Good morning,

“Be strong and courageous!”

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, February 5, 2021
Update your email preferences.

• Major changes have taken place in the Texas House, as revealed in the release of committee assignments by Speaker Dade Phelan on Thursday afternoon. In the top-tier committees, where most Republican priorities are slated to go, chairmanships were changed dramatically. Brandon Waltens provides the details.
       
• A major change came in the Redistricting Committee—which is tasked with drawing legislative maps. Formerly chaired by Phil King (R–Weatherford), the committee will now be headed by Todd Hunter (R–Corpus Christi). The tax-writing Ways and Means Committee will be headed by Morgan Meyer (R-Dallas), taking over from Lubbock’s Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), who will now chair the powerful Calendars Committee.
      
• Mr. Burrows, you might recall, got in hot water for his role in the 2019 scandal created by former House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. Mr. Burrows was forced to resign as chair of the House Republican Caucus for his efforts targeting 10 GOP members. 
      

• Another surprise happened on Appropriations, the chamber’s budget writing committee. Giovanni Capriglione (R–Southlake), who was given the chairmanship during the interim, saw it suddenly taken away. Speaker Phelan replaced him with Greg Bonnen (R–Friendswood).

      
• Advocates for the long-sought ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying have a new hurdle. Any ban would likely route through the Committee on State Affairs, which will now be chaired by Chris Paddie (R-Marshall). Mr. Paddie has been an opponent of the reform, and voted against it last session.
     

• More than a third of the committees in the Texas House will be chaired by Democrats (15 of 36) this session, including the Public Education committee – which will be chaired by Harold Dutton (D-Houston) – and the Committee on Business and Industry, which will be chaired by Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie). Turner also leads the House Democrat Caucus. 
     

• Democrat Joe Moody (El Paso) was once again appointed as Speaker Pro Tempore.

• Not just one, but two members of the Texas House Freedom Caucus have been named as committee chairmen. Is that a sign of good things to come for grassroots activists and Texas GOP?
      
• Most notably, Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park) will chair the House Committee on Elections. He has been an outspoken advocate for election integrity, which is the top priority of the Republican Party of Texas. From his committee perch, Cain will be able to ensure every election integrity measure important to conservatives gets to the House floor for a vote.
     
• Erin Anderson reports Mr. Cain has previously proposed measures aimed at making state voting procedures more secure – including efforts to prevent noncitizen registration and voting, and to impose penalties on officials who fail to follow state election laws.

• Join Brandon Waltens live on The Headline at 11 a.m. this morning, as he discusses the House committee assignments with Texas Scorecard’s capitol correspondent, Jeramy Kitchen.

• COMING SOON: Texas Scorecard will launch an easy-to-use tracking page showing the status of the Republican and Democrat parties’ legislative priorities in both chambers of the Legislature. Look for it to go live next week.
   
• As we like to say: someone is always keeping score, we think it ought to be the citizens. The tracking page will let you do just that!

• Fort Worth mayoral candidate Deborah Peoples – who currently serves as the chair of the Tarrant County Democrats – has included “defund the police” as part of how she would address rising crime in the city. Robert Montoya has the details.
      
• Peoples described “mental health intervention and programs related to “domestic violence intervention” as potential sources for redirecting dollars currently going to the Fort Worth Police Department. Her comments were made during a “virtual chat” after declaring her candidacy. The city council and mayoral election will be in May.
       
• “Defunding the police will not happen under my watch,” candidate Mattie Parker told Texas Scorecard. “Now is the time to stand strong with our officers, not defund the police and risk the safety of our families, schools, and businesses.”

• After nearly two years of languishing under the overwhelmingly Democrat city council’s harmful homeless decisions, Adam Cahn reports beleaguered Austinites have some good news: they will get to vote to override the council’s controversial homeless camping policy. 
     
• Since June 2019, the leftist city council has allowed the growing homeless population to camp in nearly every public space throughout the city (except for city hall, notably). Violent crime has subsequently risen by double digits, with homicides up 64 percent year over year in 2020.
    
• The non-profit group Save Austin Now successfully organized a petition drive to force the issue to the ballot. They received word yesterday that the petition cleared the legal thresholds and Austinites will vote on it in May.

• The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal warned yesterday about the role Big Tech is playing as the “ministry of truth” for President Joe Biden and the Democrats. The WSJ writes about a New York University “study” which contends, among other things, that “the claim of anti-conservative animus is itself a form of disinformation.”
       
• Yes, seriously.
   
• The NYU study recommends that a federal “Digital Regulatory Agency” be created to enforce new rules targeting conservatives – or, presumably, anyone speaking out against liberal thought control.

Please join me in wishing a very happy (Saturday) birthday to Texas Scorecard’s Jacob Asmussen!

Friday Reflection

No weapon is quite so debilitating as fear. And, all too often, it is a weapon we point at ourselves. We let our minds turn our opponents into fearsome and unconquerable giants, and then we scurry to hide under very real beds. The fear of those giants becomes an excuse for inaction.

As anyone who has been around me long knows, I love the story of David and Goliath and everything around it. I draw constant inspiration from David confronting a very real giant by relying on God. The result, of course, was victory.

Yet earlier in Scripture, we find a very different reaction to giants. After Moses led the people from captivity, they reached the outskirts of the promised land, and a dozen spies were sent in. The majority returned and said the land was indeed beautiful – but filled with powerful giants. Despite two of the spies saying otherwise, the people cowered in fear, turned from the land, and began 40 years of wandering in the wilderness for their faithlessness.

When God finally let the Israelites return, those fearsome giants turned out to be conquerable after all.

Whether the Israelite spies actually saw giants or not, they let their fear overcome their faith. I’m willing to accept the testimony of those spies who said they saw giants – but it doesn’t excuse their cowardice. Instead of faithfully confronting their enemy, they ran from the promise of God. They let their fear prevent them from enjoying the blessings laid out before them.

What about us? Frankly, many of the giants in our path today are little more than shadow puppets. 

Yes, we have entered a land overflowing with leftist-run tech companies, political power grabs, and establishment deceit. Will we decide these foes are unconquerable? Will we listen to those who tell us to cower in fear of their fearsome might? Or will we go faithfully about our work fighting for our inalienable rights?

There will be some who look at the state of our Republic and are too scared to fight. Some will give up. 

But what will we do? 

Now is not the time to draw back, but to press forward. Now is not the time to quake in fear, but to roar in defiance. Now is not the time to slink into the shadows, but advance boldly in the brilliant light of truth.

Let’s be courageous and go fight some giants!