by Brian New / KENS 5
Bio | Emailkens5.com
Posted on January 3, 2011 at 5:55 PM
Updated today at 6:28 PM
The new year could bring big changes to state laws.
Fewer government workers, fewer teachers, and fewer registrations of sex offenders are all being proposed by state lawmakers.
With a projected state budget shortfall of $25 billion, one proposed solution is to get rid of the law that limits elementary class size to 22 students.
Proponents say the change would give local school district more flexibility and could save hundreds of millions of dollars
However, teacher groups say it could come at the expense of thousands of jobs and of a child's education.
"I think the class-size limits would be a terrible place to cut,” said Shelley Potter, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel. “The biggest impact would be on the students, and that's the negative impact that we are concerned about."
With many local governments struggling financially as much as the state, Representative-elect Lyle Larson of San Antonio filed a bill that would allow the consolidation of the Bexar County and San Antonio governments.
Larson said it would save millions by eliminating duplicate services.
"It's just more efficient and more effective government, and I think that's what people are asking for," he said.
Not all the bills filed so far focus on cutting the budget.
Mary Sue Molnar of Texas Voices is pushing for a bill she says would turn her son’s life around.
She said her son has to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life because, when he was 22 years old, he had consensual sex with a 16-year-old.
A new bill would allow such "Romeo and Juliet" sex offenders to petition to take their names off the registry.
"With so many thousands of people on the registry, we don't really know who possesses a threat and who doesn't," Molnar said.
Molnar said the bill is about having a more efficient sex offender registry and not just a large one.
Opponents argue Texas families deserve the right to know whether an individual who was convicted of a sex crime lives nearby regardless of the circumstances of their crime.
LINKS TO BILLS:
HJB 44 – City / County Consolidation:
HB 227 – Exempting Sex Offenders from Registry:
State Comptroller Susan Combs proposal to relax class size limit:
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