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The Futureof the Texas

Economy

"Education rea/~)I is the

answer to what we are

facing ill thefulllre... We

milS! begin to think now,

immediately, about

investing in the you ng

people who are ill Ollr

scboo/s today."

-KCllblyn \l'lhilmire

HOW to educate and provide jobsfor Texas' rapidly expanding

working-age popubtion was acentral concern for five Texasleaders who panicipalcd in a paneldiscussion at the second ,1l1nualConference on the SouthwestEconomy. sponsored by the FederalReserve Bank of D:dbs Nov. 15-16.

Panelists were Dalbs FedEconomist William Gruben, 1990gubernatorial contender Tom Luce,Texas Attorney General DanMorales, University of Texas at E1P:ISQ President Diana Natalicio andHouston r-,'byor Kathryn Whitmire.Michael Levy, publisher of TexasMOlltb~)I, moderated the two-hourdbcussion.

The title of the two-day confer­ence was "Defining the Decade,­:lnd when Texans define themselvesin the coming years, they must cometo gr::lSP with changing demographicsthat will increase pressure on :llreadystrained state finances and a much­criticized educational system. Thesechanging demographics include aworking-age popubtion that \villgrow more rapidly in Texas than inthe nation ,1I1d a binh rate that willbe higher than the national average,Gmben said.

The challenge of providing ,Ineducation and job oppoltunities forevery Texan is far reaching. Inexpressing ide:ls for meeting thechallenge, panelists touched onmany issues-investing in educa­tion today to become more com­petitive in the future, involVingbusiness in education, coping withdemogra.phic change, overcomingdrug abuse and crime, restructuringthe state's tax system, balancing theneed for economic developmentand concerns about the environ­ment, and reshaping state govern­ment. What follows are highlightsof the p:lI1el's comments.

"Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later"

Investing in education is aninvestmcnt in the futurc. Panelistsechoed this idea :lg:lin and again."Education really is the answer to

what we are facing in the future,"Whitmire said. "'l1le 1990s are uponus....we have to invest in the nextcentury. We must begin to thinknow, immediately, about investingin the young people who are in ourschools today."

Luce s:lid, ''The facts are that inour prison system today, nine outof IO inmates are high schooldropouts. We ,Ire not going to doanylhing about the drug problemand crime problem in our stateuntil we accept that facL Thatrequires investment,"

Mor:Jles said, ,,[ panicipmed nottoo long ago in an endeavor calledthe Texas Criminal Justice Summit.TIle governor and others wanted toround up 2S or 30 corrections andcriminal justice professionals to talkabout this crisis, this criminal justicecrisis, this dnlg crisis we have inour state.

hOne of the things we weredoing at one of those workshopswas attempting to m:lke lO-yearprison population projections. Wewere trying \0 determine how manyprison cells were going to berequired in the next century, theyear 2000. [ left that particularworkshop stmck by the notion thatwhen we do that, what we aredoing in a very re:ll sense is look­ing the 3-, 4- and S-year-olds oftoday squarely in the eye andtelling them essentially, 'l'm sorry.We don't have enough money towke care of you tod:lY by way of:Idequate or responsible levels ofinvestment in your education, orchild abuse or substance abusetreatment or prevention, or coun­seling services for you or yourparents or guardians. \'i!e don'thave enough money to take careof you today, but we are reservingyou a room in 10 years. And forthat room we are willing to shellout 570,000 to construct it and an:ldditionaJ $15,000 [0 520,000 everysingle year in opemlional andadministrative costs to keep youthere.'"

Momles stressed the importanceof an educated popLlbtion in

5

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"Ourfuture lies in the hands

althe you.ng people who are

in school today, and I !Jape

that Texas will rise to that

challenge in the 199Os. "

-Dialla Natalicio

developing the c('onomie opportu­nities that could provide future jobsfor today's students. He said thatwhen businesses decide where toengage in startup ventures, reloca­tions or expansions, the factor atthe lOp of their priority list is theavailability of a technologicallylitcrate bbor force.

Whitmire found other reasonsto focus on education. "Every bigcity, every urban community in thisnation is worried today alx)lltthewave of violence-the tendency ofpeople in AmeriCa to solve theirproblems through violence r.ltherthan through communication--andabout the wave of illegal dmgs andthe fad that this nation is the singlelargest drug-<:onsuming nation in theworld .... lsn·t !education! the courseto opportunity for ('vely onc of thepeople in this n:l\ion and, therefore.shouldn't we make the IX'st possibleeducation aV<lilable to all thechildren of this state?" she ask(.'(l.

N:l1alicio said. "1 would onlyagree with [Dallas Fed Senior VicePresident] I-brvey Hosenblurn'scomment [earlier in the conferencel,'Pay me now, or P3Y me later.···

"From an educator's point ofview, people are our most impon:H1tresource, and 1 hope that in theyears ahead all of us will begin toundersland just how important astatement like th~lt is." N:ltalieio said.

'"\X/ill we make the right invest~

ments?'" Luce asked. The Texaseconomy, he said, is changing'"from a nmural-resource-basedeconomy to a people-basedeconomy. Th:n means we musttackle [thiS challenge! and make theedll<:ation system work."

Becoming More Competitivel1trough Better Education

Panelists acknowledged th:n theTexas Legislature is Q\'crhauling itsschool finan<:e system 10 developcourt-mandated reform but s:lid thatthe state should go much fUlther tomake education a competitiveadv:1l1tage for Texas in the 199Os.

The Slate's current educational

system rewards failure rather thanresults, said Luce, citing as anexmnple a progrmn that givesschools more money to put stu~

dents in bilingual education andkeep them there than to grdduatethem from bilingual education.

Quoting a 1984 audit of Tcx3sschool districts that found that 55cents of every high school dollarwenl to nonacademic expenditures,Luce s3id, "''(Ie have to get serious~Ibollt the money because thepublic is not going to supportcontinued 50-percent increases inspending without :lcademic results."

In Whitmire's opinion. "We aregoing to have to look at theeducation system as a system th:lI isrun by professionals. We are goingto have to set high standards andbuild in perfonn:mcc goals....Wesimply will nOI be :lble to operatethis single most impoltalll functionof government-that of publicedllGl\ioll-with a system that saysthat it will treat every tea<:her 3like.that there will be no incentive forgood perfomlan<:e, that there willbe no opportunity for any kind ofmerit-based compensation programor promotiOns based on perfor­mance. \'\Ie are going to have torun our school system the way wewould nUl a business."

NataHcio concurred. saying, '"Wedo :111 kinds of merit procedures atuniversities, and we don't givesalary increases 10 people whoaren't being productive.... 1wouldlike to urge us to give somethought to not just raising salaries.because that is just the tip of theiceberg, but also to think :lboul thevalue system we have <I! thepresent time and, indeed, what wepay for in our society. We :lrepaying for :1 lot of things in a lot ofother professions that may not, inthe long run. have the imp:lct onour society that education will.~

Luce said, "Our teacher pooltoday is coming from the bottomfourth of the people who go tocollege. We are not going to changethat until \ve change teacher com~pensation.~ But he emphasized, "If

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you merely put more money in Ihesame syMcm, you arc going to gel

Ihe same results. ~l.uce advocated enhancing the

role of principals and reducinglaye~ of administration. "\'(/e h:lveto have ;1 sy~lcm that lc\.:; a princi­p31 ha\l~ Ihe authority ;md respon­sibility on a school C".lmpussufficiem :.0 you can hold thatprincipal accountable for resulls.\'\'e ha\'C 10 h:we a system in whichthe principals can hire and fire. M

Giving Business a Role in Education

P:mdislS urged busine~ 10

oc'Come involved in changing theeducllion:lI syslCm. M\,\'h:ll businesscan do in eduCllion is be the \'oiceto demand real change. ~ Luce said.adding. ~Bllsiness can be theelemem th:n comes in :lIld says.·\'.;'here are the goab? Where is theaction plan? How 3rt' )'OU :lsscssingresults?' "

\'1?hilmirc added (hat businesscould give public schools bothfinancial assistance and volunteers.~\'.;"hat b really working in Houstonare the programs in which majorcorporations adopt schools in theinner city. and Ihey not only putfinancial a~i~tance inlO them, butthey :llso put some \'Olllnteers intothern,~ Whitmire said.

M'!11ey spend some time with thechildn:.,·n in those schoob. '!1ley giveIhem exposure to the broader scopeof opponunilies for their future, ~\'.;'hitmirc conlinued. ~It is t1l:lt caringabout the :.tudem~ thai makes thedifT<.>tcncc. It b lhe re:lli1.ation thaisolVing the educational problem ispart of the job of evcry corporatecitizen in our community and everyp:lrent and volunteer. It i:. somethingthat simply cannot he turned over tothe burc:lucracy.~

lIow Changing DemographicsAff«t t:ducationaJ N~ds

In addition to Tex:ls' WOrk-forceexpan.sion and accelcl':lting birthrale, several demogr:tphic trendswill innucnce the future, N:nalicio

said th:ll 80 perrem of the st:ue'spopulation now live in urban are::lS.thai the Ilbp:mic population inTexas increased ·13 percent in theP:lst decade and th:l\ the 1990freshm:lll class at UTEI' was 73percem minority.

Ml1lOSC arc exciting demographictrends. :md they add :m ('nonnousdiversity to our state's population.­Xatalicio 5:lid. but she cautionedthal these changes underscore Iheneed 10 impro\'e the participationof minority groups in educltion.

"Of 341 I'h.D. degrees :lwardedin the entire United St:llCS in 1988in mathematics," Natalicio .s:lid,~one tn...x-ipieml was a hl:lck, IWOwere Nath'e }\m('rican and threewere Hisp:mic. In 198-. non-UnitedStates citizens eamed twice asmany dQClOr:11 degl'(."eS in all fieldsas minority Americans, l1link aboutwhat that means in terms of ourfuture developmem as a society.111Os(' are vel)' sobering statistics.~

In El Paso today, .she .said, 45percent of Hisp:mic youngsters andr percent of bbcks drop out ofschool before they eam :l highM:hool diploma. She :mribuK-d thehigh minority dropout r.lIe in partto family finances. ~A lot of minor­ily children are poor. :lnd familyfinances arc closely correl:ncd withdropouts..,

Improving eduGltion will meanovercoming current st:lli~tics

regarding minorities and <'''<!ucHion.MThis is nO( an issue an)' more ofmor.llity or of chariI)' in dealingwith minority popubtions; this issclf-imcresl. If we do nO{ begin toim'est in Ihe eduCltion of minoritypopulations in this statL>-minorit)'popu1:ltions that will be the major­ity in Ihis state by 202S-we willhave to recognize that we h:l\'e nOIpaid the price loday tbat ourchildren will h:l\'e 10 p:ly in IhefUiure. Our fUlure lies in the handsof Ihe young people who are inschooltoda)'. and I hope Ihat Texaswill rise to that challenge in the1990s,~ Natalicio continued,

;;Unfonun:nely, the majority ofour low-income and unstable

';\f1hat tbis meallS is that

tbe most growtb-enbcl1lcing

types ofexpenditures are

tbe ONes tbat sbould be

Jocusetl all. "

-William Gruben

7

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"U7e baue got to improLIf!

the ellviromnelltal

situeltiOll iN the state.

The key will be to do it in

a way tbat has tbe

predictabilitya"d

ce,1aiuty tbelt business

needs to grow tInd

develop. ,.

-Tom Lace

fmllilies tend to be ethnic minori­ties.~ Whitmire said, -:.0 you:.ec thedropout as something that is thenthought to be related 10 the ethnicminority status.~

Whitmire argut.-d for morepreschool progmms and moreparental involvement to help curbthe number of dropou\.:). Preschoolprograms for 3- and '-I-year-oldswould help the sludent who other­wise \,-,ould .,tan Oul behind...hesaid. explaining. ~Failurc in IhCbCearly grades. Ihat failure to gel Iheappropriale learning skill<.. todevelop lhe appropriate self-e.tccm.thai brings :lbout Ihe dropout. If wecan pUI the emphasis on what weare doing for the 3-year-olds and+year-olds 10 prepare Ihem forsuccess in school. I think we canlower Ihe dropout I'3le.

~A second thing th:u needs 10 bedone is more parental invol\'("­ment, ~ Whitmire continued. ~Thcre

is now a belief in our communitythm pa.rental in\,oh'cment is n:I)'directly rel:lIed to keeping the kidsin iKhool :Ille! seeing success .... lfwe can bring morc p:lnmt.., into theprocess. I believc we'll rcduce thedropout rate. ~

Tackling Drug Abuse and Crime

Although educalion may be atthe root of many societal problems.panelists agreed that the symptomsshould not be ignored. Overcomingdrug abuse and crimc must bc :lpriority, they said.

"We are going to h:IVe to t:lCk!(:[these problemsl at the statl; level,the local level. in the businesscommunilY and in Ihe educationsyslem.~ Whitmire said. ~If wc C'Jndo that. we will ha\'e bCller citi<.:s inwhich 10 live and I~ttcr communi­ties in ",,'hich to work. And wc willh;J\'e economic adv:mtagcs IX:C:lUSCright now we are spending anenomlOllS amount of money throughlosses in the bu~ine'>S community.Ios..;es from personal hou-,cholds.and an enom10US amount of moneyon security. I:tw enforcement. thecriminal justicc syMem :Ind the

prison system.~

Luce argued for drug preventionprograms in the schools. -In ourschools today. we have alread}'taken the pre\'ention program downto the 6-year-old. down to the fin"t­gr.lder. \\7e\'e got to go all the W:lYdown to the 3-year-old and 4-ye:lr­old....One of the saddest things inour SI~lIe budget is Ihat we allocatesuch a minuscule ponion of whatwe sjX"nd on the drug problem todrug prevention.~ Luce 5.'Iid.

\'('hitmire ProlX>Sed anacking thedrug problem on four fronts:enforcemem. imeroidion. educa­lion and treatment. Enforcement,she said. requir<-'S ~:lrrcsling thedrug de-.i1ers and hopefully kc.."Cpingthem inClrcer".Jled a little longerth:1O we are right now and givingthem some drug treatment andrehabilitation while Lhey arethere.... ln addition 10 that is inter­didion, which is priITl:lrily conductedb}' the federnl government trying tort.oduce tbe flow of drugs into ournation by c.lpturing more of it onthe way in."

In Hou~ton schools, Whitmires:lid. drug eduC'.Jtion begins inkinderganen and continues throughhigh school. But perhaps thc singlebiggest boost for dnlg education inIiouston comes from enlisting themedia in the efron. "They havegiven :lll enormous amount ofcover.lgt: and public .serviceattention 10 the drug problem,~

Whitmire said, "and I have to saythat as hard as we work in theschoob. I am afraid Ihat people stilllearn more from television thanfrom anything else. So that is whywe have tried to attack this issueIhrough the media.~

Whitmire also advocated drugtreatment on demand. "111e factthat there are drug addicts in Te~s

today who would like to tum their1i\'CS around and are nOl able to gelany kind of tl"C3lment indic.u<-'S thatwe are not yet as serious about theproblem :IS we ought to get aboutit.~ \'('hitmire said.

Lure maintained that the sellemust get re'.Jlistic about the drug

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prohlem. ~111:1l mean'j thai inaddition to huilding pri.'iOn~. youmU,>1 han: a dmg tre:llment reha­hilitation program '>0 thai rou <"'"nrequire tht: fiN-time l...,er to h:ln'dnlg treatment and rehabililation.\\'e ha\(: gOI to break thc cycle ofdmg U.'>C; if nOl. it \\ill O\-el"l.,-"hdmU~.M he said.

Restructuring the Tax System

Texa... legi.'>latol"'> mu,>1. in theword~ of the ,>tate's :ltIomcygener.:ll. make :1 M-.eriOl....., and:'>llh"tantial cffonMloward structur.llrefoml:ltion of our tax base ::and ourtax sy'>lem to fashion a lax .'>tructurethat more fairly and more aCCll­r.udy reCk-cIS Ihe :.1;ItC"" economy.Olher p:me1hb :Igre<..x!.

Lucc .'>aid. -We han: a lax .'>ySlemth:lt is 1:lxing indu.'>trie.'> Ihat aredL'Clining :lnd not uxing otherindu,>lrie,>. :Illd we are nOi laxingindu..lric,> that af(' growing. I thinkthe key element from bu...ines~ 10support cconomic growth is whatkind of tax '>y..-tem you h:lve. DoyOll h:i\'e :1 government Ihat rOll

c::m put confidence in. that youthink will deal with bsues withcertainty, and will really ~olve

problems. or do you have anunprcdicl:lhle government Ih:lt isnot dealing wilh prohlems?M

Gnillen tri<:d to di:'Ix:1 the idealhat low taxe,.,; :lfe e:....ential topromoting growlh. Ml.ow t:lxe.'> donot neces:-oarily mean high growlh,and high t:lxe,> do not nece'>~:lrily

mean low ,(.:rowth. You have togive people what i:. consistent withwh:i1 they want. Thb dOL'S notml':lll Ih:1\ peopk' nt.'Ce.sS:lrily 100'eto p:1)' high laxe~. blll they arewilling to {Xi}' Ihem if they get whatthey \\ ant. If enough p(:ople wantmore edllc:uion....then Ihey wouldhe \\ ilIing 10 pay tho'>C ta.xe~. and itwould not n<..og:uivcly or signiHcantlyaffect growth. In fad. in the longtenn it ccnainl)' should positl\·c1yaffl.--et gro\\1h.

-\\;11:11 this mean:-. i~ that lilcmosl gro\\1h-enhancing typo ofcxpendilurc'> arc thc on<..o:. that

should be focuSt".x! on. Wh:lt peopledo not wanl to pay for to a brgeextent is :ldminblf:Llivc costs. ~Gruben conlinul.x!.

~Iornk-'S criticized lhe Lcgisl:llurefor nOl utilizing all of Texas' laxbaS<'. M\\7hen it ha~ become n<..'Ccs­s<1.ry to gcner::l\e addilional rev­enues for public pu~:,>. theLegislature ha,> simply t:lken theexisting structure and r.liM-"C1 ther.ltL~ to the poinl where now weenjoy the second-highe,>1 gcm:r::11S31e. tax rmc in Ihc n:llion. \X'c areamong the 101' 10 ...t:lle... in th(,'nation rebti\"c 10 the l<.>cll propcnyta-x burden th::at Texans have hadfoisted on thcm.~ "lor.lk'S S:lid.

\X'hitmirc suggested that t:LXrefonn net....w, to Ix, accomplbhedwithout cl'e<lIing a ...tate income tax.-111e fin-t approach nt:t.--ds 10 bedirected 31 revamping thc fr.mchisctax r::uher than trying to mO\'e 10 :1Ilincome tax. I think th:1I m:IYaccomplish aboul the S:lnle Ihing.~

\X'hitmire :.aid.A state incomc lax may hc

ine\"itablc. j\lor.lle,> :.aid. MI will he.'>urprised if wc hit the next centurywilhout somc form of dir(.'Ct incometaxation somcwhere in ourstructure....1 think by the !:Iller panof the decade the Legis!allln: willmake the dcWnnin:l1ion th:1l theyh:lve cxhau,.;ted oplions andahernativcs other than thaI oplionand find some mechanbm bywhich to allow for the injection ofsome degree of profit ~en~itivity

mto our ~lnlctllre.

Current slate lax l:iw~, Gmbensaid. place Texans :11 :1 disadv:lIltageon federal incolllc laxe'>, however.-Sales laxes are no longer deduct­ible: income tax payment.,> for ,>t:llcpurposes arc. We do nOi h:I\'c astate income tax, so ba~ic.llly wcarc gelling bumL'd in W:•.'>hinglonunder Ihe current ,>tmCluf('.M

Lucc emph:lsiz<..'d that busin<..":'>.'>can playa big role in the restructur­ing of the t::ax sy...tem. Mljusine...... ~he ~id. -b going to have a goldenopportunity to have an im{Xict onpublic policy in Texas O\-er this 1:1;'(issue if busines.-. play.'> il "man.

'IRl;ght now we are

spending em enormous

amolwt 0/money through

losses i1/ the business

community. losses/rom

pers011C1' bOllseholds. alld

(111 enormous amount of

mOlley on securi(y. law

ellforcemellt. the crim;nal

justice system and the

prison system. .,

- Kath'yll \Ylbitm;re

9

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"In three ofthefour major

areas ofstate ob/igalio1l

and respollsibi/i~y, we eire

operaling in this slale more

or/ess in a crisis

/ashioJ7 ....COllrls, tbe

jlldicicflY and judges are

making wbal sboll/d be

legis/alive decisions, policy

decisiol1S. ..

-Dan Morales

What business needs to do is bedebming right now what kind ofchanged tax system it wants. \'('hatis a tax system that will supportgrowlb?...The t;IX system likely willnot be changed unless businesssupports it or unless business is sodivided it is not a factor."'

Balancing Business Needs andConcern for the Environment

When it comes to Ixdancingen;momi(: growth and environment:llconcerns. Luce ~lid that businesswants "predict:lbility. certainty andreason:lbleness.~The quality of theenvironment ··affe(.1S the quality oflife. which has an imp:tct on whowants to mO\'e here and who wantsto stay here. We h;l\'e g01 to improvethe environmemal situ:l1ion in thestate. The key will be to do it in away th:lt has the prediclability andcert:lil11Y th:11 business needs to grow:lnd develop.M he continued.

Natalicio said that people havel~('n given a r.nher unibteral viewof what the environmental issuesare. "'111(' business community isgoing to h:lve to help provideinfomlation to Cf(.'ate some sort ofbroader perspective within the(CduC:llion;lll framework to enable usto educate the population as well aswe should on that issue:' she said.

~Ior;lles responded. -Business inTexas has as Illuch an interest in thedevelopment of and uhim:udy theachievement of a clean and health­ful environrnelll evel)'where in ourstate as does any other segrnelll ofour coml11unity. I don't think weh:lVe to have one at the cost of or:IS a substitute for the other."'

Agreeing on sJX-'cific goals. inWhitmire's opinion. will he the kcyto dealing with el1\'ironmcnt:11 is-sues.preserving the environment andmaintaining economic growth."Once we can :lgn:c on SOIllI.:

specific goals. then we n\..-·(:d :t pbnof action to get to those goals thatGin be implemented on a Sl~cific

timetable, which will bring alX)llt thest:lhility and reliability that is neeckx!for economic growth:' she said.

I

Whitmire cited the Clean Air Actas an example of a plan withspecific goals and specific time­tables. "'The Clean Air Act is a vcl)'hig issue for this state because wcare a long way from complyingwith national clean air standards,and we must accomplish thosegoals that arc now set out vcl)'dearly in the federal bw... .Theywill require some ch:mges inlifestyles. and they will requiresome significant inveSlmcnts byindustry. llut now that we have lhegoals set out ,md now that we havethe time frame set out, our job is todefine a fair and balanced plan tomeet those goals. Our job is to puttogether a plan and meet those airquality stand<lrds.M

Reshaping State Go\'erfUnenlfor the 1990s

St:lle government. MOT:lles s;lid.is responsible for four basic policyareas: education. corrections,tfansport:ttion :Ind human services."If you look at how we arc doingin terms of operation, administnt­tion and provision of those services:md programs, I think there issignific;lnt c:luse for concern .... lnthree of the four major areas ofstate obligation and responsibility,we are operating in this slate moreor less in:1 crisis fashion," MOT:1lesw:lrned.

"Couns, the judici;u)' and judges;lre making what should be legisb­tive decisions. policy decisions. I:lIll hopeful that over the course ofthe coming years that we in stategovernment will be successful inwresting away thai policy-makingdiscretion and authority fromjudges. from the judiciary, :Indrestoring it to elected representa­th·es. senators and others who :lrcmuch beller prepared and muchI~tter suited to make what :Ireessentially legislative and politic"ldecisions.

"'[I simpl}' should not be the casethat in many regards we havenonelected individuals making suchsignificant policy decisions that

10

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have such a profound and substan- attempt to anticipate spendingtbl impact on every Texan: needs and demands 24 and 30!\lorales conlinued, months in advance,

Luce said Ihat vOlers afe respon- Gnlben asserted thai there is nOIsible for demanding solutions from enough concern with performance "Aslatlgl.ling as it wouldthe Legisbture, "The legislative in the state government. "State be to bave tbe Legislaturesystem is geared to compromise government in general is tOO much....The problem is th:Jt me;lllS we concerned wilh filling slots and In session on a regularare trying to m:lke changes on the allocating budgets and nOI enough

basis eve,y year, J thinkmargins, :ll1d our problems will nOI with evaluating :llld moniloringbe solve<..l that W:lY, That means perfOl1l1anCe, not only of individuals there Is a needlor athai you and I arc going to have 10 bUI :llso of :lgencies.be pan of the choms that demands ~We have problems thai get by move in lbat direction. JJ

real solulions to Ihose problems. II the entire sySlcm Ih:ll is supposed- Diana Nataliciois our right to vote and to panici- to be h;lndling them....Educ;ltion is

p:lle, hUI we've gOI to be more one; environmcntal problcms arevocal and more active in dem<lnd- anOlller. ...The usu;tl man;lgementing re:ll solutions," Luce argued. procedures that arc now applied in

Whitmirc suggested Ihat st:l1e the private sector don't sccm to belegislators' low wages conlribute to applied with as much :llIention inthe problems in slate government. the public sector,~ Gmben said.~,f yOll do :J good job of [serving inthe Legislature], it takes all your - Fiona Sigallatime and yet it doesn't p:lY you a Diana PalmerliVing wage. So you either decide Rhond:! Harrisnot to give it :tll the time you reallyneed to or nOt to make a living,That is a prelly tough choice togive to the people who are makingour bws."

Natalicio agreed that legislatorsneed higher s:llaries, and she addedIh;Jt the Legisl:nure should rneel1110re often. "'As fatiguing as itwould be to have the Legislature insession on a regular basis eve'1'year, I think there is a need for amove in that direction. 1 also thinkthat the issues arc so complex atthis point thai il is essellli;ll that weprovide our n:prescnt;l\ives withthe kind of s:Jlaries that will en:lblcthem to do the job in the way thatwe would like for them to do it."

"Special sessions now are not sospecial,~ 1\lorales said. "In 1989, forcX:Hllple, the stale Legislature wasin session far more days than wasthe United States Congress. not-withstanding the fact that Congress.of course, theoretic:llly is a full-timelegislative body. The slate Legisla-ture is parl-timc," j\'lo~les addedthai the incoming lieutenantgovernor has proposed to allow at

least an annual budge! sessionrathl:r than having the Legisl:llure

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