Good morning, 

Yesterday we asked if private businesses should be allowed to mandate a COVID shot as requirement for employment… And, wow, we got answers.

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, April 29, 2021
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• Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has taken to the airwaves blasting State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) for “holding up” a child protection bill in the final month of the state legislative session. At issue is House Bill 1399, which would prohibit medical professionals from cutting off children’s healthy body parts and administering cross-sex hormones or other sterilizing drugs.
      
• Yet, as Jacob Asmussen reports, the author of the House legislation – Matt Krause (R-Haslet) – complained on Twitter about the way Miller was promoting the bill. Krause wrote: “HB 1399 just got into Calendars [Tuesday] night. There’s no slow walking here.”

• As more stories of a toxic Capitol culture and coverups come to light, the question now is whether some lawmakers find that election outcomes are more important than marital vows.

     
• This question sits at the center of a sordid love triangle alleged by Ashley Burke and apparently involving her former boss State Rep. Lacey Hull (R–Houston), State Rep. Cole Hefner (R–Mount Pleasant), and their mutual campaign consultant and lobbyist Jordan Berry. But the seediness of the affair is overshadowed by the alleged cover-up attempted by State Rep. Valoree Swanson (R–Spring).
       
• A source tells Texas Scorecard that Swanson urged Mr. Hull not to talk about his wife’s alleged affairs with Berry and Hefner because it could damage the GOP’s chances to win Hull’s election. Worse, she allegedly suggested he could face the prospect of a long line of lawmakers testifying against his character and fitness as a parent.
   
• Swanson did not return numerous calls seeking comment.

• The Texas House and Senate are rushing forward with hastily filed legislation that will require lobbyists to complete sexual harassment training every two years. Jeramy Kitchen has the story.
   
• This comes after allegations arose last Saturday that a legislative staffer had been drugged by a lobbyist. 

• The Texas Senate unanimously passed legislation yesterday that would make it a felony for rioters to assault first responders. Robert Montoya reports on the passage of SB 912 by Dawn Buckingham (R–Lakeway).
   
• “If you riot and harm first responders, you will go to jail. If you destroy property, you will pay for it.” – Sen. Buckingham

• Some local governments around the state took advantage of the coronavirus disaster declaration by Gov. Greg Abbott to hike struggling homeowners’ property tax bills. Robert Montoya reports the Texas Legislature is now moving to eliminate loopholes for droughts, pandemics, and epidemics found in the big property tax reform passed in 2019.
   
• Senate Bill 1438 by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston), passed the Senate 21-10 on April 19. An amended version of the Senate measure is scheduled to be voted out of the House on Thursday.

• Commissioners in conservative Collin County say taxpayers shouldn’t be required to pay for lobbying efforts that advocate against the taxpayers’ interests. Erin Anderson has the details. 
   
• “Enough is enough. It’s time to end taxpayer-funded lobbying in Texas.” – Collin County Judge Chris Hill

• A controversial new form of student discipline is taking hold in Texas public schools: restorative discipline. As Tera Collum reports, critics of the policy say “restorative discipline” divorces consequences from actions.

Y’All Answered

Yesterday’s One Click Survey asked if “private businesses should be allowed to require employees get the COVID shot as a condition of employment?” Of the respondents, 90.4 percent answered “No,” and 9.6 percent said “Yes.”

Here is a sampling of the replies…

• “Absolutely not! No person should ever be compelled to take a vaccine as a condition of employment.” – Mandy Kirkland
       
• “Requiring a vaccination as a condition of employment is in the same category as a dress code or a set work schedule. The employee has the choice to not accept the terms and find employment elsewhere. The employer can dictate the rules of the workplace with the knowledge that these rules may limit the quality of the employees he can attract. ‘Right to work’ goes both ways.” – Rex Reeve
      
• “Has HIPAA gone completely out the window? As someone working in HR for over a decade it blows my mind that any employer would think they have a right to my health information.” – Suzanne Osborne
      
• “I answered ‘yes’ to the survey, but there is a condition: the ‘private’ business must truly be private. I think Methodist receives some public funds, therefore it is not private, and so its requiring employees to be vaccinated becomes Fascism.” – Marianne Dawes
      
• “If employers can demand drug tests and be required to pay for sick leave, they should be allowed to require a vaccination.” – Steve Sullivan
       
• “If Abbott had shown true leadership skills in the first place and actually quashed the tyrannical COVID restrictions and possibility of any vax requirement in the state we wouldn’t be having this discussion.” – Lisa Bonin
        
• “Requiring a vaccine for a virus that statistically is overwhelmingly survivable makes no sense.” – Roxann Bilger
       
• “Why stop with COVID? Why not require the flu, measles, yellow fever!  How about we allow businesses to require that everyone drive a Chevy pickup truck. Maybe we will allow businesses to require that I cannot belong to any church, or that since my boss belongs to one denomination that I am required to attend their church.  When will the insanity stop!” – Greg Reinhart
       
• “I resent strongly any attempt to tell me I have to have a vaccination for the virus for any reason by anyone. My health is my business and not anyone else's.” – Linda Everton
     
• “The natural right to hire or fire whoever you please for any reason should never be abridged by the state. This has been used against conservatives for generations and will be in the future. Civil breach of contract laws already handle enforcing employment contracts. If anything, Texas should pass a constitutional amendment protecting this right by denying the state of the power to interfere in private employment.” – David Johnson

Today in History 

On April 29, 1945, the Nazi’s Dachau concentration camp was liberated by the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Division. 

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