Governor Greg Abbott today issued a proclamation announcing that he will convene a second special legislative session at 12:00 p.m. on August 7, 2021. The proclamation identifies 17 agenda items for the second Special Session.

“The Texas Legislature achieved a great deal during the 87^th Legislative Session, and they have a responsibility to finish the work that was started,” said Governor Abbott. “I will continue to call special session after special session to reform our broken bail system, uphold election integrity, and pass other important items that Texans demand and deserve. Passing these Special Session agenda items will chart a course towards a stronger and brighter future for the Lone Star State.”

Agenda items for the second Special Session will include:

BAIL REFORM: Legislation reforming the bail system in Texas to protect the public from accused criminals who may be released on bail.

ELECTION INTEGRITY: Legislation strengthening the integrity of elections in Texas.

FEDERAL RELIEF APPROPRIATIONS: Legislation providing appropriations from unappropriated available revenues for COVID-19-related healthcare expenses, such as those listed below, taking into consideration the approximately $10.5 billion in funds received by local governments intended to be used on COVID-19 from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021(ARPA), Pub. L. No. 117-2:

• healthcare staffing needs, including physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals;
• establishing, staffing, and operating alternative care sites;
• supporting the operations of nursing homes, state supported living centers, assisted living facilities, and long-term care facilities;
• vaccine administration;
• testing sites;
• supplies and equipment, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators; and
• standing up and operating infusion centers.

EDUCATION: Legislation providing strategies for public-school education in prekindergarten through twelfth grade during the COVID-19 pandemic, which ensures:

• students receive a high-quality education and progress in their learning;
• in-person learning is available for any student whose parent wants it;
• the wearing of face coverings is not mandatory; and
• COVID-19 vaccinations are always voluntary.

BORDER SECURITY: Legislation enhancing criminal laws or providing funding from unappropriated available revenues to support law-enforcement agencies, counties, and other strategies as part of Texas’ comprehensive border security plan.

SOCIAL MEDIA CENSORSHIP: Legislation safeguarding the freedom of speech by protecting social-media and email users from being censored based on the user’s expressed viewpoints, including by providing a legal remedy for those wrongfully excluded from a platform.

ARTICLE X FUNDING: Legislation providing appropriations from unappropriated available revenues to the Legislature and legislative agencies in Article X of the General Appropriations Act.

FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION: Legislation similar to Senate Bill 1109 from the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, requiring schools to provide appropriate education to middle- and high-school students about dating violence, domestic violence, and child abuse, but that recognizes the right of parents to opt their children out of the instruction.

YOUTH SPORTS: Legislation identical to Senate Bill 29 as passed by the Texas Senate in the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, disallowing a student from competing in University Interscholastic League athletic competitions designated for the sex opposite to the student’s sex at birth.

ABORTION-INDUCING DRUGS: Legislation similar to Senate Bill 394 from the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, which prohibits people from providing abortion-inducing drugs by mail or delivery service, strengthens the laws applicable to the reporting of abortions and abortion complications, and ensures that no abortion-inducing drugs arc provided unless there is voluntary and informed consent.

THIRTEENTH CHECK: Legislation similar to House Bill 3507 from the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, relating to a “thirteenth check” or one-time supplemental payment of benefits under the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

CRITICAL RACE THEORY: Legislation similar to House Bill 3979 concerning critical race theory as originally passed by the Texas Senate in the 87th Legislature, Regular Session.

APPROPRIATIONS: Legislation providing appropriations from unappropriated available revenues for the following purposes:

• property-tax relief;
• enhanced protection for the safety of children in Texas’ foster-care system by attracting and retaining private providers for the system; and
• to better safeguard the state from potential cybersecurity threats.

PRIMARY ELECTIONS: Legislation modifying the filing periods and related election dates, including any runoffs, for primary elections held in Texas in 2022.

RADIOACTIVE WASTE: Legislation reforming the laws governing radioactive waste to protect the safety of Texans, including by further limiting the ability to store and transport high-level radioactive materials in this state.

EMPLOYMENT: Legislation shielding private employers and employees from political subdivision rules, regulations, ordinances, and other actions that require any terms of employment that exceed or conflict with federal or state law relating to any form of employment leave, hiring practices, employment benefits, or scheduling practices.

STATE LEGISLATURE: Legislation relating to legislative quorum requirements.

Source: gov.texas.gov

A federal judge in El Paso issued a temporary restraining order stopping Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from carrying out his executive order restricting migrant travel in the state.

The Department of Justice asked for a temporary restraining order to keep Abbott from using state troopers to stop vehicles suspected of transporting migrants. District Judge Kathleen Cardone granted that request on Tuesday.

A Justice Department attorney in a hearing Monday argued Texas attempted to unlawfully create its own “immigration regime.” Immigration policy is under the purview of the federal government.

Attorneys for the state told the judge that the governor’s executive order is about COVID-19 health concerns and not immigration. The temporary restraining order is in effect until August 13, and the judge may extend it.

“The Court’s recent order is temporary and based on limited evidence,” Abbott’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “We look forward to providing the Court with the evidence to support the Governor’s Executive Order to protect Texans.”

The case comes amid a resurgence of the coronavirus with the spread of the Delta variant. The Abbott administration has restrained Texas communities from instituting mask or vaccine mandates while focusing his COVID rhetoric on the border region.

There were more than 188,000 attempted crossings from Mexico into the U.S. in June, the highest in a decade.

Abbott has said that he thinks the federal government was doing a better job of securing the border under former President Donald Trump, so he had Texas step in earlier this year to bolster the response.

In May, he issued a disaster declaration because, he said, illegal crossings “posed an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster.”

Weeks later, he announced he would continue to build the border wall that Trump made central to his presidency. But Abbott went a step further, saying that he would arrest as many people as possible who cross by charging them with state crimes like trespassing and vandalism.

Last week, Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to begin assisting state troopers with those arrests.

Immigrant rights activists said Abbott’s latest order directing state troopers to stop any vehicles suspected of transporting migrants — which is now temporarily paralyzed by Tuesday’s restraining order — is illegal for a number of reasons, including the fact that it invites racial profiling.

“The state of Texas is using state jails to incarcerate immigration violators, arresting people, immigrants, under the theory of trespass … These are very, very problematic. And I would say, It invites a constitutional catastrophe,” said Geoffrey Hoffman, director of the University of Houston’s immigration clinic.

Hoffman recently published a piece for the Yale Journal on Regulation listing the limitations of state immigration enforcement activities. He noted that Arizona tried to pass state laws turning federal immigration law into state violations in 2012. They lost more than they won. Texas’ attempts to incrementally usurp federal authority, he said, also likely won’t work.

“The issue there in Arizona was that immigration enforcement is exclusively a federal matter. It’s not for the states to do,” he explained.

Michael Greenberger at the University of Maryland said Texas is a little different than Arizona, since the state is using existing laws.

“I think he would have an argument that he’s protecting the sovereignty of the state’s borders, by having people who are not allowed to come into the state,” Greenberger said.

He explained that the problem is that despite Abbott threading the needle in some ways to frame it in state law terms, the governor is constantly arguing in interviews that Texas is enforcing federal law because the Biden administration can’t — that sounds a lot like the Arizona case. And those comments would all be admissible in court.

“The temporary halt is really important because it’s a clear recognition of the legality of this order. And as the case progresses, it’s a signal as to where the judge is standing and what they’re looking at, based on the law in front of them,” said Rochelle Garza, a civil rights attorney. “So ultimately, we can expect that the executive order will be struck down as unconstitutional.”

Source: www.houstonpublicmedia.org

The Railroad Commission of Texas assessed $621,604 in fines involving 151 enforcement dockets against operators and businesses at the Commissioners’ Conference on Tuesday. The Commission has primary oversight and enforcement of the state’s oil and gas industry and intrastate pipeline safety.

Ten dockets involved $238,895 in penalties after operators failed to appear at Commission enforcement proceedings. Master Default Orders can be found on the RRC Hearings Division webpage.

Operators were ordered to come into compliance with Commission rules and assessed $74,459 for oil and gas, LP-Gas, or pipeline safety rule violations. Pipeline operators and excavators were assessed $308,250 for violations of the Commission’s Pipeline Damage Prevention rules. Master Agreed Orders can be found on the RRC General Counsel webpage.

In the absence of timely motions for rehearing, decisions are final as stated in these final orders.

Source: www.rrc.texas.gov

Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. (Shell Brasil) announced today a final investment decision taken by the Libra consortium, operated by Petrobras, to contract the Mero-4 floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel to be deployed at the Mero field in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil.

This is the fourth production system to be deployed in the Mero field. Final investment decisions were previously taken for the Mero 1, Mero 2, and Mero 3 FPSOs. Each unit has a daily operational capacity rate of 180,000 barrels of oil/day. The Pioneiro de Libra FPSO (50,000 barrels of oil/day) has been producing at Mero since 2017 and is a key source of information for the Libra consortium to aid further development and optimize the productivity of the field, reservoir, and wells.

“As a replication of previous FPSOs for the Brazilian pre-salt, Mero-4 is a testimony to the way the Libra Consortium partners are working together in an integrated way to streamline and make our processes more efficient,” said Wael Sawan, Upstream Director, Royal Dutch Shell. “We are proud to continue working alongside our partners to leverage our collective expertise to develop the country’s resources in a competitive and responsible manner.”

Shell’s Powering Progress strategy to thrive through the energy transition includes increasing investment in lower-carbon energy solutions while continuing to pursue the most energy-efficient and highest return Upstream investments. In addition to its operations in Brazil, Shell is also the leading operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Source: www.shell.com

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration collaborated with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to revise a handbook on workplace safety and health information for small business employers.

The Small Business Safety and Health Handbook highlights the benefits of implementing an effective safety and health program, provides self-inspection checklists for employers to identify workplace hazards, and reviews important workplace safety and health resources for small businesses.

“The revised Small Business Handbook is a valuable tool to help employers identify where to take action to make their workplaces safer and more healthful for their employees,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jim Frederick. “Safety has to be a continuous process that involves preventing injuries and illnesses, and saving lives.”

The handbook includes self-inspection checklists for various work processes in general industry workplaces, such as fire protection, hazard communication, permit-required confined spaces, respiratory protection, and walking-working surfaces. The checklists are not intended for construction or maritime industries.

“Small businesses face many unique challenges and providing a safe and healthy work environment shouldn’t be one of them,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “The updated Small Business Handbook is an easy-to-use tool to help keep your most valuable asset – your employees – safe and healthy on the job.”

A section of the handbook lists OSHA and NIOSH resources available to help employers recognize and correct safety and health hazards in their workplace, including the OSHA On-Site Consultation Program. The handbook also gives employers information on whistleblower protection laws, training through OSHA’s education centers, and professional occupational safety and health associations with local chapters that small businesses can join.

Source: www.osha.gov