Good morning, 

As we reported yesterday, Democrats running the City of Austin want to re-introduce segregated public facilities based on skin color as a way to combat perceived racism. That’s the subject of the One Click Survey.

But first, here is today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, March 25, 2021
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It is going to be a busy day at the Texas Capitol, with hearings scheduled for a number of measures considered priorities for conservative activists and the Republican Party. Keep up with it all on Texas Scorecard’s website and social media channels.

• Fox example, Jacob Asmussen reports that later this morning members of the House State Affairs Committee are set to consider public feedback on a proposed law that would protect churches from more government attacks and shutdowns.
      
• The Freedom to Worship Act (House Bill 1239) by Scott Sanford (R–McKinney) seeks to prevent government officials from shutting down churches.
      
• The Freedom to Worship Act’s Senate companion bill – SB 26 by Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) – has already passed that chamber’s parallel committee and is currently listed as eligible for senators to debate and vote on it.
      
• Apparently we have learned the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1 Section 6 of the Texas Constitution aren’t clear enough when confronted by a governor and local officials consolidating power during a public emergency.

• Among the most important issues for many Texans following the troubled 2020 election season are those related to election integrity and ballot security. The Texas House Elections Committee will consider a comprehensive election reform bill—dubbed the “Election Integrity Protection Act of 2021″— authored by the committee’s chairman, Briscoe Cain (R–Deer Park). As Erin Anderson reports, the measure currently has 39 co-authors.
       
• Among other things, Cain’s proposal – House Bill 6 – cracks down on paid mail-ballot harvesting operations. It expands the state’s organized election fraud laws to prohibit accepting or paying compensation for vote harvesting services and enhances criminal penalties imposed on vote traffickers.
   

• HB 6 also includes provisions that would:

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• Dr. David Balat and Jamie Legarde write in a new commentary that price transparency is a critical component in making healthcare more affordable. They argue that Texans deserve to know what a procedure will cost before committing to pay for it.
     
• “We envision a future where Texans walk in to their primary care doctor and ask for a menu of prices for each test or blood panel needed. Price gouging will improve once parties are forced to show patients the vast discrepancies in prices.” – David Balat and Jamie Legarde

• Cisco businessman Jon Francis writes about the discovery he made of a note his wife’s late grandmother had written to herself – but also constitutes good advice for all of us. She called it her “Happiness Change Card.”
   
• “Even if we live to be 84, our lives are fleeting. It is also true that while the memory of most people fades over time, the contribution of some is significant enough to have a longer influence.” – Jon Francis

One Click Survey

Should Democrats be allowed to re-segregate local government facilities and services based on skin color? 

Quote-Unquote

“All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences. No man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent. No human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere with the rights of conscience in matters of religion, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society or mode of worship. But it shall be the duty of the Legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to protect equally every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship.”

– Texas Constitution
Article 1, Section 6​

Today In History

The Boston Port Act was passed by Parliament on March 25, 1774. It closed the Boston Harbor and ordered residents to pay for damages and losses associated with the Boston Tea Party from four months earlier (Dec. 16, 1773). The action only strengthened resolve for independence.