| Texas Tribune Political Brief
| | | | The Brief | | | | A daily wrap-up of Texas political and policy news by John Reynolds at the Texas Tribune.
John Reynolds, Texas Tribune 06/30/2014    | | Read Article: Texas Tribune | | State Sends Enforcement Notice to Trucking Company | |  | | The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has sent a notice of enforcement to a Falfurrias company, alleging that one of its trucks spilled 128 barrels — 5,376 gallons — of flowback water over 9 miles of roadway in Karnes County in the early-morning hours of March 10. The TCEQ investigation summary says that a truck owned by On Point Services LLC spilled its load between a Marathon Oil site and a disposal well.
Jennifer Hiller, San Antonio Express News 06/30/2014 | | Read Article: San Antonio Express News | | Port of Houston Incidents Rarely Investigated Formally | | | | As regulators the Board of Pilot Commissioners has delegated virtually all of its statutory oversight to two secretive investigatory committees whose members - active pilots and other maritime interests - decide behind closed doors which accidents warrant public hearings and whether the pilots involved deserve some type of sanction. Information obtained from the port authority via open records requests, and subsequent interviews with port authority officials, shows incidents are rarely investigated formally as part of public hearings and that the pilots involved are almost never disciplined.
Kiah Collier and Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle 06/30/2014 | | Read Article: Houston Chronicle | | Workplace Secrecy Agreements Appear to Violate Federal Whistleblower Laws | | | | Lawyers who represent whistleblowers say they are seeing a rise in the use of overly restrictive nondisclosure agreements, which prevent employees from reporting fraud, even to government investigators. The agreements incorporate language that goes beyond those that had traditionally protected proprietary information, the attorneys said.
Scott Higham and Kaley Belval , The Washington Post 06/30/2014 | | Read Article: The Washington Post | | Behind the Texas Miracle, a Broken System for Broken Workers | | | | Part 1 of 4 part series: There’s something about Texas's thriving economy, hat state leaders rarely mention: Texas has led the nation in worker fatalities for seven of the last 10 years, and when Texans get hurt or killed on the job, they have some of the weakest protections and stingiest benefits in the country. While Texas has a Division of Workers' Compensation, it is the only state that doesn’t require any private employer to carry workers’ compensation insurance or a private equivalent, so more than 500,000 people have no occupational benefits when they get injured at work. That means they often rely on charities or taxpayers to pay for their care.
Jay Root , Texas Tribune 06/30/2014 | | Read Article: Texas Tribune | | After Catastrophic Fall, the Fight of One Worker's Life | | | | Part 2 of 4 part series: Safety experts and advocates for injured workers say: An unskilled laborer, often without valid work papers, gets injured doing a dangerous and dirty job. The contractor may have a history of workplace accidents and working under various company names. There is no state-provided workers' compensation insurance or private equivalent because, unlike every other state, Texas doesn’t require it. Taxpayers and charities end up paying for most of the worker’s medical care. The worker and his or her family see their income and quality of life decimated.
Jay Root, Texas Tribune 06/30/2014 | | Read Article: Texas Tribune | | N.D. Nursing Home Files Suit Over Hepatitis Outbreak | | | | A nursing home in Minot, North Dakota where dozens of residents contracted Hepatitis C, has filed a lawsuit against its health care provider, Trinity Health. The lawsuit alleges that Trinity Health is responsible for the outbreak last year which involved the infection of forty-six residents of the nursing home. The lawsuit was filed in federal court last week and contends that the outbreak could be traced back to one Trinity employee and that the company "should have been aware of 'serious longstanding problems' with the employee's phlebotomy, or blood service, practices." The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and for the damages to also be decided by jury.
Wire Report, San Francisco Chronicle 06/29/2014 | | Read Article: San Francisco Chronicle | | Court: Immigration Status Not Pertinent in Lawsuit | | | | Siding with a South Texas ranch Friday, the Texas Supreme Court dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of three Mexican citizens killed in a rollover accident as their human smuggler sped away from a security guard who had stopped them. But on the issue of most concern to civil rights groups and the government of Mexico, the court ruled that the lawsuit could not be dismissed simply because the deceased — a husband, wife and child — were in the country illegally.
Chuck Lindell, Austin American Statesman 06/30/2014 | | Read Article: Austin American Statesman | | Jury Issues $55M Verdict Against Honda | | | | A jury ordered Honda Motor to pay $55.3 million for a rollover accident that left a PA man paralyzed, but the car company said Friday it would appeal. Lawyers for Carlos Martinez, 57, of York, argued that a faulty seat belt design in his Acura Integra caused the permanent injuries he suffered in 2010. Damages awarded by the Philadelphia jury on Thursday include money for pain and suffering, future medical expenses, loss of consortium and loss of earnings. Martinez, a married father of four, worked in construction as a glazier but is now paralyzed from the chest down.
Associated Press, USA Today 06/30/2014 | | Read Article: USA Today | | |
