State lawmakers ended their second special session of the summer July 30, only to be called back that evening for a third session after the House and Senate could not agree on a way to fund the state's highways.
"When it comes to transportation, the stakes facing our state could not be higher, and a failure to act now could take years—if not most of a decade—to correct, as traffic congestion increases and harms our quality of life," Gov. Rick Perry said in his statement announcing the new session. "Inaction is a Washington-style attempt to kick a can down the road—but everybody in Texas knows we're rapidly running out of roads to kick that can down."
Texas transportation officials have said TxDOT needs an additional $4 billion per year just to maintain the current highway system; that funding would not include a way to pay for additional projects.
Lawmakers could not come to an agreement on the matter during the regular session and missed their chance in the first special session when the abortion debate killed all other proposals.
The compromise
With the second special session nearing its end, leaders in the House and Senate said July 26 that they had a deal they could agree on: Asking voters to allow lawmakers to divert half the money from oil and gas revenue—all of which is currently earmarked for the state's rainy day fund—to transportation.
The deal was not as solid as negotiators had described, however.
The bill died in the House on July 29 when a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers rejected part of the compromise that would have allowed the Legislative Budget Board to set a minimum balance before each session for the Economic Stabilization Fund, commonly known as the rainy day fund.
Democrats said they objected to the measure because they feared it could be used to justify reductions in human services or education spending in favor of transportation dollars or refilling the fund.
Conservatives wanted to let the state's voters decide any time the lawmakers sought to allow the balance to dip below a floor of $6 billion.
Because the bill proposed a constitutional amendment, it required approval of a two-thirds majority of representatives.
The lack of support on both sides of the aisle cost the measure the 100 votes it needed to pass the House, and the bill died on a vote of 84-40.
Transportation only
For the third special session, Perry called lawmakers back immediately after the second session's end strictly to deal with transportation legislation.
He may add new items to the agenda at any time during the special session, however.
Republicans have called on Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, to foot the bill for the special sessions because it was her filibuster of abortion restrictions at the end of the first special session in June that ran out the clock on reaching a transportation deal.
The abortion issue then took two weeks of the second session, for which Davis is also being blamed.
But Davis said July 30 that the failure of lawmakers to pass a transportation funding plan was caused simply by a failure of leadership.
"Our work could have been done and our money saved had Texas leaders put the concerns of Texas families ahead of their own selfish, partisan agendas," Davis said. "Republican leaders have ignored their responsibility to address critical infrastructure issues facing Texas for more than a decade, and now they expect taxpayers to foot the bill."
Special session cost
At a cost of about $30,000 per day, each 30-day special session can cost taxpayers more than $1 million.
The price includes $150 per diem for each lawmaker for food and living expenses in Austin, though a handful choose not to take the pay when they are not in Austin for session work.
There is no legal limit to the number of special sessions that can be called. Each one can only be called by the governor and cannot last more than 30 days.
