Ok, I guess...
Posted on 05/21/2021 8:27:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill to ban homeless encampments throughout Texas — a response to the city of Austin lifting a similar local ban two years ago that was recently reinstated by voters.
House Bill 1925 would make camping in an unapproved public place a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. The bill calls for law enforcement officers to redirect homeless people to available local resources — such as a shelter or nonprofit group — “before or at the time” they issue a citation.
The House approved the bill earlier this month. The Senate passed the bill 28-3 on Thursday, along with two amendments, and sent the bill back to the House, which can either accept the amendments and send it to the governor or send it to a conference committee to work out the chambers’ differences.
If the bill becomes law, it will mark the latest instance of the Republican-led state government overruling local ordinances.
Cities cannot opt out of the ban, but it allows for existing local ordinances that prohibit public camping to remain in place.
The law comes after 57% of Austin residents voted to reinstate the city’s ban earlier this month, two years after it was lifted by the city council, a move that critics say triggered the proliferation of tent cities throughout the city. Some 10,000 people are estimated to have experienced homelessness in the last year within the city.
Abbott has denounced the Austin City Council’s decision to lift the ban and asked the Legislature to withhold state grant money from cities that don’t ban such encampments.
State Sen. Dawn Buckingham — who authored the Senate’s companion bill — said the bill is a “first step” to addressing homelessness in the state and that it bans people from turning public property into private property by erecting a shelter in a public space and engaging in activities like cooking, making a fire, storing personal belongings for an extended period, digging or sleeping. The bill outlines exceptions for recreational camping and camping on beaches.
Lawmakers said they hope the bill will direct homeless people to resources that can help them out of homelessness. State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, called it the “humanitarian bill of the session.”
Senators adopted two amendments Thursday to ban cities from turning parks into encampments and to strike the word “arrest” from the bill — an attempt to clarify that the bill is not meant to put people in jail.
State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, the only senator to speak against the bill on Thursday, said she thinks it does too little to support the homeless population in Texas.
“I understand the desire of this body to send a strong message to the city of Austin,” Eckhardt said. “I will not defend the city of Austin for lifting a camping ban without a plan, because it did not help these poor people find their way to a home. But also I cannot support a statewide camping ban that does very little to help these poor people find their way to a home.”
State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said he hopes a statewide encampment ban will connect more people to resources and places that afford them more dignity.
“Having people live under bridges is not humane. Having people experience all of their bodily functions out in public is not humane,” Menéndez said. “It's not right.”
He mentioned Haven For Hope, a 20-acre community and shelter in Bexar County that offers housing, health care and other services for people experiencing homelessness. Menéndez said the organization previously testified in favor of the bill because officials believed it would help them get more people to the shelter.
“I believe that we need to send a message that we cannot just say it's OK to sleep wherever you want, and then we can forget about you,” he said. “We are not helping homeless people by putting them in a tent, we have to provide services for them, we have to treat them like human beings.”
But Eric Samuels, president and CEO of the Texas Homeless Network, said a statewide ban would cause people experiencing homelessness to become more invisible, damage trust between them and law enforcement and impose fines on one of the state’s most vulnerable populations.
“I’ve never seen any city, anywhere in the country that has reduced homelessness because they have banned camping,” Samuels said. “In fact I would argue that in a lot of cases it’s helped increase homelessness because if people have criminal histories ... that all builds up, and that will place a enormous barrier on someone who is trying to escape homelessness.”
Punishable by a fine of up to $500 and or sent back to California ?
We have a homeless guy sleeping/residing under one of our bridges these days ... been there since last December that I can testify to ... a first for this suburb north of Dallas ...
One-way bus tickets to San Francisco!
RV parks and people living on their boats maybe should be aware.
Notice that the Democrats are voting for it also, although they usually support the opposite.
They know the public is watching and they are trying to be on the ‘right’ side of the debate.
RV living is not the same as homeless. There are a lot of RV people living well in their RV. There are also issues with the housing prices going through the roof and an RV is the only way to live.
But they are not the ones pooping on the street or taking over the parks.
There’s a history of local governments abusing such statutes in a number of states.
RV parks and people living on their boats maybe should be aware.
I’ll tell you what amazes me: In Seattle people are parking RV’s on the side of the road in nice neighborhoods and LIVING THERE. They need to enforce a 24 hour parking ordinance.
“Having people live under bridges is not humane. Having people experience all of their bodily functions out in public is not humane,” Menéndez said. “It’s not right.”
Didn’t think of it that way, but there are local solutions to that also. And I am pretty sure Austin doesn’t have a problem with people abusing boat houses. :)
And Texas has a huge amount of RV parks outside of each of the cities, so there should be little chance of Seattle’s issues with RVs happening in texas.
If your home is mobile but four out of five cars in your yard are not ... you might be a redneck.
There is a good reason they are not mobile, used for spare parts and practice to keep the real one running.
And as playgrounds for the children. And trainers. And sometimes planters.
Not junk at all.
Redneck Engineering Exam:
1. Which of the following cars will rust out the
quickest when placed on blocks in your front yard?
66 Ford Fairlane, 69 Chevrolet Chevelle, 64 Pontiac
GTO.
2. A woodcutter has a chain saw that operates at
2700 rpm. The density of the pine trees in a plot to
be harvested is 470 per acre. The plot is 2.3 acres
in size. The average tree diameter is 14 inches. How
many Budweisers will it take to cut the trees?
3. A front porch is constructed of 2x8 pine on
24-inch centers with a field rock foundation. The
span is 8 feet and the porch length is 16 feet. The
porch floor is 1-inch rough sawn pine. When the
porch collapses, how many hound dogs will be killed?
4. A man owns a Tennessee house and 3.7 acres of
land in a hollow with an average slope of 15%. The
man has 5 children. Can each of the children place a
mobile home on the man’s land?
5. A 2-ton truck is overloaded and proceeding 900
yards down a steep grade on a secondary road at 45
mph. The brakes fail. Given the average traffic on
secondary roads, what are the chances that it will
strike a vehicle that has a muffler?
6. A coal mine operates a NFPA Class 1, Division 2
Hazardous Area. The mine employs 120 miners per
shift. A gas warning is issued at the beginning of
3rd shift. How many cartons of unfiltered Camels
will be smoked during the shift?
7. At a reduction in gene pool variability rate of
7.5% per generation, how long will it take a town
that has been bypassed by the interstate to breed a
Country-western singer?
SEND ANSWERS TO YOUR WIFE OR SISTER...(PROBABLY SAME PERSON)
Ok, I guess...
Here are a few images. There are hundreds and endless video footage on Youtube
The people to whom you refer are not homeless.
For the most part they are ordinary run of the mill squatters
Yes. I was just bringing up eventual abuses.
1. The Chevy man. Fairlanes never rust and the GTO has so much paint on it the rust can’t find a toehold.
2. How much Bud you got?
3. None, they got too much sense to hang around rough wood.
4. Them and their exes.
5. Depends on how many Chevrolets are in the front yard of the house they finally pull up into.
6. None, rednecks work when they are on shift. The cigs will be lit during the breaks.
7. The next day. Everyone in a town like that is a country-western singer. The real question is who can actually play an instrument.
I take exception to your last statement. Once the girl is married she is no longer your sister.
I agree totally. But the Democrats would have supported this normally, but realize their positions depend on them pretending to be compassionate.
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