The 87th Legislative Session will be ending May 31 and there is still much work to be done by both the Texas House and Senate. Some bills have gotten much attention such as HB 2622 which would make Texas a “Second Amendment Sanctuary State”. HB1927 would allow permit-less carry of a gun. Also, under this bill a person would not need to have training on the use of guns. If it passes, Texas would become a Constitutional Carry
State. Background checks would still be required to purchase a gun and businesses and private property owners can exclude the use of handguns on their property. HB1900 which was passed by the House provides for the punishment of major cities that cut funding from their local law enforcement. It will apply to 11 cities throughout the state that have a population of 250,000 or more. The bill provides that those cities violating these provisions would be subject to property tax caps, and the cost of providing state law enforcement services would be deducted from their sales tax revenues. SB8 or the “Heartbeat” bill relates to abortions after detection of unborn child’s heartbeat. It passed in the House as amended and now goes to the Senate as amended. HB3303 provides that an elected official of the state or of a political subdivision may not create, alter or suspend any voting standard, practice or procedure in a manner not authorized by the Election Code, and HB2546 imposes criminal penalties on the court clerk or voter registrar if they fail to comply with the requirements imposed on them. The bills that are getting much attention are SB2202 and HB 3979, known as the Critical Race Theory bills. Briefly, these bills make it illegal to teach race or sex based guilt in public schools. The SB2202 bill also provides for the academic focus on the founding documents and ideas of America. The Critical Race Theory is very divisive and it seeks to promote discrimination based on race or sex. A Republican Congressman has introduced a bill in the U.S. Congress which would ban U.S. Military Academies from teaching the Critical Race Theory.
These are just a brief summary of a very few of the volume of bills that have been filed and many of which are still being considered.
Edie Holland
BARW Legislation