Dear Friends,

We are now literally in the final days of the 88th Session of the Texas Legislature.  After today, only 3 days left.  These final days will be spent taking care of final administrative tasks, and resolving differences in conference committees.   Conference Committees are appointed when House and Senate have not concurred on changes to original legislation.  The Conference Committee reports are then sent back to both chambers for approval.  It pays to watch for these conference committee reports.  I once saw a bill that went into conference committee and came out having nearly zero resemblance to the original bill.

Unfortunately, the entire legislative process is subject to the evil legislative clock that shows no mercy.  Good bills  have died in committee after passing the deadlines, or on the Calendars of the chamber when there is not enough time to vote on them.

But don't be fooled!  There is always time for them to do what is important to them!  Starting next Tuesday, you're going to see legislators taking to social media to pat themselves on the back for all the great things they accomplished, and shedding tears over the ones for which they "just ran out of time!".  So when you confront your representatives next year in the primary, be sure you know exactly what they did or did not do to promote conservative priorities, or kill some of the ridiculous bills that have been filed.

Update on the things we reported last week:

SB17 (Creighton) would prevent DEI practices in hiring and policy at Texas colleges and universities. It has now passed both chambers but with significant weakening changes in the House version.  Senate will now have to concur or not, and if not, appoint a conference committee to resolve differences.  Here’s a good article from The Texan detailing the road to passage for this bill.

HJR146 (Capriglione) regarding the right to use cash – we reported last week that it was stuck in Senate Business & Commerce Committee.  It’s still there! Consider it deceased. Blame the evil clock.

HB5 (Hunter) which would bring back Chapter 313 type tax subsidies for corporations – PASSED both chambers.  UGH!  Seems we just can’t keep the legislature from picking winners and losers with our tax dollars.  They had time for this one!

HB3418 (Canales) is the pilot program for a mileage tax.  Thankfully, this one Died in the Senate Committee.  When I testified last week, I asked the members to allow this one to die a respectful death in the committee.  I guess they took my advice.

SB595 (Kolkhorst) requiring parental permission to conduct psych evaluation or treatment was placed on the House Calendar for 5/23, but it’s still showing no action. So it’s probably dead at the hands of the clock.

HB900 (Patterson) which removes the dirty books from school libraries finally passed the Senate on Tuesday (without amendments)!

HB7 the border security bill passed both chambers with major changes made along the way. Many of the changes not so good.  Watch for a conference committee.

What's next?

This session is over, but there will likely be at least one special session called.  SB8 - the Governor's priority legislation for school choice/esa passed the Senate but was left pending in the House Committee.  Gov Abbott has already signaled that if this issue didn't pass to his satisfaction, he would call a special.  More information on that to come soon.  Remember - special sessions can only be called by the Governor, and only take up issues the Governor designates in the call, and the special sessions only last for 30 days. 

So don't hang up your activist hat just yet!  We will be back at the Capitol doing what we do for any special sessions called.  Next week I will do a full recap of wins and losses within our TTP Priorities.  And during the next few months, various speakers will be at the monthly meetings doing legislative recaps.

Thanks for hanging with us for the 140 day marathon that we call the Texas Legislature.  I appreciate all the work that you all have done.  And it does pay off!  We've seen citizen engagement like never before this year, and we have some successes to be proud of.

For Texas!

Fran Rhodes, President

PS:  Did you know that we're kinda famous for our training workshops?  They get rave revues, and other groups are now inviting us to bring our training to them.  We believe that a well training activist army is an effective army, so we're happy to train Texans all over the state.

If you have not yet attended our Certified True Texan workshops, there's one coming up soon in Katy on June 2 and 3.  Check out all of our workshop offerings by visiting the website page for Certified True Texan Training.  Scroll to the bottom of the page for dates and registration links.