by R.A. Dyer
AUSTIN - To sign or not to sign --
that's the question.
The deadline is Sunday for Gov. Rick Perry to sign bills, veto them or
to let some become law without his signature.
With a stroke of his pen, the governor can still determine the fate of
important bills to give jurors the option of sentencing convicted capital murderers to life without parole, to help Texans
order less expensive drugs from Canada and to stiffen penalties on insurance companies that soak ratepayers.
Some analysts have said Perry could look to upstage Comptroller Carole
Keeton Strayhorn, who may announce a bid to run against him for governor during a ceremony on Saturday in Austin. For instance,
Perry could announce a partial veto from the state budget.
The Capitol is also rife with rumors that Perry will call a special legislative
session on school finance reform.
The "veto to watch for is what he does with the budget," said Will Lutz,
editor of the Lone Star Report. "He has [in the past] vetoed funding for entire state agencies -- he used that to abolish
state agencies.
"For Perry, that's an interesting call: He might upstage Strayhorn or
he might get upstaged."
But others say there may not be fireworks. That's because most of the
political cherry bombs already exploded with the failure of several high-profile bills during the legislative session, which
ended May 30. Likewise, Perry has already signed a handful of important bills.
"I think [the governor's office] had a pretty aggressive lobby effort,
and I think they were pretty successful in killing [bills] they wanted to get killed," said Harvey Kronberg, editor of the
online Quorum Report.
"There might be some stuff that will slip through that they have problems
with, but there should be very few surprises."
Already dead are bills that overhaul the state's school finance system
and the telecommunications industry. The governor has signed bills to overhaul the beleaguered Child Protective Services system,
to require physicians to notify parents before performing abortions on minors and to limit the number of lawsuits for asbestos-related
illnesses.
He may reach for the Alka-Seltzer before signing some of the remaining
bills. For instance, law-enforcement and conservative groups have opened fire on some of the proposed criminal-justice laws.
One bill attempts to ease crowding at Texas prisons by reducing probation
terms for felons from 10 years to five. After a probationer has served the five years, a judge would review the case annually
to determine whether to terminate the sentence. Another bill gives jurors the option of sentencing capital murderers to death
or life in prison withot parole.
Also watch what Perry does with regard to a bill that requires the state
pharmacy board to tell Texans which Canadian drug companies meet U.S. safety standards and to provide information about how
to import drugs, Lutz said. He said much of the drug lobby opposed the legislation.
The Canadian government controls the price of drugs, so medicine is often
cheaper there than in the United States.
"Both sides of that fight are taking it real seriously," Lutz said.
Other remaining bills include one that attempts to stabilize the $91
billion Teacher Retirement System by raising the retirement age from 55 to 60 for future teachers.
Another would require the governor's office to report on the effectiveness
of a special fund administered by the retirement system. The fund is designed to promote business investment.
A spokeswoman for the governor said he hopes to have signed or vetoed
everything but the budget by today. That leaves just the appropriations legislation, under which the state would spend $139
billion over the two-year budget cycle -- or about 19 percent more than the last cycle.
Perry has the "line-item veto" power to remove specific spending provisions
he doesn't like. Expect him to use it, the spokeswoman said.
