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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
In final act, Texas Legislature boosts judges pay and lawmaker pensions
Texas lawmakers passed a bill that will give judges a long-awaited raise and boost their own pensions, after an 11th hour clash between the House and Senate. Texas judges will get a 25% raise, with base pay increasing to $175,000. This bill was not expected to be controversial — both chambers and parties agree this pay raise, the first since 2013, is overdue and necessary to lift Texas out of the bottom for judicial pay among states. Where it hit the skids was around legislator pensions, which are tied to judicial pay. A raise for judges should have meant a pension increase for lawmakers, but the House added an amendment decoupling them. The Senate rejected the proposal, with the disagreement spilling onto social media and pushing beyond the normal deadlines to reach a compromise. On Sunday, the chambers finally agreed to negotiate, and just hours before they closed out the 140 day session, they reached a compromise. Legislative pensions will rise with judicial salaries this time, but will be decoupled going forward. In 2030, the Texas Ethics Commission will take over assessing legislator pensions, as they do for the per diem and other lawmaker benefits. The bill says the commission will come up with equitable rules to determine pension amounts, taking into account possible raises for other elected officials, and reassess every five years. The Senate approved the proposal unanimously, with Sen. Joan Huffman, the Houston Republican who carried the bill, saying it "finally gives the judges of the state of Texas a long, well-deserved raise.' The House voted 114-26, approving the proposal over hesitation from both sides of the aisle. Democrats seemed concerned about cutting the pension benefit, while conservatives indicated they were expecting election season blowback for voting to raise their own pensions. Texas' part-time lawmakers earn $7,200 a year, plus a per diem for days they are in Austin. But those who serve more than eight years are eligible for a pension when they turn 60 (or when they turn 50 if they've served 12 years.) Rather than basing that payout on their meager legislative salary, it's long been tied to the base salary for a district judge, a benefit that allows some of the longest-standing lawmakers to earn annual retirement payments of $140,000 a year. 'For too long, the Legislature has been unwilling to give district court judges the raises that they deserve because it's tied to legislative pensions,' Rep. Brent Money, a conservative Republican from Greenville, said, calling it a 'politically toxic' issue. He said voting for the compromise was a choice between voting for the right thing, or the politically safe thing. "Let's break this stalemate, support our judiciary and face the consequences together," he said. The usual deadline for the chambers to reach a compromise would have been Saturday at midnight. As that deadline came and went without a deal, judges began barraging their legislators with phone calls and emails, demanding they reach a compromise. On Sunday afternoon, both chambers agreed to appoint conferees, including Leach and Huffman. The deal was still being hammered out when the House and Senate gaveled in on the last day of session, usually a ceremonial day to celebrate the wins of the session. Members from both chambers breathed a sigh of relief with the passage of the conference committee report Monday afternoon. 'I don't think I've ever worked so hard on a bill that wasn't mine,' Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said Monday. 'I have never gone back and forth as much between the House and the Senate in one day as I have today." First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
CBS News
26-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Changes to the Texas Lottery are coming under bill making its way through the Legislature
The scandal surrounding the Texas Lottery is prompting big changes in the Legislature. The Texas House passed a bill Monday morning that will transfer the lottery games to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and abolish the Lottery Commission. Powerball tickets at the Bonjour Food Store on Yale Street, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Houston. ( Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle ) Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images The legislation will likely head to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk after the House and Senate discuss it further. The measure also bans the sale of lottery tickets online and requires the state to thoroughly review the lottery's operations again before 2029. Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has been outspoken on the issue, and Attorney General Ken Paxton have all called for investigations, which are now underway. They and others have sharply criticized the lottery after questionable jackpots were won, including by players who purchased tickets through a lottery courier. The lottery will continue to provide funding for public schools and veterans' programs. While the lottery will survive, lawmakers debated an amendment that failed Monday night that would have ended the lottery games. Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville, who wanted to abolish the lottery altogether, said, "It is an unfair game that is primarily paid by poor people in order to fund an area in our government." Representative Harold Dutton Jr., D-Houston, asked Money, "Is it voluntary or involuntary?" Money replied, "It's voluntary." Dutton responded, "So if they choose to play it, you have a problem with that? You're saying it's voluntary. It is not taking it from anybody." Also, on Monday, the House passed a bill that will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to the TV and film industry in Texas. Unlike the Senate, which voted to give $500 million in incentives over the next two years, the House lowered that amount to $300 million. CBS News Texas asked Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's office whether he and senators will accept the House's changes or go to conference and negotiate their differences, but we did not hear back. Two other bills heading to the governor's desk include one banning THC in Texas, effectively wiping out the hemp industry, and another that prohibits the use of non-disclosure agreements against victims of sexual assault in civil settlements. The legislative session at the Texas Capitol ends Monday, June 2. Watch Eye On Politics at 7:30 a.m. Sunday on CBS News Texas, on air and streaming. Follow Jack on X: @cbs11jack
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
East Texas State Rep. Money discusses bills left to vote on in 89th legislative session
TYLER, Texas (KETK) — The 89th Texas Legislature will adjourn in June 2025 and recently KETK spoke with one East Texas State Representative about the bills waiting for a vote in this year's legislative session. Bill looks to allow small egg producers to sell ungraded eggs wholesale 'So we finished last Friday with all of the bills that originated in the House,' Rep. Brent Money of Hopkins, Hunt and Van Zandt counties told KETK. 'It's now too late for any bill that started in the House to become law. There are House bills in the Senate, and there are Senate bills in the House. I think that we're going to see a lot of priority items hit in this last session.' Money spoke with KETK's Tori Bean about the priorities they're trying to accomplish before the end of this session. These are priority bills like Senate Bill 1864, which is waiting for a vote in the House. 'I think to most people in Texas, a priority item is the things that you handle first to the exclusion of the non-priority items. The way it works in the Texas Legislature and particularly in the Texas House, is we save all the priority items for the very end,' Money said. SB 1864 would allow egg farmers to save money by selling ungraded chicken eggs. The Texas Senate on April 24 but is still waiting for a vote in the house. 'This is a bill that allows, for egg producers who are small, small chicken farms, to be able to sell ungraded eggs,' Money said. According to the Texas Legislature, the bill has been placed on the General State Calendar for this Tuesday. 'It has really nothing to do with the quality of the egg. A person who sells ungraded eggs under SB 1846 would be able to sell a certain number of them, wholesale or retail, as long as the package was clearly marked that they were ungraded, it says the producer's name, where they, where they're from, the date the carton was packed,' Money said. 'There's some basic information that they would have to provide, but they wouldn't have to go through the process of grading each egg, which is either very labor-intensive or capital-intensive, requiring machinery to weigh and size the eggs.' Money ended his conversation with Tori by talking about some of his other priorities and how he hopes they'll be able to prioritize bills better in the next session of the Texas Legislature. To see their full conversation watch the video above. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill looks to allow small egg producers to sell ungraded eggs wholesale
TYLER, Texas (KETK)- A potential bill is being proposed which would expand the sale of ungraded eggs. If passed, Bill 1864, which is in the House Agriculture and Livestock committee, would expand the sale of ungraded eggs. Currently, the only way you can sell wholesale is to grade your eggs. Which are inspected by a certified grading station. Tyler police investigate death of 28-year-old woman 'It's not a safety issue. It's not that a grade B egg is not as good as a grade A egg. It just has to do with size and weight and things like that,' State Rep. Brent Money said. Representative Brent Money serves on the committee and says this would open a lot of doors for small East Texas egg producers. 'Any time you can expand the market and make it easier for them to sell their products, it's better for their business and it's better for the consumer,' Money said. The Farmer's Garden in Winona has been following the bill through the legislative session. They believe that if it passes, it would be a huge blessing. 'We would be able to know, hey, they need 20 days in a week or whatever, and we can grow our operation to kind of match that demand. It would let us grow faster,' The Farmer's Garden owner, Bethany Reynolds, said. LIST: East Texas cold homicide cases Texas Rangers are still trying to solve The farm sells about 20 dozen eggs a week. They have had restaurants reach out to them for eggs, but say not having a grading system has hindered their operation. 'We've looked into the grading for our farm to be able to use that, but it's kind of a complicated thing to figure out to enter, and it's expensive,' Reynolds said. If SB 1864 makes it to the House floor and passes, it will allow The Farmer's Garden to sell 500 dozen eggs a week. Not only raising their profit, but also allowing them to bring their farm to your fork more easily. 'We've got to protect our farmers. And one of the ways that I think that we do that is by making sure that we are not putting unreasonable regulations and barriers in place for them to get their products from their farm to the market,' Money said. 'Representative money,' says one point of contention right now, is how many eggs a farmer can sell a week, as large commercial businesses are pushing for less to be allowed. Money wants to keep the text as it is and get it on the floor. The House committee will have until May 27th to get the bill to the House floor, and voted on by May 28th. If it doesn't make it out of the committee before the deadline, the bill will die. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Money speaks out on passage of Senate Bill 17
AUSTIN – State Rep. Brent Money (HD-2) on Saturday called the passage of SB-17 "one of the strongest protections in the country that will safeguard Texas property from hostile foreign influence." SB-17 lets the Texas governor determine the countries whose residents, governments and other entities could be banned from buying property here. Restrictions were previously limited to countries that the U.S. national director of intelligence has designated as national security threats. Currently, that list includes only China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. 'When this bill (SB-17) came to the House floor Thursday morning, it was not a strong enough deterrent to the type of hostile foreign influence we are seeking to end,' Money said. 'Over the last two days, our team dedicated an immense amount of energy to amending this bill to be much stronger and send a clear message that Texas property ownership is for Texans.' On second reading, State Rep. Matt Shaheen offered an amendment changing the bill to only apply to individuals not lawfully present in the United States, which Money spoke against. 'If a person is here illegally, they should be deported,' Money said. 'If they are here legally but from one of these designated hostile countries, they shouldn't be able to buy property.' Shaheen's amendment passed 120-19, with Money voting against it. The bill now goes to conference for reconciliation with the Senate's version. 'I'm confident that the final version will be the strongest legislation of its kind in America.' Money said.
