Summary: State civics is an integral part of Willow Park civics and of Willow Park Civics. Here's a rundown of some of the bills filed on the first day of pre-filing for the 88th Legislative Session. Willow Park Civics is providing a blog of articles on specific legislative topics, during the 88th Texas Legislative Session.
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Here's a rundown of some of the bills filed on the first day of pre-filing for the 88th Legislative Session.
The Texan
16 November 2022
Excerpts
Here's a rundown of some of the bills filed on the first day of pre-filing for the 88th Legislative Session.
Over 900 bills were filed on Monday, the first day of pre-filing, ahead of the 88th Legislative Session that begins January 10, 2023. Among those ranks include bills to eliminate a portion of property tax bills, restore the felony penalty for illegal voting, and expand last year’s prohibition against men competing in women’s sports to colleges.
Each chamber has the top set of bill numbers reserved for priority legislation; the Senate set aside the first 30 and the House the first 20.
The very first bill filed was state Rep. James Talarico’s (D-Austin) HB 21 to establish an independent redistricting commission made up of citizens drawn out of a pool of applicants.
The first Senate bill filed came from state Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) — who filed the first 40 bills in the upper chamber. Senate Bill (SB) 31 would allow interconnection of the ERCOT power grid to surrounding regional grids, something Democrats have called for in the wake of February 2021’s grid collapse. The move would open the door for federal regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has dissuaded the Texas Legislature from taking that route already.
Shortly after, state Rep. Valoree Swanson’s (R-Spring) “Save Women’s Sports Act” was filed as HB 23, which prohibits biological males from competing in women’s sports at the college level. The Legislature passed a similar law last year for kindergarten through 12th-grade sports, and Swanson announced last month she would file the college extension ahead of the 2023 session.
In a related topic, two bills filed aim to prohibit gender modification surgeries and procedures on minors — an issue that died in the Texas House last session, and which Gov. Greg Abbott has since tried to address bureaucratically.
Among the crop of contentious items this session will be possible “school choice” legislation. Abbott has doubled down on his support for some form of school choice reform, but few details have been discussed. On Monday, state Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) filed HB 176, which lays out a plan for school choice: creating the Texas Parental Empowerment Program and establishing a tax credit for parents to pay for tuition at accredited schools under the program.
State Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) filed a few education-related bills, includingSB 164 that would require public schools to teach a course “focus on the principles underlying the United States form of government, the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the writings of the founding fathers of the United States.”
After swinging for the fences last session and passing both the Texas Heartbeat Act and the abortion trigger ban — the latter of which became even more substantial when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June — legislators have other ideas on the abortion issue.
State Rep. Cody Vasut’s (R-Angleton) HB 60 would add a section in the state’s enrichment curriculum that requires “instruction that human life begins at conception and has inherent dignity and immeasurable worth from the moment of conception.”
HB 61 by state Rep. Candy Noble (R-Lucas) would prohibit local governments from using taxpayer dollars to facilitate abortions — something places like Austin have done over the last couple of years.
Gov. Greg Abbott has called for using “at least half” of the state’s projected $27 billion budget surplus to reduce property taxes. Legislation toward that end will likely be among either chamber’s priority slates. However, a related issue did receive notice on pre-filing day.
State Rep. Tom Oliverson’s (R-Cypress) HB 174 would eliminate the school district Maintenance & Operations (M&O) tax rate — which Abbott has backed in some fashion — by using $0.90 of every surplus dollar to buy down those rates. The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) has pushed this plan for a while; in its estimation, Texas could eliminate entirely that component, which is the largest portion of tax bills, in 10 years. State Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano) filed a similar bill as HB 612.
State Rep. Andrew Murr (R-Junction), whose bill to eliminate the ISD M&O rate didn’t advance last year, re-filed the same legislation this year as HB 29. But it does not prescribe a replacement for the funding the rate brings in, only tasking a committee to decide on something by the beginning of 2026, the date at which that rate component would be prohibited.
HB 70 by state Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) would eliminate sales taxes on feminine hygiene products such as tampons — something Abbott stated his support for this summer.
Much of House leadership’s priority criminal justice reform package did not pass last year, and a return next session of those that failed is likely. Among them is state Rep. Matt Schaefer’s (R-Tyler) HB 69 which reforms the practice of civil asset forfeiture by raising the standard from the lesser “preponderance of evidence” to the stricter “clear and convincing evidence.”
Schaefer also filed two disaster powers-related bills: HB 119 which would establish judicial review for local disaster orders, and HB 154 which would ban state and local mask mandates. State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) and Middleton filed companion bills banning vaccine mandates in Texas.
Elections will again be a topic next session — if not the all-consuming one it was last year — and a number of related bills were filed on Monday.
The most significant is Murr’s HB 39 which would restore the penalty for illegal voting to a state jail felony. During last year’s second special session, Murr was carrying SB 1 — the large election reform bill — through the House when it was amended by state Rep. Steve Allison (R-San Antonio) to make illegal voting a Class A Misdemeanor.
Slaton filed HB 239 to close primaries in Texas, something that gained more relevance over the summer when the Texas GOP opened its own pathway to closed primaries at the state convention.
Toth’s HB 221 would make school board elections partisan affairs, requiring candidates on the ballot to have an “R” or “D” next to their name. And Swanson’s HB 190 would require local ballot propositions to mirror exactly the language on its corresponding circulated petition — a point of contention in certain localities, including Austin, as local officials try to influence the outcome of referendums by tweaking the language on the ballot.
State Rep. Brooks Landgraf’s (R-Odessa) HB 187 would require all local bond elections to occur on the November uniform date, which tends to have higher voter turnout than the May local elections — an effort to grow the number of taxpayers providing say on the issuance of debt. And state Rep. Mike Schofield’s (R-Katy) HB 445 would allow citizens to sue localities that spend more on a project than a bond proposition approved.
State Rep. Erin Zwiener’s (D-Driftwood) HB 75 would add college identification cards to the list of valid forms of voter ID provided they’re from a Texas university.
Schofield also filed a bill to adopt Daylight Saving Time full-time.
And in one of her first pieces of legislation, state representative-elect Ellen Troxclair filedHB 553 that would ban localities from establishing Universal Basic Income programs — which her old stomping ground of Austin, for which she previously served as a city councilwoman, approved earlier this year.
With 56 days until the 88th Texas Legislature gavels in, there is a lot of time for members to pre-file legislation. But the big-ticket items — the ones with the blessing of House and Senate leadership — are likely to be held close to the vest until after the session gets underway.
First Day of Prefiling Statistics, 88th Regular Session, Legislative Reference Library of Texas, 17 November 2022
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