House Bills 1, 2, 3 and 4 all passed before midnight. From Pena's blog:

[muse]

(From Rep. Aaron Pena's blog - The Capitol Blog - he updated all day Monday)

The Tax bills are being debated on the floor of the Texas House.

HB 2, which would dedicate increases in tax revenue from aspects of the Perry-Sharp plan to go towards property tax relief. It passed 81 to 65.

An amendment by Rep. Charlie Geren maintains recapture in HB 1. Amendment passes 106 to 40. HB 1 likely to pass with amendment.

Update: HB 1 passes 139 to 5 votes.

At 4:45 p.m. we are moving on to HB 3. I believe this bill will pass by a slim margin. Perhaps by 3 to 4 votes. Just a guesstimate!

Rep. Jim Keffer is making closing statement. He tells us that Grover Norquest is in favor of HB 3.

Update: At 10:45 p.m. HB 3 (the Perry/Sharp plan) passes 80 to 69 votes.

Update: At 11:00 p.m. HB 4 (the so called Liar's Affidavit) passes 77 to 65 votes.

Update: At 11:45 p.m. HB 5 (the Cigarette Tax) failed on a point of order.

On third reading HB's 1, 2, 3, 4 passed. All before midnight.

Tax Day is over. Session resumes Thursday at 11:00 a.m.

http://acapitolblog.blogspot.com/

[sonias]

1. Vilma Luna, Craddick Democrat on a short leash

This report comes from the Texas Federation of Teachers (TFT) Hotline report (via e-mail)

No New Education Funding in House Plan Voted on Today: By a vote of 81 to 65, the House today gave preliminary approval today to HB 2, a bill opposed by TFT that would use billions of dollars in tax increases on businesses, tobacco products, and used-car sales to buy down property-tax rates, without providing any new funding for education. All the new revenue generated now and in the future by these tax increases would have to be spent on property-tax cuts, under HB 2 as passed today. (We’ll report how your House member voted once we have the official record of today’s votes.)

HB 1, a separate bill using $2.4 billion of the current budget surplus to buy down property-tax rates, passed by a wide margin, but only after major amendments restored equity to the funding equation established under the bill. A key vote on one of those pro-equity amendments came when Rep. Charlie Geren, Republican of Fort Worth, fought off an attempt by Rep. Dan Branch, Republican of Highland Park, to block his amendment. The vote defeating Branch’s motion to table the Geren amendment was 78 to 68.

House Speaker Tom Craddick, Republican of Midland, refused to allow a vote on a key amendment backed by TFT that would have reinstated an earmark of $1.8 billion reserved in the current state budget for eventual education increases. A committee amendment to HB 1 by Rep. Vilma Luna, Democrat of Corpus Christi, had repealed this earmark for education. The TFT-backed amendment offered by Rep. Pete Gallego, Democrat of Alpine, simply would have restored the earmark of the $1.8 billion. But Craddick ruled the Gallego amendment out of order.

As of 9:45 pm, the House is still debating HB 3, the bill that would create Gov. Rick Perry’s proposed new business tax. Whatever the merits of this new tax, one thing is for sure: Earlier votes today guarantee that none of the increased revenue from this bill can be used for teacher pay or any other education improvement. Two more bills increasing tobacco taxes and taxes on used-care sales remain on the schedule for debate tonight after HB 3. We’ll provide further coverage of today’s events in the Tuesday edition of the hotline.

Emphasis above mine, but I wonder what Velma got from Craddick for stealing funds from the children of Texas? :mad:

Sonia