Article V Convention of states:
SB 610 and SJR 52 both died. Would have extended Texas’ call for a constitutional convention.
Border Security:
HB 6 passed, will increase criminal penalties for fentanyl
HB 7 died, it was always the weaker border bill. After HB 20 died, Senate made HB 7 stronger.
HB 20 by Schaefer killed by House leadership.
SB 1403 passed, created an interstate border compact. All thru Gov’s office only.
SB 1481 died, would have expanded eminent domain authority for construction of the border wall.
SB 1900 passed, designates cartels as FTOs and treats them as criminal gangs under the law. Makes cartel property subject to asset forfeiture.
Repel language is key for border security to be accomplished, repelling was not included in these bills. The current special session call only has human smuggling, nothing else border-related.
Corporate welfare:
HB 5 passed, grrrr! More subsidies for corporations paid for by we the taxpayers (property taxes). Thankfully, excludes “green new deal” project.
Legalized gambling is dead for now, but hundreds of lobbyists will come back next session.
Drag shows:
SB 12 passed, bans sexually oriented shows in front of minors, including drag shows.
ESG/ currency
SB 1446 died, would have prevented ESG practices in state pension funds.
HB 2837 passed, will prevent tracking of firearm / ammo purchases.
HJR 146 died, would have protected the right to use currency.
SB 1060 died, would have prohibited ESG practices at insurance companies.
SB 1607 died, would have prevented companies from being fined as a result of their beliefs.
Election integrity
Despite the fact that this is a priority of the Republican Party of Texas, most of the bills that would help to secure elections in Texas died. Elections Committee Chair, Reggie Smith, effectively “sat on bills” by failing to schedule hearings for them. This is one way that very good bills can be killed by an unsupportive Committee Chairman.
Note: Speaker Phelan suggested that Election Integrity was covered in the previous legislative session and he did not intend to address the issue during this session. Republican Party priorities concerning election integrity were largely ignored. Speaker Phelan currently has a challenger in the upcoming election. Additional challengers are rumored to sign up – Stay tuned!
SB 1070 passed, will remove TX from ERIC system. Great news! (ERIC is a 3rd party system that maintains voter rolls. Efforts needed to replace it with a trustworthy statewide system to clean voter rolls and assure that only legitimate, legally qualified voters are voting.)
HB 1243 passed, will increase penalty back to felony, fix Murr’s boo boo. Passed, this is bare minimum! (The penalty had always been a felony until Chairman Andrew Murr allowed a bill in the previous session to reduce the penalty to a misdemeanor.)
Many good bills died 🙁
Electric grid security
Mostly industry-controlled bills passed
Emergency powers
SB 29 passed, prohibits mask mandates / shot mandates, only CV-19 specific.
SB 1104 / SJR 58 both died, would have reigned in Gov’s power during a variety of emergencies.
Lots of really good bills died.
Foreign land purchases
SB 147 died after being watered down, and would have applied to China, Iran, and Russia.
HB 3165 died, praise God! It was a back doorway to implement the 30×30 land grab.
Gender mutilation
SB 14 passed, will prohibit hormone treatment on kids, and prohibit the removal of kids’ body parts in the name of “gender reassignment.” Some mutilators have already moved out of Texas.
HB 41 died in committee, would have prevented docs who mutilate kids from obtaining liability insurance.
HB 888 died, would have made docs liable for damage caused by mutilation and hormone treatments.
Higher Education / tenure
SB 15 passed, will prohibit men from competing in women’s collegiate sports.
SB 16 died, would have protected the beliefs of college students.
SB 17 passed, watered down. Requires studies on the effect of removing DEI policies from colleges. Requires that former DEI employees be moved to a new position at college.
SB 18 passed, allows tenure of professors to be granted only by governing board of the university. Weak bill obviously.
LGBTQ
SB 1527 passed, institutes criminal penalty for sexual grooming of kids. Cracks down on sex trafficking in general.
HB 900 passed, will establish a rating system for books in school libraries. Removal of sexually explicit books from school libraries.
HB 4520 passed, will impose penalties on educators that show sexually explicit content to children.
Medical Freedom:
SB 265 died in House, would have required reports of certain vaccine-related or drug-related adverse events.
SB 1024 died in the house, would have prevented health emergency mandates in general, not just CV-19 specific.
SB 29 passed watered down, CV-19 specific only.
SB 301 died, would have confirmed doctors’ rights to prescribe ivermectin / HCQ. SJR 66 and several really good Sen. Hall bills died, medical freedom.
Pro-Life
SB 24 passed, continues alternatives to abortion program funding under the Thriving Texas Families Program.
HB 3162 passed, good first steps on end-of-life protections / advanced directives. TX Right to Life says does not go far enough to end the 10-day rule.
Property taxes
Special session: House plan uses compression and caps on appraisals, while the Senate plan has some compression with increases to homestead exemptions.
School Choice
Is not on the current special session call. Rumors about a second special session in Sept to prevent teacher unions from descending on the capitol during summer.
Taxpayer-funded lobbying
We must push ending this harder than ever next session! Relates to school choice, property taxes, and reigning in out-of-control big cities. SB 175 died in the House 🙁
Transportation:
HB 71 died, would have implemented digital identification.
HB 3418 died, yay! Would have implemented a mileage tax pilot program.