TexPIRG's Luke Metzger

Now that the 79th session of the Texas Legislature is behind us, I am proud to report our elected officials took important steps for the environment and consumers. Unfortunately, they took a few steps backwards as well.

Take air quality for starters. The good news is that the Legislature doubled Texas’ renewable energy production. Over the next decade, it will reduce as much pollution as taking 1.1 million cars off the road.

But now for the bad news. The House of Representatives, bowing to the oil and chemical industry, voted down a measure that would have limited the amount of dangerous toxins we breathe each day.

The Dallas Morning News wrote, “As the legislative session wheezes toward its final gasp, let’s just say this has not been a good year for air-quality issues. No, let us revise that; it’s been a rotten year.”

I like to look on the bright side. On consumer issues, the Legislature took steps to alleviate the pinch of high-cost prescription drugs and to protect consumers from identity theft.

But—you guessed it—there’s bad news too. Under pressure from telecom giant SBC, they also passed an anti-consumer law that will mean less local control of the media services and higher phone bills for poorer Texans.

On school finance, the Legislature failed yet again to come up with a plan to fund our schools. The reason? According to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the resistance came from the petrochemical industry. They want to avoid paying taxes.

It’s clear we have our work cut out for us. In the coming months, we will continue to make progress bill by bill. We’ll also be redoubling our efforts to reform the system, working for campaign finance reform and to establish a way for voters to take action when the Legislature fails.

That’s a tall order. But thanks to the support of dedicated members like you, we’re going to find a way to make it happen.

I look forward to keeping you updated on our progress.