The Bad, The Ugly and The Good
The 2021 Texas Legislative Session in Review
– Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
First, The Bad and The Ugly
Election Protection Failed
Election integrity was a stated top priority of Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and Conservative Republicans of Texas during this past 2021 Texas Legislative Session. Incredibly, the Republican leadership and the Republican controlled Texas Legislature failed to pass election protection legislation to stop the Democrats from committing massive voter fraud and stealing elections. This places the future of conservative and Republican control of Texas state government in jeopardy.
Senate Bill (SB) 7, the Election Protection Omnibus Bill, should have been passed in April. The Republican leadership under Abbott, Patrick and Speaker Phelan slow walked this bill and did not bring it up for a final vote in the Texas House until May 30, the last day a Senate bill could be passed by the House. The Democrats walked out, which broke the quorum and SB 7 died before a final vote was taken. The Democrats can tell their supporters that they prevented the Republicans from “suppressing the vote,” and Republicans can blame the Democrats for killing SB 7. This was all theatre.
Corporate interests and lobbyists did not support legislation that improved election integrity. That is why Abbott, Patrick and Phelan slow played this bill. Nothing of this magnitude happens in the Texas Legislature by accident. Abbott, Patrick and Phelan never intended to allow election protection legislation to be passed.
Banning Sex Change Procedures on Children; Protecting Girls’ Sports
Governor Abbott and Speaker Phelan also prevented three separate bills, which would have prevented sex change drugs and sex change surgery on children, from being voted on by the Texas House. These bills were House Bill (HB) 1399 by Rep. Krause, SB 1646 by Sen. Perry, and SB 1311 by Sen. Hall. How is it even legal for parents and doctors to approve and prescribe sex change drugs and perform sex change surgery on children?
SB 29, which banned boys from competing as girls, against girls, in interscholastic athletic competition, passed the Senate, but was never voted on by the Texas House.
This is the same thing that happened in the Texas House in 2017 under liberal Republican Speaker Joe Straus, after the Texas Senate had passed SB 6, which would have prevented men from entering women’s and girls’ bathrooms, showers and locker rooms. Abbott and Straus would not bring it up for a vote and it died.
In all these instances, Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and the Republican leadership have capitulated to the corporations and their lobbyists who support the perverted, transgender pro-homosexual movement.
Protecting children from perverted sex change procedures was a top priority of the Republican Party of Texas and of Conservative Republicans of Texas.
Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Phelan should have made it their priority this Texas Legislative Session. Had they done so, these bills would have been passed.
Taxpayer Funded Lobbying
Failed – SB 10, the ban on city and county governments using taxpayer dollars to lobby, passed the Senate on April 15, but the Republican leadership would not allow it to be brought up for a vote before the Texas House.
Other Unsuccessful Conservative Legislative Priorities
Failed – Protection of monuments
Failed – School Choice
Failed – Banning censorship to protect free speech on social media
Failed – Restricting the Governor’s and local officials’ emergency powers under the Disaster Act
Failed – Prohibiting businesses from mandating the experimental COVID “vaccine”
The Good
SB 8, the Heartbeat Bill, passed. This bill bans abortion procedures at six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat is detected. It also permits individual citizens to file civil lawsuits against those who participate in providing abortions, after a heartbeat is detected.
HB 1927, Constitutional Firearms Carry, passed. It would remove the requirement for Texas residents to obtain a license to carry handguns if they’re not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun.
HB 3979, Ban on Critical Race Theory, passed.
The prohibition of vaccine passports, included in SB 968, passed.
HB 2939, prohibiting any governmental agency or official from issuing an order closing a place of worship, passed.
HB 1280, that would reinstate Texas’ anti-abortion law when Roe v. Wade is overturned, passed.
HB 2622, making Texas a Sanctuary State for the Second Amendment by prohibiting the enforcement of certain federal firearm laws and regulations, passed.
SB 19, prohibiting state contracts with companies that discriminate against the firearm or ammunition industry, passed.
HB 957, legalizing gun suppressors (silencers) that are manufactured and sold within Texas, passed.
Killed – HB 4139. This bill would have created a new state agency, the Texas’ Office for Health Equity, to promote pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and pro-transgender policies. This new agency would have collected data, and identified and made public those medical establishments, healthcare professionals and medical clinics, that they deemed lacking in health equity for certain groups. It would have forced hospitals, clinics, physicians, government agencies, churches and private schools, businesses and individuals to accept, affirm and treat individuals who claim, and children whose parents claim, that they are a different gender than their biological, birth sex. This agency would also have been used to promote abortion services and require organizations and insurance companies to pay for these evil practices. Conservative Republicans of Texas is proud to have been a part of helping conservatives contact their legislators and to help kill this bill.
While the Republicans managed to pass some conservative legislation, they missed a critical opportunity to protect children from perverted, sex change treatments and procedures. This is obviously child abuse. Parents and doctors who engage in this should be criminally charged. That the Republican leadership was unwilling to protect children is pathetic, and enough reason to throw the rascals out. Abbott should redeem himself by calling a Special Legislative Session to protect children from perverted, sex change procedures and surgery.
Abbott, Patrick and Phelan also failed to pass any significant election protection legislation, which is desperately needed in order for Texans to have honest elections. This failure places the future of Texas in jeopardy. Abbott should call a Special Legislative Session to ensure election protection, and to stop the Democrats’ vote fraud harvesting schemes.
Abbott, Patrick and Phelan have been put on notice that the eyes of Texas’ Patriots are upon them.