POT-BILL BACKER LEFT HOLDING THE BAG?

AUSTIN - The medical marijuana bill may be going up in smoke.

Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, said he has made changes in his bill, which
provides a criminal defense for those with a life-threatening disease who
use marijuana to relieve symptoms. He said he is now confident that the
bill soon will be voted through the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.
And the former prosecutor and sheriff said he feels good about its chances
of passing the full House.

But no one in the Senate has stepped forward to carry the bill in the upper
chamber.

Mr. Keel said his political positions and work history are an ironclad
testament to his law-and-order attitude, but in the Senate, some are
"fearful of being labeled as soft on crime."

"Without a Senate sponsor in the next three weeks, it's dead," Mr. Keel stated.

On the other hand, another controversial measure is riding high, said its
author, Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio.

Mr. Wentworth wrote a bill to curtail accidents on rural roads by mandating
that bicyclists ride single file, with no more than three in a group.

But boy, did he find narrow tire tracks all down his back. He said he has
never received such an outpouring of calls, faxes and e-mails. Apparently,
his colleagues shared the feedback.

"I've had House members tell me that I've filed the single most important
bill in the session," Mr. Wentworth said.

So, he's retreaded. Mr. Wentworth's bill now places no limitations on the
number of riders, allows riding two abreast until a car approaches and then
single-file and allows those rules to be waived for charity events.

"I'm hopeful this compromise bill will be one that everyone can support,"
he said.

Son of Sunset

For those optimists who know that the sun also rises, the Department of
Public Safety can tell you that it also can set twice.

Sen. Chris Harris, R-Fort Worth, is a man on a mission, and he put the DPS
under intense, accusatory and sometimes rambling two-hour examination
during a Criminal Justice Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Mr. Harris said the DPS should consider the review part of a continuing
sunset process, which the DPS underwent in 1999.

State law provides that every 12 years, each state agency must undergo an
audit and justify its existence to the Legislature. Without a vote
reconstituting the agency, it automatically expires, or is "sunsetted."

Mr. Harris said he intends to push major sunset changes at the DPS,
including stripping it of its state DNA lab and Texas Rangers divisions and
expanding its oversight commission from three public members to seven.

Mr. Harris leveled numerous accusations and pointed to the fact that two
former employees of the DPS crime lab are under indictment, one on charges
of falsifying fingerprint reports, which could taint hundreds of criminal
cases, and the other on charges of embezzling from charitable organizations.

He disclosed a threat against one of his staff members by a DPS official,
who told the staffer that he should forget about making changes to DPS
under sunset, or "be careful about that pound of cocaine he was carrying
around in his truck."

DPS Commissioner M. Colleen McHugh said that once she had been informed of
the statement, she "got to the bottom of it and learned that it was an
inappropriately made joke."

Committee chairman Kenneth Armbrister, D-Victoria, also expressed concern,
saying he learned of DPS lab problems from the media, instead of being
briefed by agency personnel.

"It gets real frustrating when things happen," Mr. Armbrister said.

He pointed out that a Travis County grand jury has recommended an
independent review of the DPS lab operation.

Ms. McHugh defended the department. "I assure you with regard to this crime
lab or any other division within this agency, the men and women who work
for us, who work for you and the citizens of Texas, are the most honorable
the straightforward men and women you'll ever meet," she said.

Mr. Armbrister, Mr. Harris and Ms. McHugh made plans to meet again
privately and take a good look at the sunset.