Clements says he's happy with legislature so far By SAM KINCH JR. Astia Bureau of The News AUSTIN — Having taken advantage of an unusual legislative rules predicament to get prior- ity attention for his own ideas, Gov. Bill Clements said Friday that "things are working very well" af- ter three weeks of the law- makers' sessions. , House members two weeks ago refused to Suspend a constitutional rule that sets an agenda permitting only governor. designated emergencies to be passed during the first 60 days of the 140-day ses- sion. Clements didn't have anything to do with that vote, but he said, "I cer- tainly haven't raised any objections about it." • The Republican gover- nor, working with a Demo- CLEMENTS crat-dominated legislature, even extended an olive branch by agreeing to share with legislative lead- 0*s his appointment powers to a restructured crim- inal justice assistance agency. Clements was jovial, flexible and a bit unde- cided at a news conference held in conjunction With his signing an emergency pay raise bill for state employees Friday. He said he was "real pleased" with the bill. 4: "I hope that this would indicate and forecast a trend" in governor-legislature relations, he said. 7 He first proposed a 3.4 percent raise, senators countered with a 6.8 percent hike. House members Came up with 5.1 percent and a S75 minimum, and Clements' threatened veto forced a compromise at 5.1 percent and a $50 minimum. • In addition. Clements has used the legislative rule in the house to place an "emergency" tag on 57 bills — most of them his own proposals but among them the massive 2-year state budget. The governor described the list as "items I am interested in," but not all share the same degree of urgency. "It accelerates the (legislative) process," he said of the designated emergency matters. "I wouldn't want the legislature to be without some- thing to do." But Clements said he isn't sure what he thinks the legislature should do about some things. One of those is a mammoth attempt by lenders, builders and retailers to remove entirely or dra- matically raise state limitations on interest rates. Clements said he hasn't "really come down hard on , what should be done," although he is sure the legis- lature will end up approving "some limits" on max- imum interest that can be charged. He said he also hasn't decided how to structure a nyW system for construction at colleges outside tne University of Texas and Texas A&M systems but is discussing the matter with college regents and legislators. Clements said he is uncertain, too, about altera- tion of the Permanent University Fund that bene- fits UT and A&M, but he said, "I am very reluctant to make a change." On other subjects, Clements said: • Comptroller Bob Bullock may have made an "underestimate" when he said oil price decontrol will bring in S150 million more tax revenues dur- ing the next seven months, but decontrol also will stimulate energy resource development in Texas. • He "will be very unhappy" if drug-case wire- tapping isn't approved by the legislature; although he thinks it will be passed, "I haven't gotten any feeling at all from the house and senate that they're working to make me happy." • A proposed new water-development trust fund still isn't official, but Clements says he has "not yet seen a satisfactory way" to grant Texans "direct, meaningful tax relief." • "There is not" any possibility that Hilmar Moore of Richmond, chairman of the state Depart- ment of Human Resources board, will be re-ap- pointed, but his successor probably will be chosen within a month. "e(4 3-judge panel limits acceptable, White says Austin Bureau One News AUSTIN — Atty. Gen. Mark White issued a legal ru'ling Friday that the legislature can limit 3-judge panels to criminal appeals only, when the panels are added to the state's intermediate courts of appeals. Voters in November authorized adding panels of three judges to the state's 14 courts of civil appeals to reduce the number of appeals going di- rectly to the 9-member Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin. 'Appeals currently go directly to that court, cre- ating a caseload so heavy that many appeals take two or three years for a final decision. . Rep. Lynn Nabers, D-Brownwood, chairman of the house criminal jurisprudence committee, sought White's legal opinion to confirm that the new criminal appeals review process wouldn't fall on the intermediate court judges who are versed in civil law. The legislature is expected to create 3-judge panels in Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston to reduce the number of cases going directly to the state's highest court of criminafappeals. plaits m0204_161 ;11 vi
