Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, March 17, 2021
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You asked for it! The Texas Directory now includes statewide officials, as well as congressional and legislative officeholders. You’ll find their contact information, social media handles, financial summaries, and more. Check it out.

• While slow to get started, the 87th Session heated up rapidly yesterday with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick taking direct aim at comments made by House Speaker Dade Phelan. At issue, Brandon Waltens reports, is the Senate’s rapid move earlier this week attempting to force the Public Utility Commission to re-price the cost of electricity in the wake of the massive February storm that left millions of Texans shivering in the dark.
      
• At the peak of the storm, ERCOT set the price of electricity at $9,000 per megawatt-hour – thousands of times the normal rate – and left it there for several days. This resulted in billions of dollars in costs to be borne, ultimately, by ratepayers.
       
• In less than five hours on Monday the Texas Senate crafted, held hearings, and passed out of the chamber legislation telling the PUC – a commission appointed by the governor and overseen by lawmakers – to take action. On Tuesday, Phelan said the House would not be following Patrick and the Senate in “an extraordinary government intervention into the free market.”
       
• Patrick fired back speaking to the senators: “The Texas Senate stood for individuals, and I’m proud of you. The House stood for big business.”
         
• The lieutenant governor also took a sideways shot at Gov. Greg Abbott. “The governor has yet to weigh in on what his opinion was. He said he left it to the legislature. Well, Mr. Governor, the Texas Senate has spoken and you have still not weighed in. And we believe you still have time to correct it.”
      
• The clock is ticking on the repricing move. The House must pass, and the governor sign, the Senate’s legislation by this Friday – that is when the prices set by ERCOT and energy trades executed during the storm will be finalized.

• Last night saw the last of Gov. Greg Abbott’s three appointees to the Public Utility Commission, Arthur D’Andrea, forced to resign his post. The action came hours after Texas Monthly revealed a private March 9 call D’Andrea had with “out-of-state investors who profited from the crisis” in which he reassured them “he was working to keep their windfall safe.” 
      
• As the left-of-center magazine notes, Abbott promoted D’Andrea to the embattled PUC chairmanship earlier this month after the two other appointees resigned. 
      
• “Tonight, I asked for and accepted the resignation of PUC Commissioner Arthur D’Andrea. I will be naming a replacement in the coming days who will have the responsibility of charting a new and fresh course for the agency. Texans deserve to have trust and confidence in the Public Utility Commission, and this action is one of many steps that will be taken to achieve that goal.” – Gov. Abbott
       
• Whoever Abbott appoints to the vacant posts must be confirmed by the Texas Senate... unless he waits until after the regular legislative session ends in 74 days.
     
• I suspect there are going to be a lot of questions for Mr. D’Andrea and Gov. Abbott in the coming days as more people listen to that recording...

• An overhaul of the state’s asset forfeiture laws is under review by the Texas House Committee on Civil Jurisprudence thanks to legislation authored by Matt Schaefer (R–Tyler). Under current law, as Iris Poole reports, the state currently has to show very little burden of proof in asset forfeiture.
       
• “Private property rights are essential to freedom... We need to take resources away from individuals in a criminal enterprise, but what we have in the state of Texas has a framework that goes against the citizens of Texas and, in the state of Texas, does not require a warrant to make a forfeiture.” – Matt Schaefer

• With the possibility of a COVID-19 vaccine for children on the horizon, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says schools cannot exclude unvaccinated students from class. Robert Montoya has the details.

• Speaking of Paxton... the state of Florida, Nevada, Montana, and Alaska, as well as the territory of Puerto Rico, have joined in Texas’ lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit alleges antitrust violations and deceptive acts by Google in its online display advertising business.
       
• “Google collects thousands of data points about people and uses that information for its own gain while lying to advertisers, publishers, and consumers about their conduct and underlying motives.” – Ken Paxton

• Proposed legislation would make November 7 “Victims of Communism Day” in Texas. As Joshua Pierce reports, November 7 is the anniversary of when the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia and created the first communist state.
       
• Tom Oliverson (R–Cypress) proposes the annual commemoration so as to recognize “the more than 100 million people who died and countless others who suffered under communist regimes.”

• As the legislative session approaches the mid-point, see how the priorities of the Republican and Democrat parties are progressing using Texas Scorecard’s tracker tool.
      
• Speaking of updates... Texas Scorecard’s donors will be invited to participate in the second Legislative Report call of the 87th Legislative Session. It will be held the evening of Monday, March 22. Make a donation today if you would like to be included!

• The Democrat-run Austin City Council has voted to spend $100,000 of the taxpayers’ money to fund the logistics of killing children by abortion. Jacob Asmussen reports that includes picking up the tab for rides to abortion facilities, hotel rooms, and even childcare while a baby brother or sister is being killed in the womb.
      
• The council’s action is designed to skirt a 2019 state law prohibiting local governments from giving citizens’ cash directly to abortion businesses (something the Austin council has historically done.) So instead they are using tax money to pay for the costs along the way to killing a child.
      
• “These investments will make us a safer and better place to live.” – Austin City Council member Greg Casar
       
• Meanwhile, the state legislature is considering several pro-life laws, such as Senate Bill 650 which would outlaw local government officials such as the Austin City Council from spending taxpayer cash on the logistics of abortion.

• Texas Scorecard is hiring a full-time Administrative Assistant position in our central Texas headquarters! Check out the job posting.
      
• The position’s responsibilities will include managing on-site event logistics, receiving guests and vendors, ensuring the office supplies are on hand, scheduling appointments, and routing inquiries from the public. This person will be expected to help manage the organizational calendar, perform light data entry, and other tasks necessary to support the operations of our growing organization.

• Connect with me on social media! I’m on Parler, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as LinkedIn, Gab, and MeWe.
      
• Texas Scorecard can be found on Parler, Facebook, Twitter, Gab, and Instagram. Facebook users should also check out our Citizens’ Bureau group.

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