Brownwood Bulletin (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 177, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 15, 2013 Page: 4 of 10
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4 Brownwood Bulletin
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Franchise tax bill moves toward passage
AUSTIN — Procedural deadlines for leg-
islation began to hit last week, ending the
forward progress and the hopes of more
than half of the 6,000-or-so House bills
and Senate bills hied by Texas lawmakers
since November 2012.
And while the main state budget bill for
fiscal years 2014-2015 stayed apparently
motionless in a conference committee of
five Senate members and five House mem-
bers, a number of bills survived votes and
passed through their respective originating
chambers.
For example, the House on May 8 ap-
proved House Bill 500, legislation that per-
manently exempts businesses with gross
revenues of $1 million or less from paying
the margin or “franchise” tax. The current
exemption is set to expire next year.
The Legislature enacted the tax in 2009
to offset a reduction in residential prop-
erty taxes. Other bills hied this session
attempt to do away with the tax entirely.
Primary author of HB 500 is Rep. Harvey
Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, chair of the power-
ful House Committee on Ways and Means.
Hilderbran, who said the legislation would
spell $667 million in tax relief to Texas
businesses, pointed out that HB 500 also:
• Extends the exemption to businesses
grossing more than $1 million annually by
creating a guaranteed $1 million deduc-
Capital
Highlights
Ed Sterling
tion.
• Ensures that the cost
of goods sold deduc-
tion “is offered to most
businesses equally” by
including those engaged in
rental, auto repair, trans-
portation, real estate and
medicine.
HB 500 is awaiting
deliberation by the Sen-
ate Finance Committee’s
subcommittee on Fiscal
Matters.
Retirement buy-in may
^■ change
State employees and
current teachers would contribute more of
their paycheck for their retirement under
SB 1458 passed by the Senate on May 8.
Authored by Senate State Affairs Chair
Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, the legislation,
he said, is to reform the state Teachers
Retirement System and make it actuarially
sound. The bill, which gained unanimous
support in the Senate, was approved by the
House Pensions Committee on May 10 and
soon will be scheduled for debate on the
House floor.
“We were upside down earlier because
we were relying too much on investment
returns. This puts us in a situation where
we are actually having long term fixed
contribution rates that should support this
system for a long time,” Duncan explained
in a Senate News Service report.
Active teachers now pay a state-matched
6.4 percent of their gross pay into the
Teachers Retirement System. Under SB
1458, the rate would go up in increments
over the next four years to 7.7 percent in
2017 and the state contribution would
increase to 6.8 percent. And, Duncan
said, all school districts, for the first time,
would help foot the bill by contributing 1.5
percent of their annual salary scale into
the teacher retirement fund. The bill, many
sessions in the making, also addresses
retirement age calculations, health care for
retirees and cost of living benefit increases.
Bill reduces number of tests
HB 5 by Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-
Killeen, chair of the House Education Com-
mittee and sponsored by Senate Education
Committee Chair Dan Patrick, R-Houston,
is now in a 10-member conference com-
mittee tasked with reaching agreement on
amendments attached to the bill as the
Senate passed it on May 6.
Currently, a high school student must
pass 15 end-of-course exams to gradu-
ate. HB 5 seeks to cut that number to five
while also creating a degree program to
give students more flexibility when choos-
ing classes. The five end-of-course exams,
if the bill passes, would be U.S. history,
English I, English II, algebra I, and biology7.
Two more exams, algebra II and English
III, would be optional and wouldn’t be
required to graduate nor would they affect
school accountability ratings, Patrick said.
Car sticker bill advances
Legislation by Senate Jurisprudence
Committee Chair Royce West, D-Dallas,
would combine automobile registration
and inspection stickers into one sticker.
Interim research that provided ground-
work for West’s SB 1350 suggests that a
one-sticker system would reduce fraudu-
lent inspections and save the state money.
If the House passes SB 1350, Texas will
join 27 other states that have enacted
similar laws.
Sales tax receipts increase
State Comptroller Susan Combs on May
8 announced that state sales tax revenue
in April was $2.15 billion, up 3.9 percent
compared to April 2012.
“As expected,” Combs said, “the rate of
growth in state sales tax revenue is mod-
erating compared to double-digit growth
rates we recently experienced.”
Ed Sterling is member services director
for the Texas Press Association, head-
quartered in Austin.
EDITORIALS
May is National
Motorcycle Safety
Awareness Month
‘Share the Road and Look Twice’ is the campaign the
Texas Department of Transportation has aimed at car
and truck drivers during the month of May, which is
National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.
Last year, 460 people died on Texas roadways while
riding motorcycles and scooters. In 2011, that number
was 488. The 6.1 percent decrease maybe attributed to
an increase in helmet use and heightened awareness by
other motorists through TxDOT lead-campaigns, such as
Share the Road.
According to a survey conducted by Texas A&M Trans-
portation Institute, more than half of motorcycle crashes
last year involved another driver who reportedly never
saw the motorcyclist.
Statistics also show that:
• In 2012, 89 percent of motorcycle crashes resulted in
the death or injury of the motorcyclist.
• In 2012, 53 percent of motorcyclists killed in traffic
crashes were not wearing helmets.
• In 2012, Texas motorcycle deaths were higher in ur-
ban areas than rural ones. In fact, 44 percent of motorcy-
clists who lost their lives were riding in rural areas, while
56 percent died in cities.
Safety should be everyone’s primary concern when
sharing the road with other drivers. Motorcyclists are not
only some of our most vulnerable drivers, but they often
can be more difficult to see than other vehicles. Car and
truck drivers should always pay extra attention to their
mirrors and blind spots, use signals when changing
lanes and give plenty of space to motorcyclists.
Brownwood Bulletin
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76804, or e-mail to news@brownwoodbulletin.com.
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it Turns out You’re
Not PARANOID... the
GOVERNMENT \S OUT
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Going in circles
The world would have been short-changed
(okay, in some cases, “long-changed”) had the
wheel not been invented many moons ago.
Geometry would have been incomplete,
wagons could not have been circled and
there’d have been no tune called Roll Out the
Barrel. We’d have missed “going in circles,”
and chariot rides would have been rough
even for the toughest gladiators. Caissons in
the Army’s chorus would have moved along
in some other manner. We’d have needed
some symbol other than “zero” to denote
lowest test scores at school, and the Arctic
would have gone “circleless.”
On top of that, we wouldn’t have had roll-
ing pins — a foothold for male chauvinism —
and one Dale Scarth might not have been able
to graphically convey to the former Helen
Marie Johnson that the way to his heart was
indeed through his tummy....
Scarth, who rose through the ranks of what
was then Texas Electric Service Company
from engineer to president (1949-1989), in his
youth dug post holes for Kansas rural electric
lines. The year was 1947; he was freshly
discharged from World War II military service.
Soon, Scarth was smitten with his true love.
He looked forward to walking her home after
work each day.
His work day ended 90 minutes before
hers, so he often whiled away the time in
a Fredonia cabinet shop. (He’s always been
handy with his hands, and in retirement
has made hundreds of wire “doo-hickies”
handy for engaging those pesky top buttons
on dress shirts. His invention provides yet
another use for welding wire.)
As the courtship advanced, Scarth decided
to make Helen a rolling pin. He wasn’t about
to be the object of fun-poking that inevitably
would have been offered by friends in town if
he carried it on their walk to her home. With-
out an auto of his own, he carefully placed
it on the back seat of her dad’s car parked
nearby....
The same evening following dinner, he and
Helen cozied up on the front porch swing —
a frequent pastime. This setting beckoned
when the weather was nice, fireflies cavorted
and things were right for sweet nothings to
be shared by the light of the silvery moon.
Scarth popped the question, and she ac-
cepted. Immediately, she raced back inside
to tell her folks about the marriage proposal.
Helen’s dad responded in a deep, gruff voice.
“Does that thing in the back seat of the car
have anything to do with that thing on your
It probably did. Dale and
the Scarths’ four children
agree that she was a world-
class baker. The couple was
married for 64 years, ending
with her death in 2011....
My Uncle Mort identi-
fies with rolling pins,
even though their use has
diminished greatly in recent
decades. (Mostly, they are
seen now in museums and
rarely in kitchens.)
Newbury “When I was a kid, my dad
always urged me to search
for a ‘working wife’,” my
almost 101-year-old kin told
me. Mort asked his dad how in the world he
could be sure, and was told to go over to the
girl’s house “of a morning.” There, he could
go straight to the woodpile out back to learn
if her mom was a “worldng woman.” Mort
still was puzzled.
“If there’s biscuit dough hanging from the
ax handle, a working woman lives there,”
Mort’s dad said....
Some years ago, my wife made one of her
occasional trips to Canton for the commu-
nity’s heralded “First Monday” sale. Brenda
was gone for a couple of days, hurrying from
booth to booth at the big attraction.
While she was away, I decided to do some-
thing I’d rarely done before—clean house. I
buffed, painted, vacuumed and mopped—the
whole deal. I fully expected to be lavished
with praise when she saw all I had done.
Upon her return, I escorted her into every
room, expecting thankful comments. Instead,
she was stone silent, saying nothing. Finally,
I asked, “Isn’t there something you’d like to
say?”
Pausing, she finally responded, “Yes, it’s a
thankless job, isn’t it?...
I have to give her credit, though, for her
emphasis on healthy meals.
Nowadays, she’s pushing blended diets.
Last night, we drank a chicken....
Dr. Don Newbury, chancellor of Howard
Payne University, is a speaker and author
whose weekly column appears in 180 news-
papers in six states. He welcomes comments
and inquiries. Call him at (817) 447-3872,
or send email to newbury@speakerdoc.com.
His website is www.speakerdoc.com.
finger?”
The Idle
American
LETTER TO THE
EDITOR
Decision makers
I am appalled by your
reprint of the Wichita Falls
paper editorial. Our free-
dom to possess firearms
has been earned on every
battlefield Americans have
fought on, both local and
foreign. Forcing gun own-
ers to register them would
give a shortcut to anyone
wanting to take them. I’m
sure a foreign invasion of
America has been averted
due to the knowledge that
so many Americans own
guns.
Hitler used a similar
path of registering and
confiscating guns before
World War II. Anyone
studying history knows
how that turned out. God
did not write the Consti-
tution, but I’m sure he
had a great influence in
its writing. The framers
of our Constitution had
suffered under tyranny
and oppressive laws and
knew of the importance
of a well armed citizenry.
Our country has changed
since the Constitution was
written and it is just as
important today as it was
then. Armed citizens can
prevent our Government
from taking our rights
from us. A mandatory jail
sentence would just put
a honest citizen behind
bars, not the people that
need to be put there.
It seems as if our great
nation is losing our free-
doms and we are threat-
ened by the people that
have the least to lose. We
are being told what we can
eat, how large our servings
can be and are not being
able to decide what is best
for ourselves. I grew up
believing that my deci-
sions were best made by
me and to consider the
consequences my deci-
sions would bring.
I do not need someone
else (the government or
anyone else, Mayor Bloom-
burg, Michele Obama)
making my decisions for
me. Thank you, I can do
it myself. The ones who
think otherwise are weak
in mind and principles
and if employed in govern-
ment, should be replaced.
I agree with a recent let-
ter concerning our Second
Amendment right to keep
and bear arms, Florence
Goering, Dec. 2, 2012, to
do less would be detri-
mental to our freedoms
SEE LETTER, 10
Jerry Pye:
Karen Wade:
Derrick Stuckly:
Kevin Holamon:
Marty Baker:
John Reyes:
Wesley Davis:
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Stuckly, Derrick. Brownwood Bulletin (Brownwood, Tex.), Vol. 113, No. 177, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 15, 2013, newspaper, May 15, 2013; Brownwood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth740706/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Brownwood Public Library.