zoux posted:

You're trolling, but SB 575 is a ban on abortion coverage on insurance purchased through the ACA. 20 week ban passed last session.

gently caress the ROW posted:

Good.

VitalSigns posted:

Yeah I hate the free market.

gently caress the ROW posted:

Actually people shouldn't be compelled to pay taxes for things they disagree with

quote:

As the clock struck midnight, the failure of an anti-abortion initiative — dear to the hearts of the far right — marked the end of a tumultuous day on the floor of the Texas House that saw the passage of sweeping ethics reform and a version of legislation allowing concealed carrying of handguns on college campuses.

On the last day that it could approve major legislation that began in the Senate, the lower chamber embarked on an all-day procedural waltz, with Democrats attempting to kill bills by delaying them past midnight, and Republicans looking for openings to move their legislation.

Early in the day, Democrats narrowly shot down an attempt to essentially change the order of the calendar, moving big-ticket items up for faster consideration. They then used every parliamentary trick in the book to slow the pace, delaying consideration of mostly uncontroversial bills.

But after huddling in a secret meeting in a room adjacent to the House floor, Democrats let the action get moving again.

For hours, the House debated an ethics reform bill, dissolving into angry tirades and raunchy debate about the reach of a drug-testing provision for lawmakers.


The passionate debate pitted Republicans against each other — over lifting the veil on "dark money" and restricting people from recording or videotaping politicians without their permission.

With the clock ticking, a few Republicans at one point even sought to postpone debate over ethics legislation — deemed a priority by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott — so the House could take up campus carry and an abortion bill that would have prohibited coverage of the procedure on certain health insurance plans.

Republican state Rep. Matt Schaefer of Tyler asked state Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, the House sponsor of the ethics legislation, to temporarily pull down the measure so that it did not chew up the time left on the clock.

After Cook declined, Democrats took to the mic to reiterate that ethics reform was declared an emergency item by the governor and was supposed to be prioritized over the rest of the calendar.

The House eventually passed the ethics bill, including the dark money provision, then went back to an innocuous agency-review bill, also known as a Sunset bill, to reform the Department of Family and Protective Services.

House Democrats were on alert for a proposed amendment by state Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney, that would have shielded religious organizations from being sued if they prohibited gay and lesbian couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents.

Though the Sanford amendment was eventually withdrawn and the bill passed in the House, a similar amendment was briefly revived in the Texas Senate, which also worked late into the night.

State Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, sought to add the amendment to a House bill sponsored by Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, that would direct the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to study “kinship care” programs.


But Campbell quickly pulled the proposal down after state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, sought to kill the provision on a technicality. The Senate unanimously passed the bill, HB 2655, once the amendments were withdrawn.

In the House, it was 9:30 p.m. by the time state Rep. Allen Fletcher, R-Houston, introduced Senate Bill 11, which would require public universities and colleges to allow concealed handgun license holders to carry their guns on campus. That left only two and a half hours for lawmakers to consider the more than 100 amendments that had been filed to the legislation.

Higher Education Chairman John Zerwas, R-Richmond, successfully attached an amendment that was a significant departure from the Senate’s version of the bill giving universities the freedom to ban handguns in certain areas of campuses — like laboratories or hospitals — as long as they were not prohibited outright.

With Democrats continuing to eat up time with a series of procedural challenges, a point of order from state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, ultimately ended debate on the bill.

After spending 30 minutes discussing the matter, Martinez Fischer withdrew his challenge, and the chamber moved to rapidly adopt two final amendments relating to private institutions and hospitals, and took a quick vote on the bill.

After the bill’s passage, Martinez Fischer painted the vote as a Democratic win.

“You can take half the day and give that to Republicans for setting a calendar at a very late date on a bill that I might add that we’re not going to get to tonight,” Martinez Fischer told reporters. “And so we spent the other 12 hours fighting for what we believe in, ending on campus carry.”

The biggest victim of the midnight deadline was Senate Bill 575 by Republican Sen. Larry Taylor, which would have banned abortion coverage on plans sold on the federal Affordable Care Act’s marketplace.

Originally, SB 575 would have banned abortion coverage on both ACA plans and private health insurance plans. But the House State Affairs Committee amended the bill to mirror a measure filed in the House by state Rep. Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown, and approved by the committee this month before dying on a House bill deadline.

Republicans had said they intended to amend it on the floor to bring back the private insurance ban.

The bill — passed in the Senate earlier this month — died in the House after a turbulent ride in the lower chamber.

It was cleared by the State Affairs Committee on Saturday in a last-minute vote on the last day the committee could clear Senate proposals.

It initially failed to get out of the Calendars Committee, which sets the schedule for when bills are considered on the House floor. But it was reconsidered and added to the calendar during a late-night committee meeting called after a dramatic night, including a confrontation over the bill between two Republicans.

Taylor, the bill’s author, said he was disappointed about the bill’s demise in the House, citing the hours of work that had gone into moving it forward.

“Anytime you have a bill die due to the timer, you’re disappointed,” Taylor said. But he added that the proposal was bound to crop up during the next legislative session.

PostNouveau posted:

Lege passed restrictions on the judicial bypass for abortion for minors.

zoux posted:

That was actually a Real Bad amendment that would've effectively instituted constitutional carry.

Bob Garrett at the DMN has an outstanding article about the drama surrounding the tax cut negotiations this session. It's a great look at how personality and ego plays a huge part in the legislative process.

Also, check out Statesman feature on how the rains have affected lake levels. Wow.

Shifty Pony posted:

Open carry was pretty much a given this session but it is delightful that those demanding constitutional carry (because they are barred from a CHL) were sure complete assholes that the Lege made sure to include the CHL requirement.

Shifty Pony posted:

Open carry was pretty much a given this session but it is delightful that those demanding constitutional carry (because they are barred from a CHL) were sure complete assholes that the Lege made sure to include the CHL requirement.

Nonsense posted:

So Texas has OC now, but what is that CHL thing? Was there a limit to OC placed when they voted for it?

Nonsense posted:

So Texas has OC now, but what is that CHL thing? Was there a limit to OC placed when they voted for it?

Nonsense posted:

So Texas has OC now, but what is that CHL thing? Was there a limit to OC placed when they voted for it?

Nonsense posted:

Thank you all for your answers. I'm very surprised the state lege didn't go for constitutional carry, I saw a Texas Week featuring TXTribune people saying that the old dynamic of conservative democrats, moderate republicans was essentially over, and that it was a tussle between the right and the farther right now.

Numlock posted:

Any sort of carrying of firearms (other than long arms, probably an exception originally intended for hunters) outside of private property was illegal in Texas (Don't want none of those armed minorities and commies running around you see).

zoux posted:

The House "liberty caucus" mustered 19 votes for their speaker candidate in January, which was not only a mandate for the centrist style of Strauss but indicating that the media handwringing over the New Tea Party Era in Texas was a bit overexaggerated.

Honestly this was a terrible session for the tea party and MQS and co. are calling for heads to roll. They got basically nothing they wanted. Also when it turned out Tim Dunn was connected to the American Phoenix people, offices stopped taking his calls.

e_angst posted:

That's not really an accurate assessment of why carrying handguns was outlawed. It goes back to the 1800s, and had a lot more to do with the old west/frontier areas where the mark of being in a civilized place (like a town) was that people weren't carrying their guns around.


Yea, the Tea Party and far-right elements in the state just completely hosed themselves this session. The way that the constitutional-carry people took a slam-dunk and basically made it poison should be turned into a case study by some ambitious poli-sci grad student at UT. The American Phoenix Foundation and their insane semi-blackmail attempt (They told a bunch of legislators "We secretly videotaped you and you won't believe what we caught! We'll be releasing the video after the session if things don't go our way!") was so effective at turning friendly legislators against them that if it was fiction it wouldn't be believable.

If this were any other state or political climate, I would be strongly opposed to Joe Strauss and his politics. Since this is Texas, he's basically the best hope we have in state politics.

zoux posted:

The House "liberty caucus" mustered 19 votes for their speaker candidate in January, which was not only a mandate for the centrist style of Strauss but indicating that the media handwringing over the New Tea Party Era in Texas was a bit overexaggerated.

Honestly this was a terrible session for the tea party and MQS and co. are calling for heads to roll. They got basically nothing they wanted. Also when it turned out Tim Dunn was connected to the American Phoenix people, offices stopped taking his calls.

Lemniscate Blue posted:

It's worth pointing out, and repeating, that the reason that Open Carry Tarrant County leader Kory Watkins is so thirsty for "constitutional carry" is that he he has a criminal record that makes him ineligible for a CHL. Requiring a license for open carry is a specific middle finger pointed squarely at him and his stupid hat.

Nonsense posted:

I thought he would be wearing a ten-gallon, so I looked up his pic and nope it's a loving trilby.

zoux posted:

He posted this on Thursday.

Toph Bei Fong posted:

If you'd told me that this was a guy doing a parody cosplay, I would believe it.



Good thing he'll be prepared to indiscriminately spray into crowds and populated buildings once civilization falls and the zombie wars start!! Who else will stand and defend are freedoms?

Toph Bei Fong posted:

If you'd told me that this was a guy doing a parody cosplay, I would believe it.



Good thing he'll be prepared to indiscriminately spray into crowds and populated buildings once civilization falls and the zombie wars start!! Who else will stand and defend are freedoms?

Toph Bei Fong posted:

zoux posted:

He posted this on Thursday.

e_angst posted:

That's not really an accurate assessment of why carrying handguns was outlawed. It goes back to the 1800s, and had a lot more to do with the old west/frontier areas where the mark of being in a civilized place (like a town) was that people weren't carrying their guns around.

zoux posted:

Actually it was outlawed to keep bands of former slaves from arming and looking for payback.

Sheng-ji Yang posted:

lmao

whats his criminal record for, indecent exposure?

zoux posted:

He posted this on Thursday.

zoux posted:

That was actually a Real Bad amendment that would've effectively instituted constitutional carry.