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AUSTIN -- Get in, get out and leave town in time for the July Fourth holiday.
That's what Texas Gov. Rick Perry has in mind for state lawmakers who will be back in the Capitol on Wednesday for a special session he called to extend the shelf life of some critical state agencies and allow the Department of Transportation to issue $2 billion in bonds for building roads.
Perry says the unfinished business from the regular session that ended June 1 can be done in time for fireworks and barbecue on the weekend. He purposely kept the agenda short to help lawmakers get out of town.
"Get 'em in, get 'em out and get the work done. Badda bing, badda boom!" Perry told reporters Tuesday after delivering a speech at the Construction Expo and Trade Show in Austin.
But partisan fights over a voter identification bill and a tussle over how to pay for road projects left several key issues unfinished when lawmakers left a month ago.
Perry, a Republican, has called them back to pass a safety net measure to allow the transportation and insurance departments and a few others to keep operating. Those agencies are scheduled to close by Sept. 1, 2010, if they don't get the legal authority to continue.
Lawmakers also left without passing legislation authorizing the $2 billion in road-building bonds already approved by voters.
Legislators may have little trouble passing the agency and bond bills. A third agenda item could create some headaches. Perry wants them to extend transportation officials' authority to enter public-private contracts to build and operate some roads and tollways.
Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, who sponsored a rewrite of the agency that failed when the regular session expired, said lawmakers should wait on the contracts issue until 2011.
That's when they'll take another look at the agency as a whole.
"I'm pretty optimistic this can be a quick session," Hegar said. "But I don't think we should be addressing the contracts or even have the discussion until we pass agency reforms first."
As governor, Perry has the power to call the special session and set the agenda. He has said he kept it short to keep lawmakers focused on the necessities and away from "mischief."
The special session is scheduled for 30 days, but lawmakers can leave earlier if they finish their work.
When Perry called several special sessions to deal with congressional redistricting (in 2003) and public school finance (2004, 2005 and 2006), lawmakers stayed in Austin for weeks and months of overtime.
But other special sessions have been quite short. For example, a 1982 special session lasted all of three days in September. In June 1987, lawmakers were back in Austin only two days.
