TexPIRG Advocacy News

AUSTIN– Fifteen members of the Texas House of Representatives voted for the public interest 100% of the time in the 2005 regular session of the Legislature, according to the biennial Legislative Scorecard on major public interest issues released today by TexPIRG. The scorecard is based on representatives’ votes on contested environmental, consumer, and good government bills during the 2005 regular legislative session. The average score for the House of Representatives was 47% with five members failing to cast a single vote in favor of the public interest.

"We applaud the public interest heroes of the 2005 regular session," said Luke Metzger, TexPIRG Legislative Advocate. "But on contested votes, despite their efforts, consumers and the environment broke even this year."

The scorecard lists votes on nine key votes, including efforts to restrict corporate and union money in politics, to increase Texas’ investment in clean, renewable energy and to help Texans purchase cheaper drugs from Canada. The Legislature did ultimately approve the renewable energy and prescription drug measures, although the latter is currently on hold pending a legal review by Attorney General Abbott. Irresponsibly, the House of Representatives rejected measures to get big money out of politics, to improve air quality and to strengthen enforcement of environmental laws.

The Representatives scoring 100% were Roberto Alonzo, Rafael Anchia, Lon Burnam, Joaquin Castro, Garnet Coleman, Yvonne Davis, Abel Herrero, Scott Hochberg, Jesse Jones, David Leibowitz, Elliott Naishtat, Melissa Noriega, Dora Olivo, Eddie Rodriguez and the late Joe Moreno. The five members scoring 0% were Myra Crownover, Peggy Hamric, Joe Nixon, Robert “Buddy” Talton, and Beverly Woolley.

As there were few contested public interest votes in the Senate this session, TexPIRG did not release a scorecard for Senators. The scorecard and description of votes is available for download online at: http://www.texpirg.org/reports/legscorecard05.pdf.