By: Steven Hotze, M.D.
CEO, Conservative Republicans of Texas
The sands of time are sinking. This Texas Legislative Session ends on May 31. Texas Republican Legislators have been struggling to pass key pieces of the conservative agenda.
Here is the status on the bills that Conservative Republicans of Texas has been supporting during the Texas Legislative Session.
Bills That Have Passed
Senate Bill (SB) 8 – The Heartbeat Bill. This bill bans abortion procedures at six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Bills That Are Pending
Saturday, May 22, is the last day House committees can vote out Senate bills and Senate joint resolutions. Tuesday, May 25, is the last day that the House can consider Senate bills and Senate joint resolutions on second reading. Thursday, May 13, was the last day any House bill could pass the House.
SB 7 Election Protection Omnibus Bill – SB 7 passed the Senate and was sent to the House Elections Committee. That committee substituted the language of HB 6, the House’s Election Protection Omnibus Bill, into SB 7. It was further amended on the House floor and passed. It is now in a Joint House Senate Conference Committee to finalize the language. It will be completely rewritten by this conference committee.
House Bill (HB) 1927 Constitutional Firearms Carry – 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. It passed the Texas House. It was amended in the Texas Senate and then passed. There will be a Joint House Senate Conference Committee to reconcile the differences.
SB 1646 by Sen. Perry is barely alive. It would prohibit sex change drugs, hormones and sex change surgery on children. It has already been passed by the Texas Senate and has been sitting in the House Public Health Committee since May 3 without a hearing or vote. It is being held hostage by Abbott, Speaker Phelan, Chairwoman Stephanie Klick and the Republican leadership. If Abbott had wanted to protect children from perverted parents and doctors who give them sex change drugs, hormones and sex change surgery, then he would have made it a priority item and a bill would have already been passed. In order to become Speaker, Phelan made an agreement with the Democrats that no bills opposing the perverted homosexual or transgender movements would be voted on by the House.
If Lt. Gov. Patrick really wants to protect children from being perverted, then he could hold up the House bills that Abbott and Speaker Phelan want passed by the Senate, until SB 1646 is passed by the House.
SB 29 Bans Boys from Competing As Girls, Against Girls in Interscholastic Athletic Competition by Sen. Charles Perry. This bill has passed the Senate and the House Public Education Committee. It is currently being stalled in the House Calendars Committee by Abbott, Speaker Phelan, and Chairman Dustin Burrows.
SB 1311 by Sen. Bob Hall would also ban sex change procedures on children. It has passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and a vote is pending in the Texas Senate. It is highly unlikely that it will see the light of day in the Texas House.
SB 1669 Bans Mandatory COVID “Vaccination” by Sen. Bob Hall. It has had a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee. Sen. Hall does not have the support of all the Republican members of that committee for it to be passed. The Republican members of that committee are Senators Bryan Hughes, Brian Birdwell, Donna Campbell, Bob Hall, Jane Nelson and Charles Schwertner. Senators Birdwell and Nelson want to allow businesses to coerce and force you to take the experimental COVID-19 genetically modified mRNA injection.
Call Birdwell and Nelson today and tell them to protect citizens from being forced to take this experimental injection.
Sen. Nelson: (512) 463-0112
Sen. Birdwell: (512) 463-0122
SB 10 Ban on City and County Governments Using Taxpayer Dollars to Lobby by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt passed the Senate on April 15. On May 14 it passed the House State Affairs Committee and has been sent to the House Calendars Committee. It has until Tuesday, May 25, to be considered by the House before dying.
Several other bills which would have banned taxpayer dollars for lobbying have already died. They were introduced by Reps. Mayes Middleton and Jacey Jetton in the Texas House, and by Sen. Bob Hall in the Texas Senate.
HB 3979 – Ban on Critical Race Theory by Rep. Steve Toth. This bill has passed the House. It is currently in the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Bills That Have Died
HB 1399 by Rep. Matt Krause would have prohibited sex change drugs, hormones and sex change surgery, was on the House calendar, but never made it up for a vote. Thursday, May 13 was the last day that a House Bill could be voted on by the House, so HB 1399 is dead. Now only Senate bills that have passed the Senate may be voted on by the House. The House is not required to take up any Senate Bill in committee or before the full House. The House can let Senate bills die, and vice versa. As mentioned above, SB 1646 deals with the same issues as HB 1399. SB 1646 is stalled in the House Public Health Committee. It must be voted out of the committee by this Saturday, May 22 and passed by Tuesday, May 25. The sands of time are sinking.
HB 1424 The Texas Health Care Conscience Protection Act by Rep. Tom Oliverson, related to religious freedom, would have expanded conscience protections to allow a person to decline participation in a healthcare service, such as abortion and sex change procedures for reasons of conscience and provide liability protection for a person who exercises that right. There were 53 Republican co-sponsors. The bill was not voted on by the Texas House by the deadline of last Thursday, May 13.
HB 2713 Monument Protection Bill by Cole Hefner would have protected public monuments and memorials from being removed, relocated, or altered. It had 29 Republican co-sponsors. It died in Calendars Committee.
Several other monument protection bills have also died in House Committees.
HJR 42 Texas Constitutional Amendment on the Governor’s Executive Orders by Rep. Steve Toth would explicitly state that no order or proclamation issued by the governor may violate or suspend constitutional rights. It would also have required the governor to convene the Legislature in a special legislative session to renew or consider the extension of a disaster declaration after 30 days. Rep. Brooks Landgraf authored a similar bill. Both bills died in House State Affairs Committee without a hearing.
It is critical that you keep the pressure on the Republican legislators to pass the current bills that are pending. Let them know that they will be held accountable.