CAPITOL DIGEST

Voter ID bill referred to full Senate

Combs: Major changes in business tax unlikely.

Voter ID bill goes to full Senate

The controversial voter identification bill that triggered a Senate rules fight last month on Tuesday was referred directly to the full Senate for a vote.

Senate Bill 362 could be brought up for consideration as soon as next week, several senators said.

The measure by Sens. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls , would require Texas voters to verify their identity before casting a ballot. Democrats are opposed, claiming it would disenfranchise elderly and minority voters.

Because of the rules change that Republicans pushed through last month, the bill won't be subject to the Senate's usual standard of requiring two-thirds approval before a debate and final vote.

No big changes in business tax likely

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs offered little hope of immediate tax relief to the small-business owners at the National Federation of Independent Business breakfast Tuesday.

Major changes to the revised business tax will probably not come this session because it is too soon to tell how changing the tax would affect the revenue outlook, Combs said.

But one particular proposal — exempting business owners with less than $1 million in revenue — has the legs to run now, Combs said. Gov. Rick Perry included that proposal in his State of the State address, and the financial impact is relatively minor, a big plus in this difficult budget environment.

No misdemeanors in DNA legislation

Facing a growing controversy over a push by Texas' big-city police chiefs to greatly expand mandatory DNA tests, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, wants to be clear: A bill he filed does not expand the tests to misdemeanor suspects.

Patrick's measure, Senate Bill 727, would expand the current DNA testing law only to cover convicted felons who are sentenced to deferred adjudication and those who are placed on probation. Currently, DNA samples can be taken from anyone convicted of a felony and from those arrested for particularly violent crimes such as aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping and murder.

Under a proposal being pushed by police chiefs of Texas' six largest cities, DNA would be taken from everyone who is arrested on suspicion of committing Class B misdemeanors up to the most serious felonies. The police chiefs' proposal has not made it into legislation.

On El Paso Day, a push for casino

Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, filed legislation that would allow El Paso's Speaking Rock Casino to reopen.

The same bill died two years ago on the House floor in a tie vote. Unlike other gambling measures, her approach would require only a legislative majority, not two-thirds. In 2002, then-Attorney General John Cornyn closed the casino operated by the Tigua Indian tribe.

Chavez's filing came on El Paso Day at the Capitol with many of that city's business and community leaders on hand.

Compiled from staff and wire reports