Just think about this idea for a little while.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Comments Policy
This is outfrickingstanding. In so many ways too. The self-importance, the condescension, living up to every cliche of the humorless feminist, the consistent use of PC terms that literally have no meaning, etc.
The first commenter pretty much sums it all up.
The first commenter pretty much sums it all up.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Palm Pre
This past Saturday I stood in line at 6AM in order to purchase the Palm Pre. I'm not much of a technology geek, but I was motivated to get this one just so my friends would stop making fun of the fact that my phone had a stylus and because I was not quite ready to join the Apple cult. Worth the wait. It's a pretty phenomenal piece of hardware. Now I just need an 8-year old to teach me how to use it.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Back
Took a short break there for a while (since January). I had hoped to do some blogging while in legislative session, but it was not to be. Part of it is just time constraints as we keep fairly insane hours during session. Part of it is also fear of writing something I may regret during the heated environment of the legislative session. In any case, back to it.
This session was a pretty intense one for the folks I represent, the health plans. The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) was up for Sunset review. Every agency in Texas undergoes Sunset review every 12 years. The review process is designed to review all of the agency functions to determine if there is still a need for the agency and, since the answer to that is usually yes, to determine what changes in statute need to be made to either expend or contract statutory authority. Without a proactive step from the legislature (passing a bill) the agency ceases to exist. Well, that is what happened with TDI. The legislature did not pass the elgislation and so one year from September the agency will cease to exist.
How did that happen? Well, the Sunset review process makes a lot of sense on paper. In reality, I think many legislators believe the process is broken. Because the legislation which reauthorizes the agencies is so broad, the Sunset bills have become "Christmas trees" rather than focusing on the agency's actual role or statutory duties. The TDI Sunset bill, for instance, had more than 179 amendments filed for cosnideration. The Transportation Sunset bill was filed as a 145 page bill and ended up at over 500 pages. The final bill was Many of these contained significant changes in policy that had never been discussed or reviewed as part of the normal legilative process. They were simply trying to catch a ride on what many thought was a "must pass" bill. (Regardless of the merit of each of these amendments, this strikes me as a really lousy way to make policy.) The TDI Sunset bill never made it to the floor of the Texas House, mainly due to a major fight between Democrats and Republicans over Voter ID; I'll write some about that later. The contingency for this is to place all of the Sunset bills into a safety net bill which extends the agencies for two more years. This keeps the agencies in existence whicle ensuring they will be reviewed again the next session. Well, at the end of session the safety net bill was killed on a point of order. They then tried to resurrect the safety net bill by amending a fiscal matters bill that would have extended the agency two more years. The House did just that and then adjourned sine die (they ended the session). This put the Senate in the position of having to concur witht he House rather than negotiating on anumber of remaining issues. The Senate decided that they could not live with that and so they adjourned sine die as well without taking any action.
That leaves the state with no department of insurance, no department of transportation, and no agency regulating gaming. The plans I represent have regular dealings with TDI and while they are often frustrated by the positions the agency takes, they all agree on a need for the agency and vouch for the integrity of the folks who work there. Beyond that, eliminating the agency would be a radical change in the market dynamic and most businesses, insurance in particular, crave stability and consistency.
Given the importance of this issue, it would be normal to expect a special session to be called by the Governor. But these are not normal times. The Governor (Rick Perry) is expected to be involved in a hotly contested primary by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and this is going to enter into any decision he makes about calling a special session. Many of the Republicans would prefer not to have a special session on insurance because it might put them in the position of having to vote on populist measures that are terrible policy (like electing an insurance commissioner) and because the trial lawyers view the insurance Sunset bill as an opportunity to attacke many of the tort reform measures enacted in Texas in recent years. Democrats for their part do not want a special session either. Democrats brought the Texas House to a standstill to prevent consideration of the Voter ID bill, a bill they view as doing damage to minority constituencies that many of them represent. Well, it is almost guaranteed that any special session called will have Voter ID as a matter to be considered. The Governor has sole discretion to determine what can be considered during a special session and Voter ID is a huge issue for Republican primary voters. Add to the equation that the 2/3 rule which usually applies in the Senate (requires 2/3 of the Senators to agree to take up any bill) does not apply in special session adn you can see why the Democrats would be nervous.
So that was one of the big stories of this session. I'll write more about how we fared later, but this was kind of a big deal.
This session was a pretty intense one for the folks I represent, the health plans. The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) was up for Sunset review. Every agency in Texas undergoes Sunset review every 12 years. The review process is designed to review all of the agency functions to determine if there is still a need for the agency and, since the answer to that is usually yes, to determine what changes in statute need to be made to either expend or contract statutory authority. Without a proactive step from the legislature (passing a bill) the agency ceases to exist. Well, that is what happened with TDI. The legislature did not pass the elgislation and so one year from September the agency will cease to exist.
How did that happen? Well, the Sunset review process makes a lot of sense on paper. In reality, I think many legislators believe the process is broken. Because the legislation which reauthorizes the agencies is so broad, the Sunset bills have become "Christmas trees" rather than focusing on the agency's actual role or statutory duties. The TDI Sunset bill, for instance, had more than 179 amendments filed for cosnideration. The Transportation Sunset bill was filed as a 145 page bill and ended up at over 500 pages. The final bill was Many of these contained significant changes in policy that had never been discussed or reviewed as part of the normal legilative process. They were simply trying to catch a ride on what many thought was a "must pass" bill. (Regardless of the merit of each of these amendments, this strikes me as a really lousy way to make policy.) The TDI Sunset bill never made it to the floor of the Texas House, mainly due to a major fight between Democrats and Republicans over Voter ID; I'll write some about that later. The contingency for this is to place all of the Sunset bills into a safety net bill which extends the agencies for two more years. This keeps the agencies in existence whicle ensuring they will be reviewed again the next session. Well, at the end of session the safety net bill was killed on a point of order. They then tried to resurrect the safety net bill by amending a fiscal matters bill that would have extended the agency two more years. The House did just that and then adjourned sine die (they ended the session). This put the Senate in the position of having to concur witht he House rather than negotiating on anumber of remaining issues. The Senate decided that they could not live with that and so they adjourned sine die as well without taking any action.
That leaves the state with no department of insurance, no department of transportation, and no agency regulating gaming. The plans I represent have regular dealings with TDI and while they are often frustrated by the positions the agency takes, they all agree on a need for the agency and vouch for the integrity of the folks who work there. Beyond that, eliminating the agency would be a radical change in the market dynamic and most businesses, insurance in particular, crave stability and consistency.
Given the importance of this issue, it would be normal to expect a special session to be called by the Governor. But these are not normal times. The Governor (Rick Perry) is expected to be involved in a hotly contested primary by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and this is going to enter into any decision he makes about calling a special session. Many of the Republicans would prefer not to have a special session on insurance because it might put them in the position of having to vote on populist measures that are terrible policy (like electing an insurance commissioner) and because the trial lawyers view the insurance Sunset bill as an opportunity to attacke many of the tort reform measures enacted in Texas in recent years. Democrats for their part do not want a special session either. Democrats brought the Texas House to a standstill to prevent consideration of the Voter ID bill, a bill they view as doing damage to minority constituencies that many of them represent. Well, it is almost guaranteed that any special session called will have Voter ID as a matter to be considered. The Governor has sole discretion to determine what can be considered during a special session and Voter ID is a huge issue for Republican primary voters. Add to the equation that the 2/3 rule which usually applies in the Senate (requires 2/3 of the Senators to agree to take up any bill) does not apply in special session adn you can see why the Democrats would be nervous.
So that was one of the big stories of this session. I'll write more about how we fared later, but this was kind of a big deal.
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