Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, November 19, 2020
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• Republican lawmakers have filed legislation to stop Texas election officials from sending voters unsolicited mail-ballot applications after a Democrat official in the state’s most populous county tried to send ballot applications to every registered voter—eligible or not—ahead of the November presidential election. Erin Anderson has the story.
     
• State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston) has filed Senate Bill 208 in response to the Democrat Harris County Clerk attempting to send mail-ballot applications to all of the county’s 2.4 million registered voters, even though most of them were not eligible to vote by mail. Under Texas law, only voters who are 65 years of age or older, disabled, in jail, or out of the county during the voting period are eligible to vote using a mail-in ballot.
     
• “This bill is about making sure all votes in Texas are counted legally.” – State Sen. Bettencourt

• One of the most liberal Republicans in the Texas House is soliciting support for State Rep. Drew Springer in a special election runoff for the Texas Senate. Brandon Waltens has the details.
   
• In an email obtained by Texas Scorecard, State Rep. Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth) is encouraging his fellow lawmakers to rally around Springer in the SD 30 runoff next month. Notably, Geren is the last remaining Republican in the chamber who worked with Democrats to elect Joe Straus as Speaker of the House in 2009.
   
• Given Springer’s campaign has largely revolved around his endorsements from fellow politicians and been funded heavily by Austin lobbyists and special interests, Geren’s appeal is not particularly surprising.
    
• Springer faces business owner Shelley Luther, who re-opened her hair salon in defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s economic shutdown. She was briefly jailed, before her release was ordered by the Texas Supreme Court.

• During his presentation to the State Board of Education this week, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath reported that transmission of the Chinese coronavirus is low among public school students. He also reported a significant decline in coursework progress among middle- and low-income students who were forced into virtual schooling. Robert Montoya has the details.
   
• “Evidence shows in-school transmission happens exceedingly rarely.” – Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath

• The actor Matthew McConaughey might run for governor. That’s what he told talk show host Hugh Hewitt earlier this week.
      
• “Look, politics seems to be a broken business to me right now... I want to get behind personal values to rebind our social contracts with each other as Americans, as people again.” – Matthew McConaughey

• Aransas County Judge Burt Mills is currently planning to force citizens in the small coastal county to pay for a controversial multimillion-dollar project they just turned down at the polls.
   
• Jacob Asmussen reports citizens voted 53-46 percent on Nov. 3 to reject Proposition A, a $27 million debt to build a new county courthouse. Back in the summer, the county tried to force the project using “Certificates of Obligation” but voters quickly organized and forced the measure to the ballot in November – where the debt was rejected. Now, a county commissioner has revealed on social media that the Aransas County judge is going to issue “tax notes” – again, creating debt for taxpayers so the county can build what voters rejected.
   
• Nearly 200 citizens responded to commissioner’s social media post not only with concerns about the cost, but also anger at the clear message of the election being disregarded.
    
• How much debt is your county and city issuing without your approval? Are you sure? One way to find out is to call your county commissioner and city councilmember and ask how much debt they have in “COs.”
   
• This is not a problem unique to Aransas County, as Texas Scorecard reported earlier this week. The city of Amarillo is considering doing the same thing after voters there rejected a $275 million debt issuance to fund a massive spending project.

• In a new commentary, Rachel Bovard writes that Twitter has too much power over the flow of information. She explains the attitude of the tech giant: “It’s not enough to kick conservatives off of Twitter. Narrative control is the goal. Any alternative, any other avenue of ‘freer’ speech, must be shut down.”
       
• “Big Tech has grown from a handful of Silicon Valley startups to a handful of the most powerful companies in the world, exercising unprecedented control over minds, markets, behavior, and independent thought.” – Rachel Bovard

• Given the rampant censorship of conservatives by Twitter, I’ve begun cross-posting – like others – at the new Parler social media platform. I cannot quite recommend it, their technology is too buggy and their customer service is almost non-existent. But if you’re already there, you can find me using @Mqsullivan.
   
• Frankly, Parler’s owners seem more interested right now in grabbing headlines with celebrities joining the platform, than they are in providing a useful and stable product.

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