Several thousand House bills died at midnight last night. It will take us some time to cull through the wreckage and tell you what is dead and what is still alive, but if you have a specific question about the status of a bill not mentioned here, text or email Shannon with the bill number and he’ll let you know.
New laws
The first of hundreds upon hundreds (upon HUNDREDS) of bills that will become law this session are now being signed by Governor Abbott. Among those we are tracking is:
- HB 1024 by Geren/Hancock allowing “alcohol to go” from bars and restaurants
The final hurdle
Bills that have successfully run the legislative gamut and are on their way to the governor include:
- HB 54 by Talarico/Whitmire barring law enforcement agencies from contracting with reality TV shows
- SB 315 by Huffman/Hunter increasing age restrictions for Employment Harmful to Minors
- SB 1373 by Zaffirini/White relating to criminal fines, fees, and court costs
We will try to keep you posted as more bills head to the governor, but that could eventually exceed 1,000 different pieces of legislation, so we will be judicious in our selection. If you learn of a bill sent to the governor on which you still want to weigh in for or against, contact Shannon for more details on how to do that effectively.
Bills in conference
When one chamber makes changes to a bill from the other chamber before approving it, the bill must be returned to the original chamber to concur with those changes or refuse to concur and go to a conference committee to hash out the differences. Bills currently “in conference” include:
- HB 1927 by Schaefer/Schwertner (permitless carry)
- SB 1 by Nelson/Bonnen (state budget)
- SB 295 by Perry/Minjarez (sexual assault counselor privilege)
Conference committees do not take testimony on their bills, but the members (known as “conferees”) may accept input individually. If you want to have a say in their final product, you can find the conferees for each bill by clicking on the bill links above and reaching out to them on your own, but you might want to check with Shannon or Rob first to get the inside scoop.
Status updates
Here are some developments from this week regarding other issues we have been following:
Advocacy limits: This morning the House State Affairs Committee voted out SB 10 by Bettencourt/Paddie, but only after substituting in a new version that is directed at outside lobbyists hired by counties and other local entities, not local government officials or their associations. In that form, the bill will now head to the Calendars Committee for further consideration.
Bail bond reform: Yesterday the Senate Jurisprudence Committee approved a committee substitute version of HB 20 by Murr, the governor’s preferred bail bond reform legislation—but the committee’s new language for that bill was taken verbatim from SB 21 by Huffman, the Senate’s bail reform bill. Assuming this language passes the full Senate again, it will be sent back to the House to join the original version of that language (in the form of SB 21) which has been pending in lower chamber for four weeks without action. (If this were a tennis match, we’d say “the ball will soon be in the House’s court.”) Meanwhile, the House belatedly passed an amended version of HJR 4 by Kacal, which would amend the constitution to allow judges the discretion to deny bail in certain violent or sex crimes. That resolution is now pending before the Senate Jurisprudence Committee.
ERS changes: The House Appropriations Committee approved SB 321 by Huffman to end new enrollments in current ERS defined-benefits plans as of August 31, 2022, and launch “cash balance” plans in their place for all future ERS participants—including newly-elected felony prosecutors. The bill has been referred to the Calendars Committee for further consideration.
Policing reforms: In case you needed a reminder that the legislature is not going to pass any policing reform measures over the opposition of law enforcement advocates, both HB 1396 by White (peace officer misconduct reporting and related policies) and HB 1550 by Cyrier (TCOLE sunset bill) were pulled down and killed by their authors on Wednesday due to law enforcement opposition.
Remote court proceedings: HB 3611 by Leach was not reached on last night’s final House calendar, which means it is dead. However, the language in the bill was successfully amended onto HB 3774 by Leach (omnibus court creation and operations) before that bill was passed, so the House’s remote proceeding language now goes to the Senate, where the companion to the remote proceedings bill (SB 690 by Zaffirini) remains stuck in the State Affairs Committee.
Miscellany: HB 1071 by Harris/Whitmire (courthouse dogs) was amended to authorize the use of therapy dogs and to grandfather in current courthouse dogs before being approved and returned to the House for its consideration of those changes. #SaveBrady
Floor calendars
Senate floor calendars for next week have not been finalized, but the House gave notice of the following bills to be considered on its floor early next week (in order of appearance on the calendar):
Monday, May 17
SB 2212 by West/Thompson creating a duty for a peace officer to render aid for an injured person
HB 1354 by Miles/Collier relating to injury to a child/elderly/disabled person by omission
Tuesday, May 18
SJR 47 Huffman/Landgraf increasing eligibility requirements for certain judicial offices
SB 281 by Hinojosa/Lucio limiting the use of investigative hypnosis
SB 312 by Huffman/Smith enhancing the punishment for sexual activity with a person in custody
We will issue a supplement this weekend with more details when that becomes public.
Calendars Committee bills
From here on out, only Senate bills can be heard on the House floor. Among the SBs currently pending before the House Calendars Committee for consideration by the full House are:
- SB 24 by Huffman/Bonnen relating to transparency in peace officer hiring
- SB 30 by West/Leach to remove discriminatory restrictions from deed records
- SB 68 by Miles/Reynolds creating a duty for peace officers to intervene/report uses of excessive force
- SB 69 by Miles/White prohibiting choke holds during most searches/arrests
- SB 162 by Blanco/Geren criminalizing false or misleading statements to acquire a firearm
- SB 321 by Huffman/Bonnen to create cash balance ERS plans
- SB 343 by Kolkhorst/Harless to enter FV bond conditions into TCIC
- SB 623 by Blanco/Minjarez relating to sexual assaults by or of Texas military forces members
- SB 912 by Buckingham/Slawson enhancing punishments for various riot-related crimes
- SB 1047 by Seliger/Smithee expanding options for executing blood search warrants
- SB 1055 by Huffman/Reynolds criminalizing vehicle-pedestrian collisions in crosswalks
Remember, the Calendars Committee does not take additional testimony on bills sent to it from other committees; instead, its members take input on bills individually. If you know any members of that committee, don’t be shy about reaching out to them on bills as you see fit.
Committee notices
Next week will be the final week of committee hearings on bills. Notice will be spotty at best, but here are the relevant bill hearings we know of for next week:
Tuesday, May 18
House State Affairs – 8:00 a.m., Capitol Extension Auditorium (E1.004)
SB 149 by Powell relating to unmanned aircraft over certain facilities
SB 576 by Hinojosa relating to the offense of smuggling of persons
SB 1254 by Hall creating an interstate compact on border security and immigration enforcement
Wednesday, May 19
House Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence – 9:00 a.m., Room E2.014
SB 41 by Zaffirini relating to the consolidation and allocation of civil court costs
We’ll update this over the weekend if any new information is released.
Scattershooting
Here are some articles we read this week that you might find interesting:
- “Texas gets $15.8B bonanza in pandemic aid, far more than it lost in revenue” (Dallas Morning News)
- “Texas House OKs bill that would curb the governor and local leaders’ power in a pandemic” (Dallas Morning News)
- “Texas GOP lawmakers compelled to dish red meat to primary electorate eager to avenge Trump” (Dallas Morning News)
We also wanted to recognize the updates by our friends at TAC, who have increased their coverage of bills that you might care about this session. To catch up on those updates, check out their Legislative News feed.
Quotes of the Week
“[While] in other disasters, the response is usually bottom-up—where local governments organize their response, and the state and federal government support them—the response to a pandemic will be top-down. This allows a unified, cohesive response.”
—State Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), author of HB 3, which will make certain emergency powers of the governor and local officials subject to a legislative oversight committee during a future pandemic. [What could go wrong?]
“Members, I intend to pull this bill down. But I am committed to each of you that we will continue this conversation during the interim.”
—State Rep. John Cyrier (R-Lockhart), right before he killed his HB 1550, the TCOLE sunset re-authorization bill, due in part to law enforcement opposition to the bill’s creation of a “blue-ribbon panel” to recommend greater regulation over certain aspects of policing.
“I’ve been on the floor where things melted down, where members were almost in a fist fight. We are very, very, very far from that—and that is a good thing.”
—State Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso), on the mood in the House earlier this week as several bill-killing deadlines loomed.
“Absolutely. Speaker @DadePhelan and I have 10 great conferees on #HB1927 and we are very close to getting #2A Con Carry across the finish line—despite an avalanche of misinformation and just plain lies from outside agitators, we are on track for a big #2A win. #txlege”
—Tweet on Thursday from the private Twitter account of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has been under increasing pressure from his political right over the issue of permitless carry.
“Look at the license plates. You’d think you’re in Texas.”
—Fletcher Orie, commenting on the business patrons in downtown Trinidad (CO), as quoted in an article about the potential impact of New Mexico’s recent legalization of recreational marijuana on the thriving cannabis business being done in southeastern Colorado, much of which comes from Texas.
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