John Whitmire

• Led the effort in securing 3.75 million to preserve the West 11th Street Park
• was successful in securing federal stimulus money for the preservation of the Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland papers maintained by the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland School Of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University as a member of the Senate Finance Committee.

From its inception Senator Whitmire questioned, as a matter of public safety, the use of wrecker drivers in the Safe Clear program who had not undergone sufficient criminal background checks. He challenged the city's privatization and profiting off of state roads by leasing sections to tow companies for mandatory tow purposes. Whitmire also reminded the city that the gasoline tax and state general sales tax are used to pay for and maintain our highways. After a two-hour meeting with Mayor Bill White, an agreement was made on modifications to Safe Clear. As a result of his efforts, positive modifications were made to the Safe Clear program. Senator Whitmire and Mayor White were able to take numerous steps towards the common goal of safer freeways in Houston.[8]

Senator Whitmire serves as Chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and works to bring about needed changes to the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems.

Senator Whitmire passed legislation to free the Texans who were imprisoned as a result of the notorious Tulia drug raid. That incident resulted in the conviction of 38 Texans based on the testimony of one individual who has since been indicted and arrested for perjury. The legislation allowed the judge to release the prisoners on bond pending the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals. On June 10, 2003, the Tulia defendants were freed on bond as provided for in Senator Whitmire's legislation. They were later pardoned by the Governor.[9]

Senator Whitmire worked closely with his colleagues and was successful in obtaining funding for the largest expansion of treatment and rehabilitation programs in decades. The Legislature appropriated more than $200 million to add more than 8,000 new treatment beds for inmates, parolees, and probationers. The additional beds gives judges alternatives to prisons, provide treatment alternatives for parolees or probationers who were otherwise being revoked to prison for minor or technical violations. The funding also established a DWI prison unit to rehabilitate low level DWI offenders.

In 2007, when scandal hit the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), Texas incarcerated more than 4,700 juvenile offenders in institutions, halfway houses, and contracted care. In 2009, Senator Whitmire partnered with local juvenile probation departments across Texas to secure additional funding to allow judges and probation departments to keep nonviolent juvenile offenders in programs and facilities in their communities where they can get the adequate care needed.

By diverting nonviolent offenders from TYC, the State of Texas was able to close the older, more remote TYC facilities; and juveniles now have greater access to community-based comprehensive education and treatment programs already successfully run by local juvenile probation departments. The results not only saved money, but provide for a much better outcome for the youthful offender when they are placed near their families and near the services and care they need to turn their lives around.[10]

The Texas Youth Commission was merged with the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department coordinate services for youth offenders with the goal of keeping more kids in the community while providing a secure state run system for our more violent offenders.

Across Texas, school districts were hiring police departments, issuing tickets, requiring families to go to court, and creating the first encounter with the justice system. Those students were cited for behavior that while disruptive to the classroom were not grounds for citation, expulsion, or a criminal record. Senator Whitmire passed legislation to ensure that kids under twelve would no longer receive criminal charges for truancy. Children over twelve can receive a Class C misdemeanor for truancy. If conditions are met, the case will be expunged with no criminal record.

Whitmire was outraged when convicted murderer Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered a large last meal which he did not eat prior to his September 21, 2011, execution. Whitmire said that this was Brewer's attempt to "make a mockery out of the process." The senator contacted the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and asked the agency to end the practice of last meals or he would get the State Legislature to pass a bill doing so. The agency replied that last meal requests were accommodated "within reason" from food available in the prison kitchen, but it agreed to end the practice immediately at Whitmire's insistence.[11]

Whitmire authored Senate Bill 410 intended to regulate the function of the State Board of Pharmacy. The bill also contained provisions regulating out-of-state pharmacies such as "Internet Pharmacies". Senate Bill 410 allows the State Board to publish on their website a list of free and reduced programs offered by various pharmaceutical companies. The bill also made way for the State Board to inspect Canadian pharmacies therefore giving Texans an opportunity to buy less expensive prescription drugs safely. This bill was signed by Governor Perry and went into effect September 1, 2005.[12]

• Led the charge in the Senate to guarantee an across-the-board pay raise for public school teachers, librarians, nurses, and counselors during the 81st legislative session
• Flibustered a school finance bill that he felt did not give equal education dollars to poorer school districts during the first special session of the 79th legislative session.

In 2003, Whitmire was one of the "Texas Eleven", a group of Democrats who fled the state for New Mexico in 2003 in a quorum-busting effort aimed at preventing the passage of redistricting legislation that would have benefited Texas Republicans. He ultimately returned to the legislature, creating a quorum and undoing the efforts of the rest of the Texas Eleven.