Good morning!

It is great to be back in the Lone Star State after a week away. Special thanks to Sydnie Henry for handling the daily email and Brandon Waltens for filling in on the podcast.

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, May 23, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Dallas Council to Consider Resolution Opposing Border Security Efforts

• With Texas' landmark border security law embroiled in legal challenges, the Dallas City Council will consider a resolution condemning it. Emily Medeiros has the details.

        
• Senate Bill 4 was set to go into effect earlier this year, criminalizing illegal entry into the state of Texas while empowering law enforcement to arrest illegal aliens. The new law has been caught up in a legal challenge by the Biden administration.
       
• A proposed resolution from the Dallas City Council, to be considered next month, contends the law would strain police resources and negatively impact relationships with the illegal alien community.
      
• Councilman Adam Bazaldua, who proposed the resolution, said the city should recognize the fear that some residents would have if it were to take effect. “I think it’s important that we make all communities feel welcome and know that we stand for that.”
      
• Illegally entering the country is what Dallas stands for?!
       
• “Before a city council decides to condemn those efforts taken by our legislature in protecting their fellow Texans, I would suggest they review their oath of office to clarify who they actually serve. However, at the end of the day, the only Texans that care what resolution the Dallas City Council passes are likely the council members themselves.” — Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith

Report: Republican Party of Texas Can Close Its Primaries

• According to a new report from the Huffines Liberty Foundation, the Republican Party of Texas can implement term limits and close its primary without needing any legislative approval. Sydnie Henry summarizes the findings.
        
• The report, authored by Don Huffines, asserts that freedom of association is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As such, political parties have latitude in determining who will represent the party.
       
• According to Huffines, a closed primary—where the voter must be a member of that party to vote in its primary election—is possible based on the Supreme Court ruling in California Democratic Party v Jones that upheld a party’s right to freedom of association. Similarly, parties would have the right to exclude from nominations individuals who have served longer than a period set by the party rules.
        
• At the Republican Party of Texas biennial convention (currently taking place in San Antonio) delegates are expected to consider making closed primaries a priority.

Carroll ISD Sues Biden Administration Over Title IX Rewrite

• The Carroll Independent School District is suing the Biden administration over its drastic rewrite of Title IX. The new revisions would add “gender identity” as a protected class and allow biological males to use female spaces. If a school refuses to comply, federal funding would be withheld. 
        
• Title IX was originally designed to prohibit sex-based discrimination in education.
       
• The lawsuit asserts that the rule will “impose immediate and long-lasting harm on Carroll ISD as well as its staff and students and their parents.”
       
• “The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of ‘sex’ in Title IX upends our education system. Carroll Independent School District is right to seek to preserve safety and privacy for the girls—and all students—under its supervision,” said Mathew Hoffman, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing CISD.

Texas Education Agency Investigates Complaint State Tax Dollars Subsidized Colorado Charter Schools

• The Texas Education Agency has launched an investigation into the allegation that state tax dollars have been used to subsidize financially struggling charter schools in Colorado. Charles Blain has the story.
       
• Mike Miles, who was appointed last year to lead the Houston Independent School District, has been accused of taking $25 million in state funds meant for charter schools his company operates in the Midland, Ector, and Austin ISDs. Allegedly, 40 percent of the Third Future Schools budget was used for unspecified reasons and to offset debt incurred by other schools in the network based in Colorado.
       
• According to a statement issued by Miles, the allegations "intentionally misrepresents the financial practices of Third Future Schools."

Quote-Unquote

"Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone."

– Frédéric Bastiat​

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