Good morning –

They’re baaaaaaaaack... Or, as Gideon Tucker once wrote: “No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

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With conservative media personalities being purged by Big Tech from the various digital platforms, now more than ever we must stay connected with our fellow Texans. It is imperative we stay ahead of the censors! Help us do that with a donation [[link removed]] today.

The 87th Session of the Texas Legislature gavels in at 12 noon today.

They arrive in town facing a billion-dollar budget shortfall [[link removed]] and the economic uncertainties of what the incoming Biden Administration will mean for Texans. For Republican lawmakers, they have to decide if they will finally allow movement on long-squelched party initiatives – like enacting [[link removed]] election integrity reform, imposing spending limits, allowing [[link removed]] constitutional carry, and banning taxpayer-funded lobbying.

Among other things, legislators are facing heavy pressure from grassroots activists [[link removed]] to restrict the abusive powers that the governor and local executives have assigned to themselves during the 2020 Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

And, on top of that, the GOP-dominated legislature must decide if they will continue allowing Gov. Greg Abbott to put millions of corporate welfare dollars into the same Big Tech companies engaging in scorched-earth censorship of conservatives. Speaking of election integrity, Erin Anderson previews [[link removed]] the coming legislative fight around the unresolved legal issues surrounding Texas’ election rules. Specifically, Republican lawmakers are expected to address these voting issues with measures to strengthen ballot security laws and block Democrats’ efforts to lock in rule changes through court action.

Iris Poole reports [[link removed]] State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R–Wallisville) has filed two election integrity bills aimed at preventing voter fraud and ensuring only legally qualified citizens are voting in Texas elections.

“Texas must lead the way on this issue. We cannot become like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, or Georgia. I will fight to ensure that Texas has secure elections.” – State Rep. Middleton [[link removed]] Don’t know who your legislators are? Check out the new Texas Directory [[link removed]]! Find your legislators, check their ratings with civic groups, and see what’s been reported about them. Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced yesterday Texas lawmakers face a billion-dollar shortfall in the current 2020-2021 biennial budget. Brandon Waltens has the details [[link removed]].

That’s a tamer beast than what Hegar was projecting last summer. He warned at the time a $4.6 billion revenue shortfall could be possible.

The shortfall, of course, came about because of the government-ordered shutdown of the state economy by Gov. Abbott.

In addition to announcing the immediate shortfall, Hegar said yesterday [[link removed]] that the state would have $112.5 billion in revenue available for general-purpose spending during the coming 2022-23 biennium. That represents a 0.4 percent decrease from what was available ahead of the previous biennium.

Despite Republican control of the Texas House, Democrats will once again be given chairmanships [[link removed]] to House committees. State Rep. Dade Phelan (R–Beaumont), the presumptive House speaker, made the admission during an interview with the liberal Texas Tribune.

Phelan praised the bipartisan nature of politics inside the Texas Capitol, saying it is a model that works “pretty darn well” and is not always about “Republican versus Democrat” or “left versus right.”

That led former State Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving) to observe [[link removed]]: "Democrats are trying to have Texas Republicans in Congress arrested and put on [the] no fly list and Republicans are handing out committee chairmanships to them. And you wonder why the GOP can’t turn out voters." READER SURVEY!

With Facebook and Twitter purging (or, at least, shadow-banning) conservatives on those platforms, we’d like to know which of the alternatives you are spending the most time on right now.

One Question Survey [[link removed]]

... or ...

I’m Not On Social Media [[link removed]] Number of the Day

139

Number of days remaining (after today) in the regular 87th Session of the Texas Legislature.

[Source: Texas Constitution]

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PO Box 12862, Odessa TX 79768 Produced by Michael Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Waltens, the Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is delivered weekday mornings (though we'll take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot).

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