The Texas Report 4/14

April 14, 2023

Happy Friday!

Written by: Jay Williamson

Statewide News Round-Up

Thursday afternoon, text messages and social media posts surfaced from Daniel Perry, the man recently convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester, who Governor Abbott said he wanted to pardon. The former Army sergeant talked about killing people - several times referencing a desire to kill Muslims. Some of these messages were presented during the trial, including a social media post where he said he might have to kill people (ahead of the protests.) However, the new unsealed filing contains dozens more that weren't presented publicly. (More Here) This may complicate things for the Governor, as the optics of the case may have substantively shifted.

Thursday, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced one of the largest seizures of Fentanyl during a single Operation Lone Star (OLS) traffic stop. DPS seized over 3.1 million lethal doses of Fentanyl, or about fourteen pounds. In his statement about the seizure, Abbott said, "Fentanyl is the single greatest drug threat our state and country has ever known, and this record amount of Fentanyl seized would have otherwise made its way into communities across Texas and the nation because of President Joe Biden's open border policies. (More here)

Both the House and Senate traded blows on Thursday, with Lieutenant Governor Patrick starting by hosting a press conference shaming the House priority property tax proposals merely hours before the legislation was set to be taken up and voted out of the chamber. Following the near-unanimous House vote (140-9) the Speaker responded to the bill author of the House priority legislation and said "that too should send a message" seemingly in reference back to the Senate.

Patrick and the Speaker continued addressing the issues between the two chambers yesterday evening, with Patrick saying, "In terms of popularity, it may be popular w/ House members, but appraisal caps are not popular with seniors, the business community, realtors, & tax experts. A recent poll clearly shows homestead exemption is #1 w/ voters." The Speaker then subsequently posted a summary explanation of the House's property tax relief act and called it the largest TAX CUT in Texas history. Not only is this important because it shows how complicated the relationship is between the House & Senate, but it's a debate over thousands of dollars for every homeowner in Texas.

During traditional legislative sessions, Texas's big three leaders (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker) hold a weekly breakfast where they negotiate their policy priorities while also maintaining an air of civility. However, in recent years these breakfasts have become more scrutinized, and often one or more of the big three will stop attending due to the contention of the legislative process. Following the latest exchange on property taxes, we will do a little digging to see how functional (or dysfunctional) the current relationship is between the three most important Texas politicians. The worse it gets, the more difficult it becomes for compromise between the two chambers, and the likelihood increases of additional "special sessions" after the main one.

Texas Congressman Michael McCaul recently did an interview with the Texas Tribune where he explained his recently introduced bill that would require the President to determine whether TikTok or its parent company (based in Beijing), Byte Dance, had ever transferred sensitive data to the Chinese government and if so to ban the app from the U.S. McCaul is the Chair of House Foreign Affairs, and former Chair of House Homeland Security and is often rated as one of the most bipartisan members of Congress.

In his interview, he touched on proposals by members of the state legislature that would introduce a blanket ban on apps owned by companies headquartered in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. McCaul's concern is that this could lead to unintended consequences and lead to many immigrants losing the ability to contact their families in these countries. He specifically told the Tribune, "I've urged the state Legislature to be targeted in their approach, not a swath that would catch people that are just fleeing oppression," It's got to be very careful not to go too far with that, and discriminate against, you know, people that are fleeing oppression versus those that are operating under espionage purposes." (More Here)

Thousands of Texas cattle were killed in an explosion and fire at a dairy farm in Dimmitt, Texas. One source estimated over 18,000 cattle had been killed, and one person was under intensive care at a nearby hospital. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, and Castro County Judge said, "This is a devastating loss that will impact many." The statement adds, "I am so thankful for our first responders as well as the neighboring counties that sent aid to Castro County." "I commend their swift response and quick thinking to help save lives. While the loss of so many animals and property is devastating, I am so thankful that there was no loss of human life. I am praying for restoration for South Fork Dairy." (More here)

Llano County commissioners said Thursday that they would abide by a federal judge's order to restore the books they banned rather than shut down the local library system. Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham said, "The library will remain open while we try this in the courts rather than through the news media," he later added the county had already spent more than $100,000 on legal costs and vowed to appeal the federal judge's decision.

Outside of the courthouse, cheers could be heard from opponents of shutting down the library celebrated. "That's a victory," the Rev. Kevin Henderson of Sunrise Beach Federated Church declared. "That's a victory for free speech!" On the other side, advocates for eliminating the library said, "We need to fight it in the court system and get this salacious material removed," Carter, 82, said. "We have God on our side, and we expect he will get the glory when this is said and done.” (More here) As of now, the library system will stay open, and Llano County will continue to pursue court action. Across the state, this has raised concern that anti-library sentiment could continue to spread and jeopardize the existence of local libraries.

The Texas House passed H.B. 8 this week, which would change the state funding system for community colleges based on outcomes and performance. Both House and Senate budgets included about $650 million for the new funding model, which would include financial aid for students at low-income high schools taking dual-credit courses, as well as grant money to support the expansion of programs leading to credentials of value or meeting regional workforce needs.

Early calculations provided by Representative Gary VanDeaver's office estimate that community colleges could see a 31% increase or an extra $305 million in funding for the fiscal year 2024. The bill passed on a 146-1 vote, with Representative Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) being the only no vote.

Some other important legislation that moved this week:

H.B. 90 by Representative Jared Patterson (R-Frisco) (also called the Bishop Evans Act) was passed out of the Texas House and would guarantee workers' compensation and death benefits for members of the Texas Military serving on State Active Duty. H.B. 90 would increase the benefit lumpsum payment to $500,000 for surviving family members, allow accelerated dispute times for workplace injuries, and include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) coverage under workers’ compensation.

S.B. 16 by Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) would prevent higher education institutions from compelling or attempting to compel a student to believe that any race, sex, ethnicity, or political belief is inherently superior to any other belief. This is essentially a higher education anti-critical race theory bill.

H.B. 1805 by Representative Stephanie Klick (R-Arlington) passed the Texas House on second reading and will look for full approval by the House today. This bill would let doctors prescribe ten-milligram doses of cannabis for chronic pain cases that would normally warrant opioid pain management prescription.

If you have any questions about specific issues or policies, please email us and let us know!

Committee schedule for next week:

Monday - Senate Nominations, Water, Agriculture & Rural Affairs, Natural Resources & Economic Development. House Higher Education, Public Health, Business & Industry, Appropriations, Ways & Means, Corrections, Youth Health & Safety

Tuesday - Senate Business & Commerce, Administration. House Criminal Jurisprudence, Human Services, Insurance, International Relations & Economic Development, Natural Resources, Public Education, Community Safety, Criminal Jurisprudence, and Urban Affairs.

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