The Texas Report 9/1

The Texas Report 9/1

What’s Happening:

• New Texas Laws (More here)

• Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued perks beyond impeachment allegations (More here)

• Texas House Republican calls out Speaker Phelan prompting a response from Caucus leadership

More than 600,000 Medicaid recipients in Texas have lost coverage since April, a 72 percent disenrollment rate that dwarfed a 36 percent rate in Louisiana and 41 percent in New Mexico, according to a recent report by the nonprofit healthcare research organization KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Biden administration earlier this year lifted a ban put in place during the COVID-19 outbreak that restricted states from removing people from Medicaid rolls, part of a larger strategy to rein in surging healthcare spending.

Experts predicted close to 1 million people, or 20 percent of Texas's Medicaid enrollment, would no longer qualify and lose their coverage. So far, the disenrollment rate has been much higher than that. State health officials said from the outset there would be a surge in disenrollments during the first six months of their year-long review process, as they focused on those recipients most likely to have fallen outside the program's income limits, as have other states.

Hanging over the state health department is a whistleblower letter sent to Texas Health Commissioner Cecile Young last month, warning that 80,000 people had erroneously lost coverage during the review due to a computer error, including several thousand pregnant women. The health department subsequently reinstated coverage for most of the 80,000, but in a follow up letter last week the whistleblowers, who have remained anonymous, said, "there have been minimal changes in the situation."

New Texas Laws

Today, 774 bills passed during the 88th Texas Legislative session will officially take effect.

Some major changes include bans on transgender athletes from participating in collegiate sports, new social media company regulations, and requirements that parents or guardians consent minors to create online accounts. The legislature increased penalties for someone who provides a "fatal" dose of fentanyl and an extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage from two months to one year.

Let's take a look at some of the big ones:

H.B. 3 by Representative Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) was the major school safety omnibus bill this session. Among other things, H.B. 3 will require armed officers at every school campus and mental health training for staff interacting with children. School districts that can't hire an armed officer must claim a "good cause exception" and provide an alternative plan. Lawmakers also allocated $1.1 billion to the Texas Education Agency to administer school safety grants to public school districts.

H.B. 5 by Representative Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi) creates a new job incentive program for local governments and school districts. This bill was intended to ensure the state has tools similar to other states and countries to attract businesses after the expiration of its previous iteration, Chapter 313. Chapter 313 was a well-documented priority of the business community, which was not without its critics. This new legislation sets provisions for property tax abatement agreements while giving more power to local governments and school districts.

H.B. 6 by Representative Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth) classifies overdoses from fentanyl as "poisonings," which means any Texan who provides someone with a fatal overdose of the opioid could face a murder charge. The measure is part of a series of new laws aimed at the opioid crisis in the state, many of which seek to get tough on people selling or illegally importing fentanyl.

S.B. 12 by Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) restricts certain drag shows and other performances from being shown in front of anyone below 18. S.B. 12 defines a "sexually oriented performance" as one (1) featuring nudity; (2) or a male performer exhibiting as a female or a female performer exhibiting as a male; and (3) appealing to the prurient interest in sex. This law faces legal challenges from advocates who believe the First Amendment protects such performances. Businesses that host sexually explicit shows with minors are criminalized, and municipalities are not allowed to authorize a sexually oriented performance on public property.

S.B. 22 by Senator Drew Springer (R-Muenster) creates a $330 million grant to support and increase rural sheriffs, deputies, prosecutors, and constables in counties below 300,000 population.'

S.B. 379 by Senator Joan Huffman (R-Houston) removes the sales tax on feminine hygiene and baby products, including tampons, menstrual cups, diapers, baby wipes, maternity clothes, and breast milk pumping products.

S.B. 1661 by Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola). If this bill hadn't passed, all Texas voting machines would have been decertified, and counties would have resorted back to paper ballots.

Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued perks beyond impeachment allegations

On Tuesday of next week, the impeachment trial for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton will begin.

This week, the Associated Press reported about various trips and benefits Paxton has enjoyed while in office, including unexplained Caribbean and European trips costing taxpayers $90,000 and a $600 sports coat paid for by an event organizer.

Former employees say he reveled in using his office for various benefits over the years, some of which have contributed to the impeachment case against Paxton.

Last year, that lifestyle included more international trips than Texas' governor and the lieutenant governor made combined and a previously unreported visit to Qatar to watch the World Cup. There are also accusations of behavior that raised eyebrows among employees at all levels of Paxton's office, including requesting special license plates but never paying the $12.50 to acquire them.

"He always cared about what trip he was going on, who was taking him to dinner," James Blake Brickman, one of Paxton's former deputies, told investigators leading the impeachment in March, according to a transcript.

"He likes the perks of the office," Brickman said.

This isn't new for Texas politicians, as many legislators are wined and dined during the typical legislative session. In general, most Capitol offices get daily free meals. However, it rarely culminates in overseas trips.

As attorney general, Paxton is paid around $153,000 annually, a salary lower than many of his top aides. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, has worked as an educator and receives $7,200 for serving in the Texas Legislature.

The full extent of the couple's wealth is unknown. Their required financial disclosures offer a blurry picture. For instance, the most recent filings value their blind trust at "$47,220 or more."

Last year, Paxton's travels were extensive. Records show that after winning a Republican primary runoff against George P. Bush — who cast Paxton as unfit for office — Paxton spent two months flying to cities in the Caribbean and Europe. It's unclear who paid for Paxton's travel, but the trips cost taxpayers $91,000 for his security detail.

The purpose of the travel, which The Dallas Morning News first reported, is also unclear. Spokespersons for Paxton and the attorney general's office did not respond to questions about the trips, which Paxton did not publicize.

A few months later, Paxton was in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup — a trip that does not appear in his filings or security records. Another Republican state attorney general, Sean Reyes of Utah, also attended and disclosed through a spokesman that Qatar's government paid his expenses without saying how much they were.

In a statement, Qatar's embassy in Washington invited four state attorneys generals as part of "wider efforts in combatting transnational crime, including human trafficking." Jeff Norwood, a Paxton spokesman, said Paxton paid his way to the tournament and attended without state police security.

Former employees told the Associated Press that Paxton sometimes seized smaller opportunities to gain from office.

David Maxwell, the attorney general's former head of law enforcement and one of eight deputies who reported him to the FBI, told investigators that Paxton bought a $600 sports coat from a hotel store while at a conference and billed it to the event's organizer. According to transcripts, Maxwell also said Paxton asked for specialty license plates available to state officials but never paid the nominal fee to pick them up.

"He was all about money," said Maxwell, a former Texas Ranger. "He always had his hand out."

In recent polling by The University of Texas Politics Project related to the impeachment trial, Just 28% of Republican respondents agreed that the charges were warranted, compared to 42% of independents and three-quarters of Democrats, the poll found. Among Republicans, one-third said impeachment was unjustified, while 39% said they were unsure or had no opinion.

The poll found that Paxton's approval dropped to 27% among all voters, the lowest in two years. But among Republicans, it remained 46%.

The poll of 1,200 registered voters, conducted in mid-August, shows how the state's powerful Republican electorate may wish the Senate to vote in Paxton's impeachment trial, which begins Tuesday.

Paxton's allies have already begun working against many of the House Republicans who voted for his impeachment. Texas Senators are likely having to weigh the impact a vote against Paxton may have on their political future.

Texas House Republican calls out Speaker Phelan prompting a response from Caucus leadership

In what has become a fairly regular occurrence, Representative Brian Harrison (R-Waxachie) took to social media and Newsmax to "encourage" his fellow Republicans to end Biden's COVID agenda and comment on some other pieces of legislation.

After posting an image of his interview on X (formerly Twitter), powerful House Republican Chairman Dustin Burrows quote retweeted with "Jack of all trades, master of none — just keep getting that media attention you crave. . ."

This was likely in response to a Harrison post the day before essentially blaming Burrows for not moving legislation related to vaccine mandates.

Following this Tweet, many members of the Texas House Republican leadership took to airing out their opinions regarding Harrison, including Representative Jeff Leach (R - Plano), the Chairman of Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence.

Other Texas Republicans weighed in against Harrison, including Chair of Elections Reggie Smith (R-Sherman) and Representative Jared Patterson (R-Frisco). The in-fighting continued with some conservative legislators jumping in on behalf of Harrison, like Representative Steve Toth (R-Woodlands) and retiring chair of the House Freedom Caucus Representative Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler).

One of several responses by Harrison

There were several more back-in-fourth tweets/passive-aggressive comments by other Texas legislators, including:

Now, Republican infighting isn't new (certainly not on Twitter). However, this is another example of the developing fractures between different sects of the Texas Republican Party. Harrison is widely considered one of the most conservative members of the Texas House and has repeatedly been at odds with leadership. Is this anything more than some aggressive back-and-forth tweeting? Or an example of growing divisions within the Texas House between the Freedom Caucus and Republican leadership.

There have been plenty of times in recent years where the two have been at odds, but this past session, they worked fairly well together. With the looming Paxton impeachment and the Texas Republican party attacking House leadership, Republican party infighting may only keep increasing, likely to the benefit of Democratic legislators.

We aren't ones to typically report on interparty beef/social media outrage. However, with the number of legislators involved, I thought it was prudent to bring it up due to the potential impact.