• Area legislators shy from session on full prisons By PAUL CARR Tribune-Herald Staff Writer Local legislators agree that a consti- tutional amendment to abolish the state property tax will be approved during the upcoming special session of the Texas Legislature, but disagree about the benefits of discussing the state's prison overcrowding problem next week. Gov. Bill Clements summoned the special session, which begins Monday, to abolish the property tax, but hinted he might open the session for discus- sion of the overcrowding problems pla- guing the Texas Department of Cor- rections. The move to abolish the property tax stems from a lawsuit filed against the state by Midwestern University and 16 other schools, which allege the Legislature in 1979 tried to change the state constitution by statute. Midwest- ern has said it will postpone a hearing on the suit until next year. However, "I would anticipate that we would call for an amendment to re- peal the (property) tax to be placed on the November ballot," Sen. Grant Jones, D-Abilene, said last week, "be- 7ause we can't be sure the suit will be ostponed." A 10-cent property tax was used for 20 years to finance construction by state colleges and universities that are not part of the University of Texas or Texas A&M University systems. In 1979, though, the Legislature tried to eliminate the tax by setting it at .0001 cents per $100 valuation, so low that McLennan County contributed only $1.58 to the tax fund last year. Rep. Rollin Khoury, R-Waco, said he also believes legislators will approve a constitutional amendment abolishing the tax, as well as approving "a one- shot fund to finance the 17 schools not under the Permanant University Fund." Khoury said he understands the gov- ernor might open up the session to dis- cuss the prison housing situation, but only after the property tax and school funding issues are resolved. "We need more room (in the prisons), but I'm not sure we can just stand back and throw money at the problem," he said. "I don't really think the problem can be satifactorily ad- dressed (during the special session)." Rep. Betty Denton, D-Waco, agreed, adding, "The whole special session is uncalled for." Since the Midwestern lawsuit has been postponed, she said, "it's useless to spend that type of money on a spe- cial session when it could wait until the regular session." Mrs. Denton said an amendment abolishing the state property tax likely will appear on the November ballot, but complained the session is too short to adequately consider alternate fi- nancing for university construction. Discussion of prison housing should also wait until January, she said. "The governor had the opportunity several years ago and was not interested in building at that time. He vetoed the legislation (to build a new prison)." Jones also said he believed nothing could be done during the special ses- sion to alleviate the prison housing shortage that couldn't wait until the regular session in January. Senator-elect Chet Edwards, D-Dun- canville, who will be observing the ses- sion in Austin, said, "I question whether its really essential to discuss the property tax (during a special ses- sion). I think it's unfair for those mem- bers of the Legislature who are cam- paigning for a runoff. "I wonder if a lot of this is motivated by politics on Clements' part," he added. Edwards, who won the Democratic nomination in the May 1 primary for the newly created 9th Senatorial Dis- trict and faces no Republican oppo- nent in November, said the prison sys- tem should be discussed and funding considered, but not on such a rushed basis. "It epitomizes the band-aid ap- proach that Clements has used in re- cent years," he said. "An immediate appropriation could speed up construc- tion by six months." 718 WEST 5th ST AUSTIN TEXAS 78701 47955 Tribune-Herald Waco, Texas MAY 23 1982