Heartbeat Bill, The End (For Bills), Mother’s Day

From the newsletter sent May 7, 2021

As some of you probably know, the pace of the legislative session ebbs and flows. We have reached the point of session where House members are on the floor for 12-16 hours a day. In fact, as part of a lengthy floor day on Thursday/Friday morning, Rep. Frank did not leave the Capitol until nearly 3:30am. Yes, you read that right, 3:30am. As a result, the amount of time he had this week to work on the newsletter was severely limited, so he asked me–Jim Johnson, his Chief of Staff–to take the keys and handle writing the opener. If you enjoy it, credit it to the great hiring wisdom of James; if you don’t care for it, blame the staff, and look forward to next week’s regularly scheduled programming.

With less than a month remaining until the end of session, the House schedule is intense. The deadlines that are approaching can be confusing and hard to keep track of. Travis Stedje, our Legislative Aide who also helps make this newsletter every week, made a graphic that helps explain everything coming up. You can find that below.

While most of the big, priority legislation remains on track, we saw several bills meet an early death this week for a variety of reasons. While it is sometimes the case that a bill dies on the House floor simply due to a lack of votes, it’s more common for bills to be killed by a Point of Order — lovingly referred to as a POO. Points of Order are usually the result of a technical or clerical error. Members with an axe to grind against a particular bill can scour all the relevant documents and, if a procedural or technical mistake is found, call a Point of Order, bouncing the bill off of the day’s calendar and potentially ending its chances for passage. It’s incredibly frustrating to work for months on a bill and see it lost due to a technical miscue, often completely unrelated to the content of the bill itself. It’s further proof that this is a process designed to make it hard to pass bills.

Perhaps the biggest news of the week is the passage of SB 8, commonly referred to as the Heartbeat Bill. SB 8 requires physicians to check for a heartbeat prior to providing an abortion and prohibits an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected. In many cases, a heartbeat is recognizable as early as six weeks. This is a huge victory for life, and Representative Frank was proud to have supported it.

This week also saw passage of SB 7, the omnibus election integrity bill. As a reminder, the goal of this bill is to protect the integrity of every Texan’s vote by making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. Of course, not everyone sees it this way, so there was plenty of emotionally-charged debate late into the evening. Ultimately, the House passed a heavily amended version of the bill at around 3:00 a.m. this morning (Friday). It is hoped that this bill will provide for more secure and consistent elections, while ensuring that all eligible voters are able to vote without obstruction.

Additionally, the House took an important step to push back against the defund the police movement. HB 1900 places certain revenue-related restrictions on major cities that attempt to reduce their policing budget by a greater amount than the rest of their budget. This bill will encourage cities to fully fund police departments and fulfill their most important duty — providing for public safety.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate, praise, and thank the moms on this Mother’s Day weekend. I’d like to wish my own mom, Sherrie, a happy Mother’s Day. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the job she did and I celebrate her. I’d also like to wish my own wife, Sarah, a happy mother’s day and thank her for the sacrifices she makes in keeping our family going, and teaching and raising our son during these long and difficult days of session.

(Proverbs 31: 25-31)

Strength and honor are her clothing;
She shall rejoice in time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And on her tongue is the law of kindness.

She watches over the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all.”
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

Give her of the fruit of her hands,
And let her own works praise her in the gates.