- HB 2127, the omnibus anti-worker bill, puts the future of our state at risk, and it could be up on the Senate floor next week. Take action NOW.
- SB 14, the cruel, hateful bill that puts trans youth lives at risk, fails to advance to next stage of the legislative process, is brought back to committee for time being.
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Brothers, sisters and siblings,
Our legislators continue to shamelessly demonstrate their priorities this Session have nothing to do with the priorities of working Texans. Instead of improving the lives of all Texans, they have advanced a cruel, oppressive agenda. They have not just ignored our greatest needs, they have actively sought to strip us of our rights. Our solidarity is our greatest defense against the attacks on our livelihoods. No matter where we come from, what we do for work, or who we love, it is time for us to mobilize, organize and fight back.
Here’s what you may have missed, and what to look out for next week.
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HB 2127 will be debated on the Senate floor as early as next week. This may be our last chance to stop the attack on local leaders and local ordinances that protect workers.
If passed, HB 2127, without exaggeration, will fundamentally alter our state. It will roll back decades worth of local worker protections and public safety measures, and ban any new ones from being passed. Under HB 2127, the people we elected to serve our communities will be blocked from passing policies that address our needs as working people.
Our fight against HB 2127 is our fight for democracy, it is our fight to have a say in how the places we live and work are governed, it is our fight for our lives. We can still stop it.
Our legislators MUST hear from working people before it’s too late, email your State Senator TODAY -- tell them to oppose HB 2127.
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On Tuesday, SB 14, the bill that would ban life saving gender affirming care for trans youth was scheduled to be debated by the full House, but it was sent back to Committee due to a technical error. Prior to this and in an enormous affront to democracy, trans advocates were forcefully cleared from the House gallery. One trans advocate leader was banned from the Capitol for a year, another was aggressively apprehended and arrested simply for remaining in the Capitol rotunda. It was back on the floor today, but faced the same fate – sent back to committee on a point of order. It will likely be back on the floor early next week.
With hundreds of bills passed this Session that aim to erase our trans siblings from existence, we must make it clear – the Texas labor movement rejects these hateful attacks. In the words of our president, Rick Levy “An injury to one is an injury to all. None of us are free until all of us are free.”
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SB 936 was voted out of the House State Affairs Committee today. This bill would prohibit Texas cities from rewarding companies that seek to create good paying, safe jobs for building projects through the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s). PLA’s don’t just benefit workers, they benefit entire communities. Our Secretary-Treasurer, Leonard Aguilar, testified in opposition to the bill, saying “PLA’s are typically done on very large projects that need the extra care and attention to detail. That is what the agreements can bring to the table such as Local Hire, Apprenticeship Training requirements and safe projects that will help ensure that all those workers that live in our districts go home safe at the end of the day.” Be on the lookout for our next steps in stopping this bill as it advances through the legislative process.
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HB 3274, the bill that would require a human to be present in the cab of all self-driving 18 wheelers in Texas, was heard in the House Committee on Transportation this week.
Recent polling revealed 71% of Texas residents would be uncomfortable sharing the road with an unmanned commercial truck. Despite this, there are unmanned trucks on our roads right now.
Phil Bunker, Political Coordinator for Teamsters Joint Council 58, came to testify in support. Watch his testimony here. |
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| SB 17 & SB 18 |
On Monday, two major attacks on our universities and university professors will be heard in the House Committee on Higher Education. SB 17 would ban DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) initiatives in public universities, rolling back years of progress toward creating a more equitable higher education system. SB 18 would ban tenure in public universities, throwing the future for hundreds of professors in jeopardy almost overnight. |
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Important Legislative Deadline
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Next Thursday marks the deadline for House bills to be considered on 2nd reading by the full chamber. If a bill isn’t debated by Midnight, it’s dead. Two years ago, a bill that would have gotten rid of prevailing wages (fortunately) died thanks to the clock. Like the bad anti-labor prevailing wage bill, often the worst of the worst bills are put on the House calendar this last week. |
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In solidarity,
Texas AFL-CIO
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