The Texas Report

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Happy Monday!

Written by: Jay Williamson

Formerly the Texas Insider, we've decided to rebrand as the "Texas Report."

Statewide News Round-Up

Last Friday afternoon Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency announced the release of the Final Report of the Teacher Vacancy Task Force. The task force studied three main policy categories -compensation, working conditions, and training and support. (Full Report) The Task Force has forty-six members representing all 20 Education Service Center regions and schools of various shapes and sizes. The prioritized recommendations include: 

• Funding an increase to overall teacher salaries through increasing the basic allotment, increasing the minimum salary schedule, and expanding systems like the Teacher Incentive Allotment.

• Funding for and increasing the scale of the Mentor Program Allotment (MPA).

• Conducting teacher time studies and providing technical assistance for districts to develop strategic staffing and scheduling models that respect teacher time. (Final Report)

In an exclusive interview with Hearst Newspapers, Abbott expressed support for a recent proposal to lower the sales tax rate from 6.25% to 5.75%. The Governor said, "I've been working with my staff on some sales tax reduction ideas, we haven't rolled them out yet, but it is a concept that I support." Texas has had a 6.2% sales tax since 1990, with local governments having the option to increase the tax to 8.25%. Senator Royce West (D-Dallas) has filed legislation, and Senator Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) is a coauthor; this proposal would result in $7 billion a year less in revenue. Senator West sees this as an opportunity to save money for all taxpayers, as recent efforts for tax relief have been primarily focused on property taxes. 

U.S. District Judge Robert Pittman dismissed Attorney General Ken Paxton from a lawsuit brought by abortion funds, which are nonprofit organizations that help pay for abortions and other related expenses like out-of-state travel, hotels, and child care. Many of these funds stopped paying for Texas out of fear that the Attorney General would bring charges against them. Pittman, however, ruled Paxton could not enforce Texas' abortion bans against anyone paying for an abortion from out of state. (More Here)

Senate State Affairs will meet today to discuss and hear testimony on five different pieces of legislation. SB 2 by Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) is one of the Lieutenant Governor's priority bills and would increase the criminal penalty for intentional illegal voting to a state jail felony. Election conduct and voting rights were a significant topic last session and resulted in a quorum break by House Democrats towards the end of the previous session to try and stop the passage of specific legislation. Nearly 200 bills related to elections have already been filed, and it appears this will be another major discussion for the session. For anyone interested in watching the hearing, it starts at 11:00 am and can be streamed via this link. 

Some other bills being heard include a Senate Concurrent Resolution to urge Congress to pass and submit to the states for ratification of the "Keep Nine" amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (Keep Nine is a proposed amendment to put into the Constitution that the Supreme Court will consist of nine justices). Other Senate bills today include allowing district clerks to carry a handgun, redacting certain personal information on a protective order, and more. 

This is the first actual legislative hearing, as most committees are still in the organizational process where they meet to determine committee rules and hear from relevant state agencies or stakeholders ahead of specific bills. There are two other hearings on specific bills this week in House Criminal Jurisprudence (Tuesday) and Senate Criminal Justice (Wednesday). Both of these committees will be hearing bills related to Fentanyl, increasing the criminal penalties for specific controlled substances, and more. 

Committees will soon meet more regularly, and in the next week or two, there will be several hearings each day, and legislation will start moving through the process. 

As mentioned last week, Secretary of State Jane Nelson will appear before Senate Nominations today. The Senators will likely use that time to discuss the integrity of Texas elections. Secretary Nelson is expected to be the first person confirmed as Secretary in several years. Due to serving over thirty years in the State Senate, she is likely very familiar with the process. The Texas Secretary of State is the Chief Election Officer for Texas, senior advisor to the Governor for Texas Border and Mexican Affairs, and much more. (More on the Secretary of State Here)

In a recent newsletter, the Lieutenant Governor expressed additional support for a school choice voucher and said, "Every child should have access to every education opportunity possible. We've passed a school choice bill twice out of the Senate since I became Lt. Governor. The Governor is supportive, and I hope the House will join us by passing this fundamental right for all parents and students this year. Over 80% of Texas Republican voters support school choice. "Both the Governor and Lt. Governor have promised that Rural Texas schools and teachers won't be negatively affected by a voucher proposal, but as of yet, the details behind their plans are unclear. (Newsletter)

State Wide Officials Report: 

Governor Abbott recently tweeted a video highlighting the Texas Border mission Operation Lone Star.(More here)

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick took to social media, saying, "Ohio train disaster toxic waste sent to TX with no notice from Biden's EPA until after the fact. Like Biden's CDC & DHS, the EPA can't be trusted. Biden administration biggest toxic dump in the U.S." In the above newsletter he went after former Austin Mayor Steve Adler and "the mostly anti-police city council." He added, "Not long ago, Austin was a safe city. No more." This was released in response to the recent Austin street takeover resulting in a police officer being sent to the hospital and additional property damage. (More from the Lieutenant Governor)

Texas Democrats have been posting about voucher programs. They recently retweeted a post by Representative Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin) that said, "Bottom line: Long established, quality schools don’t need vouchers & often won’t take them. Vouchers lead to pop up, private schools that soon become mostly gov’t funded & don’t last long. Enough w/gimmicks. It’s time just fully to fund our schools. " The main school choice bill has yet to be filed, so it remains to be seen what impact vouchers may have on public schools. (More Here)

Texas Republicans have made recent social posts regarding their displeasure with the Electronic Registration Information Center, which over thirty states use to improve voter rolls, cross-check registration, and more. Texas spends $1.5 million on ERIC annually, and the Texas GOP said the system "is fraught with privacy concerns, out of control costs, and liberal bias." When Texas joined ERIC, the Texas Secretary of State's, Director of Elections said participating would allow the "state will continue to foster an active and engaged citizenry by encouraging all eligible Texans to play an active role in our democratic process." (More from the State GOP)

Legislative Report

Over 4,066 bills have been filed as of 2/27/23.

92 days till Sine Die (Last day of the legislative session)

11 days till bill filing deadline

Social Media

HB 18 by Representative Shelby Slawson (R-) Would, among other things, mandate digital service providers (i.e., social media companies) couldn't collect a minor's identifying information and would need to do everything possible to prevent a minor from physical, emotional, and developmental harm. Digital service providers would need to make available parental tools allowing a parent or guardian to supervise the minor's use of the service. Adds civil penalties that parents or guardians would use to pursue on behalf of a minor for violations of this statute. 

Elections

SB 2 by Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) would increase the criminal penalty for intentional illegal voting from a misdemeanor to a state jail felony. 

HB 2810 by Representative Jacey Jetton (R-Fort Bend) would, among other things, add a space in the voter registration certificate that would allow someone to indicate a voter is deceased and provide an area in the document to put corrections or update any incorrect information. 

Education

Civic Duty

HB 2014 by Representative Jeff Leach (R-Allen) would increase the state's reimbursement for jury service from $40 to $58 for each day after the first. 

Healthcare

SJR 66 by Senator Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) would require a constitutional amendment election to add in the Constitution language that "Each individual in Texas has the right to refuse any medical treatment, and a person may not interfere with that right."

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Happy Monday!!