Good morning –

We asked readers yesterday about the death penalty. You'll find the results of the survey, and a sampling of subscriber responses, at the end of today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan
April 4, 2023 

Senate Removes ‘Grandfather Clause’ to Child Gender Mutilation Ban

• Grassroots activists seeking to protect children scored a big win in the Senate yesterday.
      

• A week after adding a controversial amendment watering down popular legislation, members of the Texas Senate voted to remove the offending language yesterday.
        

• As Sydnie Henry reports, a last-minute “grandfather clause” was added to a proposed ban on child gender mutilation procedures in Texas. That clause would have exempted any child who had been started on puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones before June 3 of this year.

       

• Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi said the clause amounted to “abandoning every child currently being abused.”

      

• Grassroots activists immediately began calling their lawmakers, putting pressure on the Senate the correct the wrong. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was clearly listening, in his role as the Senate leader.
      

• Yesterday, senators voted 19-11 along party lines to approve reconsideration of the amendment and then its removal from the legislation.
      

• Senate Bill 14 prohibits medical providers from performing “gender transition” surgeries or prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to children under the age of 18 who are suffering from gender dysphoria. It would also require the Texas Medical Board to strip the license of any physician who provides these treatments, and would prohibit the use of public funds for these procedures or drugs. The Senate will finalize their vote today and then send the measure to the House for consideration.

📺 When Outsiders Flex

• On the latest edition of his show, Luke Macias explains how the legislative process improves when citizens get involved. The Luke Macias Show is available as both a podcast and video.

School Districts Urged To Leave TASB

• Just one week after Carroll Independent School District became the first district in the state to leave the embattled Texas Association of School Boards, the district's trustees are calling on others to do likewise. Brandon Waltens has the details.
      

• Currently, local taxpayer dollars are used to fund TASB membership fees and services that include training, legal advice, and insurance. It has also been criticized for lobbying against parents.

      
• At a Capitol press conference, State Rep. Nate Schatzline (R–Fort Worth) praised Carroll ISD and encouraged others to follow suit. He compared TASB’s training programs to “leftist indoctrination camps.”
       
• “Sending our communities' taxpayer dollars to an organization that pushes the very ideologies that our community overwhelmingly rejected in the last three elections would be disingenuous to those that have entrusted us to represent them,” said Cameron Bryan, the president of the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees.

TASB Threatens To Sue School Districts That Leave

• In the wake of Carroll ISD’s school board terminating its membership with the Texas Association of School Boards, the organization is now threatening to sue schools that leave the association. Emily Wilkerson has the details.
      
• Until now, TASB has claimed all Texas public school districts as members, but the association recently came under fire for controversial actions like promoting critical race theory and allowing gender-confused students to use the restroom of the opposite sex.
      
• Last week, the Carroll ISD school board passed a resolution that would terminate their membership with TASB by the end of the calendar year. The board also directed the superintendent to find alternative means of obtaining services provided by TASB. 
      
• TASB sent a letter to the Texas Council of School Attorneys, claiming it retains all rights to legal policies and unadopted local model policies or templates implemented from TASB Policy Service. That would include "letter codes and coding structure" used by school districts.
      
• Their position was mocked by State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian). The lawmaker posted to social media: "In other words: 'if you don’t send us tons of $$ to hire liberal lobbyists, then you can’t use our fancy numbering system (that we developed at taxpayer expense) in your policy manuals.'" 
      

• TASB has gone from leftist lobby organization to money-grubbing thugs in a blindingly short amount of time – which is probably a reminder that there really isn’t any difference between those two things.

Texans Want To Protect Children From Porn

• With increasing numbers of children addicted to online pornography, citizens are lining up to support proposed legislation that would crack down on underage access to pornographic material. Sydnie Henry has the details from a Senate committee hearing that took place yesterday.
     

• “We have an entire generation of young kids who are accessing porn—to the point they don’t even think it’s an issue, much less a problem,” said Deborah Berry, a Texas mom who testified in favor of new restrictions.
     
• Under legislation proposed by State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney), device manufacturers would be required to turn on an explicit material filter upon purchase. Utah was the first state to do this, and eight other states have similar pieces of legislation pending.
     

• Paxton highlighted research that shows pornography is addictive and that “exposure to explicit content in childhood is linked to an increase in the demand for child pornography, child exploitation, human trafficking, and prostitution.”
      

• Paxton has also authored legislation (SB 2021) that "requires a publisher or distributor of sexually explicit website content to create an 18+ age verification in order to view the website content."
     

• Both measures were left pending in the Senate Committee on State Affairs.

After Being Banned From A&M Campus, Drag Show Targets Kids In Amarillo Park

• After West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler canceled a drag show on the university's property, students held an “all-ages” drag show off campus at an Amarillo city park in protest. Katy Marshall has the story.

      
• “A Fool’s Drag Race” had been set to be held at the university’s campus event hall until it was kicked off campus. Wendler condemned drag shows as stereotyping "women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others."
     
• The drag show was advertised as a fundraiser for The Trevor Project, a controversial nonprofit that hosts online chats between LGBTQ minors as young as 13 and adults up to 24.
      
• Pictures from the event show several young children in the audience. According to Sarah Fields, president of the Texas Freedom Coalition, the park was within view of a playground and across the street from a middle school.

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Y'All Answered

Legal critics say the Republican leadership of the Texas House is quietly allowing Democrats to move legislation that, in effect, would abolish the death penalty. In yesterday's One Click Survey, we asked readers if Texas should keep the death penalty or abolish it.

Those wanting to keep the death penalty in place outnumbered those hoping to abolish it. Of readers, 94.8 percent clicked "keep the death penalty," while 5.2 percent want to "abolish the death penalty."

Here's a sampling of the responses I received...

• “Keep the death penalty and clean out the death row.” – Lane Burgess
      

• “From the lips of convicted serial killer Cecil Rinehart to my mother: ‘To me, killing a person is like stepping on a bug...The only thing people like me fear is the death penalty…’" – O. Machelle Morris
      

• “Ironically, the real problem with abortion is our failure to apply due process to the unborn. On the other hand, there are so many – on the left and the right – today that don't want to take away someone's rights even after due process has been served. Many have been on death row for decades at taxpayers' expense. How is that justice for anyone?” – Roger Taylor
      

• “I voted to abolish the death penalty. I believe that it should be replaced with a life sentence. I believe in the sanctity of life. Period.” – Linda Edmondson
      

• “If you are familiar with the Innocence Project, you will understand that there are a lot of people wrongly convicted.  Innocent people that are put to death by the State have no further recourse.  If it is found later on that they were indeed innocent, then it's too late.  Death row is more expensive than housing them for life in prison.  If they are truly guilty, let them rot there. Killing them doesn't change the fact that they will never leave, it just hastens the departure.” – Randall Woodman
      

• “It’s ironic that the same people who want to abolish the death penalty believe that abortion is health care.” – Helen Herd
      

• “Definitely keep the death penalty. To commit the crimes that warrant the death penalty, the person has to be mentally disturbed, in some capacity. So, if the DEMs (and RINOs) get their way, then they WILL effectively be abolishing the death penalty. I’m so tired of defense attorneys and the ‘justice’ system making and allowing excuses so people don’t have to face the consequences for their actions. Enough is enough. Hold people accountable for their crimes, and let God be the ultimate judge!” – Audrey Morris
      

• “Harsh punishment including the death penalty shows the criminals that you will be accountable for your actions! There is no accountability right now!” – Kim Moore
      

• “Not only should we keep the death penalty, we should use it more often and more expediently.” – Rod Dixon
      

• “However effective it may or may not be, I feel the death penalty is our most effective deterrent to horrendous crimes in this state.  Texas should definitely keep the death penalty.  It saddens me that so many Republicans have sided with the other side on this proposed legislation.  It also saddens me to think that some people who have NO problem murdering an unborn child would celebrate saving murderers from the death penalty.” – David Barton
      

• “The death penalty is the most effective deterrent criminals can understand! Otherwise, Texas turns into another useless state like California or New York!” – Priscilla Love
      

• “Many studies have proven that the cost to taxpayers is about 3 times more for those with death penalty sentences versus those with life-in-prison sentences. So let’s save some money. Also, there are so many overzealous prosecutors that stake elections on getting results, hence falsely prosecuting innocent people just to get the win. Truthfully, how many people do we have to kill in the name of 'justice' so some criminal attorney or judge can keep their political post?” – Rhonda Rice
      

• “There is a reason the death penalty is in effect: bad people do bad things and need to be removed from society so as not to do more harm to others.” – Mandy Kirkland
     

• “If all men and women were angels, there would be no need for a death penalty… Sadly, we are not.” – Dale Huls
      

• “Yes, we should keep the death penalty, but we should be carrying it out. Criminals sentenced to death should have one year to appeal then be executed if they lose the appeal. They took a life; they should lose theirs.” – Sam Bridges
     

• “The only reason my stance on the death penalty has now changed is after finding out about the West Memphis Three from Tim Pool, and watching the episode with Damien Echols on the Timcast IRL Podcast. Now that science has advanced enough and their innocence was able to be proven is the only reason I am now against the death penalty. I had never considered what if someone is sent to death and they are innocent.” – Kathy VillaFuerte
      

• “The death penalty should be carried out within a short period of time! No more welfare to criminals!” – John Patterson
      

• “Hell yes, we need to keep the death penalty, start using it more often, and start applying it to drug dealers and child molesters.” – Howard Benham
      

• “Keep the death penalty; I'm actually for public hangings in the square. If more people saw the consequences to their crimes, perhaps there would be less.” – Rick L. Perry
      

• “When it becomes legal to kill the unborn but illegal to kill a convicted murderer, then all hope for the future of our nation is lost.  The lunatics have taken over the asylum.” – Bill Parks
      

• “Not only should the death penalty be upheld, but justice should be swift and sure. Someone sitting on death row for years, and sometimes decades, is a mockery of our justice system, an affront to the victims and their families who deserve closure, and an unnecessary burden for taxpayers.” – Randy Miller
      

• “Judicious and proper use of the death penalty is both merciful and a deterrent.  The problem we have is that we do not have the integrity to use the death penalty properly.  Without the death penalty, victims have no hope beyond revenge.” – Arthur Potter
      

• “Conservatives should not embrace the death penalty. As the party of life, why should we make an exception for state-issued penalties? Further, while our legal system sees all equal under the law, do we really want our government to have the power to kill? They shut us down for a virus and mandated an illegal injection, but you trust them with the death penalty?” – Sean Anderson
      

• “Democrats want to eliminate the death penalty…? Conservative Republicans should counter to expedite the lethal injection process. Why does it take 20-plus years to execute hardened criminals lawfully convicted of their violent crimes? Phelan and the committees have got to go! We're fed up!” – Zack Dunnam
     

• “We are already too soft of crime.  There are some crimes so heinous, like child porn, that the only punishment is death. Without this deterrent, other acts against the weak, old, and non-defensive will rise.” – Greg Reinhart

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