Texas: Jessica Farrar

Today, at the Capitol ...

- The forecast calls for strong thunderstorms in the Senate today as a "committee of the whole" takes up a controversial voter ID proposal. Testimony and debate over the deeply partisan issue begins at 10 a.m., and could last until early Wednesday morning ...

- ... but even that won't stop the Senate Finance Committee from meeting at 8 a.m.

- On the House side, the Agriculture and Livestock Committee wades into troubled waters this morning as it discusses bills to post mercury contamination warnings outside fish vendors and testing sold fish for mercury. Both bills are sponsored by Rep.

Veteran state legislator Harold Dutton, D-Houston, is still chafing over House committee assignments and the perceived lack of respect by new Speaker Joe Straus for African American members.

Straus, R- San Antonio walked to Dutton's Capitol office last week for a visit and later met with the House Black Caucus.

Straus thought he had a good meeting with Dutton.

But Dutton says the speaker "wasn't aware that 14 committees didn't have any blacks on them."

"Is that a sort of an innocent ignorance or is that indicative of a 'I really don't give a flip attitude?'" wonders Dutton, who had supported then-former Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland.

Cool news! From her press release:
On Thursday, February 19, 2009, the Democratic Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives elected State Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) Chair for the 2009-10 term.

Rep. Farrar stated that, "I am honored that my colleagues have demonstrated such faith in my leadership by electing me Democratic Caucus Chair.  I pledge to continue to work with all members of the Texas House to protect and promote Democratic values by organizing efforts that deliver what Texans need in these hard economic times - health care, child care, an educated workforce produced by solid public schools and universities, all of which build a stronger economy.

All I've done for the last two hours is examine the numbers and look at the makeup of the Committees in the Texas House. I haven't talked to anyone, for the record, other than Matt Glazer about all of this. Here are the big picture take-aways, along with my thoughts on all of the individual Committees.

1. 26 Republican, 8 Democrat - The True Partisan Balance of the Committees
   Of the 34 House Committees, Republicans are Chairs and/or have a majority on 26 House Committees. That means for 26 House Committees, Republicans either control what legislation is set by virtue of being Chair of the Committe, or they can block any legislation that is "too Democratic" because they hold the majority of votes on the Committee.