Happy Friday Citizen Advocates!

LADIES & GENTLEMEN - START YOUR ENGINES!  January may seem really far off, but it will be here sooner than you think.  And in between now and then, we have all those wonderful holiday things to occupy our minds and our time - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year! So we are prepping for the 89^th Texas Legislative Session NOW!

You may have noticed that most of our monthly meetings the next few months are devoted to prepping for session.  We’ve invited experts and partner organizations to speak on the important topics that will headline the 89^th Session, and how we can all participate in moving our legislative priorities.

To that end, we’ve also firmed up the TTP Legislative Priorities for 2025.  At their meeting in August, our Board voted on 5 issue categories as a focus for our efforts.  They also identified several specific issues in each category.  Our legislative priorities are always based on our Core Values:

• • Fiscal Responsibility
  • Personal Responsibility
  • Rule of Law
  • Constitutional Governance
  • State & National Sovereignty

All under the umbrella of faith, family and freedom.

Here are the TTP priorities for 2025:

Protect Life and Innocence of Children

• •  Ensure that current abortion laws are followed and violations prosecuted
  •  Support a ban on the abortion pill in Texas
  •  Protect families and individuals’ rights to make end of life decisions
  •  Pass new legislation as needed and provide strict enforcement of laws that prohibit gender modification of children, inappropriate materials in libraries, drag queen shows for children, and any other measure that protects the innocence of children.
  •  Promote a traditional, classical style of education using traditional curriculum materials

CORE BELIEF: PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, RULE OF LAW, FAMILY VALUES

Ensure Responsible Financial Stewardship

• •  Pass responsible budgets that cut spending, and stop expanding government
  •  Find a substitute for property taxes and put Texas on a path to eliminate property taxes
  •  Ban Taxpayer Funded Lobbying
  •  Eliminate the inconsistencies and unfair practices of the state’s appraisal districts
  •  Address the inequities of the school funding formulas and repeal Robin Hood
  •  Repeal Corporate Welfare (Chapter 403 - old Chapter 313)

CORE BELIEF: FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Enhance Texas Sovereignty/End Government Overreach

• • Declare the border crisis an invasion; invoke Art IV/Sect 4 &Art I/Sect 10 of the Constitution
  •  Engage whatever means necessary to stop the unauthorized flow of people and products across the Texas southern border.
  •  End the magnets that draw immigrants to the United States in the first place
  •  Pass legislation that protects Texas from foreign investment by adversaries
  •  Protect TX Citizens from federal government’s unconstitutional environmental regulations
  •  Ensure all Texans have medical freedom to give or withhold consent for any vaccine or medical treatment without coercion or discrimination.

CORE BELIEF: CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE, RULE OF LAW, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, STATE AND NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY, FREEDOM

Ensure that Texas Elections are Fair, Transparent, and Honest

• • Pass legislation for closed primary elections
  •  Reduce the early voting period and eliminate the gap between early voting and election day
  •  Require paper ballots that are sequentially numbered, and can be stored, and verified.

CORE BELIEF: RULE OF LAW, CONSTITUTIONAL. GOVERNANCE, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Secure and Protect the Texas Electric Grid

• •  Stop subsidies of unreliable energy sources, and improve opportunities to expand reliable sources
  •  Harden the electric grid system with new insulation and security technology
  •  Do everything possible to ensure reliable, affordable energy sources for all Texans

CORE BELIEF: TEXAS SOVEREIGNTY, FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, FREEDOM

This list is not all inclusive.  We will continue to support bills that align with our core values and oppose those that do not.  The priorities list is intended as a focus and starting point.

TTP will have teams of activists at the Capitol weekly during regular session.  We have designated Tuesdays as our day, but we may have work on other days as well.  We will deliver position papers, write letters to committee members, meet with legislators and their staff, testify at hearings.  In short, we do whatever is necessary each week to move or stop legislation.  We work closely with other organizations, and the RPT Priorities Committee.  Please consider joining us for some of these visits in 2025.  TTP has become known as a group not to be messed with.  That’s because we put the boots on the ground to get things done.  So put on your boots, and join the army!

We’re planning a True Texas Day at the Capitol early in the session where we’ll do tours of the building, have a briefing with legislators and partner organizations, and visit with our own legislators.  This day is of particular interest to those who have not done it before, but we’ll also welcome our veteran activists who will pair up with the newbies to show you the ropes.  It’s a fun day and gets you set up for the work that is to come. We hope you’ll join us.  We’re also planning a TTP Kids at the Capitol Day in late February or early March.  Watch for information on both those events, and join in if you can.

Meanwhile At the Capitol – Here’s what’s happening in a couple weeks:

On October 15, 16, and 17, the Senate State Affairs Committee is holding interim hearings all 3 days to review several important topics.  Here’s a summary:

Tuesday October 15, 9:00 am

·         Impeachment Reform

·         Lottery

·         Addressing Homelessness

Meeting Details:  https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/schedules/pdf/C5702024101509001.PDF

Wednesday October 16, 9:00 am

·         Runoff Elections

·         Stop Non-citizen Voting

·         Election Audit Reports

·         Unmasking protesters

·         Monitor implementation of SB2284 (relating to the sale of distilled spirits to ultimate consumers)

Meeting Details:  https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/schedules/pdf/C5702024101609001.PDF

Thursday October 17, 9:00 am

·         Social Media & Protecting Children (specifically HB 18)

·         Responsible Investing

·         Beverages with THC

·         Public Trust in Government

Meeting Details: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/schedules/pdf/C5702024101709001.PDF

I definitely have something to say about that “public trust in Government” thing.  I bet you do too!  I’ll be there for all 3 days.  If you can join me, let me know.  We’ll meet up in the rotunda and do it together.  You can pick your topic and testify (or not).  There is no on-line comment opportunity for Senate hearings, but you could email the committee members if you can’t go.  Interim hearings are a great time for folks who have not testified before.  They are somewhat less formal, and less pressure, because there’s no bill to approve or deny.  It’s all about information gathering, and they need to hear from citizens.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m really excited to start the new legislative session in January!  I think it’s going to be a new day in the Texas House, and I’m encouraged by all the new grassroots representatives that will be joining them. I’m ready!  Are you?

Stay Joyfully Engaged!

Fran Rhodes, President