ACTION ALERT! TIME TO TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL #1 - Regarding SB13 and HB186, the identical bills to ban taxpayer funded lobbying (TPFL): · SB 13 passed the Senate (for the 3rd time), on 8/19 and was referred to the House State Affairs Committee, chaired by Ken King. · HB 186 has also been referred to House State Affairs Committee, and now has 67 co-authors · We’ve been trying to contact Chairman King about holding a hearing on one of these bills. His emails are not being monitored. · When asked why King’s emails are not being monitored, I was told because they are short staffed · When asked to speak to someone on the phone about TPFL bills, I was transferred to Mike Olcott’s office. Mike Olcott is the author of the House bill. Clearly, King’s office is avoiding the subject. · During regular session, our TTP activists spent many days trying to convince the State Affairs Committee to hold a hearing for SB12, the TPFL bill from that session. We were met with brick walls. One member of the committee even told me in person, “that’s never going to happen”. Now, I believe it’s time to take this issue to a higher level. It’s time to go over Ken King’s head. The Governor put this issue on the special session call for both first and second special session, so he apparently wants to see it done. We need Governor Abbott to pressure the State Affairs Committee to move this bill. Secondly, Speaker Burrows has influence over the Committee, and could influence them to move the bills. Last summer, then Representative Burrows, signed on to the Texas Conservative Commitment, which lists banning TPFL as one of the priorities, so he has publicly supported the issue too. See Burrows X post about it. ACTION: Contact both Governor Abbott and Speaker Burrows, and demand that they influence the State Affairs Committee to move either SB13 or HB186 to a floor debate and vote in the House. I suggest you use both email and phone call. Time is short due to special session timeframes, and emails might take days to be seen or read. Governor: Email: Use this link to email through the website Phone: 512-463-1782 Mailing Address: Office of the Governor, PO Bo 12428, Austin 78711-2428 Speaker: Email: Use this link to email through the website Phone: 512463-1000 (Chief of Staff is Bob Duncan) Mailing Address: PO Box 12910, Austin 78711-2910 #2 - Regarding Election Integrity – SB54 · In the regular session, SB2217, focused on improving transparency, accuracy and accountability in elections, and passed the House 139 to 1. · An amendment by Rep Shaheen, added that voters who have changed address within the same county could submit a change of address at any time and it would become effective immediately (even on election day). The amendment was adopted 138 to zero. · Tom Glass brought this amendment to grassroots’ attention last week, and the Governor has now added it to the special session #2. The amended wording opens doors for manipulation of voters to swing the votes in certain districts, and it needs to be removed. · The Senate has passed SB54 on Tuesday, to remove the offending section from Shaheen’s amendment. · There are 3 House Bills that are identical to SB54. HB295 is the only one of the three that has been referred to committee. (Elections, Chaired by Shaheen) · Either SB54 or one of the House bills needs to be moved immediately so that the error of SB2217 from regular session can be corrected. ACTION: Contact Speaker Burrows and Chairman Shaheen about moving SB54 or HB295 though the Elections Committee quickly and get it to a floor vote as soon as possible. Apparently, no one realized the potential damage, and opportunities for election manipulation that could result when the amendment was adopted. We need to get this fixed. Speaker: Email: Use this link to email through the website Phone: 512463-1000 (Chief of Staff is Bob Duncan) Mailing Address: PO Box 12910, Austin 78711-2910 Chairman Shaheen: Email: [email protected] Phone: 512-463-0594 Mailing Address: PO Box 12910, Austin 78711-2910 Aren’t special sessions fun? If you need help with either of these items, just reply to this email. I’m always happy to help and/or provide backup documentation. **Something to note: Julie and I have been told by multiple lawmakers that if they get 10 calls on an issue, that’s considered A LOT! Let’s give these folks HUNDREDS of calls on these important issues. This message goes out to tens of thousands of supporters. Surely, we can get 100 of those people to take action. It only takes a couple minutes and YOU could be one of those 100!! Thanks for staying engaged! Fran Rhodes, President |
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