extra money during the summer and give our new teachers a chance to study under those best teachers while helping kids that need it the most.

You are also championing the online voter registration bill, how is it progressing through the political process?

This is actually something I started working on 15 years ago with Rock the Vote. When I was at Rock the Vote I helped create the first website where people could fill out a voter registration card online, but back then you still had to print it out, sign it and send it in. We’re working on legislation this session that would eliminate that part of the process and allow it to be totally automated in a secure way.

A lot of Democrats are excited but surprised that the online voter registration bill seems to be making its way through the legislature — can you explain why you think that is?

I know the Travis County Democratic Party is a technologically sophisticated party and will put it into good effect, but it doesn’t inherently favor one party over the other, it favors the party that can organize itself better online. [Travis County Tax Assessor/Collector] Bruce Elfant has championed it not because of partisan implications but because it increases the efficiency of the operations of his office which is responsible for maintaining the voter registration database.

What happens now is a lot of people fill out the voter registration form and Bruce’s office has to input all that data sometimes at compressed time frames, at great cost and with a really high margin of error. Keying in all that data isn’t a 100% accurate process, allowing people to do it themselves from a computer increases the accuracy of the databases and reduces the cost of maintaining them, and does so without compromising the integrity and security of those databases. So, Bruce sees this a way to save money and increase accuracy.

The reason it has progressed as you point out is that Republicans have made online organizing a priority for themselves as well. All is fair, let’s let the political process work and see who wins.

Has your announcement to leave the legislature made it harder to get your work accomplished this session?

I thought about that, when I made the announcement but my wife and I had made this decision before last election that this would be my last. The announcement was more difficult because you do have to worry that people will stop taking you seriously once they know they don’t have to deal with you much longer.

The reason I announced is because they are 4 or more really strong candidates that would like to replace me. They suspected I may not run again and had begun the process of campaigning, so I wanted to get out of their way.

What I found to my surprise is instead of a lame duck affect, people have been incredibly supportive of me. I have been really happy the way people on the floor have turned this into a long extended and warm good by. I haven’t sensed at all that they are less likely to support me because I am leaving, in fact, I feel some really want me to go out on a high note.

I know you started blogging this session, how is it going? And, is it related to your frustration with the legislature?

Yes, there is some relation but I haven’t kept it up as much as I would have liked. When I first started I thought I would be live blogging everything, but it’s impossible! I thought I would get on 3 or 4 times a day, but what it has instead become is a way for me to more thoughtfully lay out ideas than I can on the floor.

What do you feel is the future of progressive politics in Texas?

Demographically this state should be a purple state right now. And, I am encouraged by things like Battleground Texas that are taking this state seriously right now. If we are going to be competitive in the long term, it starts by being competitive right now. So I don’t think we should think about it as something we are building toward for 2020 but think about it in the right now. That said, we have to be realistic, we need great candidates, we need to support them at the grassroots level, we need to support them financially and we need to be committed to support the next ones if the first round doesn’t win.

Speaking of great candidates what does your future in politics after this session look like?

I said when I announced this as my last term that I would think about running for Mayor of Austin. I still am, but I also have to say that during session I haven’t had much time or space to think about it. I haven’t wanted my session to be shaped by a decision to run for Mayor so when we get free and clear of this session I’ll start thinking about it with my wife, it’s mainly a family decision — we’ll decide by the end of the summer.

It’s hard for me to imagine a world in which I am not involved in politics in some way.

On Friday the Burnt Orange Report celebrated its 10th anniversary. I started writing for the blog myself last summer joining a distinguished alumni of over 40 writers. I caught up with Publisher KT Musselman and Editor-in-Chief Katherine Haenschen to talk about the blog’s success having logged over 13,000 posts and 12 million page views.

What is the mission of Burnt Orange Report?

KH: We are a progressive Democratic blog covering politics here in Texas. We cover state politics but also national issues that can have a major impact and that our Texas Democratic readers want to know about. Our audience is not just in Texas, but also progressive Texans who have left the Lone Star State but still care about what is going on back home.

What has helped BOR last so long while other state blogs disappear?

KH: It takes a team effort, lots of people contributing ideas and well as our community of readers who post guest diaries and comments to help keep the conversation going. There is a big audience of readers and a lot of Democrats in Texas, and a lot of people who have strong interest in what we are doing. There is a lot of malfeasance on the part of the Republicans in texas that gives us a lot to cover. Also, our state has many major metro areas where we cover high profile local contested races, so there has been no shortage of content over the years.

What has changed in blogosphere over the last ten years?

KH: The rise of social media has probably been the biggest change we have seen because it has enabled our audience to share our stories with their own networks in a really easy way. It has also helped us to discover more stories as well, because people may be live tweeting from a committee hearing or covering something on the ground that we can then find out about and cover much faster.

Are you optimistic about the changes taking place in Texas regarding progressive politics?

KH: Definitely, there is a big interest in Texas and it is great to see a lot of folks that have been working outside of Texas coming back here to get involved. There is a revitalized Texas Democratic Party and Battleground Texas is here, clearly there are a lot of folks making sure that Texas Democrats have the resources and infrastructure we need to compete. We have a lot of excellent candidates and people who should be considering runs for statewide office. We are finally growing the infrastructure we really need to make sure those folks can credibly mount a campaign and win.

What should people look forward to for the future of Burnt Orange Report?

KH: We will be covering the end of session and looking at the results of some of the legislation passed and how that will impact folks in Texas. You’ll also see us take a strong look at potential candidates for the next cycle, and do more to highlight the strong efforts already going on in Texas to help flip our state and put it in the Democratic win column. And, just continuing to grow our audience and readership to make sure we are helping to support progressive messaging and provide a platform for that here in Texas.

What can Burnt Orange Report readers do to help support the site?

KH: When you read something you like on Burnt Orange Report share it! Click the like button, click the tweet button and share it with other folks you know may also need to know this information or might want to know this information. Help us spread the word, we’re working hard to publish as frequently as possible and cover a wide variety of issues and people here in Texas.

How did BOR grow from a local blog to one with a statewide audience?

KM: BOR has been a blend of local Austin and sometimes even University politics  as well as statewide coverage since the beginning. Because the site was founded in reaction to the redistricting of 2003, we immediately had a statewide pressence as that issue affected Politics statewide. Of course, with Austin the target of line drawing we had a special interest in it. Since the site was founded by UT students who were based in Austin, home of much of the states political insiders, we grew a local and statewide presence side by side. As we added writers from different cities, more local coverage came to the site.

How has BOR survived while other blogs disappeared?

KM: BOR has survived due to our massive state and political footprint. And due to support of long term staff and a publisher that could simply afford to keep it running. I also think being in the minority party helped oddly enough because we understand the importance of the fight for the long term of Texas.

I spoke with Megan Klein, Battleground Texas’ lead organizer for Central Texas, about the groups first major project since their launch tour — training Deputy Voter Registrars.

What is Battleground Texas’ Deputy Voter Registrar project?

Our first big project in general before we get a ton of new staff is to get thousands of people deputized to register voters. A lot of our new staff will be coming on in June and this is a way for us to get started as we develop our field plan. Since the deputations all ran out in December we are literally starting from zero, but so far in Austin we have gotten 100 people deputized, and our goal statewide for April and May is 1,200.

How are you identifying and reaching out to potential deputy registrars?

In many cases we are partnering with the county party to say that the deputations are joint events between Battleground and the county party. That way we are both growing our infrastructure. Battleground gets those volunteers and the county party can engage them as well, which is how we plan to continue to work going forward.

Travis County’s Tax Assessor/Collector Bruce Elfant wants to get the county to as near 100% registration as possible,  so he is pushing for ways to recognize deputy registrars for hitting certain goals, is that something Battleground is thinking about?

I would imagine that we will, but I don’t think we have any formal plans to do that right now. There will be a website, it should be up this week, where Deputy Voter Registrars around the state can sign up to receive their sticker or button that will identify them as a Deputy.  We have goals for each of the 5 regions in Texas, but there is definitely a friendly competition amongst organizers around the state to register the most voters.  I’m paying close attention to what the North Texas/ Dallas region is doing and I like to keep up with their numbers regardless of what our goals are, because we can generally keep up with them if not surpass them.

What are some of the challenges registering voters in Texas?

Part of the problem with getting started so early is that people are likely to move. So we have to do a cost-benefit analysis on registering people in the spring of 2013 when the election is in November of 2014, but there is so much work to be done it doesn’t hurt to get as many people registered as we can. And if they move, then we will just register them at their new address. We are certainly not letting that hold us back.

I would have to check for the exact numbers but right now we are in the low 40s for registered voters and turnout. As far as women I believe we are 51st in the nation in turnout. I have been talking to Texas Democratic Women’s chapters and women’s groups and they have been very interested in that angle because they feel a certain responsibility that women aren’t representing themselves the way we should be.

Are you starting with a specific target group?

We are still formulating the overall registration plan but the easiest people to register now are those who have not been engaged in the process for a while. They haven’t voted in the last 4 years so their registration is expired.  As we talk about what Democrats will bring to the table that is different than the last few decades we are hoping that will motivate some people to get registered. The student population will probably need to have their own registration plan and we will probably not start registering them early because they are the most likely to move.

What deputation opportunities are coming up for Travis County area residents?

On our website, under events, you can search by zipcode for events including deputations. In Travis County we are holding Saturday trainings through May 11th at the First Unitarian University Church in North Central Austin. The elections office also holds trainings every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month, so we are also pushing folks to those. Going forward will work with the County have a more permanent structure where people can go that isn’t on a Tuesday, hopefully on the weekend.

What is the Trinity Center and what is your role there?

We are a non-profit organization, founded in 2000, that serves Austin’s downtown homeless and those experiencing extreme poverty. After several years of volunteering, I am now the Communications & Volunteer Coordinator.

What services does the organization provide?

We provide a lot of basic services from a daily breakfast to computers and counseling to the downtown homeless population; we refer to them as our “neighbors”. There are about 100 people who pass through our doors every day, and about 200 who do not have a home address that receive their mail here, including benefits like Social Security checks.

We try to provide services that aren’t offered by other organizations in the area like ARCH and Salvation Army. For instance, we don’t provide housing but we will work with individuals to help them find a more permanent residence.

On Monday’s and Tuesday’s we provide special services to women only. Anecdotally, it seems we are seeing more homeless women these days.

The Trinity Center has a big day this week what is it?

Thursday is our “Barbara Jordan Celebration and Cocktail Hour”, it’s our big annual fundraiser.

The late Congresswoman spent the latter part of her life in Austin and was a real advocate for the homeless population. Her foundation provided the seed money for the work we do. We survive on the kindness of supporters, private foundations and the largesse of St. David’s Episcopal Church. The event will be held at 5:30pm on April 18th at St. David’s Episcopal Church (301 E 8th St). Anyone can visit our website to purchase tickets to the event.

Is there any synergy between the work to did you TCDP and now the Trinity Center?

The Trinity Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization but the Democratic Party, in my opinion, shows more concern and compassion for our poor and homeless populations. I’ll continue to be active in Democratic Party politics because cuts in social services from the otherside have been devastating, making it harder for those living from paycheck to paycheck to stay in their homes and has contributed to the increase in our homeless population.

The Travis County Democratic Party has also been very generous to our organization. For 3 years in a row the TCDP has chosen Trinity Center as the official charity of its annual holiday party. One year I had to make two trips in my car to deliver all of the donations.

How can people get involved?

Other than financial donations are in regular need of clothes, especially for women, toiletries, and office supplies for the center. There is a list of suggestions on our web site. If someone would like to get involved they can visit us online, call our office or email me directly at: diane@trinitycenteraustin.org.

Follow me on twitter: @joethepleb

In 2009 I started a Texas Chapter of Students for Gun Free Schools and have talked about putting this organization together for a while. Students for Gun Free Schools was founded by a Virginia Tech survivor, and I didn’t know it at the time but there were a couple of Virginia Tech survivors at UT that I met during the hearings on campus carry.

I personally became involved after lawmakers said they wanted to force colleges and universities to have guns in classrooms in order to quote unquote ‘prevent another attack’. Having spoken to a lot of survivors I knew that wasn’t something that survivors supported, and that the memory of these victims was just being used to accomplish an ideological agenda that had nothing to do with safety. Part of that ideological agenda you can see in their resistance to background checks. So, our goal in setting up Texas Gun Sense, was not to just address the campus carry issue, but issues of broader public safety.

Who helped organize Saturday’s rally?

We worked with the Texas Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense. Mom’s Demand Action used to be called One Million Moms for Gun Control but they liked the term “gun sense” so much that they adopted it into their own name. It’s interesting to hear it pop up around the country, people like this term ‘gun sense’.

What is Texas Gun Sense asking for?

The number one issue is universal background checks, we want for every firearms transfer to go through a background check. If it doesn’t, the person who sells the gun to a person who does some harm with it, then has to bear some portion of the responsibility of that crime.

We support people’s right to have guns but also be responsible and include background checks. The most frustrating thing is that the media narrative right now only has 2 sides. I often get calls from reporters that say ‘well we’ve got someone from the pro-gun side, now we need someone on the anti-gun side, and I say ‘that’s not me, that’s not our organization we’re in the middle’. It would be just as valid to say they had someone on the anti-gun side and they wanted to talk to us. Most of things we are proposing the vast majority of Texans’ support. Universal background checks is a no-brainer, 80% of Texans support it.

The 2nd Amendment says, “well regulated”, is this a narrative Gun Sense uses?

The 2nd Amendment is something that has been reinterpreted to death and some people believe if you own a gun there should be no restrictions on where you can have it, but the more relevant document here is the Texas Constitution. It says the legislature has the authority to regulate the wear of arms for the purpose of public safety. That clause was accepted when Texas was re-admitted into the union. So, just like you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater, its important to understand that we do have limitations on certain rights.

What actions are you looking for from Congress and the state legislature?

Our number one issue is background checks, there are federal bills in the Senate and we have got bills filed in both the state House and Senate for universal background checks. Number 2 is fight back against these bills that would allow guns into the classroom. We feel it would be much better to take a look at something a vast majority supports like background checks before moving to more controversial issues like campus carry legislation.

In your speech at the Capitol you mentioned electoral consequences for Ted Cruz or others who oppose popular measures, will Texas Gun Sense be involved in campaigns?

No, that was merely speculation. Texas Gun Sense is not a PAC we are a 501 C3 and we will not be getting involved in campaigning. Our goal is to educate people about policies that will save lives.

What’s next, and how do supporters get involved?

We have phone banks every week, but the next big thing is this Thursday because Ted Cruz has threatened to filibuster the background check legislation. We plan to filibuster the filibuster by reading the names of people who have died since Newtown while Congress has failed to act, for as long as Ted Cruz and the other gun manufacturer cronies are doing that.

If people want to get involved they should first go and like us on Facebook and then look for events coming up to help out at, hopefully we will have a website up soon where people can put in their contact information.

If folks would like to volunteer or join our phone bank they can email Kristen Katz at Katz@GunFreeSchools.org

Follow me on Twitter at @Joethepleb.

Past honorees include Sen. Kirk Watson, Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, and Rep. Mark Strama.

What is the Texas League of Conservation Voters?

There are a lot of definitions but one of the things I say is we are the political arm of the environmental movement. We are the Texas chapter of a national organization called the League of Conservation Voters which was founded in the late 60s and they are based out of Washington D.C. So the playbook is, they do federal elections and federal policy and there are 35 state chapters that do state policy and state elections. The Texas league interestingly was founded all the way in 1970 by a gentleman named Ned Fritz from Dallas. So technically we’re one of the earliest Leagues formed, however it did sort of fall out of existence for a while and was revived by some folks in the mid 90s.

During election time we work to try and get the right people in office but during the legislative session we focus on a common agenda. We work with lots of other environmental groups from across the state to come up with our top priorities so we can work collectively on them at the Capitol. We’re also big on political accountability so after every legislative session we publish a very comprehensive scorecard going over what the key environmental votes were and how people voted. We want citizens and constituents to know how their legislators voted on environmental issues.

Is TLCV a PAC? Can you Lobby or get involved in elections?

We have a diverse structure. We have a 501c3 education side that does public education and civic engagement, and it has its own distinct Board of Directors. It can do a little lobbying and sometimes it gets involved in ballot initiatives but generally not into politics. Then we have a 501c4 that does most of the lobbying and advocacy, and that organization has a state Political Action Committee that it controls. So there are two sets of Boards of Directors, the political one and the nonpolitical one.

What are some of the issues on the scorecard?

There is an absolute flood of environmental bills that have been filed this session, so it’s a little hard to pin down. We have had some really important votes thus far but we have 2 months left so there are a lot of important votes left. We’ve got a lot of important issues related to the budget, we’ve got a lot important issues related to water and then opportunity knocks from session to session. There are some good pieces of legislation out there that will move Texas forward on environmental issues we hope will pass, and then there is some nasty stuff out there that would give a blank check to polluters that we hope that will die.

For example we will definitely be scoring the water plan bills by Rep. Allen Ritter and Sen. Todd Frazier. Ritter’s bill is good in that it calls for 20% of the money that will be spent to go toward water conservation which we think is really important. But, at kind of the last minute Rep. Phil King, working with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, introduced an amendment that would have basically taken that out, rendering that legislation much less in our minds – good public policy on water. Thankfully that Amendment died. It was something like 104-40 to table it. So that’s going to be a key vote for us as we put that scorecard together.

Is the Environment a bipartisan issue in Texas?

Well you know I think that’s a fascinating question in Texas. A lot of people sort of have this knee jerk reaction that Texas doesn’t care about the environment, that we are just a bunch of big oil and gas polluters. It’s not nearly that simple. First you have to acknowledge the good our state has done on the environment. We have more wind power than any state in the country. A stat I heard recently is that if we were our own country we would be the 7th largest wind producer in the world, which is pretty cool. But, then you also have to acknowledge that there’s a lot of love for the outdoors in this state. There are a lot of hunters and fishers and people who really love local parks, state parks and national parks. There is also a real strong property rights streak and a lot of times we can connect those really bad bills that allow polluters to do whatever they want to that property rights issue. So, I think actually that a lot of our issues have salience at the Capitol. Look at water, its kind of a function of being in a really nasty drought but that seems to be a top issue of most of the legislators at the Capitol.

You can learn how to help the TLCV protect the environment and promote clean jobs by visiting their website.

Follow me on Twitter at: @joethepeb

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.

We also honored former Austin representative Glen Maxey as a lifelong Democratic mentor for the work he has done across Austin, across the state and personally for University Democrats. He has impacted a lot of us individually. Anytime we needed a speaker he has always stepped up. He gives us memorabilia to pass out as incentives. He gave us a lot of things during our get out the vote campaign like bumper stickers and buttons, all of which is donated by him or heavily discounted. He has obviously influenced state politics in a big way and University Democrats in a big way and we felt like he should be rewarded for that service.

What’s your story? How and why did you get involved in U Dems?

I’m from a small conservative town called Sachse, North East of Dallas, but both my parents were Democrats and I grew up a Democrat. I remember watching the results of the 2000 election and my mom and sister dancing in the living room while Gore was ahead, and obviously it didn’t turn out the way we wanted. So, I’m from a conservative area but I always felt the Democratic Party was the most inclusive party.

When I went to Baylor, in Waco, I really felt like I was in the wrong place so I transferred to UT after my Freshmen year. I’ve been involved in U Dems since the 2nd semester of my sophomore year. I was not as politically active at Baylor. The University did not allow tabling so it was harder for groups to gain members. Organization fares were the only time you could directly engage students. One of the advantages we have at UT is that the University allows us to set up on the West Mall everyday as long as we want to tell people about the club and how to get involved. The culture at Baylor was a lot more conservative.

What is U Dems focus when it comes to politics?

Generally whenever it comes down to election season, whether primary or general election, U Dems tries to get our members deputized so we can register people to vote. We want students to have a one stop shop for voter registration. We table every week on the West Mall of campus and have voter registration cards available for students to come fill out which we then take down to the voter registrar’s office. We try to raise awareness of elections including making signs to tell students where and when to vote. We also make phone calls and block walk for all of our endorsed candidates. We encourage all candidates to come out and speak to us, I think they are really interested in having the students support because the local party actually really puts a lot of time into student organizations and they really care about what we have to say. We partner with Central Austin Democrats to hold joint endorsements. If we endorse the same candidates we say they are endorsed by the Austin Progressive Coalition (APC). We then have an APC block walk where we make door hangers and fliers basically spread out across Austin. We make sure the people we endorse are all over Austin because we want to make sure we are having our voice heard. We believe that people in Austin really care about University Democrats and our endorsements because the party really cares about the young population.

Last year we registered over 6,000 students at UT and made over 4,000 phone calls to Hispanic youth across Texas. We used a wagon to carry students around encouraging everyone to vote while handing out stickers and buttons.

What does the U Dems membership look like?

U Dems probably has between 80-100 members but during presidential election years it grows bigger. This year we have some Seniors leaving but we also have some very active Freshmen and there are a lot of people willing to step in and take leadership over the organization. We have people from all over the map: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and out of state including California.

If you would like to join U Dems or support the organization visit their website at http://udems.org/, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter: @UDems.

You can follow me on Twitter at: @joethepleb.

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.

Who is involved in organizing this effort?

We’re very fortunate to have strong support from Jessica Farrar’s office because some of the women we first met with are constituents of her’s. We started working on this on our own but very quickly it became clear that women across the state were ready and interested in this. So now our organizing group has women from Brownsville, McAllen, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and Waco.  We all work together in different ways. We have also received tremendous support from the Texas Democratic Party who has notified all of the county parties. There are also many other Democratic groups like Texas Young Democrats, but also some that aren’t affiliated with the party like Liberal Ladies.

What are the issues?

Restoring public education funding, funding for the Women’s Health Program and accepting the Medicaid expansion. There is also an equal pay bill in the House and Senate, if that were to come up for vote we would certain urge everyone to vote for that.  We know that for Texas women economic security is at the top of the list of their concerns, and health care, planning their families, taking care of their families, and educating their children are the key components of economic security.

What is the plan for April 9th?

The vision for this is a sea of blue in the Capitol on April 9th. The big message is, come to the Capitol and wear blue. We really need to pack the galleries at 9:30am, to let members of the House and Senate know that we are watching and keeping a record of their votes. There will be a scorecard at the end of session. There also will be a group photo to show the size of our presence. After that we will visit legislative offices with materials to spread the message that supporting women is important. Of course those of us in Austin have wonderful representatives, but its very valuable for those who don’t to come in and let them know what you think. We are working with women around the state through Texas Democratic Women and they are organizing local district visits that same week. So we’re doing it here in Austin and people are doing it at home, for example in Nueces County, in Victoria, and in Lubbock, so its not just something happening here. Similar to what we are hearing about Battleground Texas, its happening out in local communities where women know the issues, and know the local lawmakers.

What about those who can’t make it but want to show support?

We are asking people to register even if they can not come. That way you can keep up with us. We plan to send out a petition in support of Medicaid expansion, education funding and women’s health, closer to April 9th. I want to encourage everyone just to sign up on the website because that means you’re supporter. Being a supporter means a lot. We have 100 women coming in from Houston and 50 women getting on a bus at 5am in Dallas, so we should all show up in the ways that we can.

Follow me on Twitter: @joethepleb