Good morning, 

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, April 15, 2021
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• Bills moving through the Texas Legislature could force businesses to follow federal health guidelines concerning the coronavirus in order to receive liability protection from lawsuits. Jeramy Kitchen reports House Bill 3659 by State Rep. Jeff Leach (R–Plano) sets out to supposedly protect businesses from frivolous lawsuits by limiting the liability of certain people for injury, death, or property damage as a result of a pandemic or other emergency.
     
• As explained by constitutional law expert Matt Rinaldi – a former legislator – the measure in its current form would allow businesses “to be sued if they don’t follow [NIH Director Anthony] Fauci’s every command.”
      
• Leach said later he is working to change his legislation before it passes out of the committee, to address the issues raised by Rinaldi and others.
     
• An identical measure to the original language of HB 3659, passed out of the Senate last week. Senators chose not to correct their language to address the shortcomings.

• UPDATE: The Republican leadership team in the Texas House is still trying to codify into law Gov. Greg Abbott’s assumption of powers to make law during an emergency. Their first attempt, HB 3 by Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock), was met by such resounding opposition the measure has been quietly set aside.
       
• Yesterday, the House Committee on State Affairs took up HB 1656 by Jim Murphy (R–Houston). Similar to HB 3, Murphy’s HB 1656 seeks to codify the governor’s disputed authorities related to executive orders and ensure that the governor’s executive actions supersede orders given by local jurisdictions.

• Data from the four appraisal districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex shows the vast majority of cities’ and counties’ property tax bills for average homeowners have grown, not shrunk, despite the passage of property tax reform in 2019. Robert Montoya has the details.
   
• Meanwhile, State Rep. Matt Krause (R–Haslet) has authored legislation that would reform the current system by which appraisal district board members are selected. Currently, citizens do not directly elect the board members of their appraisal districts. Instead, local governments within the appraisal district nominate and elect candidates, with each local government having a certain percentage of the vote.
   
• “Right now, the voting system to elect board members is corrupt.” – Chandler Crouch

• U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) announced yesterday morning he will not seek re-election at the end of his current term. Joshua Pierce has the details.
      
• He is not the only Texas congressman to decide against seeking re-election so far. U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) from Brownsville also stated his intention to retire from Congress.

• As a homelessness crisis unfolds in Texas’ Democrat-run capital city, the state senate passed legislation requiring elected officials to coordinate with each other when buying homeless shelters. Get the full story from Jacob Asmussen.
         
• The bill was created as a response to the Austin City Council, who voted two months ago to purchase a controversial $9.5 million hotel to house 80 homeless individuals—without a detailed plan or notifying any relevant officials or the public.
   
• Meanwhile, reports Iris Poole, a separate measure would stop homeless camping in public spaces and prevent local governments from adopting policies blocking the enforcement of camping bans.

Today in History 

On the morning of April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln succumbed to his wounds and died after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth.

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