The Texas Report 4/5

April 05, 2023

Happy Wednesday!

DPS Director Steven McCraw

Written by: Jay Williamson

Statewide News Round-Up

As reported last week, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has come to Austin to work with the Austin Police Department to reduce crime and improve public safety. In a recent traffic stop with the Austin Violent Crimes Task Force, DPS seized over sixty-seven pounds of methamphetamine. On the same day, DPS officers arrested known gang members from Texas Mexican Mafia and Bloods. In response to a recent article about the meth seizure Governor Abbott said, "Public safety is priority #1 in Texas. Glad to work with the City of Austin to make our state's capital safer. "

Abbott added last night that DPS is currently averaging 16 arrests per day in Austin. In the first five days, "they recovered 6 vehicles and seized 174 grams of cocaine, 40 grams of heroin, 27,415 grams of methamphetamine and 11 firearms. " (Official Tweet)

Yesterday, dozens of activists protested at the Texas Capitol on several bills related to preventing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from being considered during a hiring process. President of the Texas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said to KXAN, "Make no mistake, these bills are anti-Black and anti-Latino. We're talking about everything from the continuation of suppressing voting rights to eliminating programs in Texas colleges and universities that help recruit, retain, and support African American students as well as other students of color. " (More here)

There has been significant discussion about this topic this session, and the House budget committee included a provision preventing Institutions of Higher Education from considering DEI for the hiring process. The Lieutenant Governor has made this a priority issue, and language is in Senate Bill (S.B.) 17 by Senator Brandon Creighton, preventing the inclusion or consideration of diversity, equity, and inclusion for potential students and employees at institutions of higher education.

The Senate voted out Lieutenant Governor priority bill S.B. 14 yesterday afternoon. S.B. 14 is intended to prohibit minors from being able to transition their gender through things like puberty suppressers, hormone blockers, or surgery. Following testimony and the urging of many physicians, the Senate sponsor, with unanimous agreement across the chamber, changed the bill to allow children currently receiving gender-affirming care via puberty blockers or hormone therapies to continue receiving that treatment if they started receiving it before the effective date of the legislation.

House sponsor Representative Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress) explained his support for the new language as he and Senator Donna Campbell "could find no studies providing guidance on the effects of rapidly withdrawing these medications from a patient. Thus, we felt as though this was wading into uncharted territory."

Following his explanation, State Republican Party Chairman Matt Rinaldi took to social media and said, "This amendment allows the chemical castration and surgical mutilation of any child to continue, as long the abuse begins by June 1. These procedures are monstrous and serve no medical purpose. With this amendment, Texas is abandoning every child currently being abused. " (Official Tweet)

Subsequently, when the full Senate met Monday, bill author Senator Donna Campbell (R-San Antonio) withdrew her amendment, and the reasoning was essentially that the amendment was not discussed in committee, and there were "so many questions that have been brought up since the amendment was put on that. Out of respect for the body, we're just going to take it down." Some Senate Democrats proceeded to bring up that the amendment had been adopted last week without objection. (More here)

The U.S. House Democratic campaign arm recently announced it would target the 15th Congressional District in the next election cycle, hoping to beat out Republican Representative Monica de La Cruz, who is the first Republican to ever represent that district. In a statement, the DCCC said, "De La Cruz is a MAGA extremist who is less concerned with the needs of the community she represents and more committed to advancing an extreme Republican agenda filled with partisan investigations, GOP messaging bills, and rolling back reproductive freedoms nationwide."

Cruz was a major victory for the Republican party, which has been working to increase support from South Texas Latinos. National Democrats deserted the seat during the last cycle, instead focusing on maintaining incumbents in other races like Representative Vicente Gonzalez. The national groups put most of the blame on redistricting. However, Republicans managed to close margins in the traditionally staunch Democratic areas of Hidalgo County, which may illustrate that South Texas is becoming a legitimate election battleground between the two parties. (More here)

Gambling legislation took a big step forward this week as bills to allow sports gambling and the creation of Texas resort-style casinos were approved by a 9-3 margin in the House State Affairs Committee. The bills will now move to the House Calendars Committee, which will subsequently choose when to schedule the legislation for consideration by the full House. The legislation is likely to pass the House. However, the Lt. Governor has repeatedly said that he will not allow any gambling proposals that don't have full or near full Republican support.

Despite the votes likely being there in the Senate by some combination of Democrats and Moderate Republicans, the Lt. Governor will only allow the legislation to pass if a majority of Republicans sign on. Legalizing gambling may still be a couple of sessions away. Still, the issue is undoubtedly top of mind for many legislators who have routinely highlighted the potential billions of dollars in revenue that would be generated should this legislation pass.

On Tuesday, the House Public Education Committee considered two proposals focused on increasing retention in Texas public schools. H.B. 11 by Representative Harold Dutton (D-Houston) includes many policy recommendations made by the Teacher Vacancy Task Force. The bill would increase the state's per-pupil funding from $6,160 to $6,210. Additionally, it would create a new tier system for teacher pay and increase the lowest amount an uncertified teacher could make from $33,660 a year to $35,000. The other legislation considered was H.B. 100 by Representative Ken King, which would change the calculation used by the state for funding school districts to be based on average daily attendance instead of daily attendance. (More here)

As the Texas Tribune's Karen Brooks pointed out, state retirees will not be getting a pension increase for the 20th year in a row. The current budget proposal from the Texas House proposes $1.2 billion in pay increases for current state employees and $3.5 billion for retired and current teachers. Texas has over 123,000 retired employees, and the average check for a retiree in their late 70s is about $1,560 per month. (More here)

The House will meet tomorrow to consider its state budget proposal, 388 amendments were pre-filed on HB 1, ranging across various topics. Some would prevent school boards from using state funding to participate in the Texas Association of School Boards. Many of the amendments are filed with no real hope of being included, but numerous amendments will be offered related to preventing and attempting to authorize state voucher programs.

Committee schedule for this week:

Wednesday - Senate Transportation, Health & Human Services, Natural Resources & Economic Development, and Education. House Transportation. House Agriculture & Livestock, Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, Land & Resource Management, Licensing & Administrative Procedures, Pensions, Investments & Financial Services, County Affairs, Juvenile Justice & Family Issues, State Affairs, and Transportation.

Thursday - House Health Care Reform and Culture. Recreation & Tourism.

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