With nearly a month left in the 82nd Legislature, time is growing short to get bills out of committees and on the House and Senate floors for debate. Some of the most important work remains to be done: reaching compromise on a state budget, redistricting and Sunset legislation for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and other important agencies.

Many people who work under the Pink Dome each day believe the legislature will not be able to finish all its business by May 30, and that one or possibly two special sessions will be needed. I hope that’s not the case, but it is a definite possibility that we’ll be back in Austin this summer.

In the meantime, I am happy to say that as of this writing, much of my legislative agenda is proceeding quite nicely.

Before the session began, I identified five issues that were going to be priorities for me: the Bexar Metropolitan Water District, the Kristy Appleby bill on third-party protective orders, the Statewide Blue Ribbon Task Force, child abuse and neglect prevention and disabled veterans’ property tax exemptions.

The beleaguered customers of BexarMet are on track to get their vote on dissolving the utility. Senate Bill 341, which would provide for that vote and allow BexarMet to be absorbed by the San Antonio Water System, has passed the Senate and cleared the House Natural Resources Committee, and will now be debated on the House floor.

Because of the hard work of my staff and the near unanimous support of the Bexar legislative delegation, I am confident this bill will make it to the governor’s desk. Then it will be up to BexarMet ratepayers to decide in an election that would likely be held this fall.

The Kristy Appleby Act – the Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 116 – passed the Senate on a vote of 30-0, and is pending before a House committee. Most San Antonians know about Appleby, who was slain in early 2009 by the ex-wife of a man she had dated. Appleby had sought a protective order against the woman, but it was denied because she and the woman were not involved in a personal relationship.

Appleby’s case exposed a dangerous loophole in the state’s protective order law. My bill redefines the dating violence statute to allow third-party protective orders for people who are not involved in an intimate relationship with each other. It will ensure that anyone threatened by a broken or dysfunctional relationship will receive the full protection of the law.

If I were to cull my priority list down to just one bill, it would be Senate Bill 1154, which would continue the Statewide Blue Ribbon Task Force initially created by the Legislature in 2009.

The task force has been studying existing child abuse programs, academic studies and the role of law enforcement, the courts, nonprofit service providers and child advocates in developing new child abuse prevention strategies.

According to Child Protective Services (CPS), more than 288,000 children were reported for child abuse or neglect last year. That’s enough to fill Cowboys Stadium almost three times. CPS confirmed almost 67,000 of those cases, and 227 Texas kids died from abuse and neglect. Those numbers show the vital importance of doing a better job at prevention.

Senate Bill 1154 (sent to the House on a vote of 31-0) would continue the panel until September 2013, which would provide more time to develop legislative recommendations. It would also make technical changes to the appointment process and provide some state resources to task force members who have been paying their own transportation costs and other expenses.

Also advancing through the legislative process is a bill spurred by another story that made headlines in San Antonio: the parental abduction of Jean Paul Lacombe. The 11-year-old boy was pulled off a San Antonio school bus by Bexar County deputy constables in October 2009 and handed over to his father based on false information provided to a state district judge.

Relying on those documents, a judge granted the father, Jean Philippe Lacombe, emergency custody and ordered him to return to court for a follow-up hearing. But Lacombe, a Mexican and French citizen, left the country with Jean Paul. Lacombe was later indicted on kidnapping and perjury charges. It took a year before Jean Paul was reunited with his mother.

The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office asked me to file Senate Bill 1490, which would make it a felony to provide a Texas court with false statements regarding a child custody determination made in a foreign country. It is pending in the House after sailing out of the Senate on 31-0 vote.

Another bill destined for the governor’s desk would fix a confusing provision in the law granting a property tax exemption to disabled veterans.

Two years ago, the Legislature passed a law that gives a full property tax exemption to veterans who are 100-percent disabled from their military service. Unfortunately, some appraisal districts have misinterpreted the legislative intent, allowing the exemption to stay with the homestead rather than following the veterans after the veterans sell their homes. This resulted in situations in which the new homeowner received the tax exemption instead of the disabled veteran.

Senate Bill 201 will clarify the Texas Tax Code to ensure that the exemption follows the veteran, as the Legislature intended. The bill passed the Senate, and the identical House version – House Bill 469 – was debated before our Easter break.

Legislation by me and others would require the state to do something San Antonio has already wisely done: Ban texting while driving. Despite the obvious dangers of texting while driving and the bipartisan support, it has been difficult to build a consensus for a single approach. I will continue to work for a ban on texting while driving, but this is a solution that may have to wait for another session.

Still, a lot has been accomplished so far in the 82nd session. The task now is to make sure all of these bills are shepherded safely through the entire legislative process. That means a lot of work remains to be done.

Your input in this process is always welcome, and I invite NSIDE readers to come visit my office at the Capitol. I also want to thank NSIDE for this opportunity to bring you up-to-date on the session’s progress.

For more information on Sen. Carlos Uresti, visit www.carlosuresti.com. You may also contact the district office in San Antonio for constituent services at 210-932-2568, and the Capitol office for policy matters at 512-463-0119. And to learn more about the Blue Ribbon Task Force and other child abuse prevention efforts, visit www.blueribbontaskforce.com.