Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

When a Corridor is a Cap

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    1. Senator Joan Huffman State Rep. Dan Flynn

State Representative Dan Flynn from Van, Texas ran the Houston pension bill hearing last Monday. Speaker Straus has appointed Flynn to serve as Chair of the House Pensions Committee for the past two legislative sessions. Although Flynn claims that he has “never voted for a bill to raise taxes” he does not seem to mind increasing the tax burden of Houstonians. All for his good buddy Sylvester “Sly” Turner.

Last Monday, I attended the House Pensions Committee meeting. Flynn ran the meeting like an autocracy, which is just the way Turner wanted the meeting to function. Although opponents to the Flynn/Turner bill were permitted to speak, they were not allowed to sit in the hearing room until their turn to speak. When I attempted to enter the hearing room, I was told that I would have to go to one of the overflow rooms. I quickly learned that the city lobbyists were controlling the seating and only those supporting the bill were allowed to sit in the hearing room during Mayor Turner’s presentation and those of the resource witnesses.

The large overflow crowd took up two committee rooms and a large auditorium located in the Capitol extension. The red Houston firefighter t-shirts contrasted with the HOPE t-shirts worn by the City of Houston Organization of Public Employees. Some city employees drove to Austin in city vehicles.

Flynn is carrying Houston’s pension bill, HB 43, in the House and put words into the mouths of speakers before his committee. Flynn made every speaker announce their name, state whether they are for or against the bill, and asked all the speakers to acknowledge that they were speaking on the committee substitute to HB 43. I am sure that Flynn’s directions were confusing to the numerous witnesses who were new to the legislative process.

HB 43, as substituted, is the companion bill to Senator Joan Huffman’s pension bill, SB 2190. The two bills, as substituted, are identical except for the provision in SB 2190 that requires a vote on the process. These two bills contemplate a billion dollar pension obligation bond.  Huffman’s bill 2190 requires a vote for the pension obligation bonds. It should be noted that the firefighters receive no proceeds from this bond. Turner and the police and municipal employee unions object to the voting requirement in Huffman’s bill. I believe this is because they know that Houstonians would not vote in favor of more debt. Please note that Turner does want to place a referendum on the November ballot that would allow him to lift the revenue cap.

Turner, the first witness, described how the world would end without the approval of HB 43. The truth is if HB 43 failed, several scenarios could play out. The city could:

  1. File for bankruptcy;
  2. Dramatically raise taxes;
  3. Continue to borrow money from unions running up the unfunded liability – or layoff union workers.

The bankruptcy option is never discussed because this process would remove the mayor as the decision maker on spending. Raising taxes would require lifting the revenue cap. Thanks to Bruce Hotze, lifting the revenue cap requires a vote by Houstonians. Mayor Tuner wants folks to vote on the revenue cap but not the pension bonds. If hypocrisy had a vote, the lifting of the revenue cap would fail. It is not an accident that Turner labeled his cap a corridor.

The revenue cap, approved in 2004, limits the increase in the city’s annual property tax collections to the combined rates of inflation and population growth, or 4.5 percent, or the lower of the two. Voters in 2006 adjusted the cap, allowing $90 million above the cap for public safety spending. Turner has not made his desire to spend above the cap a secret. Turner’s attempt to cap pension expenses and remove the property tax cap will be difficult for city voters to stomach.

The real story of Monday’s hearing was the testimony from the firefighters and their families. Many firefighters spoke, far more than any other employee group. The firefighters were respectful, polite, and prepared. The firefighters told compelling stories of the impact of HB 43. Firefighters argued that they negotiated with the city over wages and benefits and agreed to lower wages and higher benefits. Conversely, the police and municipal employees argued for higher wages. Now, the police and municipal employees want the firefighters to help them make up their pension liability shortfall.

Recently, the city has hired 700 new employees; but, hardly any police or fire employees. The city’s public works department has 4,000 employees compared to the more efficient county’s public works department that operates with 500 employees. The county’s public works department builds roads faster and better.

The city’s ability to borrow large sums from the unions by not paying them has allowed the bloated bureaucracy to breed inefficiency, redundancy, and a lack of accountability. Turner’s plan punishes the firefighters when they have been the responsible adult in the room for many years. Instead of bloated salaries, Houston fighters have been fiscally responsible by requiring a fully funded pension. Now, the pay scale between police and fire is significant.

Truth be told, the police cut a very fat hog and now they want their firefighter brothers to pay for it. Turner will do anything possible to pass HB 43 because it allows him to spend money at an irresponsible pace. The police and municipal employees want HB 43 to pass because it gives them a billion dollars to allow escaping union members to retire. Those left behind will have to deal with the increasing realization that their pensions may not be funded.

Some union members have figured out that the defined contribution plan (in contrast with the defined benefit plan) actually costs less and gives more than Turner’s plan. Social media is interestingly enough playing a role in disseminating information about the cost of the corridor. Huffman’s bill has been placed on the intent calendar for floor debate in the Senate this week. It could be called at anytime. Will Bettencourt filibuster the bill? It will also be important to watch what happens to SB 2190’s voting requirement. This is where Turner and the city’s lobby team will attempt to get rid of the voting requirement.

Pension March Madness

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The City of Houston gotsta get paid. For years, city leaders have operated with the philosophy of spending money that the city just doesn’t have. The Turner administration is no different.

Under Mayor Annise Parker, the media looked far and wide for a way to blame Republicans for the sins of liberal spending by a series of Houston mayors. Last legislative session, Mayor Parker took the position that Republicans refused to give her local control over the City of Houston pensions. Conversely, Parker promised the Houston Police Officers’ Union (HPOU) that she would not seek local control or use the city’s sizable lobbying forces to seek local control. Although Turner’s legislative strategy is a little more sophisticated and he is certainly more eloquent, he shares the same objective as Parker – keep on spending money and kick the can down the road.

Last session, State Representative Jim Murphy offered a bill for local control, which never made it out of committee. This was always the plan. Mayor Parker had to fool people for her last two years in office in order to keep spending money the city did not have in their accounts.

Mayor Turner’s dilemma is different because he was just elected to a four year term with a potential second term in his sights. After many years of working to assist city leaders in the legislature, Turner knew that his sneaky bastard plan had to be far more creative than Parker’s 2015 plan. Turner’s plan is simple: involve all three unions (police, fire, city employees), lobbyists, patsy legislators, and the Lieutenant Governor in the ultimate goal of spending money that the city doesn’t have in the coffers. I will count lining the pockets of lobbyists as a goal for discussion purposes.

Bill King has done yeoman’s work in holding Turner’s feet to the fire for a real solution to the pension problem. King ran on a platform of meaningful pension reform with the solution of moving all new employees to a defined contribution plan. Turner was endorsed by all three unions after he promised to oppose King’s defined contribution plan.

The three unions strongly oppose defined contributions because defined benefit plans are easily manipulated by politicians to benefit the unions. Defined contribution plans remove the politics from the equation. Thankfully and in the face of unfair criticism, King has remained engaged at the legislature in the defined contribution cause. March madness is in full effect and the Houston bracket of bad guy liberal spending is winning the tournament.

Turner knew that he had to employ a kick the can down the road strategy without being obvious. Turner’s first feat was to get Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Senator Joan Huffman to agree with HPOU officials to take defined contribution off the table this legislative session. Ray Hunt, HPOU President, is a smart guy and is always covering bases. I like Ray even though I disagree with him all the time. He is a nice guy who does a very good job for his officers. They are lucky to have him.

Turner also lucked out when Patrick gave Huffman the position of chairwoman of the Senate State Affairs Committee where she is tasked with getting Turner’s bill through the senate.

Word started leaking out last summer that Turner’s scheme would employ a cap on city pension payments. So, the next time you hear Turner say he does not like caps – a la the property tax cap – remind the mayor that he is supporting his own version of a cap on city pension expenses, albeit a fake one. Beginning last summer, policy wonks immediately began speculating how Turner’s cap would work and whether it would it be enforceable. Turner was smart enough to call his cap a “corridor” – but, it is really a cap. Turner doublespeak.

State representative Dan Flynn chairs the House Pension Committee. Flynn’s bill, all 246 pages, has been circulated in the business community in order to garner the support of downtown types who are beholden to the mayor for handouts. Thankfully, King and members of the Arnold Foundation began analyzing the bill and sought edits that would tighten up the language. The devil is always in the details. King, Arnold Foundation representatives, and business leaders met with Senator Huffman in order to make crucial and necessary changes to Flynn’s bill. King and his crew spent hundreds of hours analyzing and tightening the corridor/cap language. The goal of these edits is to force the unions to adhere to Turner’s supposed principals. Anything else bankrupts the city.

Needless to say, after all the hours spent by King and others to tighten up the language, Huffman’s substitute filed on Monday is an exact copy of Flynn’s bill. None of the recommendations by King, the Arnold Foundation, and the local business community made it into Huffman’s bill. The good guys were played – Huffman was the secret agent. 

Huffman had probably been informing Turner and his lobby team of King and the gang’s recommendations all along. It should be noted that Huffman and her husband are longtime friends with Ray Hunt and Mark Clark, HPOU’s top lobbyist.

King has vowed to spend his time next year running against Huffman. King does live in her district and I believe that he is seriously considering the possibility. I will support him for his attempt to do the right thing on this issue alone. We will need to work with him on some other conservative issues but don’t forget that Trump came along too.

On Monday, I was present in the Senate chamber and testified on Senator Bettencourt’s SB 151 that was heard immediately prior to the Huffman pension bill. SB 151 requires a vote on the billion dollar pension bond by city voters. Huffman’s bill did contain this language but I suspect it will be stripped out in conference. Huffman has proven that she is not to be trusted.

Robert Miller, lead lobbyist for the city and law partner of Senator Whitmire, has covered his bases. Miller knows that Turner’s goal is a sleight of hand – appear as though he is doing something without actually doing anything. This was also true for Parker.

The goal is to keep spending money and lining the pockets of cronies. This fraud cannot happen if the bill actually worked because the unions would have to abide by paying their fair share. It was never the intention of Mayor Parker, Turner, Miller, or anyone in Austin to have this pension bill work as advertised. The goal was to grab the billion dollars and hand it over to the police and municipal employee unions so their retiring officers can make a fast break with their multimillion dollar pensions. Did you know that city taxpayers are making millionaires out of city workers? You know now.

Notice that I did not mention anything about the firefighters. The firefighters are actually the fiscally responsible adults in the room. Although their pension is far from perfect, it is financially much better off than the other two pensions. The billion dollar pension obligation bonds (POBs) proposed in Turner’s bill go to police and the municipal employees union. The firefighters get none of it.

The story gets worse for the firefighters because their pension is almost fully funded; but, they are being treated like the bad guys by city leaders. The city is asking for large concessions from the firefighters who are being punished for being good stewards of their funds. I say this because the firefighters always stood their ground and made the city fully fund their pension. The other two pensions did not and allowed a succession of Houston mayors to rack up a ten billion dollar unfunded liability.

Basically, the other two pensions have turned a blind eye to the out of control spending at the City and have taken lots of IOUs. Turner’s goal in all of this is to keep spending money that the city simply does not have. Turner’s pension plan is bogus and falls far short of his claims. Even worse, we really do not know the real fiscal health of the private equity investments held by the unions. The billion dollar pension bond could just be a starting point for the taxpayers. We need an audit by qualified, competent auditors who can be held responsible for erroneous financial information of both funds.

Either way, all of the actors in this year’s legislative tournament are behaving badly. Both Dan Patrick and Joe Straus have lined their pockets with union money. Do not think for a second that Joan Huffman acted without Pappy O’Patrick’s approval. Governor Abbott’s campaign has taken lots of money from unions; so, don’t expect him to do the right thing for Houston taxpayers.

Now is the time to fill out your bracket. My money is on the taxpayers losing bigly. The bottom line is that March madness has nothing on the drama at Texas Capitol. The next big game is Monday when Flynn’s bill is heard in the House.

CPS and Governor Abbott

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CPS is the cause du jour of this legislative session. In January, Governor Abbott identified CPS as one of the four emergency items for this session. CPS is one of those stories that begins with good intentions and ends with really big authoritarian government. These are the bills under consideration; SB11, HB 914, HB6, HB4.

Let me start by saying I am 55 years old and going on 56. When I was growing up, my parents expected me to be out of the house after breakfast and my brother and I usually returned home after the sun went down.

As kids growing up in the 60’s and 70’s we lit huge fires and burned ourselves more than once. We had BB gun wars with the neighborhood kids, threw rocks at each other, hit golf balls at each other, and climbed anything that presented a challenge. We thought nothing of it. I have been kicked, thrown, and stepped on by a horse. My twin brother and I were fortunate that our grandfather owned a gun club. We were popular because of the gun club and it is a wonder that we all escaped alive.

My poor mother still tells the story about how I showed up one afternoon after hunting with my twin brother. My face was covered with blood. When my mother asked what happened to my face, I made the mistake of telling her that my brother shot me during our hunt. The look on her face scared me.

Although I could not see the blood on me, I could taste it and the salt in my blood was stinging my eyes. This was my immediate concern. My mom had other thoughts.

I quickly told my mother that a dove had flown in front of one of the oil storage tanks when my brother pulled the trigger. The shot ricocheted between the two tanks and hit me in the face. Somehow, at that moment, I thought this explanation was going to help his plight, our plight – it didn’t. Our guns were taken away for a whole two weeks, a lifetime at that age – oh, the humanity! These were the first world problems of my youth.

We were on a first name basis with all the emergency room staff at Methodist. They knew the Hooper twins well. As the doctor picked shot out of my face, I had plenty of time for a lecture on irresponsibility. All the doctors got to know my brother and me because my dad worked in the medical center. I remember a doctor telling me that he was going to install zippers on the knees of my jeans because of all the times he stitched them up. There was never a thought from any emergency room physician back then to call any authority. Now, it is against the law to NOT call CPS – think about that for a second.

The government keeps losing children. More correctly, CPS keeps losing children. I know Greg Abbott thinks CPS needs more funding; but, throwing money at a problematic agency will not prevent children from getting hurt. CPS is broken. The agency’s mission seems to be stopping kids from getting hurt; but, this is impossible. Being a kid is dangerous – always has, always will. Kids get hurt and sometimes they get killed doing stupid things. We used to call these stupid things accidents. Now, we call CPS.

CPS abuses are legendary and have become part of the political mainstay. CPS is a very dysfunctional organization and their attempt to serve as the parenting police has been a disaster. Exes and their kids use the system for their own purposes. True allegations and occurrences are sometimes lost in the crowd.

Leilianna Wright

There are many horrible, gut wrenching stories concerning children who were not helped by CPS. Like Leiliana Wright. Or Emma Thompson.

I serve on the board of a non-profit that provides legal services to the indigent. This week, a woman tested positive for drugs when her baby was born. CPS took her baby, and told her they would remove her three other children. Mom did not live with the father and the dad was not informed of the removal. Dad has never had a drug issue and owns a home of his own. This scenario is not uncommon. CPS made no attempt to place the children with their dad and he was forced to go to court to get his children back.

The issue of CPS comes up a lot with this non-profit. People of a lower socioeconomic class do not understand CPS – heck, I do not understand CPS. Most people seeking help from this organization think CPS is a law enforcement agency. CPS actually wants people to think that they are law enforcement because it makes their job easier.

Henry “Hank” Whitman

Every week, someone enters the office of this non-profit and says that CPS took their children. The organization’s standard response is, “No, you gave your children to them.” People hand over their children to CPS every day in Texas and the story is always the same. CPS bullies someone into a signing a document relinquishing their children to the agency. CPS has become a bully to many and, unfortunately, the poor are the most victimized because they do not have access to resources.

In April 2016, Abbott appointed retired Chief Texas Ranger Henry “Hank” Whitman to lead the Department of Family and Protective Services, parent agency of Child Protective Services. Abbott also sent over the head of child support services from the Texas Attorney General’s Office. Investigators like to investigate things and that does not always bode well for children or parents. Whitman is reaching out to church groups and ministers for the “Network of Nurture Initiative.” This is good. The church is where society turned to for many years before the government got in the way.

I am nervous because Governor Abbott has a history of creating really big government bureaucracies that serve no one well. The Attorney General’s Office grew exponentially under Greg Abbott’s tenure. The Attorney General’s Office files 80{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of all the family law cases in Texas and the legal juggernaut has wreaked havoc on parenting and clogged the courts of our state. The AG’s Office files enforcement actions against parents hundreds of times a day creating a very large bureaucracy that feeds on itself. Family courts, court personnel, lawyers, psychologists, social workers, CPS lawyers, and lawyers from the AG’s office all do this horrible kabuki dance everyday down at the courthouse. The biggest losers in all of this are families and children. The problem is magnified in large urban areas where needs are increased. The bureaucracy has become the problem and is working against families.

I do not think that we should spend one dime to “improve” CPS. Instead, upgrading the agency’s technology would be much more cost effective. Investigators leave the CPS offices everyday with files crammed full of papers off to investigate another case. Wouldn’t it be nice if all that paper was on a tablet? The tablet could contain all the information needed for all their cases with access to volumes more information, if needed.

At the non-profit, our office is paperless. It is paperless because we know that every time someone touches a piece of paper, it costs money. Going paperless also prevents important documents from being lost. The non-profit went paperless because the money saved went to help more indigent people. We saved 30{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of expenses by making this simple change. A technology upgrade at CPS would solve one of the biggest criticisms of the agency, which is being able to track custodial homes for children.

CPS policies and procedures are setting up parents for failure. All of the hoops set up for parents to jump through make it difficult, if not impossible, to reunite parents with children. Parents must attend parenting classes, drug testing, psychological evaluations, and home visits while maintaining a job. Parents are told to report for drug testing when no appointment is on the books, which wastes their time and money. Working parents are forced to take off work multiple times to submit to all the services designed to help them be reunited with their children, but which actually sabotage their success. The policies and procedures of CPS are not working and we can do better.

Republicans need to get this right. The goal should always be a balance of the best often-competing interests of children. These interests include children wanting to go home, needing safety, and being with siblings. Creating large, inefficient, unresponsive bureaucracies harms families and children. Throwing money at the problem and adding more CPS personnel is unlikely to make the system more responsive to the needs of children. Director Whitman, come visit us and learn what it is really like trying to help children maintain a loving relationship with both parents. A group of conservatives do it every day in Houston and we want to help the state save money while maintaining safe and happy environments for our children.

Senator Joan Huffman-Let the People Vote

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Senator Joan Huffman photo Ralph Barrera-MBO

I wanted to say thank you to Senator Joan Huffman. It is rare elected officials look out for the taxpayers.

Senator Huffman, in an act of open defiance, inserted a provision into her pension reform bill that would require a vote on Mayor Turner’s billion dollar Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs). It must be a good amendment for taxpayers because Turner swiftly denounced the amendment as a poison pill. Turner’s demagoguery was quick and telling, omitting the fact that he carried the original enabling legislation, which created the mess. Did I mention all three Houston Public employee unions endorsed Turner?

Why is Mayor Turner so against a vote? Because he knows that this bond will be defeated at the polls. This one billion dollar bond does not buy one road improvement, hire one more police officer or firefighter, or build one park. All the money goes directly to city employees and their very lucrative Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP). This plan, originally supported by Turner when he was a state representative, has caused the unfunded liability totaling 8 to 10 billion dollars. Senator Huffman has the right idea because I fear we have another Dallas on our hands.

All investments need to be carefully scrutinized and the amount and size of every DROP account needs to be disclosed. The Enron-style accounting, lack of transparency, fraud, and misrepresentations associated with the pensions have been staggering.

Thank you Joan Huffman for looking out for the taxpayer!

Duane Buck Supreme Court Decision

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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States held that Duane Buck’s death sentence is invalid because defendant’s expert witness testified that Mr. Buck was more likely to be violent because he is black.

Buck was convicted of capital murder in 1996 and was sentenced to death in 1997. Buck’s attorney sponsored the testimony of Walter Quijano, a psychologist. Prior to trial, Quijano wrote, “Race. Black. Increased probability.” In 2000, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn said that asserting a connection between race and dangerousness was wrong and unconstitutional.

Now, the Buck case returns to Harris County for resentencing.