Legislative Priority Report for February 19
What a week this has been! I pray that each of you now has power and water, and that the forecast holds for warmer temperatures into the weekend and next week.
There is much that can be said about the issue of our power grid, as it has risen to prominence over the past few days. Suffice to say that Senator Bob Hall has been warning about it, and our other elected officials should defer to Senator Hall’s depth of knowledge, wisdom, and guidance as we move forward. We also must guard against more government “solutions” to problems.
Meanwhile, our representatives can walk and chew gum at the same time so we must not let our Legislative Priorities fall by the wayside. Make no mistake, while President Donald Trump may no longer be in office, our Republican voters clearly are behind the policies he espoused and will not put up with a “moderated” Party. That is a false choice. As this Biden administration has demonstrated, we face a very clear danger before us in this country: will we continue down the road toward socialist progressive totalitarianism, or will Americans who love our nation and the principles it was founded on stand up and demand our representatives protect our elections and our liberties?
Our elected officials must stand against any pressure to let up on the push for Election Integrity and our other priorities. We have to have election reform! While we have some bills filed, we still need a comprehensive Election Integrity bill in both the House and the Senate. Please demand that.
Regarding Gender Modification, did you know that Planned Parenthood now is the second largest provider of cross-sex hormones? A few years ago, they decided they needed an additional “income stream,” in case abortions declined. So, they began offering “transition” services to teenagers. Remember the recent battles we have had in the state of Texas regarding Planned Parenthood wanting to provide sex education curriculum in our public schools? Normalize LGBT, then their service offerings expand and their revenue increases. It’s always about the money, at the expense of children.
We have two bills banning Gender Modification in children filed in the House. We must get one filed in the Senate. This issue should be a no-brainer! Please contact your Senator about filing one.
Finally, I want to mention our Second Amendment rights. On Sunday, President Joe Biden called for more restrictions on gun ownership, while the state of Utah properly upheld our Second Amendment by signing a bill allowing concealed carry of a firearm without a permit. This makes the 18th state to recognize the freedoms afforded us to be able to carry a firearm without government intrusion.
So where is Texas on this issue? We are not one of those 18 states! That is why our 5th Legislative Priority is Constitutional Carry: “Restore legal Texas firearms owners’ rights to carry them openly or concealed without a permit, while maintaining the option of a permit for reciprocity purposes.” Yes, they are coming for our guns. We better protect them.
Please contact Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and your State Representative and Senator today and tell them to pass this legislation and our other Legislative Priorities this session! Their contact information is under the #txlege tab on the RPT website, both State House and State Senate. Don’t forget to post on their social media, as well. If you want a template for what to say, go here. Just modify it to fit the priority you are contacting them about.
If you missed Chairman West’s Monday Message this week, please read it here.
We must stay focused as we fight for our state. And make no mistake, this is a battle. We are down to about 100 days left in this legislative session, so we have a very small window of opportunity. If we all work together — Texas Republicans in every district of the state — we can get much accomplished!
For God and Texas,
Jill Glover
SREC, SD 12
Chair, SREC Legislative Priorities Committee
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