InsideOut at City Hall

MAKING A LIST

The city sets priorities before the Lege meets
by Annise D. Parker

What better way to pass an insufferable late-summer day than by refining one's wish list for the legislative insanity that returns in January?

My list is long, and my hopes are not particularly high. The state faces a big budget shortfall, the Legislature is notoriously stingy, and too many good bills never make it out of committee.

The city will be represented in Austin by a team of lobbyists handpicked for their expertise or special relationships with legislators. These are your tax dollars at work! They will face off against the lobby teams of other cities, industries, and special-interest groups. (We also have lobbyists in Washington, year round.)

Other City Council members are also turning in their wish lists, The council legislative affairs committee (Carol Alvarado, chair), of which I am a member, will vote on each item from the Council members. The entire Council will then approve the dozen or so bills that will be pursued by the lobbying team. The Council will also pass a more generic "statement of principles" that will define the overall priorities of the city and ensure that bills falling into those areas are monitored.

My legislative list has many of the issues I have worked on in the past four years: HIV/AIDS funding, deed restrictions, signage and billboards, green space, the environment, exotic animals. As always, the GLBT community has to be ready to fight on the right side of bills related to adoption, marriage, and the sodomy law.

Of particular interest to the GLBT community are three of my priorities:

Ensuring that Houston gets its fair share of health and human services funding, particularly for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. The city's lobbying team bolsters the efforts of health-care providers and local representatives to secure funding based on population and caseloads.

Changing state law to allow local needle exchange programs to fight HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. This controversial approach has proven to be successful in reducing HIV infection rates. At the same time, studies show that it does not encourage drug use. Such a logical idea has little chance of passing this session, but we have to keep hammering away.

Stiffening requirements for initiative and referendum to deter people from turning in box loads of "signatures" and forcing an expensive referendum. Confusing and overlapping state and local statutes force Houston to put issues on the ballot if only 20,000 signatures of registered voters are "certified" as valid. That represents 2 percent of the city's 1 million registered voters. Every other signature could be forged, but the city is not required to match any petition signatures with voter registration cards. Admittedly, that could force the city secretary to play handwriting expert. But we must at least increase the number of signatures to a reasonable level and require that petition signatures collected by mail be accompanied by signed and notarized statements from the signature collectors that they did not personally sign the petitions. This is the same requirement that judges face to get on the ballot.

I will also submit these legislative priorities to my Council colleagues:

Support Statewide Initiatives

1. Support a statewide moratorium on executions, pending legislative consideration of reforms.

These reforms include providing for life sentences in capital cases, allowing convicted Texans greater access to DNA testing, reforming the clemency process, and establishing a commission to review select death penalty cases and make recommendations.

2. Adoption of a "bottle bill" to provide a deposit system for glass and plastic beverage containers.

It works in 11 states. It can work here. The system creates new jobs while reducing waste and litter and providing recyclable materials for a high-demand market.

3. Support legislation prohibiting unlicensed boarding, possession, and sale of wild/exotic animals.

In 1998, I worked with Nancy Alexander, the Fund for Animals, and other animal agencies to pass an ordinance that bans most exotic animals in the city. Texas, home to more exotic animals than any other state, lags far behind in this area.

4. Provide for the city's authority to install video surveillance cameras at traffic signals to enhance law enforcement.

More and more cities are using cameras to enforce laws and reduce needless deaths at intersections. Police officers can't sit at every light and catch the hordes of drivers who speed through red lights.

5. Support legislation banning new billboard construction on new highways or highway spurs constructed within city limits. I am just trying to hasten the day when Houston is no longer called "City of Billboards."

Preserve Local Control

6. Preserve the city's annexation authority and protect the city's water rights and the city's appointments to METRO.

Each session, Houston has to fight to preserve every city's right to annex areas within its extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) to prevent being cut off from future growth. Protecting our water rights and voice on METRO are also top priorities.

Address Defined Local Problems

7. Strengthen the illegal dumping statutes to expressly provide for prosecution of violations without a requirement to prove a culpable mental state and to better address the illegal dumping of tires.

Too many legal loopholes and too many old tires clutter the urban landscape.

8. Preserve the city's authority to regulate signage within the city and the city's ETJ.

Regulating and enforcing sign ordinances is one of the best ways to unclutter Houston streets.

9. Enhance deed-restriction enforcement by providing for a waiver of filing fees for deed restrictions for neighborhoods participating in the city's pro bono deed restriction program and amending the Texas Property Code to facilitate the reinstatement of deed restrictions and allow for elimination of the "opt-out" provision of deed restrictions (as presented in the 1999 HB3298).

This would bolster the city's deed restriction efforts, which took a step forward last month with the implementation of an e-mail notification system that reports new building permits and shows the applicant's declaration on the presence of deed restrictions. This is a first step toward an effective deed restriction database, which is being seriously studied. This has been one of my top priorities since taking office four years ago, and it appears we may be on the verge of having a database of the city's thousands of deed restrictions.

A Houston City Council member who happens to be lesbian, Annise Parker is serving her third term in At-large Position 1. Call or e-mail to receive her bi-monthly newsletter, 713/247-2014 or annise.parker@cityofhouston.net. Her website is www.ci.houston.tx.us/citygovt/council/1.