Good morning –

The GOP-dominated Texas House voted last week to pave the way for the imposition of a new tax on Texans. Get the details below and then offer your position in the One Click Survey.

This is the Texas Minute for Monday, May 8, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Slaton Faces Expulsion From Texas House

• Following a swift investigation by the House General Investigating Committee, State Rep. Bryan Slaton will face expulsion from the Texas House following allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct with a subordinate. Brandon Waltens has the details.

        
• State Rep. Andrew Murr (R–Kerrville), who chairs the Investigating Committee, told the House on Saturday their findings showed that Slaton on numerous occasions provided alcohol to a 19-year-old female staff member. Then, in early April, Slaton had sex with her in his Austin apartment.
        
• When the allegations first emerged, Slaton was silent on the issue but retained a lawyer, who called the charges “outrageous” and “false.”
      
• The committee report says the woman confirmed the incident. She allegedly said that Slaton made her "fearful" she would lose her job if she spoke of their relationship.
      

• The expulsion vote by the full House is set to take place on Tuesday, though sources have suggested Slaton may resign prior to the vote.
      

• This is a correct ruling by the General Investigating Committee. I hope it starts a new trend of the legislators holding themselves and each other to a higher standard of personal and professional behavior. Given the rumors in Austin, it will be interesting to see who is next.

House Vote To Protect Children Delayed... Again

• Last week saw the Texas House twice fail to have a vote – or even debate – on legislation protecting children from procedures and practices that mutilate their gender and leave them sterilized. Sydnie Henry has a report from the Texas Capitol.
     
• Senate Bill 14, which was passed in early April by the Texas Senate, would protect children from these procedures. It was twice delayed by the House Republican leadership, on complaints from Democrats, regarding clerical errors in documents accompanying the legislation.
        
• The House sponsor of SB 14, State Rep. Tom Oliverson (R–Cypress), had bragged last month to GOP activists that he and his Republican colleagues had prepared for the parliamentary attacks. "The written-up paperwork is being passed to half a dozen true experts in parliamentary law that are doing what we call scrubbing, which is where they look at all the documents, they watch 24 hours of testimony to make sure the witnesses' names are all correct and everything’s correct, because like I said, those are the only things left for the other side to hang their hat on."
      
• Apparently, the paperwork was not as “bulletproof” as Oliverson claimed.
      
• As of yesterday evening, House Speaker Dade Phelan's calendars committee has not yet scheduled SB 14 for a third trip back to the House floor.

Paxton To Investigate Dell Children's Role In Mutilating Children

• After an undercover documentary from Project Veritas named Dell Children's Hospital in Austin as being one of a series of institutions nationwide providing gender mutilation and sterilization services, Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced an investigation.
      
• “We do have patients who are starting [to transition] as young as 8 or 9. So, we do have folks on the younger side,” a Dell Hospital social worker told the undercover reporter.
          
• Paxton notified the hospital that he wants all documents regarding child “gender identity” and “gender affirming care” made available to the attorney general's office for inspection.
     

• Meanwhile, Dell Children’s Hospital has maintained that they do not provide those services and are “conducting a thorough review of the situation.” They are reportedly cooperating with the A.G. investigation.

Parents Demand Answers for Alleged Sexual Assault of 6-year-old Girl in Plainview ISD

• Parents are demanding to know how it was that a 6-year-old girl was recorded being sexually assaulted in a classroom by another student while others screamed and cheered her attacker on. Soli Rice has details of the horrifying story.

       

• The teacher was allegedly in the classroom during the incident but was wearing earphones and not paying attention.

      
• The alleged incident took place at South Elementary in Plainview Independent School District late last month; however, the victim’s family was only recently informed—by the child, not the school.
      
• School officials were allegedly aware of the situation. According to the victim’s cousin, several parents have stated that these kinds of events have been happening all year. In this case, the perpetrator allegedly had previously brought porn into the classroom and attempted to act out the scenes.
     
• Six. Years. Old. This was not some urban hellhole but in a rural school district.

House Republicans Join Democrats Pushing Mileage Tax

• Republican lawmakers in the Texas House joined Democrats in supporting legislation to study how a mileage tax could be imposed on Texas drivers. As Erin Anderson reports, the imposition of such a tax is opposed by the Republican Party of Texas.

          
• House members voted 102-35 in favor of House Bill 3418, authored by Democrat State Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg and co-authored by Republican State Rep. Terry Wilson of Georgetown.
       
• Canales said the bill instructs the Texas Department of Transportation to “find the least intrusive way to preserve our right to privacy” while implementing a mileage tax that will collect an additional $10 billion a year for highway construction and maintenance.
           

• During debate on the House floor, Wilson brushed off concerns raised by citizens and complained about “text messages and emails” from his constituents opposing the bill.
     

• Yes, Wilson is one of those "More Taxes" Republicans.
       

• Canales (D) is the chairman of the House Committee on Transportation in the GOP-dominated legislature.

University of Texas Endorses 'Polyamory'

• The University of Texas at Austin is once again pushing radical gender theory and divisive racial ideologies on students. As Katy Marshall reports, the university’s Gender and Sexuality Center provides students with resources on starting polyamorous relationships.

      
• "Polyamory" is defined as multiple people engaging in multiple romantic and sexual relationships with each other. The UT center is also promoting a concept known as polyfidelity, which it describes as when "sexual fidelity is to [a] group" of people.
     
• When you sent your kid to college to get a "world-class" education in Texas, you probably weren't expecting them to be indoctrinated by radical leftists...
          
• UT Austin is a public university overseen by the University of Texas System’s Board of Regents. Led by Chairman Kevin Eltife, all board members were appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott and confirmed by the Texas Senate.

Today In History

On May 8, 1846, the Mexican War started with the Battle of Palo Alto in South Texas. Between May 8th and 9th, the 2,200 men serving under American General Zachary Taylor defeated the numerically superior Mexican forces. The war officially ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Rio Grande was set at the border with Texas, and the United States gained New Mexico, Arizona, and California, as well as portions of modern-day Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.

ONE CLICK SURVEY

The Texas House wants to explore adding a "mileage tax" to Texans' burden. Legislation by Republican Terry Wilson of Georgetown and Democrat Terry Canales of Edinburg was approved by a vote of 103-35. They hope the tax could collect an additional $10 billion annually from Texas taxpayers.

Should Texas have a mileage tax?

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!