| Summary |
Smoke In the Mirror: How Texas House Members Voted On Tobacco-Control Legislation
At the end of the 75th Legislative session, a majority of the members of the Texas House of Representatives fended off the powerful tobacco lobby to approve two major pieces of legislation. These are the:
Texas' leading health and consumer organizations vigorously supported both bills. SB 55, the nation's toughest restrictions on childrens' access to tobacco, even won the support of the Texas Retailers Association, whose tobacco-vending members will have to comply with new rules that shield kids from tobacco marketing come-ons.
The tobacco industry and its lobbyists were desperate to sabotage or kill both of these tobacco-control bills. Having already killed a bill that would have stripped the tobacco titans of a special state exemption from product liability lawsuits, the industry rolled out 24 lobbyists who were paid up to $935,000 to combat the two new tobacco-control bills.
Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) was the tobacco industry's legislative point man. Chisum offered four separate amendments designed to sabotage the tobacco-control bills. A majority of House members roundly defeated three amendments that Chisum proposed to undermine the childrens' access bill. A fourth Chisum amendment, which prevents the tobacco industry from having to disclose toxic and other ingredients that it rolls into its products, passed the House.
The Chisum amendments gave each of the 149 House members four opportunities to either go to bat for the tobacco lobby or protect the health of constituents and their children. An analysis of this voting record identifies 38 House members who hit the ball out of the park every time for consumers, while 17 members voted a straight tobacco-industry ticket in all four votes. A surprising finding of the analysis is the degree to which the best and worst members on these tobacco votes rise and fall along partisan lines:
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