Posted on 05/29/2023 8:03:37 AM PDT by george76
Lawmakers in the Texas House ran out the clock to kill two measures that would have provided substantial protection against the abuses experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic..
Among the dozens of measures that the Texas House killed by running down the legislative clock are two that would have protected Texans against abusive interventions to address a declared disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senate Bill 1104 by State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R–Granbury) would have given the Legislature sole authority to suspend laws and regulations after 30 days of a declared disaster, at which time the governor would have been required to convene the Legislature if they were not in session. It passed the Senate by a 30-0 vote on March 28.
Senate Bill 177 by State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston) would have required anyone administering a COVID-19 vaccine to obtain the recipient’s informed consent beforehand. It would have authorized the attorney general to enforce this restriction and required violators to pay damages of at least $5,000. SB 177 passed the Senate 20-11 on April 18.
Both measures were scheduled for consideration in the House on Tuesday, May 23, but they weren’t brought up for a vote before midnight, ending their prospects of becoming law.
Lawmakers in both parties wasted hours Tuesday and the days leading up to it “chubbing,” or asking and answering mundane questions about uncontroversial bills to drag out the clock.
Arguably, both bills would have satisfied one of Abbott’s legislative emergency items announced during his February State of the State address.
Texans for Vaccine Choice blasted the House for its failure to pass SB 177, saying, “It’s indefensible that the Texas House regarded medical liberty as unimportant and unworthy of passage.”
State Rep. Brian Harrison (R–Midlothian), one of the House co-sponsors for SB 177, issued a statement of his own regarding its demise:
While Texas should be leading on medical freedom, the Texas House has clearly decided to oppose it. This session, leadership caved to liberal special interests and blocked comprehensive bans on COVID vaccine mandates from even being heard on the floor; a decision that will allow Texans to be fired if they do not take a COVID vaccine. COVID vaccine mandates are a line-in-the-sand issue for liberty. They destroy medical freedom, are scientifically indefensible, and have no place in the great state of Texas.
Harrison’s House Bill 81, which is identical to SB 177, cleared the lower chamber’s Public Health Committee in April by a 10-1 vote but was never scheduled for debate on the House floor. In 2021, similar legislation by Harrison never received a hearing.
Likewise, Birdwell filed a measure similar to SB 1104 during the 2021 regular session. It passed the Senate by a vote of 30-1 but never received a hearing in the House.
As the session comes to an end, a committee of House and Senate lawmakers are negotiating legislation that would prohibit local governments and state agencies from implementing mask or vaccine mandates or requiring businesses to close to combat the spread of COVID-19.
A legislative priority of both Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Birdwell’s Senate Bill 29 does not apply to businesses and is solely limited to measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, not any other infectious diseases.
The Texas House is a rat infested land fill with that POS speaker sitting at the top of it.
Very woke.
Texans voted for it, so they deserve it. /s
Most don’t like hearing it. But Texas Republicans are heavily steeped in Bush/Cheney globalism thinking. Perry and Abbott both loved that. They killed coal fired plants as fast as they could and supported the move to windmills and solar, and an ERCOT “Enron” style grid management company lead by foreigners etc.
They are not super concerned about freedom for the individual.
Texas MAGA and Conservative lawmakers are lonely out there... all on their own.
Texas has become woke. Pretty unfortunate as it is happening at the same time that it’s being invaded.
What’s going on down there? Did a bunch of covert RINOS get elected, pretending to be conservatives during their elections? Those types need to be recalled.
People who want to gag-up with masks, isolate themselves socially, and take their 7th booster shot will still be able to do so.
To be fair this does often happen in Texas - to both good and bad bills. Texas has a relatively short regular legislative session every other year by design. A lot of stuff simply does *not* get done due to time constraints. The governor can (and probably will) call one or more special sessions to consider bills that didn’t make it in the regular session.
Thank you.
UPDATE: The Governor has already called a special session for property tax relief and border control issues and has stated that there will be several more special sessions to pass legislation that didn’t make it in the regular session:
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/29/abbott-special-legislative-session/
This is *normal* for Texas and special sessions are far from uncommon given that the regular legislative session is so short. I don’t understand all the people shouting about how this not getting passed is a sign that Texas is owned by the Bushes/Cheneys and how we’re all RINOs. Guess they’re talking out their nether orifices.
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