Legislative Priorities Report for 5.14.21

We have 17 days left in the 87th Texas Legislature Regular Session. Last night was the deadline for bills originating in the House to be voted on and sent to the Senate.

The Republican Party of Texas has eight legislative priorities: Election Integrity, Religious Freedom, Children and Gender Modification (banning medical practices), Abolition of Abortion, Constitutional Carry, Monument Protection, School Choice for All, Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying. These priorities were chosen by our state convention delegates last summer.

As of today, we have one priority bill passed and on its way to the Governor’s desk: SB 8, the “Heartbeat” bill. This bill will prohibit an abortion of a baby when a heartbeat can be detected by a doctor. The Senate quickly passed this bill to the House, where it was met with Democrat opposition but had the votes to complete the process.

We do have several other priority bills that are getting close, such as HB 1927, Constitutional Carry. This bill is going to conference where amendments will be voted on, and it is expected to then be sent to the governor. This was a hard fought success by the grassroots and Rep. Shafer, who manuvered his bill through the process masterfully.

Other priorities are on shakier ground. Election Integrity, which was at the top of the priority list, appears to be in danger of becoming weaker than the original bills filed. We hope that Republicans will be resolute in holding out for bills that will ensure an election process that is trustworthy and fair.

A major disappointment, so far, is the difficulty in getting a bill to ban the practice of child gender modification. Banning the practice of utilizing chemicals and mutilating surgeries for minors in an attempt to change their physical appearance to that of the opposite sex. This barbaric practice is exploding due to cultural pressure and underlying psychological distress exploited by greedy medical practitioners.

The Texas House Calendars Committee Republicans — Chair Dustin Burrows, Rep. Slawson, Rep. Jetton, Rep. Patterson, Rep. Craddick, Rep. Harris, Rep. Hefner, and Rep. Leman — failed to place HB 1399 on the House Calendar in time for a vote before the clock expired last night at midnight.

That leaves us with two bills from the Senate. SB 1646 has passed the Senate and is sitting in Chair Klick’s Public Health Committee. It appears unlikely she will vote that particular bill out of committee.

The other bill, SB 1311, which is similar to HB 1399, is on the Senate intent calendar and should be voted out Monday or Tuesday. It has time to make it to the House floor for a vote by the deadline, Tuesday, May 25 at midnight.

Another critical priority bill — banning taxpayer-funded lobbying — SB 10, has been substituted and finally voted out of State Affairs. Chair Paddie will lay out the bill on the House floor Tuesday. It is not as robust as originally written but still worthy of support.

For more specific information on the progress of each of our priority bills, check out this very informative graph by Jeramy Kitchens. You can compare our Priority bill progress with that of the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House. Approximately 95 bills have been sent to the Governor for signature, one being an approved Priority bill of the Texas Republican Party.

For more other specific priority information, including bill statuses, please sign up for our Strategic Texas Activist Team (STAT) email here. For a resource guide for our Legislative Priorities including contact information for all the state elected officials, click here.

Action Items:

Call Gov. Abbott and tell him we expect him to publicly support the RPT Priorities, including protecting Texas children from mutilating medical practices. 512-463-2000

Call Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick 512-463-0001

Ask Speaker Phelan to make sure our priorities get a vote on the House floor 512-463-1000

Call Chair Burrows and ask him to get the remaining priority bills on the calendar when they hit his committee 512-463-0542

There’s still time for our Republican legislators to get our Priority bills passed. We fervently encourage them to do so, to keep our state strong in the face of a perilous national government. We need some heroes right about now.

For God and Texas,

Jill Glover
SREC, SD 12
Chair, SREC Legislative Priorities Committee

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