85th Texas Legislature

Democrat law enforcement officials in Texas traveled to the State Capitol to protest the bathroom privacy bill.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) took little time in filing the first lawsuit to try to stop the Lone Star State’s recently signed anti-sanctuary jurisdiction bill. LULAC sued the State of Texas, its governor, and the state’s attorney general.

DREAMERs and undocumented supporters were at the Texas Capitol to protest the anti-sanctuary legislation debated by the House of Representatives. Several “sanctuary city” sheriffs also showed their support.

The arrival of refugees in the Lone Star State, most particularly Syrian refugees, has been a source of consternation for Texans and the state’s Governor. Activists pushed back against Governor Greg Abbott’s order to stop the state from helping to resettle Syrian refugees. The Texas attorney general filed suit against the federal government. Now the Texas Senate has voted to eradicate the State’s refugee office.

The Texas Senate passed school choice legislation, Senate Bill 3, that would establish education savings accounts and tax credit scholarship programs intended to expand K-12 options for children. The bill crossed the finish line in a final vote of 18-13 on Thursday with a few notable changes.

A video of a Senate hearing shows two state senators challenging the Texas Association of Business (TAB) president about his dire warnings of economic destruction if the “bathroom bill” is passed. One of the senators accused the TAB official of spreading “absolutely fake news.”

Texas state lawmakers are adamant that taxpayer dollars will not be used to enrich countries that sponsor terrorism. Legislators filed bills to prohibit governmental entities in the state from doing business with Iran, Sudan, or companies that do business with a foreign terrorist organization.

What began as a small protest over the Texas bathroom bill grew to a 75-person “Queer Dance Freakout” on the street in front of the historic Texas Governor’s Mansion. The troupe protested a bill in the Texas Legislature that would require men and women to use bathrooms and dressing rooms designated to the sex on their birth certificate.

Texas lawmakers met Thursday to begin tackling a troubling epidemic–teacher-student sexual misconduct. They discussed proposed legislation that will crack down on the rampant problem ravaging classrooms across the state.

Nobody likes paying taxes. But unlike the rest of us, once every two years, the Texas Legislature gets the chance to do something about it.

The bill passed by the Texas Senate this week calls for the creation of criminal penalties for state, county, or local officials who chose to ignore federal immigration law. The bill also creates a provision whereby the official could be removed from office if they fail to enforce the law.

On the same day that the Texas State Senate voted to cut funds for sanctuary cities, the commissioners court of Dallas County passed the “Welcoming Communities” resolution. Officials have voted to “end nonessential collaborations” with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Immigration Enforcement (ICE) divison.

Texas state senators passed a bill to punish sanctuary cities, counties, and colleges, that fail to cooperate with federal immigration officials. The passage came on a straight party-line vote, 21-10.

The Texas Attorney General has issued a letter signing off on the legality of requiring governmental entities to cooperate with federal authorities when they are enforcing immigration laws. Police officers may also not be prohibited from verifying immigration status.

Elderly Texans have been taxed out of their homes but if one Lone Star State legislator has his way, anyone over 80-years of age would be exempt from property taxes.

Hundreds of protesters opposed to an anti-sanctuary city and campus bill descended on the Texas Capitol on Thursday. Shouts of “Governor Abbott is a fascist” and applause and shouts broke the normal decorum of the Senate Gallery.

Texas legislators are sticking to their guns and are coming after cities and campuses in Texas that declare themselves havens for illegal aliens. They vow to put an end to the illegal sheltering and punish those who do it.

“For decades, the federal government has grown out of control. It has increasingly abandoned the Constitution, stiff-armed the states and ignored its citizens,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott told legislators and those gathered for his State of the State address on Tuesday. He declared legislation supporting an Article V Convention of States to be an emergency item for the session.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared ending sanctuary cities to be an emergency item for the 85th session of the Texas Legislature.

“Texas will not flinch in our resolve to keep Texans safe,” Governor Greg Abbott told a joint session of the Texas Legislature during his State of the State Address.

Governor Greg Abbott addressed members of the Texas House and Senate in his State of the State Address on Tuesday and laid out his emergency items, including banning sanctuary cities, reforming the embattled agency responsible for safeguarding children, calling for a Convention of States to address overreaches by the federal government, and ethics reform governing elected officials.

Texas State Representative Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin) has reportedly been indicted on 13 felony counts of corruption. She is also accused of two misdemeanors.

A Texas sheriff dubbed “Sanctuary Sally” by her opponent during her election campaign, appears to be ready to live up to her campaign promise to not enforce the law regarding criminal illegal aliens.

A Texas state representative filed a bill today that would require voters to be affiliated with a political party of their choice. The purpose is to deter people not affiliated with that party from voting in primary elections.

A freshman Texas legislator filed a bill that would result in a physician losing their license if they perform an elective abortion.

A Texas state senator has filed a comprehensive bill which, among other things, is aimed to prevent local governments in the Lone Star State from misleading voters with deceptive ballot language.

The Texas House of Representatives unanimously reelected House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) to serve a record-tying fifth term as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives in Austin on Tuesday.

“I’m not — in 2018 and never — running against Greg Abbott for governor,” Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told reporters on the eve of the opening of the 85th Texas Legislature. Patrick also ruled out a run against Senator Ted Cruz in the 2018 Republican Primary.

The transgender bathroom battle is being hit straight-on in the Lone Star State. A state senator has pre-filed a bill which she says “seeks to put an end to a controversy that began in Washington D.C.”

A Texas state lawmaker has pre-filed a bill that would criminalize dismemberment abortions. If the law passes, it would be a crime for an abortion doctor to surgically dismember and extract a living baby while in the womb. The criminal penalty would be a state jail felony.

A showdown is looming in the Texas Legislature over in-state tuition benefits for the children of illegal immigrants as the two top leaders of the state’s legislative bodies are at odds on the issue.

A gun bill in Texas has been pre-filed which, if passed, would prohibit a physician from inquiring into whether a patient has a gun in their home.

A bill pre-filed in the Texas Legislature on December 28 would put teeth into circumventing a “faithless elector.” Any attempt by an elector to cast a vote for anyone other than the candidates that received the popular vote in the Lone Star State would be void. Moreover, casting the void vote would immediately create a vacancy in the elector’s position.

A Texas state lawmaker has pre-filed a gun bill that if passed, will broaden the places a licensed to carry (LTC) holder can enter and would bring the State closer to “constitutional carry,” the author says. He hopes to eliminate all “gun-free zones.”

A Democrat senator from Austin, Texas, has pre-filed a bill that if passed, would add a college or university ID to the list of forms of identification that could be used for voting in Texas.

The Texas Association of Business has released a study that claims a transgender bathroom bills will be devastating for the local economy. They urge Texas lawmakers not to enact any “discriminatory” legislation. A Texas senator called the claim “wild speculation.”