There are only 6 days left in session and things are starting to get real crazy. It seems like bills are being killed, revived, or passed by the minute. I wanted to do a quick recap so everyone can be on the same page and be fully informed on what exactly is going on in the Texas Capitol.

“TSA Anti-Groping” Bill (HB 1937)
This bill would prevent those very touchy feely and sometimes humilating pat downs provided by the TSA. The bill was killed in the Texas Senate and Sen. Dan Patrick, the sponsor, said he had the votes to pass it but blamed Lt. Gov. Dewhurst for swooping in and killing the bill amid federal pressure.

“Smoking Ban” Bill (HB 670)
This bill stalled earlier this month but was later added as an amendment to SB 1811, the fiscal matters bill, by a vote of 77-66 in the Texas House. It bans smoking in bars and restaurants but exempts places like bingo halls and VFW’s.

“Sonogram” Bill (HB 15)
Late last week, Gov. Perry signed this bill into law. It makes doctors perform a sonogram before an abortion and show it to the would-be mother. Pro-life activist believe this will prevent 15,000 abortions a year. Personally, I was very happy to see this bill pass through the legislature.

“Campus Carry” Bill (SB 354)
This bill had over 80 co-authors but got hung up in both houses. Senator Wentworth was finally able to amend the bill to SB 1811. However, when it reached the Texas House it was knocked off of SB 1811 through parliamentary procedure. A point of order was raised to the tune that the campus carry bill was not germane to the rest of SB 1811. The point of order was upheld by Speaker Straus.

“Sanctuary City” Bill (HB 12)
This bill easily passed the Texas House but like many other bills could not get out of the Texas Senate. Sen. Williams, the sponsor, could only muster up 19 of the 21 votes needed to pass it. This legislation was considered a priority by Gov. Perry and the Democrats were happy to kill it yesterday.

“Loser Pays” Bill (HB 274)
This bill has been passed by both the House and Senate but the two different versions were passed. The differences are being hashed out as we speak. Loser pays is supposed to help prevent frivolous lawsuits by giving power to the judge to allow the prevailing party to recover cost from the defeated party.

The Budget (HB 1)
The budget has been passed by the House and the Senate but is currently sitting in conference committee. This usually means the end is near. However, school finance is still a work in progress and SB 1811, a major fiscal matters bill, has yet to be worked out. Look for a special session to work out school finance. No school finance reform would mean schools would be out of money in the beginning of next session. I highly doubt Perry would allow that to happen.

If you don’t see a bill listed that you would like to know more about, please let me know in the comments section and I’ll let you know if it’s alive or dead. Also, if you see a bill listed and would like to learn more about it you can click on the bill number in the title.

Note: These fate of these bills are changing frequently but I will try to keep you updated on the changes as they happen.

“I think, therefore I spend” is the motto of most polticians and it isn’t any different here in Texas. You might say at least Texas isn’t as bad as Washington DC but that really isn’t saying much. In 1978, Texas passed a constitutional amendment to limit government growth and out of control spending but the wording is so vague that Republicans and Democrats alike have ignored it. In fact, not only has the Texas government continued to grow but it has experienced a growth spurt! Texans would have paid $40 billion (yes billion) less in taxes since 1990 if we would have implemented a constitutional amendment that limited government growth to population and inflation. Below is a great graph that shows the disrecpency in past governemnt growth compared to the growth if it would of been tied to population and inflation.

The blue bars in the chart shows unadjusted state spending and the green line represents spending levels if were set for population growth and inflation. As you can clearly see, the gap in between the green line and blue bars continues to expand which has led us to the budget crisis we face today. This is why I am excited to support and tell you about a very important piece of legislation facing the Texas Legislature this session, House Joint Resolution 70. Its authors include Representatives Paxton, Hughes and Weber among others.

According to a HJR 70 fact sheet, “HJR 70 will limit the growth in appropriations from state tax revenue to the rate of population increase plus monetary inflation each biennium.” Furthermore, 2/3rds of revenue surplus will go to relieve property taxes. However, if the legislature sees fit that more funds need to be approperiated it must be done by a record vote and approved by 2/3rds of the members in each house.

This is the type of common sense legislation that we all hope to see from our legislators. HJR 70 will keep government growth and spending in check with a reasonable but high standard to circumvent if necessary. Remember if this was in place in 1990 Texans would have $40 billion extra dollars burning a hole in their pockets. Wouldn’t that be nice to say one day and it be a reality?

Whether you like Rep. David Simpson or not he is sure making a name for himself in the Texas House. He was one of two Republicans who voted against the House budget because it did not cut enough programs and he did not feel money that was being spent was being spent wisely. He is now unilaterally knocking local and consent bills off of the House calendar. Local and consent bills only apply to a representatives district or are not controversial enough that they need any further debate therefore they are fast tracked to passage. So you can imagine the feeling when one House member knocks another House members bill off of that calendar. It is essentially like poking the bills author in the eye so you better have a good reason for doing it. When the bill is knocked off the L&C calendar it doesn’t kill the bill but it does slow it down and is subjected to further points of order.

The Texas Tribune reports that he has knocked 3 bills off the L&C calendar and is suffering the consequences. They point out that he has not broken any House rules but co-authors on his bills are starting to jump ship and he was quoted as saying, “It’s been a little lonely up there today.” This begs the question is Rep. Simpson is doing the right thing or should he be playing more nicely with his colleagues? The way Rep. Simpson sees it he is standing up for his values and principles and isn’t going to let politeness stand in the way. His colleagues see him as breaking unwritten decorum rules and being “annoying.”

So instead of allowing politicians decide whether he is a hero or a heretic(the political kind) I think YOU should decide. Vote in the poll below to voice your option.

Yesterday, I decided to go the staging area for the Save Our State rally that was put on by the AFL-CIO, Texas Impact, Texas State Employee Union, and a handful of other left wing groups. What you will see in the video below is protest organizing 101 for those on the left. And that is to bus as many people in on luxury buses giving the perception of grassroots support.

In the video you will see about HALF of the reported 40 buses that protesters were shipped in on. It is also worth noting that renting a 60 person charter bus(the buses you see in the video) for the day usually cost around $1,000. That is $40,000 alone just for transportation.

Even though some members in the #txlege don’t have Facebook or Twitter accounts the use of social media has exploded this session. Legislators and their consultants are starting to understand that social media allows them to send direct unfiltered messages to their constituents instantly. We have seen members tweet out messages from the House or Senate floor and even tweet what is happening in closed caucus meeting. In case you were wondering Rep. Aaron Pena is the king of tweeting, when it comes to Texas legislators, sending out over 6,500 tweets to over 2,500 followers.

We have even seen social media put life into filed bills. For example, Rep. Wayne Christian (I believe is the first Texas legislator to do this) created a social media campaign by creating Facebook and Twitter pages for HJR 51. This House Joint Resolution is a proposed constitutional amendment to limit the effects of Obamacare and allow Texans to choose or deny what type of health care they want. We of course can’t forget “Walker Colt’s” campaign to become the official state gun of Texas. “Walker Colt” is usually seen tweeting or facebooking complaining about how Texas has a state tree but not a state gun.

Even YouTube is making its imprint. Rep. Christian has also begun a weekly legislative update in which he interviews different legislators and politicos or just gives viewers an inside look into the Texas legislature. You can watch his latest update below. This idea was soon followed up by Paul Burka, Texas Monthly Editor, on his blog.

Although twitter and facebook played a part last session it does not hold a candle to what we are witnessing today. I hope to see this trend continue because I believe it connects the average person to usually unreachable elected official. You can send direct messages or @replys to legislators on twitter or post questions on their Facebook wall. And believe it or not they usually reply! The younger generation of legislators, I’ve learned, use their social media accounts separate from staffers or consultants while for the older generation rely heavily on staffers.

You might be seeing some new terms that you have never seen before like #txlege or @replys but I didn’t go into detail on what they mean to keep the post short. If you have any questions, on what those weird social media terms mean, I will be more than happy to answer your questions in comments section.

I ran across an editorial from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram(my hometown paper) that touched on the lawsuit to dismantle Texas’ Open Meeting Act. This act increases transparency and accountability in government by requiring public meetings to be open to the public and notices to be placed 72 hours in advance that a meeting is scheduled. Below is the first paragraph from the editorial and I think it sums everything up very nicely so I thought I would post it.

Misguided public officials keep trying to get criminal penalties in the Texas Open Meeting Act struck down as unconstitutional, but they keep running into an inconvenient fact: The law is about enhancing speech, not suppressing it.

Interestingly, Rep. Todd Hunter is looking to strenthen this law by banning emails, text, and instant messaging.  This form of communicating can be hidden from the public during meetings and Rep. Hunter wants to make sure that hidden forms of communicating are banned.

You can read the full editorial by clicking here.

The Texas House was debating the Voter ID bill today until Democrats tripped up the bill, with a point of order, and sent it back to committee. The bad news is that Republicans can expect a plethora of amendments and points of order to attempt to derail the bill. The good news is that both sides agree this is next to impossible since the house republicans hold a super majority.

In case you are wondering what the point of order was all about, search no further. It was raised by Rep. Armando Martinez (D-Weslac) who noticed that in the Bill Analysis it said a person had “6 business days” to present the required form of ID, when voting with a provisional ballot. However, the bill just said “the sixth day.” You can see the visual of what the point of order was over. The top graphic is an exercpt from the bill and the bottom in an excerpt from the bill analysis.

As you can see House rules are very strict. I don’t know why the bill analysis can trip up a bill considering its not even the bill, but oh well. That’s Texas politics for you.

Rep. Aaron Peña (R-Edinburg) sent out a tweet soon after the point of order saying that the Voter ID bill will be taken up in committee today at 4:30 PM. This will help ensure the bill gets back on the House floor as soon as possible, mostly likely Wednesday (according everyone twitter).

I have great news to report! Rep. Joe Driver’s bill, that would allow CHL holders to carry on college campuses, passed through committee yesterday with a vote of 5-3 (I’m also making this a short post, so double good news). To no one’s surprise it was voted out along party lines, with Republicans leading the way. However, I was a little disappointed that none of the Democrats chose to vote for this bill. The CHL laws in Texas have proven to be a success and allowing certified CHL holders on campus will only provide more protection, not more danger, for those on campus.

What many people do not already know is that CHL holders are allowed to carry on college campuses, but they are not allowed to enter the buildings. So far there has been no negative incidents involving CHL holders. Also, according to ConcealedCampus.org, there are already 26 schools across the country that allow CHL holders on campus. So far there have been no negative incidents involving CHL holders.

So, why the commotion in allowing responsible trained adults to protect themselves on college campuses?

It is the goal of liberals to ban guns everywhere and leave the security of their lives up to the government. So far there has been countless incidents in which people are hurt by those who seek evil in gun free zones.

One of my favorite bills this session will be taken up this afternoon in the house Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. That bill of course is Rep. Driver’s bill that would allow Concealed Handgun License holders to carry on college campuses. My last count there were 80 co-authors to this bill, so it should have no problem passing though committee and the house barring any procedural motions that could slow it down.

As I’ve mentioned before the anti-gun crowd continues to make arguments on why they think carrying is “dangerous” and very little on why carrying on campus is specifically “more dangerous.” The fact is that Texas’ CHL laws have proven to be a success in protecting the average law abiding citizen. And the wild west scenarios that the anti-gun crowd tried to scare us with just simply have not played out.

Tomorrow, I hope to bring you the next in installment of “A gun a day keeps the campus shooter away” to provide an update on the hearing and to analyze the real meaning behind the liberal whining. If you missed the first installment you can check out it here.