Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens 

Thursday, July 16, 2020
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• Today is the first day of the Republican Party of Texas convention. Originally scheduled to be held in Houston, the event was forced to move online. Delegates will have the opportunity to vote on the party platform, legislative priorities, party leadership, and electors. 
   
• As the event takes place through Saturday, we will keep you up to date at TexasScorecard.com!
   
• The virtual convention hasn’t stopped some conservatives from descending on Houston and getting involved in shaping the priorities and platforms of the party. 
   
• Because the fate of the convention was still in flux on Monday, the party’s executive committee elected to keep its preliminary committee meetings in-person. The result was a smaller than usual, yet passionate, group of grassroots conservatives coming down and making their voices heard, testifying on items from pro-life issues to medical privacy to gun rights.
   
• "We knew from legislative session in the last year that it wasn’t the legislators who were going to be championing this cause, it was going to be the grassroots activists." –Jackie Schlegel, Texans for Vaccine Choice
   
• “We knew that Texas grassroots activists were going to be here fighting for gun rights, and we weren’t going to let them do that alone. We were going to be there with them." –Rachel Malone, Gun Owners of America
   
• As the saying goes, decisions are made by those who show up.
   
• If you are a delegate to the state convention this year, be sure to check out the questionnaires we made available to those running for party chairman, vice chairman, and the State Republican Executive Committee!

• Do you remember the case of baby Tinslee Lewis? Last November, North Texas Judge Alex Kim signed a temporary restraining order that saved the 17-month-old from being killed by a hospital under the state's 10-day rule —a law which allows a hospital committee to end “life-sustaining care” even if the patient—or his or her surrogate—objects.
   
• Robert Montoya reports that, 248 days since Kim's ruling, Lewis is still alive and fighting. 
   
• On Tuesday, Texas Right to Life filed a motion asking Dr. Glenn Green, a University of Michigan otolaryngology professor, to be allowed to perform a tracheotomy, a procedure Lewis' family has fought for but Cooks Children's Hospital has so far refused to allow.

• In a Texas Scorecard commentary, Bill Peacock examines Iberdrola, a Spanish renewable energy giant that entered the Texas market recently, thanks to government subsidies.
   
• "The fact that Iberdrola’s 'more affordable renewable energy option' is priced higher than the average non-100% renewable plan lays bare the falsity of the claims from the renewable energy industry that wind and solar generation is cost competitive with traditional generation sources like coal and natural gas."

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