Legislative Priority Report 4.16.21

We are winning. Last fall, when the Legislative Priorities Committee planned for the upcoming legislative session, we knew we had to do things differently. You know that expression that says when you do things the same way every time, you get the same results? Well, since our Republican legislature failed to pass our Legislative Priorities in past sessions, we knew we couldn’t use the same strategy as in the past. So, Chairman West and the Legislative Priority Committee decided to take our case to you, the voters across the state, and inform you about the priorities and how to make your voices heard to your elected officials in Austin. We also knew we could not do it alone. We had to join with grassroots groups who have the influence and infrastructure to amplify our outreach. So, I am pleased to tell you today that Constitutional Carry passed in the House, thanks to the tenacity of Rep. Schaefer and others. It’s now in the hands of the Senate. Regarding Election Integrity, the committee substitute of HB 6 which fixes the concerns regarding the Secretary of State has passed out of the House Elections Committee and needs to go to the floor for a vote. Another great bill, 574, which deals with increasing penalties for elections violations, passed the House floor today and the Speaker needs to send it to the Senate. We have our bills banning Gender Modification passed out of State Affairs in the Senate and Public Health in the House. A big thank you to Chair Stephanie Klick for hearing this bill Wednesday evening after Rep. Krause laid it out beautifully. Representatives Reggie Smith, Four Price, and Tom Oliverson did a spectacular job exposing the hideous practices performed on children. For example, removing the healthy breasts of young, confused girls, described by an obviously inexperienced pediatric endocrinologist from the Genecis Clinic at Children’s Hospital in Dallas. She attempted to minimize the effects of puberty-blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries performed on children in order to approximate the appearance of the opposite sex. Even a Democrat representative on the committee seemed stunned at the procedures described. We have Abolition of Abortion bills passed out of the House Public Health Committee that need to go to the floor for votes. In the Senate, we still have bills pending in Health and Human Services and State Affairs. We have several good Religious Liberty bills passed out of House and Senate Committees that need floor votes. Monuments had a bill passed out of a House committee and needs a floor vote, and we have three more bills scheduled for hearings Monday in Culture, Recreation, and Tourism. In the Senate, two bills still need hearings in Natural Resources and Economic Development. Banning Tax-Payer Funded Lobbying, SB 10 in the Senate, got a favorable floor vote, while in the House, Rep. Middleton’s bill needs a vote out of State Affairs. This priority really needs to move. School Choice bills have not had hearings yet. So, bottom line is we have made tremendous progress. However, we have to be aware of the landmines remaining. If you read through the above analysis, there is a glaring pattern on many of our priority bills. You will see that we have bills voted out of committees in one chamber but stalled in the other. This can be a way to stop progress on our bills and for one side to blame the other for failure. We must continue the pressure on our elected officials to keep the bills moving! For example, we must now tell the Lt. Governor and the Senate that they must vote on Constitutional Carry. We are hearing rumblings that the Senate side does not want to pass this priority. The left is making all kinds of noise on our bills to protect children from physical bodily harm from shady “gender” doctors and misrepresenting these bills and trying to sway Speaker Phelan, so we have to contact his office and urge him to save Texas kids from profit-hungry corporations and individuals. We know this report contains an overload of information, so, please, if you are not yet receiving our STAT emails which give specific updates on each priority depending on your area of interest, sign up today. Additionally, please watch our Facebook and YouTube feeds as we will begin providing video updates -- and featuring your questions -- on Wednesdays. If you have a question about the legislative process or a specific Legislative Priority, you can submit it by replying to this email. Action Items: 1. We need you to keep calling and emailing. More information on how to contact your representatives can be found on our website (https://www.texasgop.org/txlege/). Please ask them to pass our priorities. 2. If you are not yet signed up to receive our STAT email which gives specific updates and actions on each priority depending on your interest, sign up here.(https://www.texasgop.org/strategic-texas-activist-team/). We are winning now, but things can turn quickly with none of our priorities getting passed. This cannot occur. If it does, then Texas will not have a Republican majority in Austin. The Democrats will clearly be in charge, and our Republican legislature will have allowed it to happen. In the next few weeks, we will see who scores the final points to win the game. For God and Texas, Jill Glover SREC, SD 12 Chair, SREC Legislative Priorities Committee