Feb. 19, 2007, 5:01AM
Challenging Gov. Perry's vaccine plan


By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle





AUSTIN — By now, it should be obvious that Gov. Rick Perry's legally questionable order on the cervical cancer vaccine is on a fast track to nowhere.

It simply will remain a catalyst for discussion of a critical health issue, which may be mainly what the governor had in mind anyway.

If Chairwoman Dianne White Delisi has her way, the House Public Health Committee will take the first major step today toward overturning the edict. The full House and the Senate likely will follow suit.

Delisi's opposition to the governor's mandate is philosophical. She thinks the new vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, has tremendous potential but that it needs to be studied more before requiring schoolgirls to be inoculated.


A health care advocate
It, nevertheless, is ironic that Delisi, R-Temple, will play a key role in deep-sixing the initiative. Her daughter-in-law, Deirdre Delisi, is Perry's chief of staff. Also, the legislator is a former chairwoman — and still is listed as a state director, although she says she is no longer active — of Women in Government, a health care advocacy group partially funded by Merck, the HPV vaccine's manufacturer.

Delisi also received a $1,000 contribution from Merck's political action committee during the 2005-06 election cycle, according to Texans for Public Justice, which tracks political donations.

There even have been whispers, which Rep. Delisi adamantly denies, that she played a behind-the-scenes role in drafting the controversial order for the governor.

Delisi said she was blindsided by Perry, as were other lawmakers.

"It was a great surprise to me," she said.

Delisi is confident that her committee and the full House will approve separate bills to overturn Perry's mandate and, in its place, order the Texas Department of State Health Services to develop an education program on HPV.

She wouldn't make any predictions about the Senate, but 26 of the 31 senators have signed a letter asking Perry to withdraw his order.

Delisi also opposes legislative proposals to impose a similar vaccine requirement by law. Instead, she said, education needs time to work while the vaccine proves itself.

At least one of her committee members, Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, disagrees.

"I don't think you can protect children with just another PR campaign," he said.

Coleman, however, may be in the committee minority.


Getting a head start
Rep. Delisi said she scheduled legislation to rescind the governor's HPV order early because it was timely, and she wants to leave the Public Health Committee time to tackle other major issues, including Medicaid, later in the session.

But Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, the sponsor of the bill, indicated there is another reason.

He said he wanted to leave time for the Legislature to have a chance to override a Perry veto, if the governor tries to strike down the legislation.

I doubt Perry would do that and further antagonize lawmakers weighing the fate of other proposals that are important to him, but the possibility presents an interesting scenario.

The Legislature doesn't usually get the chance to override gubernatorial vetoes because most vetoes are issued after sessions have adjourned.

Most bills go to the governor's desk in the final days of a session, which means the governor can wait until after lawmakers have gone home to kill bills he finds objectionable.

The goal, as outlined by Bonnen, is to get his bill to the governor in time for Perry to have to sign or veto it while the Legislature is in town. Perry would have a 10-day deadline.

A veto override requires a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate, and only one veto has been overridden in recent memory.

That was in 1979, when a Legislature, still dominated by Democrats, defied Republican Gov. Bill Clements' veto of a local hunting bill.


Other options
There are still a few other ways in which Perry's HPV order could be thwarted:

•Attorney General Greg Abbott could rule the order exceeds the governor's authority. Abbott has been asked for an opinion.
•The Legislature could put a "rider," or special provision, in the appropriations bill prohibiting funds from being spent to carry out the order.
•Perry could rescind it.
"Not going to happen," said Robert Black, the governor's spokesman, of the third possibility.

In any event, as Perry noted the other day, he has succeeded in focusing public attention on a critical health care issue.

"I think the beauty of what we have done here is created a very extensive conversation, debate, discussion about an issue that is causing a lot of grief, heartache and death," he said.


'Jessica's Law' update
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's main re-election issue last year was his proposal to enact a "Jessica's Law," cracking down on sexual assaults against children, including making repeat offenders eligible for the death penalty, even if their victims don't die.

He held a news conference on the proposal again last week in the Senate, but the House will take the first shot at moving the legislation.

The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday on a similar bill by Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Houston.

You can write to Clay Robison at 1005 Congress, Suite 1060, Austin, TX 78701, or e-mail him at clay.robison@chron.com .



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