News / Articles

Support Local Control of Elections!

Say NO to HB 817! *NEW*

The House Committee on Elections will meet on March 27th to discuss HB 817, which would ban preferential voting, also known as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in all elections in Texas. IRV is a nonpartisan voting method in single-winner elections where voters rank candidates and one winner is chosen. IRV saves taxpayer money by eliminating costly, low-turnout runoff elections and leads to more positive, issue-oriented campaigning rather than mudslinging. Contact the members of the House Committee on Elections now, and urge them to vote NO on HB 817!

Don't Make 18 Million Texas Voters Show Their Papers!

Say NO to SB 16!

SB 16, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, would disenfranchise citizens who do not or cannot present a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers to election officials before voting. Over 18 million current voters would not be exempt from this requirement, which would require election officials to implement an entirely new process for verifying citizenship. Contact the members of the Senate Committee on State Affairs and ask them to vote NO on SB 16!

Keep Public Funds in Public Schools! Oppose HB 3!

The Texas Senate passed SB 2, which establishes Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs), and the Texas House Public Education Committee held a hearing for its companion bill, HB 3on Mar. 11th. ESAs are welfare for the wealthy. Texas already has school choice and needs to protect and fully fund its public schools. Contact the members of the House Public Education Committee to urge them to say NO to HB 3!

Tell Your Members of Congress to Oppose the SAVE Act!

Congress has introduced the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require citizenship documentation to register to vote even though voters in every state are already required to affirm or verify their citizenship status when registering. Americans do not need MORE obstacles to vote. Tell your representatives to say NO to the SAVE Act!

Voting Rights and Election Law

The House Elections Committee and the Senate State Affairs Committee met at the same time last week, making it tough for witnesses to be in the right place at the right time. The most important bill considered in either committee was SB 16, requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration. Committee members were so solidly in favor of this bill that no questions were addressed to the Secretary of State’s representative who attended as a resource witness. The public testimony was generally against the bill. Witnesses were treated with courtesy, but no curiosity as they raised issue after issue with the implementation of the various provisions of this bill. There were no questions from the committee members regarding the cost and inconvenience to the over 18 million registered voters who would be impacted by the requirement; or about the cost to administer such a massive change to Texas elections at the local level (the bill requires a bifurcation of the voter rolls and screening every currently registered voter for proof of citizenship). Witnesses in favor of the bill presented no evidence of any significant problem that the bill would solve.

Prior to the hearing, Texas Election Reform Coalition presented an excellent webinar on SB 16 which can be viewed here(the passcode is:VotingRights1!). The slide presentation can be viewed here, and the talking points toolkit can be viewed here. The bill was left pending in committee but may be voted out soon.

The committee agenda also included SB 76, which would eliminate county-wide polling on Election Day. That bill was not reached last week. The committee additionally took testimony on SB 310, which would ban preferential voting such as instant runoff voting. The testimony was mainly in support with a great deal of misinformation about cost and confusion of ranked choice voting. The companion bill, HB 817, will be heard in the House on Thursday. An action alert opposing this legislation is included in this report.

Women's Health and Reproductive Rights

We are tracking several bills relating to Women's Health and Reproductive Rights that have been referred to committee:

SB 31/HB 44 is the "abortion clarification" bill. While the bill is marketed as a bill that would clarify when doctors and hospitals can perform an abortion, the bill is not clear, continues to have vague language, and adds continuing education for doctors and lawyers to help them understand the law. While we are encouraged that a bill was filed, acknowledging there is a problem–women cannot receive reproductive care and are dying–we hope there will be many iterations of this bill before it gets passed (if it does) that will make it more straightforward when and under what circumstances doctors and hospitals can perform an abortion.

HB 997 is aimed at "shield law" states and would require any telehealth provider to register in Texas and meet in person anyone they prescribe abortion medicine or hormones for trans patients. This bill is targeted at the doctor in New York who prescribed abortion medication to someone in Texas via a telehealth visit. Many supporters are positioning this bill as a stop-gap for doctor shortages. Anyone who is part of a telehealth registry is required to follow all Texas laws. We should address why doctors don’t want to practice in Texas vs. stop-gap measures.

SB 33 will prohibit local governments from budgeting funds to provide practical support services for people seeking abortion care. This includes services such as travel, lodging, meals, and childcare. Funding practical support does not violate any existing abortion restrictions in Texas. SB 33 is unnecessary state interference into the purvey of local public health officials. All Republicans in the Senate signed onto this bill, and we expect it to pass and move to the House.

SB 2880/HB 5510 is named the "Women and Children's Protection Act" and intends to create a means for a civil liability for anyone who assists someone with obtaining an abortion. The "anyone" assisting includes ISPs, cloud platforms, any group (like Planned Parenthood, Avow, etc.) that posts online how to obtain an abortion. It's a far-reaching bill that is probably unconstitutional. It is sponsored by Senator Bryan Hughes (the person sponsoring the clarification bill) and Rep. Jeff Leach. Some of the language is chilling and would allow for criminal penalties for prescribing or sending abortion drugs over state lines. This bill has been referred to the Senate State Affairs committee, although as of this writing, it is not yet on the docket for a committee meeting.

Children's Issues

Last week, bills impacting Texas children and families received a great deal of attention from both the House and Senate, including SB 569–a bill requiring the provision of virtual or hybrid learning options that passed in the Senate–and HB 36–a bill providing for measures to address family violence that was left pending in the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.

Many of the bills discussed in last week’s Children’s Issues update continue to receive consideration in committees, including HB 36, as well as HB 27,HB 213,HB 499,HB 1151, and HB 1536. This week, the Legislature will continue its focus on reforming procedures to ensure that parental rights are prioritized in foster care cases, as well as its discussion on community-based care. Moreover, there are several bills scheduled for public hearing related to discipline and preventing truancy in public schools.

Read the full children's issues update here.