Good morning!

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Tuesday, March 30, 2021
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• According to documents obtained by Texas Scorecard, four of Texas’ most populous cities issued hundreds of citations over the past year for violating state and local Chinese coronavirus mandates. Robert Montoya reports that San Antonio issued the most citations, with Fort Worth – typically thought of as a Republican-leaning city – having the dubious distinction of being in second place.
      
• Last March, Gov. Greg Abbott and local officials began decreeing a series of mandates and shutdowns on citizens, including Abbott’s July statewide mask mandate – which he finally rescinded weeks ago, along with most of his other restrictions.
      
• One small business owner said officials’ shutdown citations against him cost $30,000 and even resulted in the issuance of an arrest warrant.
      
• Despite being a priority of the Republican Party of Texas, the GOP-dominated Texas House and Senate have yet to advance legislation curtailing executive overreach.

• A package of major pro-life legislation cleared a key hurdle yesterday, passing the Texas Senate. Jacob Asmussen has the details. Each of the measures passed 19-12, with Democrat Eddie Lucio (San Benito) joining the chamber’s 18 Republicans.
      
• Among the proposals is Senate Bill 8, called the “heartbeat bill,” which would make it illegal for an individual to kill a child in the womb once the baby’s heartbeat is detected – that usually happens at about six weeks.
       
• Senators also approved SB 1173, which would stop discriminatory abortions—those based on the child’s race or gender.
       
• The pro-life bills now need one final procedural vote in the Senate, and will then travel across the Capitol to the Texas House.

• The Republican Party of Texas will be deleting its account on the free-speech social media platform Gab, amid pressure from Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas GOP Vice Chair Cat Parks. Joshua Pierce reports that during the State Republican Executive Committee’s quarterly meeting in Laredo this past weekend, members voted 35-25 to delete the Texas GOP’s Gab account.
     
• Consisting of one man and one woman from each of the state’s 31 Senate districts, the SREC is the governing body of the Republican Party of Texas. Gab is an alternative social media platform that started as the result of mass censorship of conservatives and has grown in popularity after Twitter’s permanent deletion of President Donald Trump.
          
• Earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott surprised Texas Republicans by lashing out against the platform, calling it “anti-semitic” and saying the platform had “no place in Texas.” His unsupported accusation was met with scorn from conservative free speech activists around the country.
     
• The GOP’s vice chairman, Cat Parks, led the push to close the Texas GOP Gab account, going against the “free speech” position of Republican Party Chairman Allen West.
   
• What do you think? Sound off below in today’s One Click Survey.

• Local elections are getting decidedly more partisan in one North Texas county, as the two major political parties release endorsements in area city and school district races. Erin Anderson reports legislation moving through the Texas Legislature would make all city races across the state openly partisan.
        
• House Bill 2092 by Scott Sanford (R–McKinney) is scheduled for a committee hearing this week. It requires candidates for city office to declare a party affiliation, which would appear on the ballot next to the candidate’s name. Candidates would also have the option to state they are not affiliated with any political party.
      
• “There is no such thing as a nonpartisan election. Requiring local candidates to declare their party affiliation would be a significant step toward transparency and honesty in local elections across Texas.” – Derek Baker

• “If you need an i.d. to show you got a vaccine... you need an i.d. to vote.” – Tim Young

• Texas taxpayers will pay a high price for rural broadband access, reports Brad Johnson at The Texan.
   
• A plan pushed by Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) would spend billions of dollars bringing broadband internet access to 900,000 people (out of a population of 30 million Texans).
     
• The publication reports: “One estimate given to The Texan is that to expand service for the entirety of Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) Senate District 3, just one of the 31 senate districts in Texas, it’d cost $1.3 billion.”

One Click Survey

Do you agree with the decision (see the article mentioned above) to delete the Texas GOP’s Gab account?

Today In History

On March 30, 1870, Texas was readmitted to the United States – more than nine years after seceding.