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Good morning,

This is the Texas Minute for Thursday, April 17, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Texas House Passes School Choice on to Conference Committee

• After refusing to do so for a decade, the Texas House voted mostly on party lines shortly after 2 a.m. to adopt a school choice program favored by Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and the Texas GOP. As Brandon Waltens reports, the final vote didn’t come until after hours of debate on a long series of Democrat-driven amendments designed to gut the program that each failed along party lines.
       

• Passage of the legislation marks the first time a school choice bill has cleared the Texas House—a major shift from just last session, when a similar proposal was defeated. Abbott made the issue a defining battle in last year’s Republican primaries, successfully endorsing challengers against GOP incumbents who had opposed school choice.
      

• Ahead of Wednesday's floor debate, House Republicans met privately and heard from both Gov. Abbott and President Donald Trump, who called into the meeting and urged them to stay united.
      

• At one point, State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) proposed an amendment to put the measure before voters as a referendum—a concept he said was inspired by former Gov. Rick Perry. Abbott had previously dismissed the idea of a referendum, comparing it to the policies of California. Talarico’s effort failed.
      

• The legislation ultimately passed by a vote of 85-63, with State Rep. Gary Vandeaver and former House Speaker Dade Phelan the only GOP members to vote against it. The legislation will soon return to the Senate, which can either concur with the House’s version or send it to a conference committee. Gov. Abbott has said he is ready to sign it into law.

Cruz Wants to Give American Victims of Terrorism the Power to Sue International Orgs

• International organizations that provide material support—such as funding or other resources—to terrorist groups responsible for attacks against Americans would be subject to lawsuits if legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz becomes law. Debra McClure has the story.
      
• Currently, international organizations are immune from lawsuits due to the International Organization Immunity Act. Cruz wants to remove such immunity from international organizations that provide resources to terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. 
      
• One such organization, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, is a prime focus of the proposed legislation due to allegations that it directed funds to support Hamas.

Senate Acts to Reform University Faculty Groups

• The era of “shared governance” in higher education would end in Texas under legislation adopted yesterday by the Senate. As Sydnie Henry reports, the legislation would define the role of so-called faculty senates, which have operated without accountability.
       
• Constitutionally, regents are charged with the governance of Texas' universities and are accountable to the governor and the Senate.
       
• The legislation by State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) would limit faculty senates to an advisory role while establishing strict guidelines for their composition, meetings, and online transparency.
         
• "For too long, unelected faculty senates have operated behind closed doors, steering curriculum decisions, influencing institutional policy, issuing political statements to divest from Israel, and even organizing votes of ‘no confidence’ that undermine public trust." – Brandon Creighton

Senators Pass Measure Giving $2.5 Billion to Film Industry

• Members of the Texas Senate have approved a measure that would make $2.5 billion available to the film industry over the next decade. Luca Cacciatore has the details.
        
• The existing Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program provides qualifying productions—including video games and animations—a cash grant based on how much they spend in the state. Under the Senate's proposal, the fund would receive $500 million every two years over the next decade, amounting to $2.5 billion by the 2034-2035 biennium.
     
• When TMIIIP was first established by the legislature in 2007, at least 70 percent of a project’s cast and crew had to be Texas residents, and at least 80 percent of its production had to be filmed in the state.
       

• Under current law, 55 percent of a project’s paid crew and cast must be Texas residents, and 60 percent of the production must be completed in-state. The new law, though, further lowers the Texas residency requirements on paid cast and crew down to 35 percent initially, with a steady five percent increase every biennium until it reaches 50 percent by September 1, 2031.

      
• Projects would be disqualified from eligibility if they include pornography or obscene material, news programming, political advertising, religious services, or casino-type video games.

Katy ISD Considers Discipline Policy Amid Self-Defense Debate

• Michael Wilson reports that an unprovoked attack by a student captured on video has sparked a growing debate over how Katy Independent School District handles student altercations. The school board is launching a review of the district's disciplinary policy as a result.
     
• A video filmed by a student at Taylor High School appears to show a male student assaulting a female student without provocation: hitting her, knocking her to the ground, and holding her down. The altercation lasted just over a minute. During that time, a teacher can be seen leaving the classroom and later returning, but without appearing to make any effort to stop the male student.
      
• In response, the district placed both students under disciplinary action, suspending the female student for three days for disorderly conduct. Officials have explained that the current policy requires the district to punish any student involved in a physical altercation, regardless of which student is the aggressor.

OTHER SCHOOL NEWS

• Lubbock ISD taxpayers currently owe $413 million in outstanding bond debt principal and interest.

Houston May Raise Rates To Replace Failing Water Plant

• City officials are seeking $4.2 billion to replace Houston’s East Water Purification Plant, which is responsible for supplying drinking water to about 75 percent of the city’s residents. The Houston City Council plans to vote on a study that will determine if water rates will be increased for residents to finance the new plant.
     
• Houston Public Works warned earlier this year of potential boil-water notices and water outages as the risk of catastrophic failure at the water plant grows.

Quote-Unquote

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think."

– Albert Einstein​

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