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Look, another preemption bill. TX GOP hates home rule.
More big government conservatism.
GOP can't win Texas cities anymore, so it's passing laws to preempt government there.
Look, another preemption bill. TX GOP hates home rule.
More big government conservatism.
During the last session, the Texas Lege passed a law requiring counties to use technology that doesn't exist, to fix a hypothetical problem.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04...equipment-law/Passed as part of the sweeping voting law known as Senate Bill 1 in 2021, this particular measure was proposed by Sen. Bob Hall and supported by Hughes, the voting bill’s author. Both legislators at the time said the provision would prevent “cheating” and the “manipulation” of vote data stored in USB flash drives and taken from polling places to central counting stations — although there’s no evidence such malfeasance happened.
The law requires the use of equipment in which data “once written, cannot be modified.” That prohibits counties from using reusable storage devices, such as the USB flash drives, which are certified by the secretary of state. That requirement also prohibits the use of equipment such as ballot scanners and tabulating machines, all now used to count votes. The technology the law demands instead is often referred to as WORM, which stands for “write once, read many,” and generally refers to CD or DVD drives and the discs they burn data onto.
Votebeat reported that when the law takes effect in September 2026, in order to fully comply with it, counties will have to buy entirely new voting systems for each election, since the whole point is that the equipment can’t be reused. The secretary of state’s office estimates it will cost taxpayers more than $116 million to replace the eliminated equipment, plus an ongoing cost of more than $37 million every two years, since new equipment would have to be purchased for each election.
And that’s only if counties are able to find such equipment. Voting equipment that would match the requirements does not appear to have been invented by any election equipment company operating in the United States.
I hope they accidentally buy CD-RWs
Unfunded mandates are just wishful thinking as the local communities will not be able to implement them without $$$$.
Can’t make them buy things they can’t afford, especially the small rural areas.
It will certainly lead to increased taxes for texans.
Retroactive defense for the APD officers charged with assaulting and maiming protesters in 2020.
HB 20 would give deputized vigilantes with no LE experience civil and criminal immunity .
What could go wrong?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...t/11601307002/HB 20, authored by state Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, would create "Border Protection Units," overseen by a governor-appointed chief, to "arrest, detain and deter" asylum-seekers entering the U.S. without do entation. The chief could hire "law-abiding citizens" with no law enforcement experience, as long as they don't have a felony conviction, according to the bill.
Today's radical Republican Party.
why shouldn't cities get to lobby?
It passed.
Houston alone has about as many people as Indiana or Missouri. Denial of home rule is a big deal.
another solution in search of a problem that, apparently, only occurs where Democrats win elections in Texas
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/poli...by-the-senate/Under the proposed law, the secretary of state would appoint a “chief election marshal” for geographical regions of roughly one million people. The chief marshal would have the authority to deputize other law enforcement officers as long as they are with DPS. Designated election marshals would have the power to issue commands to local election administrators to halt any conduct they believe violates the law, initiate investigations and make arrests.
...
The bill also modifies how Texas courts handle election lawsuits. It disqualifies local judges from presiding over lawsuits involving elections in their judicial district or county. It also creates a rocket docket system giving judges three-hour deadlines to hear election lawsuits filed while voting is ongoing.
the Texas GOP doesn't do basic governance anymore. just wall to wall culture war bull .
what public schools need: more religious indoctrination
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04...andments-bill/In opposition to the bill, John Litzler, general counsel and director of public policy at the Texas Baptists Christian Life Commission, said at the committee hearing that the organization has concerns about taxpayer money being used to buy religious texts and that parents, not schools, should be having conversations about religion with their children.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup...8R&Bill=SB1515
very short sighted, could really hurt Texas universities
Keep it coming.
as if Patrick does not live inside a ing bubble.
BS. Tenured profs are untouchable, by definition.
Killing tenure would intimidate all profs, any who bothered to work in TX Unis with no chance for tenure, with political interference.
The fascist Repugs want total political control of all aspects of society.
nest feathering
do tell
Dan Patrick killed legalization last two times it passed the House...
Why is a law like this needed? We're not talking about kids here, what's the problem with adults doing wtf they want?
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04...e-legislature/Senate Bill 1029 would make physicians and health insurers financially liable for their patients’ lifetime medical, mental health and pharmaceutical costs resulting from complications of gender-affirming medical care even if the providers lack fault or criminal intent. The bill exempts such treatments for kids with “medically verifiable genetic sex disorders.”
According to health groups, the bill would make it highly unlikely for health care providers offering these treatments to be able to get medical liability coverage, leaving them personally on the hook for potential medical, legal and other costs. These financial risks could deter physicians from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapies and gender-affirming surgeries to trans people of all ages in the state.
building a moat around oil and gas companies and giving them huge subsidies won't make the Texas grid more reliable
https://slate.com/business/2023/04/t...enewables.htmlThese throughlines suggest that the “power grid reform” is less concerned with grid protection than with subsidizing Texan gas, whose crippling failures contributed in large part to the 2021 crisis—and which, through the magic of the state’s deregulated, regional energy marketplace, is beginning to be crowded out by renewables. Weatherized gas backup, as delineated by Senate bills 6 and 7, might appear to be a reasonable solution, if not for the fact that much of 2021’s crisis stemmed from the failures of lines transmitting natural gas. Gov. Greg Abbott’s infamous, and untrue, post-disaster claim that wind-energy failures caused the 2021 blackouts has now been translated into opportunistic policy, with potentially horrific outcomes for Texans.
giving teachers a license to maim and kill kids, what could go wrong?
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