What reform legislation might be revived once Rick Perry no longer wields the veto pen?

Rick Perry announced this afternoon that he will not run for re-election as Texas Governor, meaning someone else (odds-on favorite is Greg Abbott) will be wielding the veto pen in 2015. Time to go back through Perry's vetoes on criminal-justice reform over the years to see what might be revived under a different chief executive.

For me, the biggest one that jumps out was Perry's veto of two different legislative fixes to the US Supreme Court's ruling in Atwater v. Lago Vista, which held that law enforcement can arrest people for Class C misdemeanors for which the maximum penalty includes no jail time. After that ruling, the Legislature in 2001 passed a ban on the practice in most instances, which Perry vetoed at the behest of the police unions. (See an op ed from Michelle Deitch criticizing that action.) Then in 2003 the Lege passed a compromise bill requiring only that departments have a written policy saying when such arrests are allowed. The governor vetoed that, too. Between Perry's departure and the arrival of a new, more libertarian Tea Party contingent at the Legislature, perhaps 2015 would be a good time to revisit that topic.