Dear Texas Democrat, In lieu of talking solely about what weve been up to at TDP in this months newsletter, I want

to use this opportunity to give you an update on three very important issues that will have a tremendous effect on both our primary elections and the November general election. Below you will find important updates on: Where we are in the redistricting process, including the various scenarios which have been discussed in court and the implications on our Democratic Primary for each. The status of Senate Bill 14, commonly known as the Voter ID bill, which is still not yet in effect but could potentially require voters to present photo ID in order to vote. Republican budget cuts to public school funding which are hitting home in a big way. Teachers are being laid off by the tens of thousands, classroom sizes are exploding, and as we learned from a recent report, the worst is yet to come.

Austin Happy Hour. Join us from 5:30 to 7:00pm on Thursday, February 9th at Gibson Bar. Click here for more info. Promesa Project The second phase of the Promesa Project, includes a Fellowship Program that will place fellows in at least eleven campuses across Texas, including: UTEP, UTPan Am, UTSA, UT, U of H, A&MInternational, UTBrownsville, UTArlington, UNT-Dallas, UH-Downtown, and A&M CC. Click here if you are interested in applying or if you want to learn more.

I hope youll take the time to read the information below and well work to make sure we keep you updated as developments happen. Democratically Yours, Boyd Richie Chairman Texas Democratic Party

In This Month's Report

Redistricting Voter ID Public Education Party Insider & Compliance Blog

Redistricting
Yesterday a federal DC court heard closing arguments in the Texas redistricting pre-clearance case. So far, there have been two panels of federal judges and a hearing before the United States Supreme Court on Texas redistricting. Every court that has examined the redistricting maps enacted by the legislature has found the maps to be discriminatory in some way. As youll recall, a previous court order stated that we would have a second candidate filing period which would conclude on February 1st. Because there are still no maps that date has been postponed by a court order issued over the weekend and the second filing period will now take place on a date to be determined. Once interim maps are released, we will re-open the filing period for all candidates. At last weeks redistricting trial in San Antonio, the court gave all parties to this lawsuit a deadline of February 6 to agree on interim maps in order to make an April 3 primary possible. If there is not an agreement on maps prior to February 6th, the April 3rd Primary date will no longer be possible. Well make sure to update you on redistricting developments as well as on the second candidate-filing period.

Voter ID
During the last legislative session the Texas Legislature passed a bill (SB 14) that would require voters to show a photo ID when they vote. However, Texas is one of the states subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which means that before

any changes to voting procedures can be implemented, they must be approved either by the Department of Justice (DOJ) or by a federal court in a process known as preclearance. As of right now, the DOJ has not issued an opinion one way or the other on the voter ID bill. They have until mid-March to do so. While no one knows for certain, most people who follow these sorts of things believe the DOJ will deny preclearance to the Texas law just as they did to the South Carolina voter ID law. Instead of waiting for the DOJ to issue an opinion, the State of Texas has filed an Expedited Complaint for Declaratory Judgment in U.S. District court asking for the court to grant preclearance to the voter ID bill. We do not know what the courts decision will be, how long it will take to make a decision, or if there will be further legal action in a higher court once the District Court acts. Bottom line, we still dont know if voter i.d. will be in place for any of the elections held in Texas this year. However, in an effort to be prepared just in case photo identification becomes a requirement for voting at some point, there are some things you need to know and/or do. Even if you already have the required photo ID please share this information with others so that those voters who may not have photo ID can be informed and prepared. Details can be found by reading the latest post on our Party Insider blog here.

Public Education Funding

The Texas Education Agency recently approved requests from 286 school districts across Texas to be exempted from the 22-student per classroom ratio mandate for the 2011 2012 school year, this would apply to 8,243 classrooms (up from 2,238 in 2010 2011). The dramatic increase in waivers is directly attributable to unnecessary budget cuts made by the Republican majority in the Texas Legislature over the vehement opposition of Democrats. In addition, the Texas AFT recently released the results of a survey in which 241 superintendents from across the state expressed dire concerns about their current budget situation as well as scary predictions about how much worse the situation may get. The following is a statement from Texas Democratic Party spokesman Anthony Gutierrez: These teacher layoffs and exploding classroom sizes all over Texas are the inevitable result of unnecessary Republican budget cuts. Democrats proposed alternatives that would have prevented this situation without raising taxes or harming the states bond rating. Tragically, the Republicans chose to side with corporate special interests and a governor whose sole concern was positioning for a presidential run.

We fought to prevent these teacher layoffs and Republicans ran over us to make them happen so now were going to make them own it. Given the choice, we would vastly prefer an adequately funded education system as opposed to a campaign issue but Republicans did irreparable harm to our state and they deserve to be held accountable.

Party Insider

Our Party Insider blog and email list contains talking points, important news stories and educational posts from political professionals. Most recently, our Comptroller, Sarah Joyner wrote a series on campaign finance focusing on helpful reporting tips leading up to the campaign finance reporting deadline earlier this month. Many of you called and emailed thanking us for the series so shell be continuing these posts in the future including a post intended for new candidates called Getting Your Campaign Started: Campaign Finance Basics. In the future you can also keep an eye out for a series on the top mistakes found in TEC SemiAnnual Reports and a look into good bookkeeping practices to keep you from making common mistakes. You can sign up for the Party Insider email list here

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