The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 125, No. 61, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 14, 2016 Page: 4 of 14
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A4 ►► FORUM
THE PORT LAVACA WAVE
SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2016
THE FORUM
Cruz ends campaign, Perry
Sunset Commission says Railroad Commission needs new name
endorses Trump for president
DAVE McNEELY
a
MMMRPU W i /r-s z
At(fIX
THE PORT
LOCAL GOVERNMENT MEETINGS
If you’re going
to be so busy
tomorrow that
you can’t take time
to honor those
who died to
Memorial Medical Center Board - 4th Tuesday, 4
p.m., MMC Boardroom
Port Lavaca City Council - 2nd Monday, 6:30 p.m.,
City Council Chamber
Point Comfort City Council - 1st Monday, 6:30
p.m., Point Comfort City Hall
Calhoun County ISD - 2nd Monday, 5:30 p.m., CCISD
board room.
Calhoun County Commissioners - 2nd and 4th
Thursday, 10 a.m., Commissioners’ Courtroom
Calhoun Port Authority - 2nd Wednesday, 9 a.m.,
Port Boardroom
Seadrift City Council - 1st Tuesday, 7 p.m.,
Seadrift City Hall
• Meeting days are subject to change. Special meetings
also may be called. Agendas are posted at the meeting
sites.
Published each Wednesday and Saturday by The Port Lavaca Wave, Inc. Entered as periodicals at the Port Lavaca Post Office.
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Texas
for
AUSTIN
R-Texas,
presidential
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State Capital Highlights
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107 E. Austin, P.0. Box 88, Port Lavaca, Texas 77979-0088
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Serving Port Lavaca and Calhoun County since 1890
...rearrange
appropriated for conservation
of the documents and maps,
that conservation depends
on private donations, map
purchases and corporate
sponsorships.
Donations to the Save
Texas History program are tax-
deductible and can be made at
SaveTexasHistory.org.
Buckle-up program is set
The Texas Department
of Transportation on May 3
promoted its annual “Click It or
Ticket” campaign, reminding
Texans that properly fastened
seat belts save lives.
Police departments
across the nation will step up
enforcement efforts from May
23 through June 5. In Texas,
the law requires everyone in
a vehicle to buckle up or face
fines and court costs up to $200.
Children younger than eight
must be in a child safety seat
or booster seat unless they are
taller than 4 feet, 9 inches.
“With Memorial Day
weekend and the summer
vacation season approaching,
we’re urging people to buckle
their seat belts every time
they get in their vehicle,” said
TxDOT Executive Director
James Bass. “Every person in
a vehicle — front seat or back
seat — needs to buckle up. Not
only is it the law, but seat belts
save lives.”
Alert: Post-flood car sales
The Texas Department of
Insurance on April 28 posted a
consumer-protection message
tellingTexans:“There’sareason
why insurance companies
usually declare flooded vehicles
a total loss. Once an engine
gets waterlogged, it’s almost
impossible to ever make it
right.
Unfortunately, some
unscrupulous sellers will try to
buy these cars at auction and
resell them to unsuspecting
buyers.”
The department suggests
that shoppers look for the signs
and smells of water damage,
such as dirt or debris in the
vehicle and the smell of cleaner
or disinfectant applied to cover
up odors. Also, the department
suggests that a potential buyer
check the vehicle’s title and
vehicle identification number
(VIN), have a trusted mechanic
inspect the vehicle and buy
from a reputable dealer. For
more information, Texans may
call the department’s consumer
help line, 800-252-3439.
U.S. Sen. Ted
Cruz, R-Texas, suspended
his presidential campaign
May 3 after losing Indiana’s
GOP presidential primary to
frontrunner Donald Trump of
New York.
The Indiana loss
mathematically eliminated
Cruz from achieving the
necessary delegate count to
gain the nomination at the
Republican Party National
Convention in Cleveland, Ohio,
July 18-21.
On May 6, Rick Perry,
Texas’ former and longest-
serving governor (December
2000 to January 2015) endorsed
Trump for president. Perry,
who dropped out of the GOP
presidential primaries in
2012 and 2015, also signaled
his availability as a vice
presidential running mate for
Trump.
Cruz, who served as
solicitor general under then-
Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott, was elected to the U.S.
Senate in 2012.
Revenue total increases
State sales tax revenue in
April totaled $2.38 billion, up
3 percent compared to April
2015, Texas Comptroller Glenn
Hegar announced May 3.
However, Hegar said, “As
expected, receipts from oil- and
gas-related sectors continued to
fall due to the ongoing decline
in drilling activity” And, he
added, total sales tax revenue
for the three months ending in
April 2016 was down 0.8 percent
compared to the same period a
year ago.
For the month of April,
Texas collected the following
revenue from those taxes:
- Motor vehicle sales and
rental taxes, $250 million, down
31.9 percent from April 2015;
- Motor fuel taxes, $302.9
million, up 3.2 percent from
April 2015; and
- Oil and natural gas
production taxes, $147 million,
down 36.1 percent from April
2015.
According to the
comptroller’s office, sales tax
revenue is the largest source
of state funding for the state
budget, accounting for 56
percent of all tax collections,
and motor vehicle sales
and rental taxes, motor fuel
taxes and oil and natural gas
production taxes also are large
revenue sources for the state.
Preserving paper is goal
Texas Land Commissioner
George P. Bush on May 3
announced the launch of a
month-long campaign through
which individuals who donate
$30 or more will receive a Save
Texas History kit that includes
a limited-edition T-shirt
bearing the words, “I saved
Texas history”
The Texas General Land
Office maintains an archive
of more than 35.5 million
documents and 45,000 maps
dating back to the year 1561 and
tracing the history of Texas’
public lands. But, Bush said,
because no general revenue
from the Texas Legislature is
JUDY MAREK
Business Office, ext. 102
CHRISTY AGUILAR
Advertising Dept., ext. 105
ASHLEY KONTNIER
Advertising Dept., ext. 106
ROSS STAPP
, - Sports., ext. 110
WE WANT YOUR OPINION
came along. Meanwhile,
the commission’s railroad
oversight was gradually shifted
to other state and federal
agencies.
The Sunset staff also
recommended the commission
more actively enforce oil and
gas production rules, and more
closely regulate producers to
cleaning up after themselves.
Another suggestion was
that contested gas utility
cases be decided not by the
commission itself, but by the
State Office of Administrative
Hearings, which judges
disputes for dozens of other
agencies.
Another was that the
agency hand off regulation of
natural gas prices to the Public
Utility Commission, which
regulates all other utilities in
the state.
The Sunset staff remained
silent regarding whether the
Railroad Commission, by
whatever name, should remain
a three-member elective body
Although it was initiated
in 1891 as an appointive group,
in 1894, it was switched to an
elective body, with its members
serving six-year overlapping
terms.
Particularly in the past
few decades, since it picked
up regulation of the oil and
gas industry, the Railroad
Commission has become a
launching pad for people
seeking other elective positions.
One of its allures is the six-
year terms, while most other
statewide electives offices are
for four-year terms.
That gives its members
the ability to run for another
office without giving up their
commission slot - unless the
Yarbrough had been the
Democratic nominee for the
U.S. Senate race in 2012 who
was buried by Republican Ted
Cruz.
Yarbrough’s runoff
opponent is Cody Garrett of
Austin, who had 35.1 percent.
Christian is the only one
of the four runoff candidates to
have held elective office. Runoff
winners will face Libertarian
Mark Miller and Green Party
candidate Marina Salinas in
November.
Perry Cozying Up to
Trump. . . . Former Texas
governor Rick Perry was the
first of the 16 other Republican
presidential hopefuls back in
July to castigate New York
mogul and celebrity show host
Donald Trump.
Perry dubbed him a
“cancer on conservatism” -
but recently called him one
of the smartest people ever
to run for president. And yes,
Perry would be willing to be his
running mate.
“I’m not going to say ‘no’,”
Perry said.
The Texas Railroad
Commission, for decades
a stepping-stone to higher
elective office, should change
its name, says the staff of the
Sunset Advisory Commission.
The reason is that the
Railroad Commission, though
founded in 1891 during a
populist wave to keep railroads
from gouging farmers on
freight rates, no longer has
anything to do with railroads.
It now has mostly regulates
oil and gas production and
transportation, the liquefied
petroleum (LP) gas industry,
and surface mining of coal and
uranium.
So, the Sunset staff
recommends that the name be
changed to the Texas Energy
Resources Commission. A few
earlier efforts to call it the
Texas Energy Commission
failed to get enough legislative
support.
Under the Sunset law,
agencies are analyzed every 12
years, and must be positively re-
authorized by the Legislature
to continue.
The Railroad Commission’s
Sunset review has been carried
out several times over the
past few years. But legislative
consideration has bogged down
over disagreements. Perhaps it
may actually occur in 2017.
The commission in 1917
gradually began overseeing
oil and gas production. In the
1930s, during an oil production
glut, the commission began to
regulate how much wells could
produce, and became the de
facto price-setter for world oil
prices.
That lasted until the
Organization for Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
new effort coincides with the
end of their six-year term.
It also gives them a
lucrative fund-raising base with
the oil and gas industry, whose
executives are well aware that
if a commissioner loses a race
for another office, he or she will
still be overseeing oil and gas
regulation.
Current members of the
commission are Chairman
David Porter, Christi
Craddick, and Ryan Sitton.
The commission chairman is
traditionally the next member
who is up for election.
Porter originally planned
to seek re-election, but decided
just before the December filing
deadline to hang up his running
shoes.
That set off a flurry of
activity among ambitious
candidates, and the Republican
and Democratic nominees each
will be decided in runoffs on
May 24.
On the Republican side,
seven-way race ended
with wealthy Houston-area
businessman Gary Gates, at
28.4 percent, and former state
Rep. Wayne Christian of Center
with 19.7 percent.
On the Democratic side,
former state Rep. Lon Burnam
of Fort Worth, who had several
newspaper endorsements, had
hopes to make the runoff. But
he finished third, with 24.9
percent, and did not make the
runoff.
Instead, retired San
Antonio schoolteacher Grady
Yarbrough, with the familiar-
sounding name of the late
Democratic U.S. Sen. Ralph
Yarborough, led with 39.9
percent. He now lives in Flint,
in East Texas
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French, Tania. The Port Lavaca Wave (Port Lavaca, Tex.), Vol. 125, No. 61, Ed. 1 Saturday, May 14, 2016, newspaper, May 14, 2016; Port Lavaca, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1301545/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Calhoun County Public Library.