#Texas House of Representatives

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

TX State Rep Makes Emotional Plea for Gun Reform After Deadly Mall Shooting

"There is no safe place in America anymore" — This Texas state rep made an emotional plea for gun reform, two days after a massacre at an outlet mall that killed 8 people.

"There's no school that's safe, there's no shopping mall that's safe, there's no library that's safe," state Rep. Gene Wu (D) continued. "Not because of books. Not because of trans kids who want health care, but because of [guns] that people own."

Yesterday, Wu's colleagues in the TX state legislature voted to advance bill that would raise the legal age to purchase assault weapons from 18 to 21, in a win for several gun safety activists who protested at the Capitol that afternoon.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jasper Scherer at Texas Tribune:

State Rep. Shawn Thierry was defeated Tuesday by primary challenger Lauren Ashley Simmons, denying the Houston Democrat a fifth term after she sided with Republicans last year on a handful of bills opposed by the LGBTQ+ community.

Simmons declared victory with a double-digit lead over Thierry. The contest was decided by Tuesday’s runoff after Simmons narrowly missed defeating Thierry outright in the March primary. "We did it, y'all," Simmons said in a speech at her election night watch party, where she declared victory and told supporters she "wanted to be a clear example of what you can do when you have the power of the people behind you." Thierry, a 54-year-old Houston attorney, had been in her own party’s crosshairs since last spring, when she voted for a measure barring gender-transitioning care for minors, and then delivered an emotional speech from the House floor explaining why she broke with her party. Thierry’s vote, and her viral remarks, prompted a spirited and well-funded challenge from Simmons, a 36-year-old labor organizer. A number of prominent Houston Democrats lined up behind Simmons, including some of Thierry’s current and former colleagues in the Texas House — an unusually public show of repudiation from an incumbent’s own party. Thierry countered with her own slate of endorsements from Black church leaders and six of her Democratic colleagues.

Crockett said she decided to weigh in on the race after the Houston Chronicle editorial board quoted Thierry appearing to dismiss Simmons’ Texas House supporters as “the gay ones.” Thierry also broke ranks from her party to support a GOP bill aimed at removing sexually explicit books from school libraries, a designation critics feared would be used to target LGBTQ+ literature. She also voted for a bill requiring transgender college athletes to play on teams that align with their sex assigned at birth. Fanning the flames further, Thierry was quoted by the Houston Chronicle editorial board earlier this year appearing to dismiss Simmons’ Texas House supporters as “the gay ones.” Thierry said the quote was “taken completely out of context from a larger discussion,” but in any case, Simmons’ campaign told the Chronicle that they received a major surge in fundraising after Thierry’s remarks were published.

Anti-LGBTQ+ sellout “Democrat” Shawn Thierry lost to LGBTQ+ challenger Lauren Ashley Simmons in the TX-HD146 Democratic Primary runoff. #TXPrimary #TXLege

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Republican lawmakers in Texas want to create a state security force to patrol the US-Mexico border that critics have characterised as a "vigilante death squad policy."

Dade Phelan, the Republican speaker of Texas' House of Representatives, told a meeting of the Texas Public Policy Foundation that he plans to introduce a bill that he says will "make national headlines and change the conversation on border security," according to The Intercept.

The bill — House Bill 20 — would allow Texas' Department of Public Safety to hunt, arrest, and deport undocumented migrants.

The group would be comprised of law enforcement officers and civilians under the direction of a governor-selected chief. The members of the group would also be extended immunity from criminal prosecution relating to their actions on the border. They will be directed to "arrest, detain, and deter individuals crossing the border illegally including with the use of non-deadly force."

The group will also apparently be authorised to "use force to repel, arrest, and detain known transnational cartel operatives in the border region."

A piece of companion legislation would make undocumented entry into Texas a state crime, with first-time offenders subject to a year in prison, two years in prison for second-time offenders, and life in prison for individuals with prior felony convictions.

Democrats in Texas are opposed to the bill, likening the legislation to a "vigilante death squads policy."

“This dangerous, radical, and unconstitutional proposal which empowers border vigilantes to hunt migrants and racially profile Latinos is going to result in the death of innocent people,” Victoria Neave Criado, the Democratic chair of Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said in a statement last week. “MALC is going to do everything in our power to kill this legislation just as Latino State Representatives for the past 5 decades have fought against Klan-like proposals.”

Mr. Phelan anticipated the opposition, and claimed he was prepared to take the matter to the conservative-majority Supreme Court if Democrats challenge the law.

This isn't the first time the state has tried to create a border protection force beyond the federal US Customs and Border Protection agency. In 2021 Republican Governor Greg Abbott initiated "Operation Lone Star" that placed National Guard troops at the border. However, the $4bn endeavor was met with numerous controversies, including the deaths of several National Guard members, some to suicide, and allegations of human rights violations that resulted in a Justice Department investigation.

The operation has shown no notable difference in the rate of undocumented border crossings or transnational drug trafficking.

If the case is challenged and successfully survives a Supreme Court ruling, it would change the way all border states could police the southern border.

[unofficial-sean]

Transcript:

Representative: "Is there a Connie Lingus, here? What about Anita Dickenmy?"

Audience member: *laughs briefly*

Representative: "or holde- Holden Middick?"

Audience member: *laughs briefly*

Representative: "Okay, are any three of those people here?"

[tomorrowusa]

The GOP would probably love to restrict voting just to white people over 55 who wear MAGA caps and attend Christian fundamentalist churches.

A Texas GOP state legislator wishes to ban public colleges and universities from serving as polling places. It just so happens that a large public university exists in her legislative district. 🤨

Republican Rep. Carrie Isaac recently introduced a bill which would ban polling locations at public universities.

This would make it more difficult for students to vote.

Isaac represents Hays County just south of Austin, where Texas State University is located.

While her bill would make it more difficult for college students to vote, Texas A&M Kingsville Associate Professor of political science Travis Braidwood said college campuses tend to have a lot of people live near them who aren't students.

"Potentially shutting them down anyway could also deprive other voters access to those voting places," he said. "It's really unfortunate. If anything, you want to expand the franchise of voting, not restrict it."  

3NEWS received recent voting statistics from the Nueces County Clerk's Office that gave an account of the number of voters at area universities.

Last November, 2,364 people voted at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi while 3,204 voted at Del Mar College.

"So really, this raises the other question, if it isn't voter fraud, is this an attempt to suppress certain voters, particularly young voters?" Braidwood said.

Yep, it’s pretty blatant. Private universities (especially Christian ones) would not be covered by Rep. Isaac’s bill.

Assistant Professor of political science for TAMU-CC Sanne Rikhoff said that colleges have long been at the center of discussion when it comes to polling locations.

[ ... ]

Rikhoff said counties normally have the deciding say in where polling locations are placed.

"The counties are ultimately the ones who decide where polling places will be in an election. And most often they choose public places with good parking, availability. And also a space in which these elections can take place throughout early voting and election days," she said.

BTW, are you registered to vote?

Be A Voter - Vote Save America

Voter registration is done by address. Every time you move you must register. Even if you just move down the street you must amend your voter registration.

[seegerbean]

Hello! If you are from Texas, and/or are a theater nerd, this petition is for you!

Texas House of Representatives is looking to change the language of HB643, which defines "sexually oriented businesses", to include drag shows, which is *loosely* defined as "a performance in which a performer exhibits a gender identity that is different than the performer's gender assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers and sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience for entertainment". Cool. So if your little sister plays Romeo for her theater, is that now a drag show?

Let's be clear, this is bullying from our government. Please sign and/or reblog/share to help stop this from passing. Again, that link is:

https://www.change.org/p/stop-texas-house-of-reps-from-changing-house-bill-643

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Clay Bennett, The Chattanooga Times

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 17, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 18, 2024

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton responded this evening to the federal government’s demand that state troops give U.S. Border Patrol agents access to Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, the site where three migrants died last week as they tried to cross the Rio Grande. 

Aarón Torres and Joseph Morton of The Dallas Morning News reported that Paxton’s letter acknowledged that by law the federal government’s Border Patrol officers are allowed  “warrantless access to land within 25 miles of the border, but only ‘for the purpose of patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States.’” Paxton claimed that this law doesn’t apply because the current administration’s policies—the law, after all, is written by Congress—are not intended to stop undocumented immigration. “There is not even a pretense that you are trying to prevent the illegal entry of aliens,” he wrote. 

Torres and Morton note that, in fact, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 142,000 migrants in 2023 and that Paxton presented no evidence for his claims.

Two weeks ago, House Homeland Security Committee chair Mark Green (R-TN) demanded that Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testify as part of the House’s impeachment proceedings against him. As Rebecca Beitsch points out in The Hill, testimony from a cabinet secretary is usually arranged several weeks or even months in advance, and Mayorkas said he could not make the date because he will be discussing immigration with a delegation from Mexico at that time but he asked to arrange another time. Mayorkas has testified before the House panel twice in the past year and before Congress 27 times since he took office.

In a letter obtained by Punchbowl News, Green wrote: “Since you continue to decline to come in person, I invite you to submit written testimony for the January 18th hearing record, so that our Committee Members may hear from you directly.” 

This evening, an inadvertently circulated internal Republican memo obtained by Rebecca Beitsch of The Hill shows that Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee likely have switched their demand for live testimony to a demand for written answers because they have already committed to impeachment on a tight timeline and cannot wait for the live hearing to be rescheduled. 

Green had previously suggested on the Fox News Channel that an impeachment document had already been written even though there had been no impeachment hearings. The memo appears to corroborate that suggestion, saying: “We have scheduled the markup for impeachment articles at 10:00 AM ET on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.” 

Republicans argue that Mayorkas lied to Congress because he said the government has operational control over the border. They dispute this characterization because the Secure Fence Act defines operational control as one in which not a single person or object enters the country improperly. This perfect standard has never been met, and yet they apparently decided to impeach over it before even holding hearings.  

Republicans are clearly hoping to use the issue of immigration against President Joe Biden and the Democrats in the upcoming election. After insisting in November that immigration was in such a crisis that there could be no more aid to Ukraine, Israel, or Taiwan without it, Republicans in December rejected the idea of new legislation and said Biden must handle the issue himself. Then, in early January, 64 Republicans traveled to the border to demonstrate the importance of the issue.

But now that the Senate appears to have hammered out a bipartisan immigration reform measure, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said this morning: “It’s a complex issue. I don’t think now is the time for comprehensive immigration reform, because we know how complicated that is.” After a meeting at the White House today with President Biden, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, and committee heads, Johnson still refused to put the proposed deal up for a vote in the House.

In today’s meeting, Biden emphasized the danger of leaving Ukraine’s defense unfunded. “He was clear,” the White House said, “Congress’s continued failure to act endangers the United States’ national security, the NATO Alliance, and the rest of the free world.” 

Johnson is caught between U.S. national security and Trump. On the Fox News Channel tonight, Laura Ingraham told Johnson she had just gotten off a phone call with Trump and Trump had told her that he was against the immigration deal and had urged Johnson to oppose it. “He…was extremely adamant about it,” she said. Johnson agreed and said that he and Trump had been “talking about this pretty frequently.”   

Trump needs the issue of immigration to whip up his base for the 2024 election.

Today the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, chaired by James Comer (R-KY) held a hearing titled “The Biden Administration’s Regulatory and Policymaking Efforts to Undermine U.S. Immigration Law.” The administration has asked for additional funding for border patrol officers, immigration courts, and so on, but Comer said in his opening statement that the problem is not a lack of resources but rather an unwillingness to enforce the law. 

Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) replied: “You know we have failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform up here for decades.” He noted that one of his colleagues had provided statistics showing that President Barack Obama deported more people in each term than Trump did, so “if the border wasn’t a problem until President Biden was elected, then how are we deporting all of these people in administrations before Trump was elected? It’s because this situation has been going on for decades. So stop lying to the American people that none of this happened until President Biden was elected.”

Comer has also used the House Oversight Committee to spread the idea that President Biden is corrupt, but while he has made many allegations on right-wing media channels, the committee has not, in fact, turned up any evidence linking the president to illegal activity. Instead, the investigations there appear to be a continuation of the technique Republicans have used since  the 1990s to insinuate that a Democrat has engaged in wrongdoing simply by holding investigations. 

Trump employed this technique effectively in 2016 in his constant refrain that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, had illegally deleted emails, and less effectively in 2019 when he tried to strong-arm Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky into announcing an investigation into Hunter Biden. It was central to the plan of convincing state legislatures that they could recast their 2020 electoral votes: lawyer Jeffrey Clark wanted to tell them (falsely) that there were voting irregularities that the Department of Justice was investigating.

But this technique has backfired so far in this Congress. After a year of hearing that Biden is corrupt, MAGA Republicans have expected to see him impeached. But Democrats have come to hearings exceedingly well prepared and have pushed back on MAGA talking points, turning the tables on the Republicans so thoroughly that Comer recently was forced to back down, saying, “My job was never to impeach.” 

Creating a false reality to trick voters is central to undermining democracy, and it is no secret that autocratic states like Russia, Iran, and China are spreading disinformation in the U.S. But I have always wondered what would happen when the American people finally pushed back against suggestions and innuendo and instead demanded actual evidence and policies designed to address problems, as they did before American politics turned into entertainment.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[archaalen]

https://apnews.com/article/troy-nehls-texas-republican-campaign-ethics-investigation-147d702a83e3fab96a874cb757bbaa3f

Ethics review finds probable cause that Rep. Troy Nehls misused campaign funds

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Zach Despart at Texas Tribune:

BEAUMONT — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, the top electoral target for a far-right faction of Republicans intent on controlling the Legislature, emerged victorious Tuesday over a well-funded challenger endorsed by Donald Trump and his allies.

Phelan defeated former Orange County Republican Party chairman David Covey, who also had the backing of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and former Texas Republican Party Chairman Matt Rinaldi. In doing so, he avoided the ignominious fate of becoming the first House speaker to lose a primary in 52 years. With all precincts reporting, Phelan was up 366 votes — within the margin that Covey can call for a recount. Covey, however, conceded in a speech to supporters at his election night party in Orange shortly after 9:30 p.m. Phelan, 48, who has seen his popularity plummet among Republicans since he backed the impeachment of Paxton on corruption and bribery charges exactly one year and one day ago, was defiant in his victory speech at JW’s Patio in Beaumont. “I will be your state rep for HD 21 and I will be your speaker for the Texas House in 2025,” Phelan said to a raucous crowd of more than 100 supporters. “This was a true grassroots effort — not the fake grassroots.”

Covey, a 34-year-old first-time candidate, not only forced Phelan into a runoff in March but secured more votes than the two-term House speaker. That outcome shocked many in the district, as Phelan was previously reelected four times without Republican opposition and hails from one of the most prominent families in Beaumont. Candidates for the Texas Legislature who trail after the first round rarely win their runoffs. Phelan carried the unique advantage of being a statewide leader with a prolific roster of political donors. Through May 20, his campaign reported spending $3.8 million on the runoff, more than double Covey’s $1.6 million. Their combined hauls amounted to what was almost certainly the most expensive state House race in Texas history. It was also an ugly contest — Phelan accused Covey of running on “lies and deceit” — where the candidates attacked each other in a flood of mailers and television advertisements.

[...] Phelan’s win is a major blow to the party’s ultraconservative faction that is led ideologically by Patrick and Paxton and financed by megadonors like West Texas oil magnate Tim Dunn. It is a group that rejects compromise and bipartisanship, demonizing Democrats and the Republicans willing to work with them. This ascendant wing has supplanted the party’s traditional focus on taxes and regulations with highly divisive social issues like transgender rights and book bans. In defeat, that group did not go quietly. Covey called Phelan an "Austin swamp creature" who only secured reelection through the support of Democrats, which he said was a "brazen act of betrayal." Paxton, an early endorser of Covey who had campaigned for the challenger as late as Tuesday afternoon, echoed the claim. The attorney general, who had vowed revenge against Phelan for supporting his impeachment, said the speaker had "blatantly stolen an election from the hard-working people of his district" by courting Democrats. Paxton said Republicans should move to closed primaries — a priority of the far right — and he issued a warning to members of the House.

[...] But whether Phelan can hold on to the speaker’s gavel is unclear. One of his own committee chairmen, Republican Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress, declared his candidacy for speaker in March. But no members have publicly endorsed Oliverson, and while his reelection was in doubt, Phelan was able to keep the rest of his caucus from open rebellion. [...] Attacked by his enemies as a RINO, Phelan was also widely considered more conservative than his predecessors, Phelan secured passage of the state’s near-total ban on abortion, permitless carry of handguns and several first-in-the-nation border security bills. Phelan was easily reelected speaker in January 2023 with all Democrats and almost all Republicans in support; conservative rumblings of dissatisfaction amounted to a paltry three votes for another candidate. And he batted away far-right criticism of the House’s longstanding practice of appointing Democratic committee chairs, appointing them to lead eight of 34 committees.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) staves off MAGA wing/Farris Wilks/Tim Dunn-funded candidate David Covey to narrowly keep his seat and his Speakership gavel.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

In his first interview since he was acquitted over the weekend in a historic impeachment trial, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) lashed out at the Biden administration and the Lone Star State’s House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) over his impeachment and trial.

“So you think that the effort to remove you from office really came from the Biden administration?” commentator Tucker Carlson asked Paxton in the interview, posted to the platform X.

“I really do,” Paxton said, adding that he thinks “that’s where it was instigated.”

The Attorney General alleged that the impeachment was a way to get him “out of the way” after he filed lawsuits against the administration.

Paxton, who had been suspended from his post since the Texas House voted to impeach him earlier this year, was acquitted by a jury of state senators over the weekend on all 16 articles of impeachment he faced.

Paxton had been accused of misusing the powers of his office to aid a friend and campaign donor, but after more than a week of witness testimony before the senators, none of the articles of impeachment received the two-thirds votes required to convict.

Paxton and his allies have decried the proceedings as politically motivated. In a statement after the verdict, he bashed the “sham impeachment” and “the weaponization of the impeachment process to settle political differences.”

The Attorney General has also taken aim at Republican Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, and told Carlson that the lawmaker is “controlled by the Democrats.”

“I don’t think he particularly has an ideology. He’s like, ‘I want to stay in power. I’ve cut this deal to be Speaker with Democrats,'” Paxton alleged of Phelan.

Though other Paxton allies have also piled criticism onto the Texas House for the impeachment, Phelan has stood by the effort.

The Speaker said in a statement after the verdict that it’s “unfortunate” the impeachment process resulted in returning control of the Texas AG’s office “to an individual who, I believe, clearly abused his power, compromised his agency and its employees, and moved mountains to protect and benefit himself.”

[tomorrowusa]

Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX-32) is the Democrat running against Sen. Ted "Cancún" Cruz for US Senate this year.

Rep. Allred visited The Daily Show to talk with Desi Lydic this week.

In addition to reminding viewers of what an embarrassment Cruz is, he talked about Texas Republicans' war against reproductive freedom.

It was mentioned in the conversation that Rep. Allred was the first House member ever to take paternity leave.

He also repeated his support for a two-state solution regarding Israel-Palestine. That position has now become standard among Democrats.

For anybody who would like to help Colin Allred defeat Ted Cruz...

Colin Allred for Senate

BONUS TRACK: Remember when Donald Trump was calling Allred's opponent "Lyin' Ted"? It's now ironic in this clip from 2016 that Trump was making fun of Cruz for waving a Bible around.

[saintlucyrepresents]

Scott Slusher AFAR

Scott Slusher photographed cowboy luxury with the perfect late-night oyster and shrimp cocktail service at Bowie House in Fort Worth, Texas for the new issue of AFAR magazine. The Summer 2024 issue highlights can’t miss local attractions throughout North America for its cover feature. Written by Terry Ward, the article describes the resort, as captured by Scott, as “the living room of Forth Worth.”

See more of Scott Slusher’s Lifestyle portfolio online here.

[agentfascinateur]

Kudos to Jasmine Crockett 💜

Nice to see someone in the trenches not skipping a beat 👏👏

( 26:18 ⬇️ )