CRTX NEWS FINAL LEGISLATIVE REPORT

THE FOLLOWING BILLS HAVE PASSED THE 2023 TEXAS LEGISLATURE

ALTERNATIVES TO ABORTION

SB 24, by Sen. Kolkhorst, relating to the powers and duties of the Health and Human Services Commission and the transfer to the commission of certain powers and duties from the Department of Family and Protective Services. Establishes the Texas Pregnancy and Parenting Support Network to ensure it is implemented as a continuation of the current Alternatives to Abortion Program. 05/27 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

BIOLOGICAL SEX RESTRICTIONS FOR PARTICIPANTS IN WOMEN’S COLLEGE ATHLETICS

SB 15, by Sen. Middleton, protects women’s college athletics from being invaded by men who claim to be women. 05/27 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

BORDER SECURITY

SB 22, by Sen. Springer, relating to the establishment of grant programs to provide financial assistance to qualified sheriff’s offices, constable’s offices, and prosecutor’s offices in rural counties. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

SB 423, by Sen. Paxton, authorizes the use of unmanned aircraft by the Texas military forces. 05/29 effective immediately.    

SB 602, by Sen. Birdwell, grants U.S. Border Patrol Agents the powers of a Texas peace officer to arrest and conduct a search and seizure for any offense under Texas or federal law. 05/12 sent to the Governor.

SB 1403, by Sen. Parker, establishes interstate compact for border security, including building a border wall. 05/17 sent to the Governor.

SB 1518, by King, relating to the establishment of a terrorist offender registry and to the supervision of those terrorist offenders; creating criminal offenses related to terrorism. 05/27 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

BUDGET

HB 1, by Rep. Bonnen, has passed the senate. A conference committee has been appointed. Senate Conferees are Huffman, Chair, Nichols, Kolkhorst, and Creighton. House Conferees are Bonnen, Chair, Gonzales, Mary, Van Deaver, Jetton, and Moody.  The Conference Committee had its organizational meeting on 04/25. The Senate Conference Committee report (the most recent version of the bill) contains a prohibition against funding transgender surgeries under the Health and Human Services Budget. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

CURRENCY AND CURRENCY EXCHANGE

HB 1666, by Rep. Capriglione, would regulate digital asset service providers’ digital currency holdings to ensure consumer funds are secure and protected. 05/22 sent to the Governor.

DRAG QUEENS

SB 12 by Sen. Hughes, relating to restricting certain sexually oriented performances on public property, on the premises of a commercial enterprise, or in the presence of a child; authorizing a civil penalty; creating a criminal offense. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

ELECTION INTEGRITY

SB 1599, by Sen. Hughes, relating to ballots voted by mail; providing for the standardization of voting procedures including with respect to a voter’s ability to correct certain defects and actions taken by early voting clerks, early voting boards, and signature verification committees. 05/23 sent to the Governor.

SB 1933, by Sen. Bettencourt, relates to certain oversight procedures of the state over county elections. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

HB 246, by Rep. Swanson, establishing a pilot program for recording ballot counting activity. 05/24 sent to the Governor.

HB 1217, by Rep. Swanson, clarifies that early voting must be conducted for 12 consecutive hours each day and that funding applies only to those counties that have increased hours of early voting as a result of H.B. 1217. 05/26 sent to the Governor.

HB 1243, by Hefner, relating to conduct constituting the criminal offense of illegal voting, increasing a criminal penalty. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

HB 2800, by Rep. Paul, amends the Election Code to require a meeting of a county election board to be held in person and open to the public. The bill requires the county clerk of a county that maintains a website to post on that website notice of a meeting of the county election board not later than 48 hours before each meeting. 05/26 sent to the Governor.

SB 1750, by Sen. Bettencourt, abolishes the county elections administrator position in counties with populations greater than 3.5 million. 05/23 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

HB 5180, by Rep. Wilson, relating to the public inspection of election records. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

SB 1070, by Sen. Hughes, relating to the interstate voter registration crosscheck program. This takes Texas out of ERIC. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

SB 1661, by Sen. Hughes, relating to a ballot scan system used in a central counting station. 05/23 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

EXPANDED MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES

SB 26, by Sen. Kolkhorst, relating to local mental health authority and local behavioral health authority audits and mental and behavioral health reporting, services, and programs. 05/27 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

FENTANYL CRISIS

HB 6, by Rep. Goldman, relating to the designation of poisoning with a controlled substance included in Penalty Group 1-B for purposes of the death certificate and to the criminal penalties for certain controlled substance offenses; creating criminal offenses; increasing a criminal penalty. 05/24 sent to the Governor.

GOVERNMENT MANDATES

SB 29, by Sen. Birdwell, prohibits governmental implementation or enforcement of a vaccine mandate, mask requirement or business and school closures. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

GRID PROTECTION AND RELIABILITY

SB 947, by Sen. King, relating to creating a criminal offense for damaging certain critical infrastructure facilities and providing for the prosecution of that conduct as manslaughter in certain circumstances; increasing a criminal penalty. 05/26 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

SB 2013, by Sen. Schwertner, relating to access to and security of certain critical infrastructure. 05/26 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

SB 2627, by Sen. Schwertner, relating to funding mechanisms to support the construction and operation of electric facilities. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

HB 1833, by Rep. Shaheen, relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of criminal mischief involving a public power supply. 05/27 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers

SJR 93, by Sen. Schwertner, proposing a constitutional amendment providing for the creating of the Texas energy fund to support the construction, maintenance, modernization, and operation of electric generating facilities. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

OBSCENE BOOKS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND ACCESS TO PORNOGRAPHY ON INTERNET WEBSITES

HB 2700, by Rep. Guillen, relating to the prosecution of certain criminal offenses prohibiting sexually explicit visual material involving children. 05/26 sent to the Governor.

HB 4520, by Rep. Harris, Cody, relating to employment and retirement consequences for an educator convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for the sale, distribution or display of materials harmful minors. 05/26 sent to the Governor.

HB 900, by Rep. Patterson, regulates library materials sold to or included in public school libraries. 05/26 sent to the Governor.

HB 1181, by Rep. Shaheen, restricts access to sexual materials harmful to minors on an Internet website. 05/27 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

HB 18, by Rep. Slawson, relating to the protection of minors from harmful, deceptive, or unfair trade practices in connection with the use of certain digital services. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.  

HB 1227, by Rep. Metcalf, relating to changing the eligibility for community supervision of a person convicted of possession or promotion of child pornography.  05/28 sent to the Governor.

HB 1730, by Rep. Schaefer, enhancing the penalty for indecent exposure from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor if the person on trial has once previously been convicted of such an offense. It is further enhanced to a state jail felony if the person on trial has been convicted for indecent exposure two or more times. 05/27 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

ENDING TENURE

SB 18, by Sen. Creighton, relating to the tenure and employment of faculty members at certain public institutions of higher education. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.  

PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION

SB 17, by Sen. Creighton, prohibits Texas State funded Universities from establishing or maintaining a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) office for hiring which makes them hire on merit. DEI really means Discrimination, Exclusion and Indoctrination. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed both chambers.

PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM TRANSGENDER TREATMENTS AND PROCEDURES and RELATED

SB 14, by Sen. Campbell, prohibits state funding for transgender sex change drugs and sex mutilation surgery. 05/19 sent to the Governor.

PUBLIC SAFETY /JUDICIAL & PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT/NO BAIL/NEW CRIMINAL OFFENSE/INCREASED PENALTIES

SB 1179, by Sen. Perry, giving the Texas Civil Commitment Office the ability to criminally charge a civilly committed sexually violent predator for certain acts against another while civilly committed. 05/19 sent to the Governor.

SB 129, by Sen. Springer, increases the criminal penalty for possession or promotion of child pornography, with enhancements for caregivers who exploit a child. 05/25 sent to the Governor.

HB 17, by Rep. Cook, relating to “taking politics out of prosecutions” relates to official misconduct by and removal of prosecuting attorneys. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

HB 1227, by Rep. Metcalf, relating to changing the eligibility for community supervision of a person convicted of possession or promotion of child pornography. 05/28 sent to the Governor.

PUTTING GOD AND COUNTRY BACK IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

SB 763, by Sen. Middleton, allows schools to employ or accept as volunteers, chaplains to perform the duties of school counselor. 05/25 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

SCHOOL SAFETY

HB 3, by Rep. Burrows, relating to measures for ensuring public school safety; including the development of, implementation of, and funding for public school safety and security requirements and the provision of safety-related resources. 05/28 reported Enrolled; passed by both chambers.

SECOND AMENDMENT

HB 2837, by Rep. Schaefer, prohibits a person or entity from surveilling, reporting, or tracking the purchase of firearms, ammunition, and accessories through the use of certain merchant category codes and imposes a civil penalty. 05/24 sent to the Governor.

HB 3137, by Rep. Isaac, relating to prohibited local regulation with respect to a firearm or air gun. 05/26 sent to the Governor.

THE FOLLOWING BILLS FAILED TO PASS THE LEGISLATURE

BORDER SECURITY

HB 7, by Rep. Guillen, relating to measures to address public safety threats in this state presented by transnational criminal activity, including establishing a Texas Border Force, and to compensate persons affected by those threats; increasing criminal penalties; creating criminal offenses including the criminal offense of illegal entry into Texas.

GRID PROTECTION

SB 7, by Sen. Schwertner, makes sure that the ERCOT Energy Grid is reliable.

JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT

HB 3452, by Rep. Jetton, relating to the discipline of judges by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct and the legislature. 05/28 House fails to adopt the conference committee report.

PARENTAL RIGHTS / SCHOOL CHOICE

HB 890, by Rep. Keith Bell, relating to parental rights for their school children and approval of sexual instruction materials.  

HB 100, by Rep. Ken King, the school finance bill; school choice.

BORDER PROTECTION

HB 800, by Rep. Guillen, relating to the punishment for certain criminal conduct involving the smuggling of persons or the operation of a stash house, increasing criminal penalties.

PROPERTY TAX RELIEF

SB 3, by Sen. Bettencourt, relating to an increase in the amount of certain exemptions from ad valorem taxation by a school district applicable to residence homesteads, an adjustment in the amount of the limitation on school district ad valorem taxes imposed on the residence homesteads of the elderly or disabled to reflect increases in the exemption amounts, and the protection of school districts against the resulting loss in local revenue.