Try as they might, three Democratic senators today couldn't pin down a Republican county official from Central Texas on whether she'd urge the state to raise revenues so lawmakers can avoid whacking programs and dumping a host of "unfunded mandates" on local governments.
Williamson County Commissioner Valerie Covie wasn't buying. Of course, she'd sort of asked for it, coming to plead for Senate budget writers to show mercy to a recent, daring innovation by Texas legislators -- putting more than $80 million a year of purely state-raised funds into "community mental health crisis services." They fund local interventions that keep mentally ill Texans' illnesses from escalating into psychotic episodes and what not -- so they don't wind up in jails and ERs (costly to counties) and state mental hospitals (costly to the state).
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, told Covie that county judges and commissioners need "to give us suggestions not only regarding where we can cut but also where we ... must add and where we're going to get the money."
Covie responded, "I would love to visit with you outside of this conference if that is what you desire. And we can visit about more specifics."
That brought the first joking rebuke from Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, (above, staff photo), a McAllen Democrat who is vice chair of Senate Finance:
"You sound like an attorney -- never really quite directly answered the question," he said.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/02/slide-glide-and-duck----the-po.html
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