State Reps. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, and Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, react to the passage of HB4 and HB275, and preview of the upcoming battle over HB1, the House’s bare-bones general appropriations plan for the next biennium.
Larry Taylor
Posted in
Criminal Justice
The Week in Texas Politics Recap: March 14 to March 18
No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We’ve made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome.
Posted inState Government
Straus: Speaker’s Race “Overanalyzed”
Despite loud protests from Tea Party groups that pushed for a more conservative leader, the Texas House Republican Caucus endorsed incumbent Speaker Joe Straus in an afternoon vote. Straus, appearing after the meeting, said the notion of a speaker’s race was “overstudied and overanalyzed.”
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State Government
TWIA Chief: I Cannot Defy Court Order
An ongoing proxy war between tort reformists and trial lawyers spilled into a joint House-Senate hearing Monday, as Texas Windstorm Insurance Association General Manager Jim Oliver told lawmakers he still cannot disclose sought-after attorneys fees details in a multimillion-dollar settlement with Hurricane Ike homeowners.
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Energy
Gone With the Wind?
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association offers homeowners along the Texas coast their only coverage against potential hurricanes. But some lawmakers say the pool is paying out too much — and they want to limit what sort of coverage it offers in the future.
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Politics
The Way Forward
Six weeks after the drubbing their party took at the hands of voters, surviving Texas House Democrats find themselves at a crossroads — on style and substance, politics and policy. With massive budget cuts looming, will they effectively sit out the session and force Republicans in the majority to have all the blood on their hands? Will they participate just enough to soften the blow in the areas they care about the most: education and health care? Can they hold together a solid 51-vote bloc on key legislation? Where exactly should they go from here? And who will lead them?
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: AG to TWIA: Make Numbers Public
The Texas attorney general’s office is weighing in on the back-and-forth between the Texas Windstorm Insurance Agency and Democratic attorney Steve Mostyn, who has been fighting in the courts to keep Hurricane Ike settlement details private.
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Criminal Justice
Judge Orders TWIA Settlement Kept Private
In an issue that’s sparked a nasty political fight, attorneys for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and attorneys for the homeowners who sued them appeared at a Monday hearing to argue whether the legal fees in a record $189 million Hurricane Ike settlement should be kept private. Judge Susan Criss ultimately sided with homeowners’ attorney Steve Mostyn and granted a new temporary restraining order that keeps TWIA from releasing settlement details, at least for now.
Posted inState Government
Mostyn and Nixon: No Love Lost
Decorum broke down on Monday before a hearing began in Galveston County Court concerning a case involving plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Mostyn, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA), and state Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood. Mostyn — one of the state’s leading trial lawyers and Democratic donors — confronts Taylor’s attorney, Joe Nixon, who in his former life as a legislator authored a 2003 tort reform bill limiting lawsuit damages. Mostyn berates Nixon about how he offered his services unsolicited to Taylor, who has sought to make public the fees earned by Mostyn and other lawyers who sued TWIA. Mostyn compares it to oft-criticized client recruitment by plaintiffs’ lawyers (ambulance chasing, in other words).
Posted in
State Government
Wind Storm
In a courtroom Monday, a Galveston County judge will decide whether to release details of millions of dollars in fees earned by attorneys in the largest class-action settlement paid out by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association.
