The Texas Legislature has for a few years been grappling with the question of what exactly to do with the Texas Railroad Commission, which is part of the Texas Constitution (and therefore protected from regular changes by the Lege). Simply put, it's not exactly all about the railroad anymore. In reality, the three-member commission oversees the state's oil and gas industry as well - and in the middle of another boom, Texas lawmakers realize that the commission needs to be updated. Starting with its name. Some want to call it the Texas Energy Resources Commission, while others have proposed the Texas Oil and Gas Commission. But bere's where Cedar Park Rep. Tony Dale has posed an even more interesting question than simply what to call it. Can you just change the name, or anything else about it, without a constitutional amendment - which has to be approved by 2/3 of the Legislature and a vote of the citizens of Texas? Some say yes, but Dale and a few others say no. Dale argues that if they change anything about the commission without changing it in the constitution, they would effectively abolish the commission named in the constitution. And why is that an issue? Because the commission in the constitution is the one that gets funding from the federal government. And abolishing it, well. That could prove to be a cash problem. Dale's proposed constitutional amendment renaming it the Texas Energy Commission (yet another idea for the new name), is pending in a committee after a hearing on Wednesday. Protecting homeless pets The Texas Senate unanimously voted to protect shelter animals across Texas from carbon monoxide gas chambers, which are in use in some 30 shelters in the Lone Star State and which national students have shown to be a cruel way to euthanize homeless pets. Democratic Sen. Kirk Watson sponsored the legislation, which bans the practice in Texas. Ten years ago, the state outlawed all forms of euthanasia by animal shelters (which at the time included drowning, clubbing and strangling) except carbon monoxide and injecting pentobarbital. But the gas method is being shunned by advocacy groups and vets across the nation, as well as two other states - Louisiana and Pennsylvania - and 30 cities in Texas. In spite of cities pushing for no-kill policies in shelters, some 100,000 homeless pets are still put down by shelters every year in Texas. The same bill, co-sponosed by Rep. Patricia Harless of Houston, among others, has already been unanimously adopted by a House committee and is on its way to the floor for a vote. If it passes with no amendments, the legislations goes directly to the governor. Weekend adjustments The Texas House debated 40 amendments for a handful of hours on the floor Wednesday before giving its preliminary approval to another priority of the session - a state water plan. Its passage lead to an ovation on the House floor (the second in a week) for the historic accomplishment lawmakers say will keep the state from running dry over the next 50 years. But sometimes Parliamentary Procure can get in the way of the best laid plans. The House has to pass every bill twice - once after the first floor debate, then on the next legislative day to give final approval. The system is there as a check and balance, and while bills rarely fail on that final reading, the opportunity for last-minute change is built in to the system. Which is no problem, except that lawmakers wanted to go be able to go home for Good Friday and the Easter weekend - and sticking to procedure meant that all 150 House members would have had to stay overnight in Austin just for one little vote on a bill everyone knew would pass with flying colors anyway. Typically the "legislative day" ends when the House adjourns, and the next one begins when they re-adjourn the following day. This time, lawmakers employed a simple tactic typically reserved for uncontested bills on Fridays. They gave the bill preliminary passage. Then they adjourned for a few minutes (not a recess, which is different). Then they reconvened. Then they gave the bill final passage. Then they went home for the holiday. Shining a light Texas got an 'A' in government spending transparency by a taxpayer advocacy group in a recent report called "Following the Money." You can read the report by TexPIRG Education Fund right here. The high mark came as a nod to Texas Comptroller Susan Combs' online series "It's Your Money" and user-friendly website, which seeks to shine a light on how taxpayers' money is spent in the Lone Star State. "I have led the transparency initiative in Texas since taking office in 2007 because taxpayers expect and deserve to know how government is spending their money," said Texas Comptroller Susan Combs. "We are always looking for ways to shine a light on spending in Texas. Currently, we are working with state lawmakers to expand transparency for local government debt and spending, which would allow residents to fully understand how much they're on the hook for." Anatomy of an omnibus After nine hours of arduous debate, the Texas House passed a wide-ranging public education bill addressing school testing and graduation requirements. Why nine hours? Because state reps filed no fewer than 168 amendments to the bill, hoping to both change the bill itself to suit their ideas and perhaps add some new policy into it. The 168 amendments were not unexpected, as lawmakers had set a deadline before the bill hit the floor to file them all - standard operating procedure on large bills, used as a way to rein in attempts to kill the bill by filibustering it with endless amendments. When a lawmaker brings an amendment before the chamber, he or she lets the members know whether the proposed change is acceptable to the author. If the lawmakers trust the author, and if he or she has done the homework necessary to maintain control over the bill (i.e. lots and lots of talking and schmoozing and compromising with the other 149 members of the House), the chamber will usually - not always, but usually - only approve the the changes the author accepts. In the case of House Bill 5, not a single amendment was approved that wasn't acceptable to the author, House Public Education Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock of Killeen. After the vote, the House gave him a round of applause. QUOTE OF THE WEEK "I'm pretty sure I've violated every rule of blogging already with a post this long. Thank God I didn't deliver it as a floor speech, right?" - Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, in a post on his Inside the Rail blog about his opposition to HB 5, the public education bill that won after nine hours of debate.