Rainy Day Slap

    They've done it again. They're bringing out the big amendments, because, who needs to make a new law when you can just override previous legislation? This is an especially useful tactic when nobody cares about how the Texas Constitution looks. Moving on...
    The nine amendments proposed seem to be pretty random:

1. Gives tax break to spouses of veterans killed in action
2. Eliminates a requirement for a State Medical Education Board and a State Education Fund
3. Gives tax break to aircraft manufacturers for storage time
4. Gives the Legislature the power to give partial property tax exemption to charity-donated residences to disabled veterans or their surviving spouses
5. Allows homeowners 62 years or older to use reverse mortgages to purchase houses
6. Rainy Day fund use
7. Allows home-rule municipalities to fill vacant city council seats using a special session
8. Repeals the creation of a hospital in Hidalgo County
9. Allows the State Commission on Judicial Conduct to use additional disciplinary actions for misbehaving judges

    In honesty, I'm not very interested in any of these amendments except for one: The Rainy Day Fund. I believe it will be useful against the drought. But, in truth, what Texas needs is real punishment. The warning about water being gone sticks in the back of our minds forever, and there is always water. "The lakes are down to 20%!"  and we still have 100% shower water, hot water, and sink water. No one will understand the consequence of a serious drought until it becomes a reality and sometimes you just must slap the hands of the child. Telling Texas the "end is nigh" only goes so far, where the perception is a hollow warning. "We will never run out of water," people will say. Until we do.
    The point I'm trying to convey here is that we should disallow the passage of the Rainy Day Fund in order for people to realize how important water conservation is. The frog boils slowly, Texas. Only if we turn up the heat quickly will people respond quickly. That is, let Texas fall into water starvation.

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