Good morning,

Last week, the Texas House unanimously approved a package of resolutions – including one retroactively naming Feb. 14, 2023, as LGBTQ Day at the Texas Capitol. Today's One Click Survey asks your opinion of that.

Here is the Texas Minute for Monday, March 13, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Thousands of Bills

• The deadline to file legislation in the Texas House and Senate has passed, with Texas Lawmakers introducing a staggering 5,301 bills in the Texas House–more than ever before–and 2,565 bills in the Texas Senate. Sydnie Henry has the details.

       
• Of the nearly 7,000 bills filed in the House and Senate during the 87th Legislative Session, less than 2,000 passed into law. This year, proposed legislation has until May 29 to pass through both legislative chambers before heading to the governor’s desk for final approval.
       

• The House and Senate are both scheduled to convene for business at 2 p.m. today. You can watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of both chambers using Texas Scorecard's streaming video apps available for Roku and Apple TV devices.

Legislation Targets Bad-Faith Actions of School Boards Association

• Legislation has been filed in the Texas House that would force organizations like the Texas Association of School Boards to choose between continuing to do business with public schools or employing highly paid lobbyists who often advocate for policies that favor administrators and teacher unions over taxpayers and parents. Darrell Frost has the story.

       
• State Reps. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) and Terri Leo-Wilson (R-Galveston) authored legislation that forbids school districts from contracting or distributing "funds to a nonprofit association or organization that employs an individual required to register as a lobbyist.” This prohibition applies to payments for any kind of training, insurance product, or professional service – which ostensibly is services for which Texas' school districts pay TASB. 
        
• According to IRS records, TASB's annual revenue is around $76 million. Records also show they spend up to $2 million lobbying lawmakers.
        
• TASB has grown increasingly strident in its advocacy for leftist causes with the taxpayers' dollars. Earlier this year, TASB issued guidance to school boards promoting radical gender ideologies. Last year, they hosted a conference pushing Critical Race Theory, and the organization stood silently by as their national umbrella group attacked parents as “domestic terrorists” simply for being engaged in their children’s education.

Undercover Footage: Frisco ISD Trustees to Squelch Conservative Voices

• Secretly recorded footage reveals three trustees with the Frisco Independent School District have been working to silence the voices of conservative parents and other trustees—and they plan to keep doing so. As Soli Rice reports, the audio and video were from a left-leaning parent-led meeting that the trustees secretly attended last November.

       
• In the video, which was first reported by the website Current Revolt, the three trustees conspire with leftists about ways to delay debate on issues important to conservative parents as well as manipulate news coverage to the detriment of conservative school board members.
       
• The conspirators from the school board included the board's president, as well as the head of the Texas Association of School Boards.
        
• Now that the meeting has been revealed, concerns have been raised that it might have violated the Frisco ISD Board of Trustees Operating Procedures as well as the Texas Open Meetings Act.

RUSSO: Finish Trump’s Border Wall

• In a new commentary, the president of Texans for Strong Borders explains why a physical barrier at the southern border is a critical component of a comprehensive border security plan.
        
• "Although a wall is not a magic bullet for border security, it is a necessary portion of any effort to secure the border," writes Chris Russo. "Without a physical barrier, cartels will continue to take advantage of our 1,250 miles of border to move thousands of pounds of drugs and hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens each year."

ONE CLICK SURVEY

Last week, the Texas House unanimously adopted a package of resolutions – including one retroactively designating Feb. 14, 2023, as 'LGBTQ Chambers of Commerce Day' at the Texas Capitol. 

Do you think it is appropriate for the Texas Legislature to honor LGBTQ groups at the Capitol?

Once you’ve clicked an answer, reply to this email with any thoughts you’d like to share!