Greetings Citizen Advocates!

This week in the Texas Legislature, the war between House, Senate and Governor continues.  School choice legislation is apparently dead, the bill to make it a crime to illegally cross into Texas is still pending, but weakened, and the House can barely get a quorum to conduct business.

3rd SPECIAL SESSION RESULTS:

As the 3rd special session of the 88th Texas Legislature draws to a close on Tuesday Nov 7th, let's look back at what's been accomplished in the THIRD 30 day special session.

• Bills Passed by the House and Senate:  204
• Bills passed that are House or Senate Resolutions (commemorating or  honoring something or someone):  202
• Bills passed that are actually legislation:  2
• Bills sent to the Governor's Office:  2
• Bills signed by the Governor:  0

Just to give you an idea about the Resolutions, here are a few of the Resolution bills captions:

• Congratulating the Robstown High School band on qualifying for the 2023 UIL 4A Open Class State Marching Band Contest.
• Commemorating the 35th anniversary of Uni-Trade Group in Laredo.
• Recognizing Carolyn Guidry Beckham on the occasion of her 85th birthday.
• In memory of Bill Sullivan Jr.

Of course there's nothing wrong with congratulating, commemorating, memorializing, or wishing someone happy birthday!  But is this what we sent our legislators to accomplish?

The 2 bills that have actually passed and been sent to the Governor are SB4 (increased penalties for human smuggling) and SB7 (prohibits employers covid vaccine mandates).  But notice that the Governor hasn't signed them yet.  He may be holding out to use them as leverage to get his school choice legislation pushed through.

The Covid mandate bill is a big victory, but it still doesn't cover students.  The fine for firing an employee on the issue was raised from $10,000 to $50,000 with an amendment, but amid quarrels between the bill sponsor, Jeff Leach, and Rep. Brian Harrison, with Leach getting caught in a lie, and trying to take credit for the bill during closing statements, after opposing the amendment to strengthen it.

Except for the increase in penalties for human smuggling, the border issues remain unaddressed, and the border remains wide open, with no additional appropriations for additional barriers.

Something could still happen on some of these issues, but with the fighting going on between Phelan and Patrick, only 4 actual conservative House members trying to stand for actual conservative bills (against the other 146 members), and the Governor making pie crust promises, it just doesn't seem likely.  This is your tax dollars at work, folks!

And they will come back to us in the primary campaigns and tell you there just wasn't enough time!  But as  Michael Quinn Sullivan observes, "The House did not run out of time. The Phelan House ran out the clock."

CHAOS CONTINUES IN THE TEXAS HOUSE

We talked last week about the chaos in the Texas House.  This seems to be continuing.  For a very good summary and commentary on it, please watch the Luke Macias show.  He gives video clips, and spot on commentary about how Dade Phelan is completely out of control, and most Republican and all Democrats are just working hard to fool the public into thinking they're accomplishing good things.

The Luke Macias Show

The takeaway from all of this is:  Do you know what YOUR House Representative and State Senator have been doing?  Are you paying attention?  Many of the Republicans who supported Phelan's impeachment of Paxton are now being given opportunities to win back favor with the voters by sponsoring the RPT priority Senate bills in the House.  Then they can go back to voters next spring and brag about the great conservative bills that they carried and passed in the House.  Case in point:  Jeff Leach's weird "hugging" thing with Brian Harrison - acting like he is agreeing with everything in the bill and taking credit for it, right after fighting Harrison on the amendment. (it's in the Luke Macias video at 16:00).  Don't be fooled!  It's just a big dog and pony show for primary voters.

ACTION ITEM:

I try each week to give you action items with specific, constructive things to do.  But this week, I'm just at a loss!  Maybe prayer is the best action we can take at this time. 

But do pay attention to what your House Rep and Senator are doing.  Don't believe the campaign mailers, and the radio and tv commercials.  Take a good close look at what's happening behind the scenes. 

A lot of people ask me where to find the voting records of legislators as they make decisions about voting.  But the vote is only part of the story.  So much happens before a bill even gets to a vote on the floor of the House or Senate and you need to pay attention to those things.  Sometimes people vote FOR a bill on the floor where the eyes of Texas are upon them, when they were desperately trying to kill the bill in committees in the previous weeks.

Now you're going to ask me how to find out about those things.  So I have to tell you - it's not easy.  There is no report, or website, or person you can go to and see what kind of trickery is being played by lawmakers, or who is actually standing up for the principles you believe in.  But there ARE good sources out there that will tell you.  You just have to find them!

My favorites are Texas Scorecard, and The Texan.News.  There's also the videos and podcasts from folks like Luke Macias, Chris Salcedo, Bill Peacock, and many others. And of course, you can follow other groups who work towards the same goals TTP does - Texans for Vaccine Choice, Texans for Strong Borders, Texas Gun Rights, Advancing Integrity, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Eagle Forum, Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Opportunities to learn and know are out there.  You just have to take the time to investigate.  Of course, you can always trust TTP to give you our best, informed recommendation - but YOU should do your own research and make up your own mind.

So your action items for this week are:

1)  Pray for our state, our country and the safety, security, and salvation of all our people.

2) Find at least 2 NEW sources of political information, subscribe to them and start using them.

This month, many of our Satellite groups are gathering with friends to share a meal, play some games, and give thanks.  During this season of Thanksgiving, I want you all to know how thankful I am for you.  Your dedication, financial support, encouragement, and prayers keep me going and uplifted every day.  TTP is growing and accomplishing great things thanks to YOU! 

God Bless You All, and Stay Engaged!

Fran Rhodes, President