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Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Dan Patrick Exposes Illicit Lottery Ticket Reseller After $83M Jackpot Win

• After an $83 million lottery jackpot was won in Austin, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick paid the outlet that sold the winning ticket an impromptu visit and discovered a warehouse of printing machines run by an illicit lottery ticket reseller. Daniel Greer has the story.
     
• Patrick’s visit to the printing warehouse came a week after members of the Senate Finance Committee eviscerated the Texas Lottery Commission for shepherding lottery resellers into the state. They took particular interest in how one—Lottery.com—has operated what State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) called a money laundering operation.
      
• Illicit lottery ticket resellers operating in Texas call themselves couriers to circumvent the letter and spirit of the law governing the lottery, which requires that it is to be played in-person, with cash, at a brick-and-mortar location conducting regular business.
       

• Resellers, like the one Patrick visited, allow players who may be out of state or even in another country to play Texas Lottery games online with credit cards. This leaves the door open to criminality and the expropriation of millions of dollars from in-state lottery players.
      

• As Patrick pointed out in his video, the Texas Senate passed legislation in 2023 to ban "courier services." The Texas House leadership, he noted, let that legislation die.

Democrat Obama Lawyer Retains Power in Texas House

• After it was revealed that he helped craft controversial House rules that expanded Democrat power in the Texas House, Democrat lawyer Hugh Brady was not reappointed as parliamentarian by Speaker Dustin Burrows this session. Instead, Speaker Burrows has Brady still advising the Texas House under a new title: “parliamentary counsel.”
       
• As Brandon Waltens reports, this means Brady will serve the House leadership as a legal adviser on constitutional and legislative procedures.
      
• A longtime Democrat operative, Brady has been a fixture in the Texas House since 2019, when he was appointed parliamentarian by former Speaker Dennis Bonnen. He previously served as general counsel for the White House Office of Administration under President Barack Obama and as parliamentarian for the Travis County Democrat Party.
      
• While Texas Scorecard has submitted a Public Information Act request to determine his current salary, the most recent records showed Brady making $233,730 as parliamentarian.

Senate Passes Bail Reform Targeting Ilegal Aliens and Violent Offenders

• By a nearly unanimous vote, members of the Texas Senate have advanced legislation that would deny bail to certain violent offenders as well as illegal aliens charged with felonies. Luca Cacciatore details their action. 
      
• Bail reform is one of Gov. Greg Abbott's legislative priorities, as he outlined in his State of the State address earlier this month.
      
• By a vote of 29 to 2 yesterday, senators passed a constitutional amendment authored by Joan Huffman (R-Houston). Known as “Jocelyn’s Law,” the measure would require judges to deny bail to illegal aliens charged with felony offenses. It is named for Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl from Houston who was sexually assaulted and killed in June 2024. Two illegal aliens from Venezuela are accused of committing the crimes.
     
• Constitutional amendments must be approved by at least two-thirds of the members of both chambers before being sent to voters for adoption.
      
• Senators also adopted Senate Bill 9, designed to prevent the release on bail of individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, and sexual offenses. It would also prohibit the release on bail of individuals with prior felony convictions or parole violations, tighten oversight of charitable bail organizations, and streamline the process for law enforcement officials.

Biden-era Climate Change Regulation Blocked in Texas

• A Biden-era regulation purporting to address climate change has been blocked in Texas. As Will Biagini reports, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration for attempting to force Texas into its "net-zero" program by the year 2050.
      
• Issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the rule would have required the Texas Department of Transportation to create a system to record and report declining carbon dioxide emissions connected with transportation. TxDOT would have also been required to set a goal for net-zero emissions that aligned with the federal goal.
      
• Paxton argued that the Biden rule violated federal law because the U.S. Department of Transportation does not have statutory authority to implement it. The attorney general won at the district court level, but the Biden administration appealed that ruling.
      
• The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has now dismissed that case, resulting in a win for Texas.

Legislation Would Limit Pay for School Superintendents

• Two members of the Texas House are proposing legislation to limit the salaries of school superintendents. Erin Anderson has more details. 
       
• Taxpayer-funded salaries for school districts’ top administrators have skyrocketed in recent years. Last school year, the state’s highest superintendent salary topped half a million dollars. Eight superintendents received salaries above $400,000, and another 81 received $300,000 or more. The lucrative salaries are supplemented by costly benefits and bonuses—all at taxpayers’ expense.
      
• State Rep. Carrie Isaac (R–Wimberley) wants to limit the salaries of school superintendents to no more than twice the highest annual salary paid to a classroom teacher in the district.
      
• State Rep. Ben Bumgarner (R–Flower Mound) would limit superintendents’ annual salaries to no more than the governor’s salary (currently $153,750).
      
• School districts routinely commit to multi-year contracts with superintendents. Yet superintendents often leave during their contract periods without penalty. Even when poor performance or misconduct is alleged, the superintendents still receive contract buyouts and large severance payments—again, at taxpayers’ expense.
       
• State Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson (R–Galveston) is proposing to limit such severance payments to no more than six months’ salary and benefits under the terminated contract.

Lawmakers Want to Evaluate Higher Education Accreditation Agencies

• Valerie Muñoz reports that two Texas lawmakers want to establish an accreditation commission to conduct biennial reviews of university accrediting agencies. 
         
• State Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson (R-Galveston) and State Sen. Brent Hagenbuch (R-Denton) believe these agencies should not be dictating policy to state universities. Hagenbuch said the agencies are "straying from their core mission" and having a negative impact on higher education.
       
• President Trump has lambasted accreditors, calling them radical leftists who “have allowed [America’s] colleges to become dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics.”

Amarillo Police Chief Suspended After Supporting Child-Predator High School Coach

• Amarillo Police Chief Martin Birkenfeld has been suspended. City officials have not stated a reason for the suspension, but the move comes after he defended a local high school football coach who sexually abused a 15-year-old student-athlete.
   
• The coach, Perryton ISD's Cole Underwood, admitted to federal charges related to sexually grooming and assaulting a young girl while he was also the athletic director. Underwood previously coached at Amarillo ISD, where he reportedly earned the nickname “Perv” for his inappropriate conduct around female students.
           

• In a statement read during the sentencing phase of the trial, Birkenfeld described Underwood as a “good kid” and asked the judge to consider Underwood’s lack of criminal history and “redeeming qualities.”
       

• During the same hearing, Underwood's sister revealed that he had also sexually assaulted her for years, from the time she was in fifth grade until her freshman year of high school.
      

• The Amarillo City Council is meeting Friday morning to discuss Birkenfeld’s “employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal.”

Quote-Unquote

"To look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible."

– John Glenn​

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