SB 855 fell victim to the "chubbing" (unofficial filibuster) perpetrated by House Democrats over the course of Memorial Day weekend. A prescient move by Senator Carona has, however, saved the "local option" gas tax - he had it put on to HB 300, the TXDOT (Texas Dept. of Transportation) sunset bill that was debated in the Senate earlier this week. The amendment with Carona's language stayed on despite vocal opposition from conservatives. The bill is now in conference committee - where a bill is sent when the Senate and House disagree on some provisions of the bill.

Today, Rep. Vicki Truitt organized a couple of busloads of supporters of the tax to come down to the Capitol to rally in favor of it, and participate in a press conference led by elected officials. In addition to that, several contractors who reportedly work with TXDOT sent their employees over to the Capitol from downtown Austin offices. Professionally printed signs were provided (and returned after the rally to the same building where HillCo Partners offices; HillCo Partners lobbyists have been well-compensated by local taxing entities for their efforts).

I've got pictures from the rally that I will share later this evening. The jist of the rally, which to my knowledge was the first-ever rally in favor of tax increases in the state of Texas, was to urge support in the Texas House for the tax provisions to remain in HB 300. Lobbyists have been standing outside the House chamber in the "lobby pit" for the past couple of days attempting to persuade legislators to support this legislation. And it needs to be said - these are lobbyists contracted by local taxing entities such as the City of Fort Worth to be down here in Austin convincing legislators to support these tax hikes. You may have guessed what I'm driving at - these are taxpayer-funded lobbyists. (Yes, I saw former rep. Fred Hill at the rally today)

A small band of intrepid conservatives did show up with handmade signs to attempt to show the other side of this issue, and petitions have been delivered to legislators from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility showing that everyday citizens are opposed to these new taxes. But we were far outnumbered, not having the multi-million dollar contracts to spend our days shilling at the Capitol.

Courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Aman Batheja, here is a list of officials and lobbyists who were scheduled to attend today's rally (I have photos showing Rep. Mike Villareal [D-San Antonio], Sen. Kirk Watson [D-Austin], Sen. Eliot Shapleigh [D-El Paso] and Sen. Royce West [D-Dallas] at the rally - Shapleigh and West also spoke in favor of the taxes):

State Senator John Carona (R – Dallas)
State Representative Vicki Truitt (R – Keller)
Mayor Tom Leppert (Dallas)
Mayor Mark Burroughs (Denton)
Mayor Ken Shetter (City of Burleson)
Judge Glen Whitley (Tarrant County)
Councilman John Clamp (San Antonio)
Councilwoman Sheila McNeil (San Antonio)
Councilwoman Kathryn Wilemon (Arlington)
Judge Sam Briscoe (Travis County)
Commissioner Mike Cantrell (Dallas County)
Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt (Travis County)
Phil Ritter, DFW Airport
Bill Hammond, President of Texas Association of Business
Bill Thornton, President of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce
Jim Oberwetter, President of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce
Richard Perez, President of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce
Craig Douglas, President of the Real Estate Council of Austin