Texas Legislature Session 2019 Therapy
Texas’ top political leaders wrapped the 2019 session of the Texas Legislature on Memorial Day with an air of accomplishment. They passed two major pieces of legislation that they had been working toward for years — a finance boost and a bill aimed at slowing the growth of property taxes. But there were some key failures too, most notably a sales tax increase that would have allowed lawmakers to lower property taxes even more. That measure died due to lack of support. Many others died due to lack of time or a clever procedural trick by an opponent. Here are the steps of the legislative process that we tracked.
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- Texas Legislature Session 2019 Dates
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- Ban on gay conversion therapy debated in Texas Legislature, but no vote taken. The session ends May 27. View Comments. ©2019, The Dallas Morning News Inc.
- A closer look at the final Texas 2018-19 budget. Have said they expect to face a Medicaid shortfall of at least $1 billion when they return for their next regular legislative session in 2019. At that point, they are likely to cover the shortfall via a supplemental budget bill. Legislature opts to largely maintain cuts of therapy.
Sent to Abbott
Budget
HB 1: Sent to Abbott on May 26
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The state’s two-year budget plan calls for spending roughly $250 billion on priorities including public school funding, teacher salaries and early childhood intervention programs. Read more
Property tax reform
SB 2: Sent to Abbott on May 25
This bill, a top priority of Texas’ three main political leaders, would require voter approval when local governments want to increase their property tax revenues by more than 3.5%. Read more
School finance reform
HB 3: Sent to Abbott on May 25
HB 3 would be a complete overhaul of Texas public school finance. It aims to increase per-student funding, expand pre-K offerings and lessen the state’s reliance on “Robin Hood” payments from wealthier schools. The measure also includes pay raises for veteran teachers and other school employees. Read more
Creating a state flood infrastructure fund
SB 7: Sent to Abbott on May 26
This bill would create special flood infrastructure funds to help communties harmed by natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Read more
School safety
SB 11: Sent to Abbott on May 26
In the first session since 10 people were fatally shot at Santa Fe High School, lawmakers wrote this school safety measure that would strengthen mental health initiatives in schools, require classrooms to have access to a telephone or other electronic communication, and create teams that identify potentially dangerous students. The bill was amended in the House to include the creation of a Texas Mental Health Consortium — originally part of SB 10, which died hours earlier on a technicality. Read more
Teacher pension fix
SB 12: Sent to Abbott on May 26
This bill would shore up the teacher pension fund in Texas. It would increase state contributions and give retirees a one-time additional check. Read more
“Born alive” act
HB 16: Sent to Abbott on May 23
This proposal would require doctors to treat a baby born alive in the rare instance of a failed abortion attempt. Read more
Raising the smoking age
SB 21: Sent to Abbott on May 21
This measure would raise the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21, except for military personnel. Read more
Defunding abortion providers
SB 22: Sent to Abbott on May 24
This measure would prohibit state and local governments from partnering with agencies that perform abortions, even if they contract for services not related to the procedure. Read more
Rules governing alcohol sales
HB 1545: Sent to Abbott on May 24
This bill is part of the state’s regular sunset process, which requires agencies to undergo regular efficiency reviews or face closure. Lawmakers in the Senate amended the bill to allow breweries to sell beer to go and allow individuals to hold up to 250 liquor store permits. Read more
Red-light cameras
HB 1631: Sent to Abbott on May 17
The days of red-light cameras monitoring Texas drivers may be numbered if this bill becomes law, but the devices could still linger in some communities for a few more years, as it would only prevent cities from renewing their contracts with vendors. Read more
Religious freedom
SB 1978: Sent to Abbott on May 23
Known by supporters as the “Save Chick-fil-A Bill,” this proposal would prevent government entities from taking adverse action against people or businesses based on their religion. But some members of the LGBTQ community fear it would be a license to discriminate. Read more
Repealing the Driver Responsibility Program
HB 2048: Sent to Abbott on May 23
HB 2048 would eliminate this much-maligned program, which critics say traps low-income Texans in a cycle of debt. It has survived past attempts to kill it because money from fines helps fund the state’s emergency trauma care system. The bill offers alternative funding sources for trauma care. Read more
Extending statute of limitations for sex abuse lawsuits
HB 3809: Sent to Abbott on May 24
This bill doubles the amount of time that victims of certain types of sexual abuse have to sue abusers or entities, from 15 years to 30 years after a victim turns 18. Read more
Vetoed or failed
Sales tax increase
HJR 3: Failed to pass on May 7
Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen proposed increasing the sales tax by 1 percentage point and using that money to lower property taxes statewide. The measure failed to gain popular support among rank-and-file lawmakers, however. Read more
Elections
SB 9: Missed key deadline on May 19
This wide-ranging legislation would have elevated the penalty for Texans who vote when they’re ineligible — even if they did so unknowingly. They also would have been subject to a felony charge that could include jail time and a fine up to $10,000. But the bill failed to make it onto the House’s calendar. Read more
Lobbying ban
SB 13: Missed key deadline on May 19
Every session, the Texas Capitol draws lobbyists who were previously members of the Legislature. This bill would have banned members of the Texas House and Senate from certain kinds of lobbying for a period of time — about two years in most cases — after they stepped down from their elected offices. But the bill never made it onto the House agenda.
Lessen pot penalties
HB 63: Missed key deadline on May 22
People caught possessing small amounts of marijuana would have faced smaller criminal penalties — a Class C misdemeanor instead of a Class B misdemeanor — under this bill that passed in the House but was declared dead on arrival in the Senate by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Read more
Daylight saving time
HJR 117: Missed key deadline on May 22
This proposal would have eliminated twice-a-year time changes and let voters decide in November on Texas’ permanent time. Voters would choose between exempting the state from daylight saving time or observing daylight saving time year-round. Read more
Scooter regulation
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SB 549: Missed key deadline on May 19
Texans would have been banned from riding electric scooters on sidewalks under this measure, which also would have required that scooter users be at least 16 years old. It also would have prohibited more than two people from riding a scooter at once. But it missed a key deadline and never made it to the House floor for a vote. Read more
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Source: Here’s how some of the Texas Legislature’s most important bills fared in the 2019 session The Texas Tribune
AUSTIN — The 86th session of the Texas Legislature ends Monday after 140 days of speechifying, law-making and cat-herding.
Covering all of the moving parts that go into considering the 5,000 or so bills and resolutions is near impossible, so here's a recap of some of things that might have slipped between the cracks along the way.
Capping the cameras
The cameras allowed by some cities to catch and fine red-light runners could be coming down as a result of House Bill 1631, which cleared both chambers and is awaiting either the governor's signature or the governor's veto.
The measure was shepherded by Republican back-bencher Jonathan Stickland of Bedford, who in his four terms in the House was noted more for his ability to kill a bill more than to pass one.
In fact, the red-light camera legislation was the first bill Stickland has been able to pass since joining the House as a libertarian-leaning tea party darling in 2013.
The red-light bill was embraced by both small-government Republicans and by many liberal Democrats. San Angelo-area resident Greg Mauz, a traffic safety researcher and a volunteer activist with the Best Highway Safety Practices Institute, said the red light cameras were used more a a revenue generator than anything else.
Mauz, a longtime foe of the devices, called arguments suggesting cameras made highways more safe 'absolute malarky.'
Beer to go
The growing Texas craft brewing industry scored something of an unlikely victory when dead-in-the-water legislation allowing the small brewers to sell their products retail-style from the brewery hitched a ride on a piece of related legislation.
State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, the Austin Democrat pushing beer to go, said lobbyists for the big breweries had bottled up his bill so he found an end-around. During the floor debate on the legislation to keep the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in operation, he offered up beer to go as an amendment.
The House and Senate versions of the bill keep beer to go. But a few differences remained in some of the other particulars at press time, meaning it has a step or two to go before landing on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk.
Burn pit registry for ailing veterans
Texas service members who returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan with debilitating illnesses would be able to access a state-run registry to get help and information.
House Bill 306, signed into law Saturday and taking effect Sept. 1, would not offer direct benefits. But the registry would allow vets or their survivors to be contacted in the event the Department of Veterans Affairs recognized that exposure to the pits that burned 24/7 were responsible for their illnesses.
“Veterans who bravely fought for our country, only to develop debilitating illnesses when they returned home, deserve answers and proper medical treatment,” said Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown.
He worked closely with constituents LeRoy and Rosie Torres. LeRoy had been captain in the Army Reserves and a trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety until his health had deteriorated after serving in Iraq during 2007 and 2008 where he was exposed to burn pits around the clock.
Medical marijuana
The medical use of cannabis is nearing the legislative finish line. House Bill 3703 by Fort Worth Republican Stephanie Klick would allow the use of it to treat medical conditions including all epilepsy and seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, terminal cancer, and incurable neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, autism, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease.
Legislation to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana is considered dead.
The rape kit backlog
A measure aimed at eliminating the backlog of some 15,000 rape kits in Texas awaits Abbott's signature. House Bill 8 by Rep. Victoria Neave, D-Dallas, is named for Lavinia Masters, who was raped at age 13 but her rape kit went untested for 20 years.
Legislative Session Texas
One veto, so far
Abbott on Wednesday took the somewhat rare step of vetoing a bill while lawmakers are still in session. The measure in question, House Bill 1476, a hyper-local bill affecting game rooms in the Waco area, wasn't controversial. Abbott said it wasn't even necessary.
Because so much legislation remains bottled up until the end of session, most gubernatorial vetoes tend to come after lawmakers have returned to their homes. That makes veto overrides rare. Extremely rare.
In fact, according to the Legislative Research Library at the Capitol, the more recent veto override in Texas came 40 years ago, having to do with some long-forgotten legislation affecting hunting and fishing in Comal County.
Texas Legislature Session 2019 Dates
John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.