Legislative Priorities Report Oct. 25, 2021

The Texas Legislature adjourned sine die on Tuesday, October 19 as expected.  They passed redistricting maps, which is a Constitutional requirement, but left other things on Governor Abbot’s agenda unaccomplished.

The Republican Party of Texas is respectfully requesting Governor Abbott call a fourth special session to complete the following:

1. Restore stiffer penalties for illegal voting that were lowered in SB1. This was previously added to the Third Special Session on September 30^th.
2. A full forensic audit of Texas elections to ensure illegal voting is rooted out and prosecuted.
3. A ban on all vaccine mandates, as previously added to the call on Oct. 11.
4. Banning gender modification, including cross sex hormone treatment and puberty blockers, as outlined in the Legislative Priorities of the Republican Party of Texas.

These items include two of our Legislative Priorities, increasing penalties for election fraud and banning gender modification in minor children.  Since the time of the last Republican Party of Texas state convention, the other two issues have become of paramount concern to our delegates and our party Chairman has created special committees for both election integrity and vaccine mandates.

This past Friday, the Special Committee for Vaccine Mandates released a second open letter from the SREC to Governor Abbott, requesting a fourth session to pass legislation to ban vaccine mandates.  The committee notes that many businesses are defying the governor’s executive order and Texans who choose not to become vaccinated are losing their jobs.  All Texans are urged to sign the letter to help us ask Governor Abbott for a fourth special session to pass vaccine mandate ban legislation, specifically HB 168, and pass our other legislative priorities. 

Please also consider telling your story to the governor, as personal experiences are compelling and persuasive. Are you being told that you will lose your job unless you take a COVID vaccine? Maybe you have a college student who is being oppressed and bullied on campus for being “unvaccinated.” Or perhaps you are being treated differently by your employer than the “vaccinated” workers. We have all heard the stories. They are becoming more extreme and more frequent! Many individuals across the state of Texas have suffered greatly as their jobs and livelihoods have been threatened. Tell your “vaccine mandate” story to the Governor and ask him to call a fourth special session now!

Action Item: Sign our letter and tell Governor Abbott your vaccine mandate story

Please pass this information to anyone who may want to contact Governor Abbott. 

For God and Texas,

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