Legislative Priorities Report for July 9, 2021
Summer usually gives us a little break, but this is a very different year, and this past week has been eventful. On the national level, our current administration announced two very concerning things. First, the federal government will begin sending people door to door to check citizen’s vaccination status making sure they know where they can get the vaccine. The second thing is that the Capitol police will open field offices in two states with plans to open more. The commonality of these two things is the federal government is exceeding authority and overreach. We are watching our liberties whittled away before our eyes. This makes what we do in our state even more critical.
Here in Texas, Governor Abbott has finally announced the items he will put on the agenda for the Special Session. There are only two items that address any of our unaccomplished Legislative Priorities. One is Election Integrity, and the other is Religious Freedom, specifically the issue of protecting biological girls’ sports activities.
At the time of this writing, approximately 71 Elections bills have been filed in the House: 57 by Dems, 14 by Republicans. On the Senate side, 30 Elections bills have been filed: 25 by Dems, and only 5 by Republicans. The Democrats are doing all they can to resist our efforts to ensure fair and honest elections. Our Legislature and Governor must prevail and get this Priority accomplished!
We do still ask the Governor to add the rest of our Priorities. We especially believe that the ban on gender modification is a critical Priority and directly connected to the issue of protecting biological girls’ sports. When the underlying developmental issues surrounding gender dysphoria have the opportunity to resolve in time, then the sports issue will decline.
The pace of the Special Session will go much faster, and already bills have been filed and are being assigned to committees for hearings. Tomorrow, Saturday, July 10, SB 1, an Election Integrity bill filed by Senator Hughes will be heard along with some other election integrity bills in the State Affairs Committee.
In the House, HB 3, an elections omnibus bill, will also be heard Saturday morning by Speaker Phelan’s newly formed Select Committee on Constitutional Rights and Remedies. It is notable that the elections bills filed are not being assigned to Rep. Briscoe Cain’s House Elections Committee. Please attend this hearing if possible, and even if you are not testifying you can register a position on the bill.
On Monday, in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, SB2, a girls sports bill filed by Senator Perry will be heard. This hearing will be heard at 10:00am.
We will be sending out STAT reports to those on that email list, and as we mentioned last week, we encourage you to please use the resources on the #txlege tab to continue to advocate for our Priorities. You will find the Digital Guide to talking points, a template for emails or calls, and contact information. If you are not on our STAT list or this Legislative Priorities report list, you can also sign up.
The LP Committee Assessment Report is also out, and you can find that information here. We apologize that the link provided did not work last week, as there was some last-minute discussion regarding the information provided. We, on the Legislative Priorities Committee, are committed to providing you with all the information we can so that you have the knowledge needed to engage well with your legislator. This report provides you with specific information regarding the bills supported by each House and Senate member.
We know there are other items on the Special Session agenda that are important to Republican voters and that are supported by our Party platform. We hope to see significant progress on protecting our southern border, as nightly human trafficking is occurring facilitated by our own National Guard. Our legislature must address the invasion of our country and the humanitarian crisis it presents.
We also need our Chairman’s priority, Reining in Executive Overreach, addressed. Especially in light of the out-of-control federal government at our doorstep.
Action Steps:
1. Contact your legislators and ask them to pass our remaining Legislative Priorities.
2. Contact Governor Abbott and ask him to put our other priorities on the Special Session agenda: Gov. Abbott: (512)463-1782 or 512-463-2000
· Submit comments on the Governor’s website contact form.
· Post on the Governor’s Facebook page.
· Gov. Abbott’s Chief of Staff: Luis.saenz@gov.texas.gov – (512) 463-1762 and Policy Director – Steve Munisteri (512) 463-1830
The Legislative Priorities Committee appreciates how hard Chairman West has advocated for these Priorities by educating voters around the state as to what the Republican Party of Texas stands for, what the Priorities are, and how important it is for citizens in each district to speak for themselves to their elected officials. We look forward to working with the next chairman and anticipate he will continue to support our Priorities and these weekly reports. It is regrettable that such a report is even necessary. If our Republican legislators were doing what is right, they would all be supporting our Priorities.
For God and Texas,
Jill Glover
SREC, SD 12
Chair, SREC Legislative Priorities Committee
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