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LIV launched our Texas independent Voter Survey just as the American Solidarity Party holds its national convention in Plano, Texas. Come and take it -- the Texas Independent Voter Survey -- y'all! LIV advocates for no single political party and wish all our minor party friends, including the Solidarity Party the best! The American Solidarity Party is very new, starting in the 2016 election cycle. Click on their logo to access their website. They have well-thought-out positions on some big issues. LIV advocates for a multi-party competitive electoral system to enhance the policy debate that is all but dead in our state and country. We are also "fusionists," working with people in all political parties, including the major parties as we organize Texas independents who may not identify with any single political party. After you do this survey, contact us to get involved. And, please become a member of LIV today. Dues start at just $10 for the year.

LIV is tickled pink to share this release from the Center for Competitive Democracy and Shearman & Sterling! In short, Federal Judge Robert Pitman has held that Texas’s 118-Year-Old petitioning procedures are unconstitutionally burdensome and violate equal protection. Moreover, the court's order ends paper petitioning, ordering electronic signature gathering in Texas. (The courts, your car insurer and so many do electronic signatures, for lord's sake!) Hats off to the lawyers, the plaintiffs, and to all of us petitioners! This includes Mark Cuban who we hope shares this release from the Center for Competitive Democracy and the international law powerhouse working pro-bono on this case, Shearman & Sterling. The suit was filed in 2019 and, like most things in life in 2020, was delayed during the COVID pandemic. Release from the Center for Competitive Democracy here .

"The impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton is the result of the failure of one-party rule and the abuse of power by the Texas GOP. Paxton should have been forced to resign long ago and face corruption charges, on his own, in a court of law." LIV Independent Survey Question 2 . Go here to take LIV's full Texas independent survey . Impeachment Blues and Reds gets you five to two odds. Impeachment schmeepment, to be honest, is how we really feel about the Ken Paxton impeachment trial. It's a trial of Paxton's "peers," therefore a political trial. No offense to the Texas Senate, but if the impeachment trials of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump taught us anything, it's how nutty politics gets you nutty impeachments. That said, we're not giving up . We are holding our noses and our horses on impeachment blues and reds before a trial is supposed to begin on September 5th. LIV is following this because, regardless of the outcome, the Paxton impeachment is exposing how one-party-ruled politics in Texas really works or more accurately, doesn't. We wrote last week about House Bill 2127 , the likely (we hope) unconstitutional gutting of Texans' local control. There is so much more we want to tell you about. Those articles are in the works, so stay tuned. (See LIV's article, "How the Texas GOP lit its hair -- and every Texan's local control -- on fire." For now, folks, hold on to your straw hats. The filing deadline for candidates, other than Presidential, is December 11, 2023. All Texas House members and the State Senators who drew the short straws after redistricting ( here ) will be up for election in 2024. Some of LIV's Favorite Impeachment News Articles The June 20 edition of the Texas Monthly ran this article, " In the Ken Paxton Impeachment Trial, GOP Megadonors Are Free to Tamper With the Jury : " To a great many folks inside and outside of Texas, the likelihood of ejecting the state’s highest-ranking law enforcement official—one who has been under indictment for felony securities fraud for eight years, whose philandering has yet to be contested, and whose once deeply loyal top employees have urged his removal for soliciting bribes—would seem to have pretty good odds. But that’s only if you take political campaign contributions and fear of primary challenges out of the calculus." This June 22, Harvey Kronberg, Quorum Report article, " Senate impeachment trial rules at least suggest an air of legitimacy , " subtitled, "( h)owever non-lawyer Patrick’s rulings on evidence, procedure and law are final which still leads back to suspicion and question of what outcome achieves his own best interests ." If you're a political junkie, read the entire piece because Harvey is THE independent best! For now, we grab Harvey's most important point: "Although there is not a chance in hell Patrick would consider doing so, the rules do not prohibit him appointing someone else to preside like a retired Judge, for instance." We also really like this June 23 article in the Texas Tribune , " Despite promise of 'total transparency,' secrecy will be a big part of Ken Paxton impeachment trial . " Some LIV friends -- Adrian Shelley , Executive Director of Texas Public Citizen, Bill Aleshire , intrepid open government attorney, and Texas independent, and Texas Senator Sarah Eckhar dt (D-Austin) were interviewed for this story. Attorneys and legal sleuths will enjoy this June 26 article from writer, attorney, and political independent, Bill King, " Can Paxton Be Removed For Conduct Before The Last Election ? , " King explains how the Senate could try to take the easy way out to end this impeachment without a trial. LIV wishes to thank all those who are trying to get something out of this impeachment for the people of Texas, including those mentioned in this article. Our political straw hats off to you!

<== Click on Rep. Rose's picture to watch a 5-minute excerpt of the hour presentation to LIV on June 6th by Adrian Shelley, environmental attorney and Executive Director of Public Texas Public Citizen. The full video is available to members of LIV. Send us a note, and we'll send you a private link. The presentation includes Adrian's review of TCEQ (Texas Commission for Environmental Quality) legislation. What is a Texas Independent, if not someone for every Texan's local control? "What if we Texas independents simply want open and ethical government, just as do millions of Republicans and Democrats in our open primary state? HB 2127 threw out 112 years of Texas home rule, both the baby and the bathwater of what makes Texas tick -- local self-governance by thousands of local governing authorities and their citizens. We need a thorough-going cross-partisan anti-corruption movement or watch chaos and litigation go wild in our already wild state. And if this movement is led by Texas independent voters, Ken Paxton won't be the only one we hope gets a pink slip," said Linda Curtis, LIV's Chief Organizer. The biggest stinker of the 88th Texas Legislative Session, HB 2127 . HB 2127 represents a paradigm shift from “local authority except where specifically preempted by the state constitution or state law” in favor of “super-preemption” by the state of broad swaths of municipal and county regulation. As a result, the right to self-governance of over 350 home-rule cities (cities with at least 5,000 residents and a city charter), currently protected by our state constitution’s 1912 Home Rule Amendment, have been irreparably damaged. Never mind that Texans have enjoyed the most home rule of any state in the nation for 112 years. (See Terrell Blodgett's explanation here .) LIV has an equally unsettling concern that HB 2127 will have unintended --- or even intended ---consequences for citizens’ rights to petition their cities for a public vote, also protected under the Home-Rule Amendment. We will explore that concern after we give you the flavor of HB 2127. This article in JD Supra about HB 2127, called the "Regulator Consistency Act", is a helpful overview, explaining the "broader implications than lawmakers envisioned”. As noted in the article, HB 2127 marks a profound shift away from local government authority and towards increasing state control. Excerpted from the House Research Organization's Report on 2127: "CSHB 2127, the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, would prohibit a municipality or county from adopting, enforcing, or maintaining an ordinance, order, or rule regulating conduct in a field of regulation occupied by a provision of certain statutory codes unless the municipal or county regulation was expressly authorized by another statute. The prohibition would apply to the following codes: Agriculture Business & Commerce Finance Insurance Labor Natural Resources Occupations Property" Click here for the full analysis from the House Research Organization about you who pushed for HB 2127. Notice the big players, NFIB (National Federal of Independent Business) and the conservative think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation. Enjoy these comments from those who tried to nip HB 2127 in the bud at the Lege to no avail, a cross-partisan crew of local officials and citizens of Texas. The burr under Rep. Dustin Burrow's (R-Lubbock) Saddle There's at least one big problem now for HB 2127 House author Rep. Burrows (R-Lubbock) and the Senate sponsor Brandan Creighton (R-Conroe). The legislation may well be unconstitutional. <== Watch one of our more brilliant Texas State Senators, Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin), former Travis County Judge, take on HB 2127 sponsor Senator Brandan Creighton. The exchange makes plain a solid argument that HB 2127 is a test case for an unconstitutional state of Texas overreach. Moreover, if you read the bill, there is little definition of how HB 2127 is supposed to work. The author and sponsor, clever operators they are, deliberately left it vague to make the courts do their work for them. As the JD Supra article makes plain, there's money in them thar hills for litigators! More’s the pity, we all know who is going to pay for those lawsuits. And you thought the GOP was for lawsuit "tort reform," didn't you? Note that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a similar "super-preemption" bill in 2022, stating that it would lead to "unintended consequences," including "costly litigation." Here is Gov. DeSantis' veto letter. See WUSF News article here for more information. Meanwhile, Governor Abbott signed HB 2127 on June 13th, and over the last few days, he has made plain he will use his veto pen as a club against other Republicans. We'll be writing about this soon, meanwhile, sign up for the "Buzz" at QuorumReport.com . Every Texan's Local Control -- the Right to Petition -- vandalized by HB 2127. For 112 years, Texans from across the spectrum have used petitions on a wide range of issues when our municipal government fails to address problems with campaign finance, criminal justice, open government, aquifer protection, public smoking, camping bans, discrimination, corporate subsidies, red-light cameras, local taxes, local budget audits and more. The list goes on and you win some and lose many because more fail than pass, and many (like LIV's SAWS Accountability Act) fail to get the required signatures. But local petitions are all part of the process of local civic involvement, the very thing the nanny overlords in the Lege seek to stamp out of the Texas body politic. Those who pushed HB 2127 on us Texans, are begging for the entry of more than Texas Democrats into the war they kicked off against local governance. Texas populism may be dead. Stick with us, folks. We're about to prove that reincarnation happens in genuinely independent populist politics. "Deciding Local Matters for Themselves" These words, written six decades ago referred to the strong emotions that local leaders have toward the concept of home rule. That deep desire for local decision-making is the common thread that continues to link municipal officials across time, geography, and political ideology. “Municipal governments can be neither free nor responsible unless they are guaranteed the right (and the compulsion) to decide purely local matters for themselves.” –Carl Chatters, Executive Director of the American Municipal Association (1953). What now? Don't mourn, organize! Texas independents must self-organize together with our friends in all parties to send the worst actors in this preemption business a pink slip in 2024. And, yes, we should pray for successful court action. Join LIV and Volunteer to make it happen. Hint: LIV dues are $10 to $1000 per year, you choose what to give, including your time. If you are like us at LIV, you cherish the opportunity to DO something politically meaningful right where you are in Texas. Contact LIV, we have real work for you to do from home or in the field. Mark Your Calendar! Let's grab some power for all the people of Texas. Monday, July 10th, at 7 pm, LIV's next online monthly forum, with the amazing Super Lawyer Susan Hays . Reserve a seat anytime, including now. Go to our Events Page to RSVP. August 6 thru 8, Southern Family Farmers and Food Systems Conference , at Texas State University. LIV needs volunteers (and funds for sponsoring them) to staff our booth while taking breaks to attend sessions. More here. Wednesday, June 21, Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District Meeting (Lee & Bastrop counties, at Giddings City Council Chambers. Agenda here . Read SAWDF's news update here . Must read : We at LIV bemoan the thousands of bills that failed in this session to protect our water, wallets, energy and so much more that went down the tubes. Read the hot-off-the-press Texas Monthly's " The Best and Worst Legislators . " '

One Ken Paxton impeachment prosecutor, Rusty Hardin , "respectfully" suggested in his statement to the press that Paxton's attorneys watch Joe Pesci's opening statement in "My Cousin Vinny." After you read Hardin's short statement, we know you will be tempted to play along. Click on the video window to the left. The trial is set for no later than August 28th. The good news is that attorneys on both sides agree that the Senate trial should be fully transparent for us all to watch. No doubt, the theatrics involved in this case will abound. But here's your chance to get serious about this by reviewing the two articles we suggest below: Quorum Report on Impeachment Rules, Rule here . Texas Monthly, " Paxton's Impeachment is Not a Referendum on Trump ". If so moved, come on back and post your comments on this page. We love hearing your views.

In case you missed the media coverage, Cornel West , philosopher , political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual is running for President with the backing of the People's Party. <== In his interview on Democracy Now!, West places front and center his call to end the US "proxy war" in Ukraine, explaining how a ceasefire could be negotiated. We, at LIV, would call that spoiling for competitive elections right here in the good old USA. The war in Ukraine is a worthy debate in light of the lack of debate, so far, within the Democratic Party. When we heard, our concern was whether the People's Party, riddled with in-fighting and drama, had built enough infrastructure to make a go of a presidential campaign. West just switched to the Green Party, with whom he has long been a supporter. Good deal. Spoiling Elections or Spoiling for Competitive Elections? We can hear the nattering nabobs now talking about how the Greens will be spoiling this presidential election. Stop it now, please. The last time we saw an outsider presidential candidate threaten the outcome of a presidential election was 1992, for lord's sake. That was when Ross Perot was coming into the California primary with a whopping 45%. Perot abruptly dropped out. To us who were around then, we had little doubt Perot was receiving threats to his family. He came back months later to garner 19% without one electoral college vote. Those 19 million votes were a testament to the desire for electoral competition. What happened afterward is a long story we hope to tell you sometime. Now, dear readers, if you think that Perot elected Bill Clinton or that Ralph Nader "spoiled" the 2000 election, read this Reason Magazine article, " No, Ralph Nader did not hand the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush ." The truth will set you free to join our growing movement here at LIV for independent politics in Texas. Millions more of the American people want electoral competition -- more choices at the ballot box. Do the LIV Two-Step, Y'all! Become a LIV member. Dues start at just $10 for the year. Get involved. We have things for you to do, depending on what you're up for.

Here’s what Rich Winger of Ballot Access News wrote about Lee Drutman’s new humdinger of a book “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop”. Although the title may sound lurid, “Doom Loop” is an established term. A synonym is “Reinforcing feedback loop”. A microphone connects to an amplifier; the microphone picks up a whisper; the amplifier makes the whisper louder; the microphone picks up the noise and makes it louder, etc. Drutman shows that since the 1980’s, the U.S. party system has become a doom loop. We have moved from the system of the 1950’s, when there were conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, to today’s system in which the two major parties stand in fierce opposition on cultural, economic, and human rights values. Drutman writes, “America is divided over two competing visions of national identity. Politics is now all about winning and losing. Government is breaking down.” Also, “when partisanship turns toxic, thinking your party is right turns to thinking the other party is not only wrong, but dangerously wrong – so dangerously wrong that should they ever get into power, their policies would pose an existential threat to the nation. When loyalty is absolute, parties can mislead voters they supposedly represent into supporting policies that in fact make their lives worse off. “ Drutman writes plainly and the book is easy to read, but it is backed up with hundreds of notes to scholarly publications. He shows that the solution is not to minimize political parties, but to change the election system so there are more parties with real power and seats in Congress. He describes the most commonly used forms of proportional representation. He concludes the type of proportional representation which could plausibly be enacted in the United States is Multi-Winner Ranked-Choice Voting for congress, and Single-Winner Ranked-Choice Voting for president. Take aways: Obviously, pick up a copy of the book, "Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop." Rich Winger’s Ballot Access News is online here — please subscribe! Visit our page, " Growing the Independent Movement ." Become a member of LIV today! #LeeDrutman #RichardWinger #DoomLoop #RankChoiceVoting #BreakingtheTwoPartyDoomLoop #BallotAccessNews #ProportionalRepresentation

Say what you want about the "newspaper of record", but Saturday's NY Times published this blockbuster article about HB 2127 ( including this flier ), the Texas "preemption" bill that sits on Governor Abbott's desk. (Yes, you can still sign this letter urging the Governor to veto HB 2127.) What the Times leaves out is telling though not surprising. There's no mention of HB 2127's grab of Texans' only right to petition for a public vote, our citizen check and balance on the abuse of power by municipal government. Those petition rights are contained in the same Constitutional Amendment for Home Rule that cities and citizens have enjoyed since 1912! What the newspaper of record also missed in the battle between preemption and populism is who got caught in the crossfire between Texas's "red" state and the "blue" cities. T hat would be us regular Texans, millions of whom are Texas independents. LIV is working with folks and organizations that are doing all we can to protect our water, land, and small "d" democracy (a politically neutral and competitive voting system) in the face of the extreme special interest influence . Read that last sentence again, please. Because therein may just be the makings of an across-the-board truly populist movement that brings together people regardless of ideology and party, the likes of which haven't been seen in over 100 years. Join us tonight with Public Citizen's Adrian Shelley for a lively discussion about preemption and populism. Click here to sign in . BTW, there are many postmortems written about what happened in the regular Texas legislative session. This one from the Texas Tribune is worthy of your time as well.

We are delighted to host leaders from two top-notch non-partisan Texas organizations to talk with you on Monday night about the good, bad, and ugly bills in the 88th Legislative Session: Adrian Shelley, Esq., Director of Public Citizen, Texas Katya Ehresman, Common Cause of Texas We will focus on the "preemption bill," HB 2127 , a broad legislative attack on local control which includes our rights as citizens to petition for a public vote, the improvements (and lack thereof) at the TCEQ (Texas Commission for Environmental Quality), and election interference bills such as SB 1933 and more. Don't miss this first LIV forum on the 2023 Lege . There will be more as more special sessions appear on the horizon, not to mention an impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton. What a world! CLICK HERE TO RSVP Must Reads! The inimitable independent journalist Glenn Greenwald's May 30th show on Rumble, " Ukraine Bombs Moscow Residents ," delivers and urgent cautionary tale. On the heels of Greenwald's tragic loss of his husband, David Miranda, he warns us about the potential escalation of the Ukraine conflict that could rock everyone's world . It also has a hilarious segment on a beluga whale as a Russian spy. Ballot Access News : Enjoy Rich Winger's publication covering all the news about competitive elections! Here's June's . Thanks to Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report , " Hard to See a Path for Paxton ." we peons get a chance to understand what's really going on behind the scenes. Governor Greg Abbott has an ironic and major Rick Perry Oops moment in the handling of this mess of a special session on property taxes. Quorum Report's Scott Braddock excoriates the well-deserving King Greg . For those of you who ask why Ken Paxton was impeached by the Texas House , here are the charges published in the Texas Tribune. The Texas Senate has yet to set the date for a trial. Growth Gone Wild! A tidal wave of development east of Austin is a clash between industrial development especially from Elon Musk-related companies and suburban sprawl with 32 new developments on the way in Bastrop County alone! Local farmers (remember local foods?) and current residents are facing huge environmental challenges to our water and land, aka our natural resources. Here's just one development with 1200 homes covered in the Statesman this week . LIV's question is where is the water coming from as we are about to pollute it -- the Colorado River downstream from Austin? Get involved, y'all. Contact us here and join us at the Monday forum.

Sitting here on Memorial Day weekend, good political junkies we are, watching Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment proceedings in the Texas House. We just received a tweet with former State Rep. David Simpson' s article in the Longview News-Journal about the AG's impeachment, " Honor and Humility. Where are they ?" For us here at LIV, Simpson is raising the question of just what is a real Texas conservative. Simpson was THE most principled conservative ally of the independent movement in the Texas Legislature while remaining a loyal Republican. We called him "our independent Republican." We will never forget the wholly unprincipled campaign by Bryan Hughes against Simpson for Senate District 1 in 2017. What kind of conservatives supports massive taxpayer giveaways, destruction of private property, eminent domain abuse, and squashing their electoral competition? We miss you so much, David Simpson ! Read his, " Honor and Humility. Where are they ?" While you're watching! Take these two actions: First: If you haven't yet signed our letter to Governor Abbott to veto HB 2127. Please do and share away over the holiday! Go here . Second: Review the following Central Texas Interfaith message about the negotiations going on in a conference committee between the House and Senate on school property tax abatements appended below. (Don't forget Samsung's nearly $300M "savings" in school property taxes passed by the Taylor ISD, reviewed here in the Business Journal in 2021. Yuk!) CALL YOUR CENTRAL TEXAS SENATORS NOW - Ask them to adopt the Senate Version of HB5 or NOTHING On Wednesday, May 24, the Texas Senate amended and passed the committee substitute for HB 5 which revives an incentive program that will already cost Texas taxpayers $31 Billion in school property tax abatements over the next 15 years. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE MEETS TODAY. YOUR SENATORS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU. We would prefer that both House and Senate not approve HB 5. Nevertheless, as the House/Senate Conference Committee negotiates over the final version of the bill, Texas IAF believes that certain changes made by the Senate are significant in reigning in the cost and improving the honesty and transparency of this program. These changes must not be lost . CTI asks you to call ALL of these Senators to Ask Them to Adopt the Senate Version or NOTHING. CENTRAL TEXAS SENATORS or Find Your Legislator here, Call Your State Senator here Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (Austin): 512-463-0114 sarah.eckhardt@senate.texas.gov \ Sen. Donna Campbell (Austin, Hays County) : 512-463-0125 donna.campbell@senate.texas.gov Sen. Charles Schwertner (Bastrop, Williamson County) : 512-463-0105 Charles.Schwertner@senate.texas.gov Sen. Judith Zaffirini (Austin, Hays County) : 512-463-0121 judith.zaffirini@senate.texas.gov Sen. Brian Birdwell (McLennan County): 512-463-0122 Brian.Birdwell@senate.texas.gov \ The Senate Version has these important changes. Removes the “ kickbacks ” that companies were allowed to pay to school districts to get them to sign off on tax breaks. These “kickbacks” created a perverse incentive so that virtually all school districts approved all agreements, regardless of the cost to taxpayers who have to backfill the abated school property taxes with General Revenue. Kickbacks also undermine funding equity as a few districts are enriched and most others are not. Decreases the amount of abatement to 50 % of the property value (or 75% of the property value if located in a federally declared “Opportunity Zone”). Improves the process and timeline for approval so that there are multiple levels of review involving the Comptroller, the Governor’s Office, the School District, and a Legislative Oversight Committee consisting of both House and Senate members. Each of these levels must carefully review the proposed tax break and deny them when warranted. School districts must provide adequate notice to the public to learn about the proposed tax breaks and the industries which seek to move to or expand in their communities. Increasing the number of permanent jobs required to be created by firms obtaining a tax abatement and requiring that employers provide health insurance. We want the senate to strengthen the language around whether or not the incentive is the determining factor in building -The Senate version of HB 5 proposed new language requiring that the tax break be “a compelling factor in the competitive site selection determination…” In the updated fiscal note, however, the Comptroller has stated: "[i]t is the opinion of this office that the adopted Senate floor amendment with “compelling factor” site selection language would not result in a reduction in the number of applicants.” Clearly, in the opinion of Comptroller’s office, which has reviewed over 300 of these agreements in the last 12 months, this new Senate requirement is insufficient and must be strengthened in Conference Committee to determine whether the tax abatement will be the deciding factor in a company’s decision to “construct or expand a new or existing facility” in Texas. If it is not strengthened, Chapter 403, the new Chapter 313, will likely be even more expensive to taxpayers and school children than the old version Central Texas Interfaith http://www.austininterfaith.org/ LIV Calendar of Events: Tuesday, May 30th, 7 to 9 pm, Bastrop Public Library, about development impacts along the Colorado River. Prepare for TCEQ meeting on Thursday, June 1, see more below. See flier here . Before you join us on Tuesday, please review this message by Environmental Stewardship. Thursday, June 1st, 6 pm , McKinney Roughs Wastewater Permit, TCEQ Public Meeting, Cedar Creek High School Cafeteria, 793 Union Chapel Road, Cedar Creek, Texas, 78612. More here, including how to make comments. Join us at LIV Monday, June 5th, 7 to 8 pm for LIV's "Final Report the 88th Texas Legislative Session: the good, bad and ugly bills." Sign up here .

Release from Harvey Kronberg, Quorum Report: "Two hours of extraordinary testimony puts AG Ken Paxton on glide path to impeachment. Phelan takes control of the narrative, the Speaker can call the House back in on his own for Impeachment. Talk turns to Abbott choice to replace Paxton. In two hours of the most riveting testimony seen in the Texas Capitol since hearings were first streamed, four attorneys, all with deep experience in public integrity issues revealed the results of their investigation of Attorney General Ken Paxton. The depth and breadth of their revelations stunned the committee and are at this very moment reverberating throughout the Capitol." Read the rest of this extraordinary story about the process for a Paxton Impeachment hot off the press from Quorum Report here. Paxton is a problem and Texas "Leadership" is out of touch. Here's an example . We wrote about HB 2127 here. The bill is sitting on Governor Abbott's desk. He can sign it, let it sit for 20 days after which it goes into law, or he can veto it. HB 2127 ruins local control, including Texans' only right to petition for a public vote. The Governor is supposed to be a public servant, not a King. Sign our letter to the Governor, add your own words if you wish, then call his office at 512.463.2000 to urge a veto! We could also see by the end of this 88th Legislative Session : School vouchers rammed through OR the Governor threatens a special session. More here at Texas Tribune . Taxpayer giveaway abuses, especially Chapter 313 school subsidies, rammed tonight through the Senate! Check out both Ds and Rs on this stinker, HB 5 . . And, so many more good, bad, and ugly bills LIV will report about on June 5th. Sign up to attend this online event below. LIV Calendar of Events: Tuesday, May 30th, 7 to 9 pm, Bastrop Public Library, about development impacts along the Colorado River. Prepare for TCEQ meeting on Thursday, June 1, see more below. See flier here . Thursday, June 1st, 6 pm , McKinney Roughs Wastewater Permit, TCEQ Public Meeting, Cedar Creek High School Cafeteria, 793 Union Chapel Road, Cedar Creek, Texas, 78612. More here, including how to make comments. Join us at LIV Monday, June 5th, 7 to 8 pm for LIV's "Final Report the 88th Texas Legislative Session: the good, bad and ugly bills." Sign up here . Do you live in Austin? We share this " Save Dirty Martin's" alert for you to take action -- enjoy the video too! LIV also has a new contact page here -- get involved, y'all . Thank you! Not the End

" The bill enumerates the many different ways the TCEQ is not required to investigate a complaint, stripping away yet another public right and leaving us defenseless against the polluters the TCEQ, and the Legislature, are enabling! ” Steve Box, Environmental Stewardship . A hearing on SB 471 is scheduled for Wednesday, May 10 at 9 am by the TX House Environmental Regulation Committee. The bill has­­ already cleared the Senate. We're gonna tell you why SB 471 TCEQ is useless. Options for what you can do, after you read this article: Attend the Wednesday hearing and speak your mind. Here's the hearing notice . Can't attend? Weigh in here all the way until the end of the hearing. Call your State Representative now to urge a vote of NO on SB 471 if/when the bill comes to the House Floor . Find your legislators here . Environmental Stewardship v. the Reluctant Regulator Steve Box is an environmental hero who calls TCEQ "the reluctant regulator." He is a scientist. not a politician and therefore likely being too nice. For the last twelve years, we at LIV have trusted Steve's independent advocacy for the tools needed to protect our water supply -- groundwater and surface water -- in perpetuity. Senate Bill 471 (SB 471), was authored by Senator Drew Springer (R-Muenster, Senate District 30 ) . We steal a paragraph and quote about the legislation from an expert, Tim Doty, who was interviewed in this Texas Tribune article , published on April 17: "Tim Doty, an independent environmental consultant, and former TCEQ air-monitoring employee, said responding to citizen complaints is part of the agency’s job: “Just because it doesn’t lead to an enforcement action doesn’t mean your complaint is not valid.” TCEQ Pigs Can Fly Senate Bill 471 (SB 471), was authored by Senator Drew Springer (R-Muenster, Senate District 30 ). We steal a paragraph and quote about the legislation from an expert, Tim Doty , who was interviewed in this Texas Tribune article , published on April 17: Tim Doty, an independent environmental consultant, and former TCEQ air-monitoring employee, said responding to citizen complaints is part of the agency’s job: “Just because it doesn’t lead to an enforcement action doesn’t mean your complaint is not valid.” For those of you who believe environmental protection in Texas will not happen until pigs fly, we both agree and we disagree. We know the "industry lobby monolith" really does run the show at the Texas Lege. The Environmental Regulation Committee has plenty of special interest influence on it. That said, if we don't complain, we're not in a good position in the next round to DO something about it. And, remember, the bill hasn't passed the House yet. More from independent expert, Tim Doty Doty sounded the alarm for us here at LIV with this email about the risks this bill poses, and how difficult it will be to unwind if it passes: "Whether you realize it or not, the submission of environmental complaints to the TCEQ is one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox. This proposed bill as written will negatively impact your ability to get the TCEQ to address your environmental concerns at industrial sites and properties around Texas…If this bill is not stopped and delayed at this House Committee level, it will pass and will be the law of the land in Texas. I will guarantee you that no one will be happier than the TCEQ - less work and less responsibility. If we do not band together to stop this bill, each of you will eventually regret the inaction because you will lose power and leverage to minimize environmental impacts around the state." Doty makes the point that we will all suffer a long list of negative impacts if the Agency no longer has the benefit of its enforcement and complaint histories to inform its evaluations of, and its judgments about industry performance. Don’t we need a proactive “Texas Commission on Environmental Quality” to ensure clean water and clean air, and to protect our natural environment and human health from the risks of pollution? SB 471 instead promises the opposite result. It gives TCEQ the green light many of us have suspected the agency has wanted for decades --- permission to ignore one of its core functions of conducting environmental investigations, by simply ignoring complaints from the constituents it is sworn to protect ---- that would be US! PS TCEQ is under review by the Sunset Commission chaired by Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown). Where is he when every Texan really needs him to reverse the notion that TCEQ is useless? Have at it -- SB 471 -- folks! The independent political movement is on its way if you stay in the game. And become a member of LIV today and get active with us. We meet every week on Monday nights. For more information, please read LIV's News section and our " Big Squeeze " page.