Good morning,

It’s April Fool’s Day. I keep waiting to find out the last year was a horrible practical joke on all of us.

Here is today’s no-joke Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, April 1, 2021
Modify your email preferences.

• After President Joe Biden was blasted by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz for banning reporters from seeing the humanitarian crisis at the Texas-Mexico border, he is finally beginning to allow media into a southern Customs and Border Protection facility. Jacob Asmussen has the details.
   
• “Enough is enough. We need to address the border crisis.” – Ted Cruz

• While Joe Biden may be a joke, the policies pushed by his administration are no laughing matter.
   
• Whether or not Texas’ Republican-controlled state government will substantively fight against the Democrats’ leftist national agenda remains to be seen. With only 60 days remaining in the 140-day legislative session, the lack of tangible results has conservative activists worried the Austin crony establishment isn’t done playing games.

• As a humanitarian crisis continues unfolding at the Texas-Mexico border, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced another consequence of the chaos: a nearly $1 billion annual bill charged to Texas taxpayers. 
   
• Paxton said yesterday that Texans involuntarily spend “hundreds of millions of dollars” on illegal aliens every year, including $152 million to “house illegal criminal aliens for just one year.” Taxpayers also foot the bill, he said, for nearly $63 million annually to educate unaccompanied illegal immigrants, and up to $717 million per year on public hospital districts to “provide uncompensated care” for individuals illegally in the state.
   
• “Texas will always welcome those who legally immigrate, but we cannot continue forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for individuals who skirt the law and skip the line.” – Ken Paxton

• Legislation that would curtail the authority of the Texas governor in times of disaster is moving forward in the Texas Senate. Jeramy Kitchen reports Senate Bill 1025 and Senate Joint Resolution 45, both authored by Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury), received hearings yesterday in the Senate Committee on State Affairs.
   
• SB 1025 would amend the Texas Government Code making it clear that only the legislature has the authority to suspend or make law in declared times of emergency. SJR 45, meanwhile, would amend the Texas Constitution to allow any sitting legislator to sue the governor in the Supreme Court of Texas at a time of disaster if the governor fails to convene the legislature after making an emergency declaration.
     
• The measures are already supported by nearly half of the 31-member Senate. It remains unclear if Gov. Greg Abbott will be willing to sign off on reining in his own powers should such measures make it through the legislative process.
      
• Over in the Texas House, none of the bills proposing to curtail the powers of the governor have been scheduled for hearings. On the other hand, House Speaker Dade Phelan fast-tracked a hearing for legislation by Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) that would expand the governor’s power. That measure has since stalled following a flood of public criticism.

• The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Supreme Court of Wisconsin has struck down their governor’s statewide mask mandate, saying he exceeded his authority in issuing the order. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Texas has done little about executive overreach in the Lone Star State – hiding behind the minutia of process to avoid taking clear positions.

• The Texas Senate has passed legislation that would prohibit social media monopolies from censoring users for their political views. As Joshua Pierce reports, SB 12 by Bryan Hughes passed by a vote of 18-13.
   
• State Sen. Kel Seliger (Amarillo) was the only Republican to oppose the bill, while Cesar Blanco (El Paso) was the only Democrat to vote for it.

• Just days after the governing body of the Republican Party of Texas voted to leave the free-speech social media platform Gab, Texas GOP Chairman Allen West has created a Gab account of his own. 
   
• “Chairman West is happy to join a platform that will not buckle to left-wing cancel culture and will always stand for free speech,” Texas GOP Spokesman Luke Twombly told Texas Scorecard. “Platforms like Facebook and Twitter may be useful, but they cannot be trusted considering their history of anti-conservative censorship.”

• FWIW, you can find me on Gab. 

• Robert Montoya reports on HB 3820 by State Rep. Stephanie Klick (R–Fort Worth) that would recognize a parent’s right to request a second opinion from another physician if a doctor believes their child is the victim of abuse.
      
• “House Bill 3820 prevents wrongful separation of families based on misdiagnoses of abuse or neglect by medical professionals,” explains Andrew Brown, director of the Center for Families and Children at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Your Federal & State Lawmakers