On the Tuesday edition of The Chad Hasty Show, David Guenthner from the Texas Public Policy Foundation talked with Chad Hasty about the latest coming out of Austin.

The regular session of the Texas legislature finally wrapped up last week, only for them to go almost immediately into a special session. However, it is not because Governor Rick Perry did not receive the tax cuts or water funding he wanted. Guenthner said this special session will focus on redistricting, an issue that was not brought up at all in the regular session.

Redistricting is a purely partisan exercise. And because of the leadership's desire to get at least a few big things done in the regular session, there's no way you could have gotten the water plan through, there's no way you could have gotten the testing stuff through if redistricting was kind of hanging over. So I think there was a conscious decision of "Let's hold that off until the summer and once we've got all this other stuff done, we can talk about redistricting."

Guenthner added that windstorm insurance may also be brought up during the special session, but that would depend on how long the legislature wants to drag this session out. Despite the special session being called, Guenthner pointed out that there was still plenty accomplished in the regular session. A number of tax cuts were made for small businesses, both the charter school and testing bills were finalized, and the water funding bill was also finished and ready to vote on around November.

The budget was also finalized during the regular session and, as Guenthner put it, uses up about 4 years worth of spending in 1 session.

Throughout the Texas legislative session, and the concurrent special session, you can listen to David Guenthner Tuesday at 9:50 during The Chad Hasty Show on NewsTalk 790 KFYO. For more information on the Texas Public Policy Foundation, visit their website at texaspolicy.com. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter: @TPPF.

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