Week 18: 89th Texas Legislature

THIS WEEK 

What a great day we had at the Capitol on Tuesday! We had around 25 people with us.  We delivered position papers on 3 bills, urging committee action, we did hundreds of green and red cards to Calendars Committee, and we did post cards to committees where good bills are stuck. 

The best thing about the group is that they came from all over the state. We had people from Tarrant County, Travis County, Harris County, Grayson County, Bastrop County, Collin County, Fayette County, Williamson County, and maybe a few others that I don't know about.  This is so important when we work with legislators to know that our support comes from multiple districts, not just one area, and we have constituents speaking to their own representatives in some cases. (this is why we call it the grassroots army) Well done, everyone!

HAPPENINGS AROUND THE CAPITOL

The Senate is moving along at a good pace, and on schedule, but the House is grossly behind.  They took Sunday the 11^th off instead of working which left them with multiple page calendars for Monday the 12^th and the rest of the week.  A handful of representatives objected each night to the adjournment motion at 10 or 11 pm, but not enough votes to stop it.

This “run out the clock” syndrome is employed most sessions, but this 89^th Session is the worst we’ve ever seen.  Because of the late start this session, the House ought to be working nearly 24/7 to get these things done, but they are not.  Another annoying problem is how many Democrat authored bills are given priority on the calendar while Republican priority bills are left hanging in committees or in calendars.

A few good things did happen this week for our priority bills, but even then, the progress on the House floor was slowed by the Democrats chubbing.  (If you don’t know what that means, click here for an explanation).  Here’s a summary of the good and the not so good:

THE GOOD:

• HB1056 (Dorazio) Trans Gold – Passed House, had public hearing in Senate 5/14, left pending
• HB2963 (Capriglione) Right to Repair Cars – Passed House, Scheduled for Senate Public Hearing on 5/15.
• HB796 (Bell, C.) Texas Sovereignty Act – Passed House, Scheduled for Senate Public Hearing on 5/15/2025
• HB170 (Guillen) Kyle’s Law (justifiable use of force) – Passed House and is in Senate State Affairs.  A similar bill, SB1730 (Hall) passed Senate and is now in House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence.
• SB1362 (Hughes) Ban Red Flag Laws - Passed Senate, reported favorably out of House Committee on 5/12.
• HB4623 (Little) Removes immunity from public school employees in sexual abuse cases – Passed the House 109 to 19!  It’s now headed to the Senate.
• HB229 (Troxclair) The bill that dares to ask the question – “What is a Woman?” – Passed the House (after hours of the aforementioned chubbing) and is now set for public hearing in the Senate on 5/15/2025
• HB2858 (Lopez, Ray) A Guest Worker Program was DEFEATED in the House by a vote of 76 to 65.  (But we have to ask – why did this bill make it this far in the first place?)
• HB3225 (Alders) Restricts children from dirty books in public libraries. – Passed the House and is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate on 5/15.
• SB17 (Kolkhorst & a whole bunch of others) Prevent purchase of TX land and resources by hostile foreigners – Passed both chambers and is headed to conference committee.  Fingers crossed that the conf. committee removes the Shaheen amendment which weakened the bill.
• SB1257 (Hughes) Insurance Coverage for de-transitioners or trans gender complications – Passed both chambers and is on its way to the Governor.
• SB888 (Kolkhorst) Allows the AG to defend DA’s – Passed both chambers and is on its way to the Governor.

THE NOT SO GOOD

• SB5 (Huffman) Creates the Dementia Research Institute – Passed both chambers and is on its way to the Governor.
• SB22 (Huffman) Hollywood subsidies – Reported favorably out of the House Committee, now goes to Calendars (this is one where the clock might be in our favor!  May 27 is last day for House to consider 2^nd reading of Senate bills)
• HB4687 (Gerwin-Hawkins) Grants Charter Schools the same immunity public schools have in abuse cases (Just the opposite of Little’s bill to remove immunity from public schools) – Passed the House 115 to 27.  This seems very strange to me.  They voted to remove immunity from public schools and grant it to charter schools all in the same day.
• Numerous Republican priority bills are still left hanging in Calendars or other Committees with time running out.  This includes issues like requiring E Verify, Closed Primaries, Requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, and many others.
• Lizzy’s Bills (SB2119 and SB407 with their House Counterparts) are effectively dead.  Gary VanDeaver, Chair of the House Public Health Committee has refused to give them a hearing, claiming that there are adequate protections for exemptions in place via the DHHS rules.  If that’s the case, then I guess Senator Sparks and Senator Middleton and everyone who supported this effort just wasted a whole lot of time trying to pass this legislation!  If you are reading this and live in VanDeaver’s district, you really should give him a call and let him know what you think about it.  (Just for the record).

Favorite Video clip from this week:  Rep. Little was laying out his HB4623 to eliminate qualified immunity for public schools in abuse cases.  This is Rep. Jolanda Jones’ feeble attempt at chubbing, and Rep. Little’s brilliant response.

NEXT WEEK

Next week, May 20^th, we will be doing a day of prayer.  We’ll divide up into small groups and go all over the Capitol praying.  Prayers may be out loud or silent, anywhere that you feel moved.  At this late date, prayer is about the only tool we have left to make good things happen.  Next week is week 19 out of 20.  Committees will mostly be done, and the race will be on to complete whatever is on the calendars for the remaining time.

We’ll meet up at 10 am in the Seal Court, and then divide up into prayer teams.  There may be a few legislative activities to take care of, but mostly the day will be devoted to prayer.  I hope many of you will join us and someone remind me to do a group photo!!!!

The phrase “Seal Court” is not well known by people in the Capitol, so let me explain again – it’s on Level 2 of the Extension, just outside the long corridor that comes from the elevators, and just below the Capitol Grille.  It looks like this:

ACTION ITEMS THIS WEEK

1) Contact members of the Senate Conference Committee for SB17.  Ask them to strip the Shaheen amendment from the bill.  (changed the language to exempt anyone who is "legally residing" in the US.) House Conferees have not yet been assigned as I write this.  I’ll post on social media when they are and we should contact them also.

Senate Conferees for SB17

Lois Kolkhorst, 512-463-0118

Bob Hall, 512-463-0102

Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, 512-463-0120

Bryan Hughes, 512-463-0101

Mayes Middleton, 512-463-0111

2) Contact the Governor’s office and ask him to veto or not sign SB5, the Dementia Research Institute.  It is not government’s job to fund medical research!

Contact information for Governor

512-463-2000 
Opinion Hotline (512) 463-1782

Email:  https://gov.texas.gov/contact  & click on “I want to share my opinion.”

Post message & tag Abbott on Facebook: @TexansForAbbott
Post message & tag Abbott on Twitter: @GregAbbott_TX
Post message & tag Abbott on Instagram: @governorabbott

3) Contact members of the Calendars Committee and tell them NOT to schedule SB22 for a floor vote.  SB22 is the Hollywood subsidies bill and this one is not government’s job either!  (When will they stop giving our money away and start doing something to remove the property tax burden on citizens?)

House Calendars Committee

 (If you want to do more calendars calls, I have a list of bills stuck in calendars.  Just email me.  [email protected] and I'll send the list)

4)  Join us in prayer, especially on May 20^th when we’ll be devoting the day to prayer at the Capitol.

Only one Tuesday left after this one!  Thank you to everyone who has helped in our legislative efforts this session!  Whether you came weekly, or just once or twice, or did the work from home, we love and appreciate your efforts!  While we have had a few wins this session, it has been more challenging than ever before, and it looks as if the end results are not going to be favorable for our priorities and our populist values and principles.

This means that we have to work really hard towards preventing the same situation next session.  Now is the time to be working on censuring those representatives who have not lived up to the Republican name.  And now is the time to be working on recruiting candidates for 2026.

Our TTP@Home podcast for June will be covering the censure process, and how YOU can help.  It will drop on June 6^th, so watch for it and listen and learn.  Then take ACTION!

Stay safe, and stay engaged!

Fran Rhodes, President 

Our weekly visits to the Capitol focus on legislation, but the primary work is training up people to continuously be engaged in government.  Every week, we have new people who have never done it before and are happy to learn.  We are training up an army of grassroots activists, but we need your help to do it.  Can you chip in?