Legislative Priority Report for February 26
Do you ever feel like you are sticking your fingers in the dam to hold off the flood? That’s a little of the feeling I had this week in looking at the big picture of current events. We had a catastrophic weather storm that resulted in deaths, injuries, and massive property damage for many of our citizens.
On the federal level, we have a Democrat Congress wanting to enable even more voter fraud by passing HR1, which, if signed by the current president, would effectively prevent any chance of legitimate elections in the foreseeable future.
Next, they want to pass the Equality Act, which will fundamentally change life as we know it. Our churches, religious schools, and faith-based organizations will no longer be able to hire only those whose worldview aligns with their faith, and we will in essence be giving civil rights to people with mental illnesses and calling those conditions immutable traits.
Abortion access and funding will increase resulting in the murder of many more innocent lives.
Our State legislature is having committee hearings to address the power grid and all the issues of this past week, as they should. But, we also must also make sure the bills supporting our Legislative Priories are moving along. This first requires they be assigned to committees.
Here is the list of bills I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we are supporting for each priority:
· Election Integrity: HB 329, HB 335, HB 574, SB 155, HB 1368
· Religious Freedom: HB 525, HB 1218, HB 1239, HB 1291, HJR 1, SB 251
· Child and Gender Modification: HB 68
· Abolition of Abortion: SJR 25, SB 391, HB 1280
· Constitutional Carry: HB 1238
· Monuments: HB 446, HB 1079
Here are new bills we have added:
Child and Gender Modification: HB 1399
Religious Freedom: SB 573
Abolition of Abortion: HB1623, HJR 80
Due to the storm last week, our sub-committees were delayed in meeting to recommend new bills, but we know more bills have been filed that match our priorities and we will get those approved very soon.
Now, the next step is to make sure these approved bills get assigned to a House committee quickly. One way bills can get killed is by delaying them. Please contact Speaker Phelan and tell him you want the bills that match our priorities assigned to committees that will pass them now.
Lt. Governor Patrick has published his list of priorities for the session. Unfortunately, the only Legislative Priorities that he addresses are Election Integrity, Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying, and a couple of bills restricting abortion. Please contact his office and tell him you want all the Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priorities passed.
Lastly, I would like to address our Chairman’s Priority on Executive Overreach. There have been several good bills filed that would reign in executive powers. Two excellent ones were just filed by Representative Matt Schaefer: HB 2097 and HB 2098, which would end mask mandates. Thank you, Rep. Schaefer! You can also extend your thanks to him by contacting his office.
The bad news on this front is a bill filed by one of our own Republicans, Representative Dustin Burrows. HB 3 would actually extend executive powers and would give the federal government more power in our state by mandating that businesses comply with CDC recommendations.
For example, if our governor were to end the mask mandate, but our federal government continued it, our governor could simply say there is nothing he can do as our legislature voted to comply with federal regulations.
If a business refuses to comply, it would lose its liability protections. Please contact your representative and tell him or her to oppose this bill. If they say they want to support it because it has some good things in there to protect religious liberties, tell them separate bills can give those protections!
Action items for the upcoming week:
1. Contact Speaker Phelan and ask him to assign our bills (listed above) to committees.
2. Contact Lt. Gov. Patrick and tell him to our RPT Legislative Priorities prioritize in the Senate.
3. Contact your representative and tell him or her not to support HB3, and to support our Legislative Priority bills (listed above) reigning in executive overreach. If you don’t know who represents you, look here.
Thank you for engaging and fighting for our state! While, individually, it seems overwhelming, if we all work together we can hold back the flood. Remember you can find our complete list of resources on the Republican Party of Texas website, and if you need a speaker on our Legislative Priorities for your club or meeting, our SRECs are available.
For God and Texas,
Jill Glover
SREC, SD 12
Chair, SREC Legislative Priorities Committee
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