Legislative Priority Report April 9, 2021
If you have been reading the Legislative Priority reports for very long, you know that I am upfront and honest about what is happening in our legislature. The current situation is critical and we risk having a lot of good bills die. Our biggest hurdles at this point in the session are the games played with the clock.
“We did everything we could, but we just ran out of time.” That is what we will hear if our elected Republican officials do not push passing our Legislative Priorities.
Most of our priorities are finally having hearings, which is a welcome and necessary first step. But, they still have to pass out of those committees and get scheduled for a vote on the floor of the House and Senate. When leadership does not want a bill passed, it is very easy to arrange for them to be “slow-walked,” and then die because time ran out. This method also deflects responsibility from any one legislator because the process can be blamed and not the person. Make no mistake, however, every senator and representative is aware of this game and is responsible should they play it.
For example, bills are delayed for a hearing until the last minute so they can’t make it to the calendar committee in time to be scheduled for a vote on the floor. Or, as is the case at the writing of this report, we are finally getting hearings in the House and Senate, but they are hearing bills with very different approaches to the problem. That means that if passed, both bills will have to go through the committee process in the opposite chamber. If these bills, HB 1399 and SB 1646 are not passed out of committee next week, chances are very slim either will make it through the process unless our committee chairmen and members are motivated and get the job done.
This week another state, Iowa, passed Constitutional Carry bringing the total number of states to do so to 21. The fact that Texas was not in the first five to pass this protection of our Second Amendment rights is unbelievable. If we are not quickly added to that list, then how can we continue to call ourselves a conservative state?
A couple of days ago, the Arkansas legislature overrode a veto by their Republican governor to pass a law to protect children from genital mutilation or gender modification. Also, as with Abolition of Abortion, if this does not get done in our current legislative session, our lawmakers will have the blood of innocent children on their hands.
So, we must demand that it happens. You all know the stakes. Will the socialist progressive left run us over and destroy our families and our liberties and install their hideous totalitarianism agenda in our country? Or, will we stand and say, “absolutely not . . . not in our beloved state of Texas!”
Today, please call the committee chairs of our Legislative Priorities and ask that they pass our bills out of committee. Also, please call the Speaker, Lt. Governor, and Governor and tell them we are expecting them to prioritize and pass Election Integrity, Religious Freedom, banning Child Gender Modification, Abolition of Abortion, Constitutional Carry, Monuments, School Choice, and Banning Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying. Here is their contact information.
Remember, you can sign up for our targeted emails on each priority, the STAT email, here. At the Republican Party of Texas website under #txlege you will find our digital guide to the priorities with talking points and contact information. We also have the status of the Legislative Priority bills on our Bill List.
For God and Texas,
Jill Glover
SREC, SD 12
Chair, SREC Legislative Priorities Committee
To receive future SREC Legislative Priority Updates directly in your mailbox each week, sign up here.
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