MRT: TX Sup. Court: ‘Lack of Immunity’ Insufficient for Mail Ballot; Dallas Rejects 8% Prop. Tax Hike; State Road Funding at Risk; RIP Sam Johnson
Here's what you need to know in Texas today.
MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak
THURSDAY – 05/28/20
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TOP NEWS
"Texas Supreme Court: Lack of immunity to coronavirus alone isn't enough for mail-in ballot,"The Texas Tribune's Clare Proctor -- "The Texas Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a lack of immunity to the new coronavirus does not qualify a voter to apply for a mail-in ballot.
In the latest twist in the legal fight over voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, the court agreed with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the risk of contracting the virus alonedoes not meet the state’s qualifications for voting by mail.
“We agree with the State that a voter’s lack of immunity to COVID-19, without more, is not a ‘disability’ as defined by the Election Code,” the court wrote.
Texas voters can qualify for mail-in ballots only if they are 65 years or older, have a disability or illness, will be out of the county during the election period, or are confined in jail. The Texas election code defines disability as a “sickness or physical condition” that prevents a voter from appearing in person without the risk of “injuring the voter’s health.”
Although the court sided with Paxton's interpretation of what constitutes a disability, it indicated that it is up to voters to assess their own health and determine if they meet the state's definition.
"We agree, of course, that a voter can take into consideration aspects of his health and his health history that are physical conditions in deciding whether, under the circumstances, to apply to vote by mail because of disability," the court ruled.
The high court also rejected Paxton’s request to prevent local election officials from sending mail-in ballots to voters who were citing lack of immunity to the coronavirus as a disability. Those officials denied they were operating outside the law and argued they cannot deny ballots to voters who cite a disability — even if their reasoning is tied to susceptibility to the coronavirus.
When voters cite disability to request an absentee ballot, they're not required to say what the disability is. The voters simply check a box on the application form, and if their application is properly filled out, locals officials are supposed to send them a ballot. The state ultimately conceded that officials can't reject those voters.
The all-Republican Supreme Court had previously put on hold a state appeals court decision that allowed voters who lack immunity to the virus to qualify for absentee ballots by citing a disability. That appellate decision upheld a lower court's order that would have allowed more people to qualify to vote by mail.
The justices had not ruled on the merits in that case. But in considering Paxton’s request, which they took up in a virtual hearing last week, they grappled with how to interpret the state’s eligibility for absentee voting." Texas Tribune
"In large Texas cities, access to coronavirus testing may depend on where you live,"NPR's Sean McMinn, Audrey Carlsen and Ruth Talbot -- "As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, state and local health officials rush to try to detect and contain outbreaks before they get out of control. A key to that is testing, and despite a slow start, testing has increased around the country.
But it's still not always easy to get a test. While many things can affect access to testing, location is an important starting point.
NPR investigated the location of public testing sites in Texas, one of the first states to reopen, to see how they were distributed between predominantly white and predominantly minority areas. The investigation found that in four out of six of the largest cities in Texas, testing sites are disproportionately located in whiter neighborhoods.
With evidence growing that black and Latino communities are harder hit by this deadly disease, community leaders say that testing disparities are problematic. Many experts warn that if communities don't test the most vulnerable, they could miss pockets of infection and have new large outbreaks.
"If you're casting a very small net, and you're shining a flashlight on a small portion of infections that are out there, you might think you're doing OK," says Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, lead epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins COVID Testing Insights Initiative. "Whereas there's this whole pool of infections that you haven't seen."
Nationally, it's hard to determine where there may be testing disparities because data is scarce. Most states and cities across the country either do not track or do not report the racial breakdown of tests that are conducted. But there are media reports of racial disparities that suggest that the patterns identified in Texas are happening in other parts of the country.
"I was acutely concerned from the very beginning," says Dr. Wayne Frederick, president of Howard University, a historically black college in Washington, D.C., who is leading efforts by the university to bring more testing to black neighborhoods. The lack of attention paid to minority health care, he says, "is not a good strategy for our health care system and for the vulnerable part of our community."" NPR
"Community colleges trying to help students who are losing jobs, child care,"The Texas Tribune's Clare Proctor -- "Community college students often need reliable child care and hold regular jobs. As the novel coronavirus spread, these schools didn’t just have to figure out how to offer virtual classes. They scrambled to support students like Flahaut when the threads of their lives started to fray.
About a quarter of students at Texas’ 50 community colleges are 30 or older. And 76% take classes part time, often to allow for work and other responsibilities, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Many community colleges connect students with day care centers or food pantries, meeting needs beyond education, said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Across the nation, 42% of students who are parents enroll in community college, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
McCauley said the pandemic pushed many of her students to one of two extremes: either scrambling because they lost jobs, or working more hours than ever in health care or grocery stores. She accommodated her students’ changing schedules by recording her lectures and keeping tabs on her emails." Texas Tribune
"'We will remain strong': Cleanup continues after roof collapse at The Dixie Chicken," via KBTX -- "The roof of a historic College Station bar collapsed Wednesday night during heavy rainfall.
The Dixie Chicken in the Northgate Entertainment District in College Station is a longtime Aggie hangout. College Station firefighters were called to the bar just before 9:00 p.m.
Officials on the scene say the bar was still open with a few customers inside when the roof gave way, but no one was injured.
One of the bar's well-known features is a rattlesnake enclosure. Authorities said the roof collapsed near that enclosure but the snake was not harmed, did not escape, and was safely retrieved and has been relocated.
"We appreciate the outpouring of love and support. Tomorrow [Thursday] we will release a full statement," the bar posted on its Twitter page. "This is a time that we will truly need everyone and we will have more information in the morning. But with the Aggie support, we will remain strong."" KBTX
"Sam Johnson, Vietnam POW who became longtime Texas congressman, dies at age 89,"The Dallas Morning News' Sam Swartsell -- "Retired Congressman Sam Johnson, a conservative stalwart whose service to country spanned seven years as a prisoner of war and a long stint in the House, died Wednesday in Plano of natural causes. He was 89.
The Plano Republican packed multiple careers into a life defined by endurance, patriotism and sacrifice.
He served 28 years in Congress, from a special election in May 1991 to his retirement in January 2019, after 29 years as an Air Force fighter pilot. He saw combat in two wars — surviving torture and deprivation at the infamous Hanoi Hilton with a mangled hand and other scars — and a bright tenure in politics.
Among his captors, Johnson quickly gained a reputation for stubbornness. Despite extreme pressure, he refused to reveal military secrets or pen “repentance” letters that could be used in North Vietnamese propaganda.
His military career earned him enough distinction and accolades for a lifetime. After his release from North Vietnam, he ran the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, the so-called “Top Gun” institute that turns out some of the country’s best fighter pilots. Later, during his tenure in the U.S. House, Johnson’s diehard nature worked to his advantage, and sometimes to his detriment." Dallas Morning News
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Gov. Greg Abbott urges Texans to have surgery they need soon, while hospitals not slammer by coronavirus,"The Dallas Morning News' Robert T. Garrett -- "Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday urged Texans to consider having elective surgeries and procedures done this summer.
Doing so will allow the state again to shut off non-emergency medical work to free up hospital beds if coronavirus cases spike later in the year, he explained.
“We want to make sure that people who have cancer concerns or heart concerns or other different types of concerns, they get fully addressed right now,” he said.
Abbott made the comment at a news briefing at Amarillo City Hall, where he had a lengthy, closed-door meeting with area politicians before proclaiming to TV cameras the Panhandle city has "turned the corner” in trying to contain an outbreak of COVID-19.
Speaking of Potter and Randall counties, the governor noted that confirmed new cases of the virus, which soared to 734 on May 16, have fallen dramatically since.
On Sunday, there were 12. On Monday, no new confirmed cases in the two counties, each of which includes Amarillo, were reported.
During the past 10 days, Abbott held back a four-county area centered on Amarillo from further business reopenings and relaxations that he granted on May 18 to all other regions of the state except for El Paso County.
The state has sent National Guard personnel to the Panhandle to help disinfect nursing homes and surge response teams to increase testing and try to isolate people who are positive. The area contains meat-packing plants, senior living centers and jails and prisons, the three categories of “hot spots” for COVID-19, Abbott noted.
On Wednesday, Trauma Service Area A, which includes the upper Panhandle, had 59 coronavirus patients in the hospital, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services’ COVID-19 dashboard. Nearly 500 hospital beds were available, as were 116 ventilators.
“So all the numbers are looking good,” Abbott said." ...
As of Wednesday, 57,921 Texans in 230 of the state’s 254 counties have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the state health agency. Of them, 22,055 are active cases, with 1,645 in the hospital.
An estimated 37,626 state residents have recovered from the disease. There were nearly 17,000 available hospital beds, almost 1,900 of them intensive-care beds. Texas had 6,259 ventilators available for use, according to the department." Dallas Morning News
"Dallas City Council rejects formally looking at 8% property tax hike,"WFAA's Jason Whitely -- "After 90 minutes of debate on Wednesday night, Dallas City Council overwhelmingly rejected whether to even run the numbers and see what an 8% increase in property taxes would look like.
The failed resolution would have formally asked the county to calculate how much revenue Dallas would get from new appraisals if property taxes were raised by 8%.
Eleven council members voted against it. Three supported it.
Council Members Tennell Atkins, Adam Bazaldua and Jaime Resendez supported it by arguing that that they wanted it at least to be an option when the formal tax rate is set later this summer.
Like every city, Dallas faces a major budget shortfall in this pandemic since sales tax revenues are down. The city currently has a $25 million shortfall. Next fiscal year, the budget shortfall is forecast to be up to $143 million.
“Regardless of what you do today, we are going to present a budget that will have some service cuts,” warned Elizabeth Reich, the city’s chief financial officer. “In August, when we present the city manager’s budget, you will see some game changing things happening. That’s going to be necessary no matter what. What I’m not sure is whether it’s going to be palatable for everyone.”
“There will have to be a day of reckoning when it comes to services,” said City Manager T.C. Broadnax. “It is my expectation that the city council will probably not like those choices.”
Dallas has already furloughed 500 employees. Neither Broadnax nor Reich speculated on what cuts to city services would be made.
But whether to even formally run the numbers and see what an 8% tax increase would look like was not palatable for the majority on city council." WFAA
"As coronavirus results in less traffic, transportation funding in Texas and beyond takes a hit,"The Dallas Morning News' Tom Benning -- "A traffic-clogged drive between McKinney and Plano once formed a regular part of Farren Bennett’s Monday-through-Friday routine. Not anymore, at least since the coronavirus outbreak took hold.
The 60-year-old, like so many others, has been working from home.
“One hundred percent, the commute has disappeared,” said Bennett, who said he bought only half a tank of gas for his Toyota Highlander over the last couple of months to cover occasional trips to the grocery store or to get takeout for dinner.
Thousands of others in North Texas and beyond have likewise been staying off the roads amid stay-at-home orders and other social distancing guidelines, with one measurable side effect being a significant hit to the revenue streams used to fund road work.
Less driving means fewer stops at the pump. Fewer fill-ups means fewer gas tax dollars flowing to state and federal coffers. Less money could point toward fewer or less grandiose projects.
That crunch, happening all over the U.S., is heightened in Texas because the state’s road funding is fueled by two other sources slammed by the coronavirus’ economic fallout: oil and natural gas severance taxes, which are paid when those resources are taken from the ground, and motor vehicle sales taxes. As demand for fuel has ebbed, so has oil and gas extraction. And as the economy has taken a hit, fewer people have been buying new cars.
While the immediate impact is likely to be muted — transportation projects are lined up years in advance — planners are bracing for challenges down the road.
“Traditional revenues are bleak,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, which shepherds transportation dollars in its role as the region’s metropolitan planning organization.
The coronavirus outbreak has radically reshaped how people move about in their daily lives, particularly as orders designed to limit the pandemic’s spread have discouraged and sometimes outright prohibited travel to and from work.
All anyone needs for proof is to take a drive.
Road traffic has fallen off so considerably so that police have noticed an uptick in speeders taking advantage of the open lanes. Air pollution has decreased in some metropolitan areas, in large part because of the lack of bumper-to-bumper congestion.
AAA didn’t even bother this year to make its annual traffic forecast for Memorial Day weekend, typically one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
Data backs up those eye tests: Traffic in the first week of May was nearly 30% lower statewide and about 20% lower in Dallas than during a regular week in late February, according to statistics kept by the Texas Department of Transportation." Dallas Morning News
Ken Paxton guest column: "Trump is right and Twitter ‘fact check’ is wrong – mail-in ballot fraud is a real problem," via Fox News -- "Twitter purported Tuesday to “fact check” two tweets by President Trump in which the president pointed out – accurately – that mail-in ballots present substantial risks of election fraud.
Below the president’s tweets, Twitter added a disclaimer: “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” The disclaimer states that “there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud,” and links to articles – including pieces published by The Washington Post, CNN and NBC – calling Trump’s claim “unsubstantiated.”
I strongly disagree with Twitter. In 2007, during a spirited debate over photo ID legislation while I was in the Texas Legislature, a Democratic lawmaker from Dallas objected to the bill on the grounds that it allowed voting by mail to proceed without photo identification.
The legislator said: “Vote by mail, that we know, is the greatest source of voter fraud in this state. In fact, all of the prosecutions by the attorney general – I shouldn’t say all, but a great majority of the prosecutions by the attorney general occur with respect to vote by mail.”" Fox News
"Texas on the hook for $6.8 million after long voter ID fight,"The Texas Tribune's Alexa Ura -- "Texas ultimately won the long-winding fight to keep its voter ID law on the books, but a federal judge has ruled the state is on the hook for nearly $6.8 million in legal fees and costs.
In a Wednesday order, federal District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi found the state must pay that sum to the collection of parties who sued over the 2011 restrictions the state set on what forms of photo identification are accepted at the polls. A spokesperson for the Texas attorney general indicated the state will appeal the ruling." Texas Tribune
2020
Gromer Jeffers, Jr. weekly column: "Are Sen. John Cornyn's attacks against Royce West designed to sink Dallas Democrat or boost MJ Hegar?"The Dallas Morning News-- "An escalating feud between Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic rival Royce West raises questions about the incumbent Republican’s political calculations.
With Air Force combat veteran MJ Hegar of Round Rock considered by many analysts as the Democratic frontrunner, why is Cornyn continually attacking West, the longtime state senator from Dallas?
The answer could provide clues into Cornyn’s views on the Democratic race for Senate, as well as his preference for a November general election opponent.
It also reveals a fracture in the relationship of West and Cornyn, two longtime Texas leaders who have been fixtures on the Texas political scene. The back and forth could be about bruised feelings, with Cornyn’s campaign objecting to being called racists and West disappointed at the senator’s tactics.
“Cornyn’s an old dog playing an old trick,” said Ed Espinoza, executive director of the progressive group called Progress Texas. “He’s baiting Democrats to come to Royce’s defense. He’s trying to pick his opponent in the general election and he doesn’t want to run against MJ Hegar.”
But longtime Democratic strategist Colin Strother said Cornyn’s arrows at West proves he fears running against the state senator, not Hegar.
“They see him as their chief rival,” Strother said. “They don’t want him to be the nominee.”
“I’m sure he is afraid of facing a candidate like me in November,” West said Tuesday. “I have the record and the experience to more than match him, and I can bring together the diverse coalition of voters he and the Republicans have tried so hard to suppress in Texas, even now denying the common sense of voting by mail during COVID-19, because they value power more than people’s safety.”
A spokesperson for the Cornyn campaign declined additional comment." Dallas Morning News
"Joe Biden to address Texas Democratic Party convention June 6,"The Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek -- "Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, will address the Texas Democratic Party's 2020 convention next month, the party announced Thursday morning.
The former vice president will close out the convention, which is being held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, on June 6. The party also announced Thursday morning that Beto O'Rourke — the former Biden rival, U.S. Senate nominee and El Paso congressman — will speak on the convention's final day as well.
Biden, whose Texas primary win in March was part of a Super Tuesday romp that set him on the path to the nomination, has promised to compete in historically Republican Texas as the nominee. State party leaders hailed his appearance at the convention as a sign of the state's competitiveness in November.
“Texas is the biggest battleground state in the country," the party chairman, Gilberto Hinojosa, and vice chair, Carla Brailey, said in a statement. "With Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, Texas Democrats will help him win the White House. This is our moment.”
The party has built a high-profile lineup for the virtual convention, previously revealing speakers including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and three other former 2020 White House hopefuls: Julián Castro, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. In addition to Biden and O'Rourke, the party announced Thursday morning that U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, will address the convention.
The Texas GOP is set to hold its 2020 convention in-person from July 16-18 in Houston." Texas Tribune
"Republican Stan Stanart accidentally announces bid to reclaim Harris County Clerk job,"The Houston Chronicle's Zach Despart -- "Former Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart will run again for his old job, he confirmed Wednesday, joining two other Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for the November special election.
Incumbent clerk Diane Trautman, who defeated Stanart in 2018, announced earlier this month she would resign May 31 because of undisclosed health concerns.
The Democratic and Republican parties must nominate candidates to fill the remaining two years of her term.
“I’ve got eight years’ experience, and the name ID necessary to win in November,” Stanart said in a phone call. “I’m calling precinct chairs and doing very well asking for their endorsement.”
Stanart’s announcement Wednesday was the result of a mix-up; he said he thought he was talking to a Harris County Republican Party precinct chair when a Houston Chronicle reporter called him. He said he had planned to go public with his candidacy next week.
The other announced Republican candidates to date are former Houston city councilman Bert Keller and former Harris County judicial candidate Michelle Fraga." Houston Chronicle
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
"DOJ lawyer named new US attorney in Texas after resignation,"AP's Jake Bleiberg -- "Attorney General William Barr has named a Department of Justice lawyer to succeed the top federal prosecutor for East Texas, who abruptly announced his resignation this week.
Stephen Cox, a deputy associate attorney general in Washington, D.C., will take over as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas on June 1, according to a Justice Department statement. He will succeed U.S. Attorney Joseph Brown, who said Tuesday that he’d be leaving office at the end of the month without giving a specific explanation for his departure.
Brown, 50, was nominated by President Donald Trump and took office in 2018. His resignation came two months after ProPublica reported that his office clashed with senior Justice Department officials over a potential prosecution of Walmart for its opioid prescription practices. No charges were brought in the case and retail giant has denied that any employee committed a crime.
Cox was reportedly among the officials skeptical of the case against Walmart. After the Justice Department told Brown to halt the criminal investigation of the company, Cox said a parallel civil case was also not ready to proceed, according to ProPublica.
Barr said Cox’s “experience in areas ranging from regulatory reform to fraud to corporate compliance, and his reputation for fairness, sound judgment, and management, will serve him well in Eastern Texas.”
Cox attended college and law school in Texas and has since worked in private practice and for the Justice Department, the FBI, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After 120 days, acting U.S. attorneys generally require a presidential nomination and Senate confirmation, or federal judges could vote to appoint someone to the position." AP
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