Forrest Wilder at the Texas Observer has the scoop. The concluding paragraph is a gem, the sort of thing that makes a man love Texas in spite of everything:
It looked like a Doomsday scenario: After devastating losses in November 2010, Democrats held just 49 seats in the Texas House to the Republicans’ 101. That gave the GOP, moved even farther to the right by Tea Party insurgents, a super-majority and the ability to pass pretty much whatever they wanted. Despite a ballsy attempt (or two) to strip citizens of their right to contest permits for polluters, not a whole lot of rotten legislation passed. In fact, the Legislature passed a half-way decent bill requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking.
Yes, there were plenty of missed opportunities but enviros should probably be thankful this Lege didn’t round up the state’s remaining endangered species and summarily execute ‘em.
Yeah, we definitely have the best losers here…