As the 2011 Legislature began, Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, had dreams of creating a pilot program that would flood participating middle schools with resources to improve them. Grades 6, 7 and 8 are often the last chance to get students back on track so they can graduate from high school and head to college or a good job. Johnson naturally was interested in southern Dallas middle schools, since he represents some of the area.

For a freshman, Dallas Rep. Eric Johnson has done well for himself. One of only 49 Democrats in the 150-member House, he scored plum assignments on the powerful Appropriations and Higher Education committees. Most recently, Speaker Joe Straus appointed him to a new oversight committee on higher education. Johnson has perhaps more clout than any minority party member with so little legislative experience.

"When the state collects a fee or tax for a specific purpose, the monies collected shouldn’t be used to certify the budget or to fund other programs," Johnson said in a prepared statement. "Holding back half of the dollars that Texans are giving to charitable causes through license plate purchases is yet another sad consequence of our state’s leaders’ refusal to even consider more extensive use of our state’s rainy day fund."

Forcing law-breaking lawmakers to forfeit their state pensions post-conviction should be an easy call. Rep. Eric Johnson’s bill, HB 246, would close a loophole and bar state officials who commit corruption-related felonies from collecting pension benefits. The Dallas Democrat’s legislation has support in both chambers and was passed out of committee unanimously. But it has slowed as the clock runs down. Leaders must ensure that HB 246 is placed on the calendar for a floor vote. Lawmakers should be able to make quick work of this common-sense proposal to stop felons from cashing in on tax-supported benefits.

Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, a freshman member of the House appropriations panel who voted "no" on the budget, noted that it is $23 billion short of maintaining current programs, if inflation and population growth are considered. It also would leave $6.2 billion in the rainy day fund.

 "Texas Republicans today are demanding that we make devastating cuts that will hurt Texas’ school-aged, elderly and disabled populations — cuts that they would never suggest for their own families," Johnson said. "It is unconscionable that such brutal cuts are being proposed while billions of dollars sit unspent in the state’s savings account."

While most freshmen lawmakers and second-term colleagues must pay their dues before landing spots on the power charts in their respective chambers, some newcomers who are off to auspicious starts like Democratic State Rep. Eric Johnson of Dallas and Republican State Reps. Lance Gooden of Terrell, Dee Margo of El Paso, Charles Schwertner of Georgetown and Raul Torres of Corpus Christi as Straus appointees on the Appropriations Committee.

On his first day as a real, live, marking-up-the-budget Texas state budget writer, Rep. Eric Johnson tried to tote fair with the home folks. The freshman Dallas Democrat sprang a plan on his Appropriations subcommittee colleagues that would restore nearly one-quarter of a proposed $225 million cut in programs that use financial carrots to persuade people and companies to get rid of smoke-belching, dirty-polluting cars and diesel-fired heavy equipment. The programs, with exotic names TERP and LIRAP, are especially important to Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.

Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, took a tour of Methodist Dallas Medical Center with Mansfield on Friday. He was emphatic about his opposition to reducing Medicaid fees.

"I’m going to do what I have to do to stand up for the hospital and anyone in my district," Johnson said. "I’m 100 percent on their side."

"My No. 1 priority is that Texas doesn’t balance the budget on the backs of working-class people," Johnson said. "I want to make sure that the Republican super-majority understands that real people need help. We’re going to have a fight on our hands, but I’m up to it."

Clearly, legislators have plenty of work to do to strengthen Texas ethics laws. But newly minted Rep. Eric Johnson has kick-started this process with common-sense legislation that would force state officials who commit felonies connected to their official duties to forfeit their public pension benefits.