Good morning, 

Yesterday’s One Click Survey about a special session generated a lot of responses – no matter how they answered, everyone was very upset by the Legislature’s lack of performance on conservatives’ priorities.

First, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thursday, June 3, 2021
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• Over the next several weeks, Texas Scorecard’s writers will begin the process of digging deep into the results of the 87th Session. Individual “autopsy reports,” dissecting what happened and why, will be designed to help citizens know the real score in the all-too-serious games played under the Capitol dome.
   
• Kicking off the series is Jacob Asmussen’s look at how lawmakers failed to protect Texans from the censorious social media giants. A proposed law passed through the Texas Senate in early April, but sat dormant for nearly a month and a half in the Texas House.

• While Texas election integrity advocates are disappointed the Republican-controlled Legislature failed to pass their top-priority comprehensive reform, Erin Anderson reports lawmakers did manage to pass a handful of key election measures before the regular session ended earlier this week.
   
• For example, one bill making it through both legislative chambers creates two new election fraud offenses: intentionally counting invalid votes and failing to count valid votes. Another measure requires all Texas voting systems to produce auditable paper trails by September 2026.

• The platforms of both the Republican and the Democrat parties call for the end of civil asset forfeiture before a criminal conviction, yet Iris Poole reports all the legislation designed to accomplish the task died during the session.

• Land Commissioner George P. Bush made it official last night: he is challenging incumbent Ken Paxton to be the GOP’s nominee for Attorney General of Texas in 2022. Brandon Waltens has the story.
      
• “We need an attorney general that’s focused on the job instead of trying to stay out of jail,” said Bush, referring to Paxton’s legal matters – including a criminal indictment stemming from allegations levied by a political opponent before being elected A.G. in 2014.
       
• Bush has apparently been weighing a run for Attorney General since at least October, after a number of Paxton’s top lieutenants accused him of engaging in bribery and abusing his office. No charges have been filed against Paxton, who has denied wrongdoing. 
     

• In response to Bush’s announcement, Paxton’s campaign issued a statement pointing at his record in office: “From defeating Joe Biden’s dangerous executive order halting deportations of illegal aliens, to his willingness to stand up for secure elections, Ken Paxton has been and will continue to be the tip of the spear in protecting President Trump’s America First principles.”

• A candidate for the Board of Trustees in the Richardson Independent School District is backed by a far-left organization that wants boys to be allowed to play in girls sports. Tera Collum has the details. 
   
• While the candidate – Amanda Clair – says she wants “community schools,” 89 percent of her donations are from the D.C.-based leftist group.

Y’All Answered

Yesterday we asked – given that the overwhelming majority of Texas GOP priorities were either killed or left undone by the Republican-controlled legislature – if Gov. Greg Abbott should call lawmakers immediately back into a special session, wait until a previously planned special in October, or just hold on addressing them until the next regular session in 2023.

Of Texas Minute readers… 91% favored an “immediate” session; 6.9 think waiting until October would be advisable; and 2.1% don’t want to give lawmakers a “special” to correct their errors.

• “A ‘Special Session’ should be called only when the House ‘leadership’ is changed so that there is leadership.  The idiots should get to work for free since they didn’t earn their pay during this session.” – Joe Zimmer
   
• “I am sick and tired of royals at the capitol.” – Linda Everton
     
• “Taxpayer dollars were wasted once again during the last Texas Legislative session and running out of time had nothing to do with it! Why should they be allowed to continue to waste taxpayers’ dollars fighting AGAINST what we voted them into office to represent us for!” – Cindy Kelley
   
• “Abbott ought to have called one [immediately] and told them that he would continue to call them until they passed every item in the Lone Star Agenda.” – Mark Henley
   
• “If they can't do what the voters want, they shouldn't be paid to come back and address those items. This was the worst session ever for Republicans and Conservatives.” – Sudie Sartor
   
• “If voting integrity and other Republican priorities are addressed in the same session as redistricting, there will be horse trading involving redistricting. I don't think we want that.” – David Holden
   
• “Who’s to think that any good will come in a special session? They did not do anything when they were supposed to be working for us.” – Bill Calvert
   
• “Should we need to have a special session? No. Do we need to have one? Yes. Why? Because apparently our elected public servants don't know how to manage their time effectively.” – Suzanne Osborne

• Connect on social media! Texas Scorecard can be found on Parler, Facebook, Twitter, Gab, and Instagram. Facebook users should also check out our Citizens’ Bureau group.
   
• Meanwhile, you can find me on Parler, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as LinkedIn, Gab, and MeWe.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Brandon Waltens will handle the Texas Minute for the next couple days, so the email will be coming from “[email protected]” in my absence.

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