OPINION 9A
Wednesday, June 10, 2015 Azle News
Abbott decides bills’ fates passed by Legislature
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HB 4, establishing a new $130 million “High Quality Prekindergarten Grant Program” to be provided free of tuition and fees to qualifying students. HB 505, prohibiting the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board from adopting any rule that would limit the number of dual credit courses or hours in a which a student may enroll while in high school or in a given semester or academic year. HB 593, requiring the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to establish a statewide comprehensive education and training program on canine encounters and canine behavior. HB 903, requiring the comptroller to adjust the state’s “rainy day fund” investment portfolio periodically by putting some funds into higherreturning instruments to ensure that the balance of the fund is sufficient to meet cash flow requirements HB 1740, improving community access to rabies vaccination services. HB 3628, requiring the di-
overnor Greg Abbott has until June 21 to give bills recently passed by the Texas Legislature his final consideration before signing them, letting them take effect without his signature or vetoing them. By June 1, the last day of the Legislature’s 84th regular session, some 819 House bills and 504 Senate bills earned final passage, plus two House Joint Resolutions and five Senate Joint Resolutions. Unlike bills, which are subject to gubernatorial veto, the voters of Texas will find the seven joint resolutions appearing as proposed constitutional amendments on the Nov. 3 statewide ballot. By June 4, Abbott had signed 340 bills into law and vetoed two: HB 225, relating to the prescription and dispensation of “opioid antagonist” drugs; and SB 359, relating to the emergency detention of a person with mental illness. Here are 10 examples of signed, approved bills:
rector of the Texas Department of Public Safety to adopt r u l e s governing the use of unmanned STATE aircraft in the CapiCAPITAL tol ComHIGHLIGHTS plex. SB 97, Ed Sterling prohibiting a person from selling, giving or causing to be sold or given an e-cigarette to someone who is younger than 27 years of age unless the person to whom the e-cigarette was sold or given presents an apparently valid proof of identification. SB 339, authorizing a qualified physician under certain conditions to prescribe lowTHC cannabis to alleviate the seizures of a patient diagnosed with intractable epilepsy if the patient is a permanent Texas resident.
no-bid contract with a computer software firm executed by high-ranking personnel at the agency. Oversight at the agency was a topic of Sunset Commission hearings held at the Capitol in April. Gov. Abbott, in a June 5 announcement, said Chris Traylor, chief deputy commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, will succeed Janek, and Charles Smith, current deputy for child support at the Texas Office of the AttorHealth agency chief to resign ney General, will be Traylor’s Texas Health and Human successor. Services Executive Commissioner Dr. Kyle Janek on June 5 Rick Perry starts presidential announced his decision to step run Former governor Rick Perry, down from his position effective July 1 “to make way for who served the state’s chief new leadership as the agency executive from 2001 to 2015, prepares for major reorgani- launched his second run in zation.” Janek was appointed hopes of securing the Repubhead of the agency in 2012 by lican nomination for president in an Addison, Texas, aircraft then-governor Rick Perry. With a budget of $74 billion hangar on June 4. Using a C-130 cargo plane as and more than 56,000 employees, the agency came under a backdrop, Perry, who served fire following publication of a as a U.S. Air Force pilot durseries of investigative reports ing the Vietnam War era, was by the Austin American-States- joined in the announcement by man that exposed a lucrative military veterans as he talked SB 458, increasing the duties of the aerospace and aviation office of the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office to promote the retention, development and expansion of aerospace and aviation industry facilities in Texas. SB 1072, creating a method for counties to remove from office a precinct or county chair who has failed to perform statutory duties provided by the Election Code.
about his upbringing and recounted his leadership experience. Lawmakers won’t seek reelection Last week, five state representatives and one state senator announced their intentions not to seek re-election in 2016. The state representatives include: House County Affairs Committee Vice Chair Joe Farias, D-San Antonio; House Education Committee Chair Jimmy Don Aycock, R-Killeen; House Select Committee on Emerging Issues in Law Enforcement Chair Allen Fletcher, R-Tomball; and House Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Sylvester Turner, D-Houston. Turner is a candidate for mayor of Houston. The senator is Senate Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee Chair Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay. Veteran state reporter and legislative analyst Ed Sterling is member services director for the Texas Press Association, whose 518 member newspapers have combined circulation of 3.7 million.
Becoming part of the IN crowd
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if I had it to do again … There a r e other lessons I wish I had learned earlier, espec i a l l y LIFE MATTERS as a y o u n g Gerry Lewis pastor. Now that I spend time coaching and consulting pastors and church leaders, I am trying to pass on some of those. I think they are also applicable to a broader vocational spectrum. Everyone I know wants to experience vocational “success.” We want to achieve and be noticed. We want to be IN. I am at the point in life where the desire for success has been
wish I had paid better attention growing up. There are a lot of things I had to learn by trial and error as a grownup that happened right in front of me as a youth, but I wasn’t interested. I expressed that thought to my step-father in a recent conversation. One of those handy guys that can figure out how to fix just about anything, he could have taught me a lot in those early years. But I was too busy and didn’t see the relevance of all that stuff, so it was faster and more efficient to do it himself. Unfortunately, the pattern continued and my grown-up son is having to learn things that I didn’t take the time to teach him either. I’m not experiencing any regrets or angst over this; just acknowledging lessons I wish I had learned earlier. I think I learned – and passed on – the things that matter most. But,
replaced by the desire for significance. As I’ve been thinking about that, I’ve thought of a sequence of significance that perhaps seems a little counterintuitive, but stay with me to the end. To be a part of the significance IN crowd: 1. Make yourself IN-dispensible. Become the go-to person, the one who can be counted on. Exceed expectations. Under-promise and overdeliver. Demonstrate integrity and build trust. Someone will be watching you and learning. 2. Make yourself IN-cognito. Getting noticed feels really good. It can be intoxicating, but those who remain IN-dispensible risk fatigue and burnout. They can become control freaks who never elevate those around them. The idea of making yourself IN-cognito is that you are elevating and empowering those around you to the point that you are giving leadership,
stepping in when necessary, but sharing both responsibility and recognition. It may be quicker and more efficient to do it yourself, but it is more effective to empower others. 3. Make yourself IN-visible. You know your effectiveness as a leader when success may be accomplished without your presence, when recognition goes to your team, when those you have taught advance beyond your abilities. 2 Timothy 2:2 says, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Our lives matter so much to God that He wants us involved IN His eternal purposes. That’s good company. Azle resident Dr. Gerry Lewis is director of missions for the Harvest Baptist Association, which is headquartered in Decatur. He writes a blog at www.drgerrylewis.com.
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