Patriots,
We are at the end of another Texas legislative session. Many good bills are held up in the procedural web of the legislature. Every session feels like a last minute disappointment as we all hold our breath hoping good bills pass before May 29th. It is difficult to understand the pushback and hurdles when Republicans have held a majority in the House, Senate and Governor’s office for more than 20 years. We cannot allow what we see to discourage our involvement or our prayers. Let us be known as a generation that did not stand by and watch our liberties destroyed. What will you say when your children ask, “What did you do when you first knew there was a war on our freedoms, country and the state of Texas?”
SB 163 Campbell – Parental approval for participation in sexuality instruction aka “Opt In”. Passed the Senate. House hearing is today on 5/9/23. Submit your comments to the committee HERE.
SB 12 Hughes – Restrict Sexually oriented performances aka Drag Queen Story Hour bill. Passed the Senate. House hearing is on 5/10/23. Submit your comments to the committee tomorrow HERE.
SB 29 Birdwell – Ban Vaccine Mandate for Covid 19. Passed the Senate. House hearing is on 5/10/23. Submit your comments to the committee tomorrow HERE
HB 20 Schaefer – Border protection bill. HB 20 is being debated on the House floor today. Once passed it will be referred to a Senate committee.
HB 900 Patterson – Regulating library books in public schools. Passed the House. The bill was referred to the Senate education committee on 5/2/23. It needs to be scheduled for a hearing. Senator Campbell is the vice chair of the committee and represents most of us as our Senator.
SB 14 Campbell – Prohibiting the gender reassignment of minors. Passed the Senate. It was set on the House floor on Tuesday and Friday last week and was defeated by Democrat procedural points of order. It is set on the floor calendar for the third time on Friday May 12th. Please pray for passage.
Election Bills
The Texas legislature passed major reforms of our election process in the 2021 special session. (required b/c Democrats fled the state to avoid quorum in regular session) The Legislature, in whole, seems hesitant to work on elections although it is the number one Republican party priority. There is a lot of work needed to secure our elections.
RPT Legislative Priorities summary found HERE.