Good morning,

Here is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Trump: It’s Time to Fire Dade Phelan

• Former President Donald Trump has turned his eyes on Texas, endorsing a challenger to House Speaker Dade Phelan. Brandon Waltens has the details.

      
• “David is an America First Conservative who will Secure the Border, Restore Election Integrity, Protect our Families and Military/Vets, and Defend our under siege Second Amendment,” wrote Trump on social media. "It’s time for HD 21 to fire Dade Phelan."
       
• A poll commissioned by Texans United for a Conservative Majority released Tuesday morning shows Covey leading Phelan by 7 percent (35-28).
      
• Phelan said the endorsement was "retribution" for leading the failed impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton.
      
• In other news, Phelan was the only Texas Republican endorsed by the AFL-CIO labor union yesterday.

Under Joe Biden, Border Patrol is a ‘Border Processing’ Agency

• In an interview with U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Victoria) yesterday in Washington, D.C., he said that the Biden administration has turned the U.S. Border Patrol into a “border processing apparatus.” He is intent on seeing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas impeached.
       
• “We have a secretary who is belligerent about intentionally disobeying and subverting the clear congressional intent of the law,” said Cloud.
      
• As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Cloud said Congress needs to do more to compel better behavior of the executive branch through the budget.
      
• "Congress can pass good policy, which would be helpful, Congress can investigate, but the only real enforcement mechanism we have is the purse string," said Cloud. "We can't continue to send the Biden administration money to do bad things."

Dutton Wins Special Election Runoff in House District 2

• In a closely watched special election runoff to fill an unexpired term, Jill Dutton won a razor-thin victory over Brent Money in House District 2. Just over 100 votes (out of more than 13,500 cast) separated the two candidates. 

      
• But the victory may not be long-lived; both Money and Dutton have simultaneously been contending for the HD2 GOP nomination on March 5 for the November General Election. Because of the highly Republican nature of the district, it is expected the winner of the March 5 primary will represent HD2 in the 2025 legislative session.
      
• Political commentator Luke Macias observed on social media that some 500 Democrats appear to have voted in the election—presumably for Dutton, who is supported by groups like Texans for Lawsuit Reform. Turnout in the March 5 GOP primary will be much higher, and those Democrats will be less likely to skip their own nominating contests.
     
• Money's campaign has been supported by Gov. Greg Abbott and a wide range of Republican and grassroots activists.

Texas Property Tax Revenue Increased in 2023

• After the Texas Legislature claimed they had passed the largest property tax cut in Texas history, a new report from the Huffines Liberty Foundation finds that taxpayers are actually paying more. 
      
• Data from the Office of the Texas Comptroller reveals total property tax revenue increased in 2023 by $165.2 million. 
       
• The report finds that while the legislature reduced property taxes, they did not consider that schools, cities, counties, and special districts raised property tax revenue more than the legislature lowered it.
       
• “Texas taxpayers were robbed of a historic opportunity to eliminate the school property tax,” report author Don Huffines told Texas Scorecard. “Politicians must stop the endless quest of trying to solve the symptoms of a problem rather than solve the problem itself. In this case, the tax is the problem. So end it.”

Texas Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Gender Mutilation Ban

• The fate of legislation banning child gender mutilation in Texas is in the hands of the state’s Supreme Court.

      
• The new law has been challenged by the ACLU of Texas and five families that want to chemically or surgically mutilate the genitals of their children for the purpose of appearing to be the opposite sex.
       
• The court has not set a timeline for issuing a decision, but some observers say it could be weeks or months before one is rendered.

Houston Police Revise Body Cam Policy

• A new policy from the Houston Police Department means body cameras will be recording constantly rather than only when an officer hits record. Charles Blain reports the change was brought by two officer-involved shootings in December.
      
• “We expect all officers to activate their cameras before taking law enforcement actions, but there are times where it’s not possible,” said HPD Chief Troy Finner. “Officers should not be more concerned about whether or not they capture an incident on a video than protecting themselves or the general public.”
        
• Finner said the policy does not represent any additional costs for the city but will provide greater transparency.

Texas A&M Engineering Course Focuses on Non-gendered Language

• As Texas A&M University continues to come under scrutiny over leftist hires, a former student revealed a reading assignment for a required course that teaches engineering students to use non-gendered language. Emily Medeiros has the story.

      

• Teaching “gender inclusivity” isn’t the only issue for which TAMU is facing increased criticism from current and former students. 

      
• Between the new president's opposition to a new state law banning "DEI" on college campuses and a push by the faculty senate to restrict compliance with Public Information Act requests, the university is described as falling into “ideological madness.”
       
• “Generally, the A&M administration has created an environment to encourage its faculty to mandate leftist ideological inclinations.” – Scott Yenor of the Claremont Institute

Quote-Unquote

"News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising."

– William Randolph Hearst​

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