Good morning,

After months of disconcerting rumors, we decided to ask an uncomfortable question: Is Greg Abbott talking to Texas’ other statewide officials? The answer will surprise you.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Wednesday, March 31, 2021
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• Records obtained by Texas Scorecard show that from January 1 to March 3, Gov. Abbott’s office only has records of meetings and phone calls with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan. Brandon Waltens reports no other statewide elected officials appear on his schedule. This means the governor’s office has no record of him meeting with the attorney general, the comptroller, the land commissioner, agriculture commissioner, or even the energy-focused three-member railroad commission. 
    
• The records seem to confirm an observation made by Capitol sources that, since issuing a series of unilateral executive orders throughout 2020, Abbott has isolated himself from his fellow statewide elected officials. Remember: the Texas Constitution does not grant unilateral executive authority to governors. Governors in Texas do not appoint, or even control, most agencies of government. The executive branch of state government is divided between nine officials who are all elected co-equally by the entire state.
      
• In context, the governor’s apparent lack of meetings is significant considering the gravity of the issues facing Texans in the first quarter of 2021. A new Democrat administration that is hostile toward Texas Republicans was sworn into office – but no meetings with Attorney General Ken Paxton. The state Legislature convened to craft a budget following a severe economic downturn and to draw new congressional and legislative district lines. Those alone would create enough work, without mentioning the winter storm crisis of February that affected every part of the state.
     
• The governor is apparently not meeting with the state’s chief financial officer, Comptroller Glenn Hegar, nor is he having discussions with the official overseeing the state’s lucrative land holdings, Land Commissioner George P. Bush.
     
• Speaking on background, one statewide official told Texas Scorecard he had been unable to even get the governor’s office to return phone calls since last fall. Another described an unwillingness on the part of the governor’s staff to schedule meetings or calls with Mr. Abbott.
      
• Amid reports that oil field machinery was freezing during the February storm, the governor’s office has no records of him communicating with the members of the railroad commission, the agency charged with regulating and overseeing the oil and gas industry. Notably, the only record of communication between the governor and lieutenant governor during the storm was a regularly scheduled call on February 17 with Speaker Phelan.

• It should be noted that the governor’s office also has no record of him meeting with any lobbyists – which is a good thing. Yet all this makes me wonder: Why is Greg Abbott only keeping his own counsel? Why has he isolated himself from the other statewide elected officials?

• A new report reveals Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg funneled at least $36 million in private cash to local Texas election administrators in 2020, with most of the money going to boost turnout in Democrat-controlled counties. Erin Anderson has the full story.

• While Texas’ political class has so far been silent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced the Sunshine State flatly refuses to go along with the Biden-Harris administration’s vaccine passport plan. As Robert Montoya reports, the Biden Administration has announced it is working to create “a standard for a vaccine passport” that could be required to participate in many activities associated with modern life. 
        
• Jackie Schlegel of Texans for Vaccine Choice is encouraging Gov. Greg Abbott to follow Florida’s governor in protecting individual rights. Legislation designed to strengthen Texans’ rights to informed consent, medical privacy, and vaccine choice are scheduled to be heard in the the Senate Health & Human Services Committee later today.
        
• “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.” – Ron DeSantis

• With temperatures warming up as the arrival of spring sweeps the state, the Texas House has now approved a series of bills designed to prevent the woes brought about by last month’s winter storm. Brandon Waltens has the details.

• Citizens, and especially conservative activists, are growing tired of being de-prioritized in the Republican-dominated Texas House. Jeramy Kitchen reports on the frustrations aired by citizens who have travelled across the state to testify on conservative legislation only to see liberal priorities crowd out the front of the agenda.
      
• For example, House State Affairs Chairman Chris Paddie (R–Marshall) set a meeting last Thursday overloaded with high-profile measures. The committee hearing itself lasted almost 20 hours. Republican priority legislation to ban taxpayer-funded lobbying did not even begin until 1:00 a.m. on Friday – even though the committee began at 8:00 a.m. the morning before.
   
• Similarly, before testimony was taken on a bill providing for constitutional carry of firearms – a long-standing priority for conservatives and the Republican Party – House Homeland Security and Public Safety Chairman James White (R–Hillister) allowed more than 13 hours of testimony on other legislation – including the Democrat-pushed George Floyd Act.
       
• “I’ve had it with the massive disrespect the conservative advocates get from our own legislators who expect our help to pass their bills.” – Mike Openshaw

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