The Texas Report 7/26

The Texas Report 7/26

What’s Happening:

• U.S. sues Texas over border strategy (More here)

• Political pressure may have caused a Texas A&M Professor to be suspended (More here)

• National bookseller associations sue Texas over new rating requirements (More here)

Monday, Governor Abbott officially signed the Texas tax relief bills into law. The bill’s author said average homeowners will save nearly $1,400 per year and up to $1,500 for seniors. Texas voters will still have to approve the policy in the November constitutional election.

The $18 billion tax cut plan includes:

• Over $12 billion to be spent on reducing the school property tax rate for all homeowners and business properties by 10.7 cents

• Increase homestead exemption for homeowners from $40,000 to $100,000

• A 20% circuit breaker on appraised values as a three-year pilot project for non-homesteaded properties, valued at $5 million and under, including residential and commercial properties

• Savings on the franchise tax for small businesses and the creation of newly elected positions on local appraisal boards. It would increase the franchise tax exemption from $1 million to $2.47 million

• The resolution would create a three-year pilot program for all other property valued at $5 million or less, to cap increases on appraisal values

• (More here)

U.S. sues Texas over border policies

Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the state of Texas and Governor Abbott for building a floating barrier at the southern border.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Austin, alleges Abbott violated the law by building structures in the Rio Grande River without federal authorization, obstructing U.S. waters. This comes as no major surprise as the DOJ had recently said they were looking into the issue amid letters and calls for action by several Democrats from across the country.

The Department of Justice is attempting to require Texas officials to remove the barrier at the state’s expense and require approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Abbott reacted to the news with a letter early Monday and essentially said he’d refuse the DOJ’s request, and he was willing to litigate the suit to the Supreme Court. In an effort to defend Texas’s “sovereignty and its constitutional right to secure the border of our state and our country,” he further called on more action by the Federal Government. Until so, Texas would continue its current strategies.

Abbott additionally cited previous case law and constitutional provisions to illustrate his confidence in allowing Texas to maintain floating barriers.

Vice President Kamala Harris slammed Abbott on Monday, calling the border tactics “inhumane, outrageous and un-American” during a speech in Chicago.

The lawsuit, which names both Abbott and the state of Texas as defendants, was filed by the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division in collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

This suit is aimed at the floating barrier. Still, the Justice Department did say last week that officials were examining other complaints about how Texas state troopers may have been ordered to push migrants back into the water.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said that the “presence of the floating barrier has prompted diplomatic protests by Mexico and risks damaging U.S. foreign policy. “

Political pressure may have caused a Texas A&M Professor to be Suspended

The Texas Tribune published an article about a suspended professor accused of criticizing Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick during a lecture on Tuesday morning.

The professor was speaking on the opioid crisis and soon after placed on administrative leave before being formally investigated.

• Professor Alonzo spoke at an event hosted by the University of Texas Medical Branch, where she was accused of disparaging Patrick during her presentation.

• Less than two hours after the lecture ended, Patrick's chief of staff had sent Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp a link to Alonzo's professional bio.

Shortly after, Sharp sent a text to the lieutenant governor: "Joy Alonzo has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation re-firing her. should [sic] be finished by the end of the week."

Alonzo is a Texas A&M professor and opioid expert whose lecture gave a broad overview of the opioid crisis and the science behind opioids. Part of her presentation discussed that the state lacks the infrastructure to properly respond to the crisis. For instance, many counties lack a medical examiner, and many law enforcement agencies don't track opioid deaths.

The student who may have started this chain of events was Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham's daughter. Who attended the event and was a first-year medical student at the time. Buckingham served six years in the Texas Senate, and the Tribune confirmed that Buckingham initially kicked off Alonzo's investigation.

Students were advised that any comments by Alonzo about Patrick weren't the opinion of the university, and students who attended the event couldn't remember any specific comment to prompt such action.

• Some students did respond to requests by the Tribune on the condition to remain anonymous, and they explained that Alonzo had said the lieutenant governor's office was one of the reasons it's hard for drug users to access certain care for opioid addiction or overdoses.

• Alonzo would be placed on paid leave for two weeks before she was allowed to return to work.

• Fentanyl was one of Governor Abbott's seven priority issues for the 88th legislative session, and the legislature allocated $18 million over the biennium for naloxone, an opioid-reversing drug, to police, schools, and community organizations on the front lines of the epidemic. A bill that would have legalized test strips to detect the presence of fentanyl made it out of the House but died in the Senate.

This comes at a time when Texas A&M has faced backlash after bungling the hiring of a renowned UT professor to revive its journalism program. This has led to the University President, Katherine Banks, resigning and the interim dean of the school's College of Arts and Sciences.

Joy Alonzo ended up keeping her job, but this serves as another example of the significant political involvement in Texas public universities, which faced proposals to eliminate university tenure and new laws banning diversity, equity, and inclusion offices.

More by the Tribune:

National bookseller associations sue Texas over new rating requirements

A group of bookstores and national associations filed suit in federal court yesterday over a new law passed in the most recent legislative session banning sexually explicit books in school libraries and requiring a new rating system.

Houston-based Blue Willow Bookshop, the American Booksellers Association, and several other national groups joined BookPeople in suing several state agencies over House Bill 900 (HB) by Representative Jared Paterson (R-Frisco), which is set to take effect Sept. 1.

The suit claims HB 900 violates free speech and is unclear/unconstitutional because it focuses on a particular type of speech. Several state agencies were named as defendants, including the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the Texas Education Agency, and the State Board of Education. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas.

Patterson responded to the news on Twitter and, in part, said, "The far left will do anything to maintain their ability to sexualize our children." Patterson anticipated a suit and said he crafted the READER Act based on "longstanding Supreme Court precedent across multiple cases."

HB 900 bans sexually explicit materials in school libraries and imposes rating systems on the books vendors sell to districts. The vendors must develop a rating system for books that are sexually relevant. Sexually explicit material is defined in the bill as anything not directly related to the curriculum portraying sexual conduct defined in the Texas Penal Code "in a way that is patently offensive."

Librarians wouldn't be allowed to purchase books under the sexually explicit designation, and parents would need to give permission before checking out a sexually relevant book.

• Concerns range that these designations would cause classic Texas novels like Lonesome Dove or others like The Grapes of Wrath to be banned or limited somehow.