Governor Greg Abbott today held a press conference in Austin where he announced several key components of the State of Texas’ plan to build a border wall. The press conference follows the Governor’s Border Security Summit last week in Del Rio, which brought together law enforcement, city and county officials, and landowners to discuss strategies to secure the border and keep communities safe.

The Governor was joined by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan, Senate Finance and House Appropriations Chairs Jane Nelson and Greg Bonnen, and members of the legislature.

“The Biden Administration has abandoned its responsibilities to secure the border and Texans are suffering as a result,” said Governor Abbott. “The problems along the border are only getting worse due to President Biden’s inaction. Property is being destroyed, deadly drugs and illegal weapons are being smuggled into communities throughout the state, law enforcement is having to redirect their resources, and county judges and mayors are facing skyrocketing expenses. Texas is doing more than any state has ever done to protect the border, but it is clear that more is needed. In the Biden Administration’s absence, Texas is stepping up to get the job done by building the border wall. Through this comprehensive public safety effort, we will secure the border, slow the influx of unlawful immigrants, and restore order in our border communities.”

During the press conference, the Governor signed a letter to the Texas Facilities Commission directing them to hire a project manager to oversee construction of the Texas border wall. This program manager will lead the process of planning and executing the project, and will hire the contractors and subcontractors needed to build the wall. Once hired, the program manager and contractors will identify state land and land that private landowners and local governments can volunteer for the wall.

Additionally, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor Patrick, Speaker Phelan, and Senator Nelson, and Representative Bonnen signed a letter during the press conference authorizing the transfer for $250 million as a down payment to launch the construction of the border wall and hire a program manager and contractors. Governor Abbott also noted that the state budget allocates 1.1 billion dollars towards border security — a record for the State of Texas.

The Governor also signed a letter to President Joe Biden demanding the immediate return of any land taken by the federal government to build the border wall. Once returned, Texas will talk to those property owners about the possibility of Texas using that land to build the wall.

Governor Abbott also announced a donation page, www.borderwall.texas.gov, where anyone can voluntarily donate to the construction of the border wall. The fund will be maintained by the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

Source: gov.texas.gov

Governor Greg Abbott has named Robert C. Pate to serve as the chairman of the Texas Racing Commission. The commission oversees pari-mutuel wagering on horse and greyhound racing.

Robert C. Pate of Corpus Christi is an attorney and former judge of the 28th Judicial District Court and the 148th Judicial District Court in Nueces County. In addition to his law license and membership in the State Bar of Texas, he is also a licensed Certified Public Accountant. Governor Abbott first appointed Pate to the Texas Racing Commission in April 2019. Pate received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Professional Accounting in taxation from The University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor degree from Southern Methodist University.

Source: gov.texas.gov

Texans can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1, after Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed the permitless carry bill into law.

House Bill 1927 eliminates the requirement for Texas residents to obtain a license to carry handguns if they’re not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun. The signing was reported by the Texas Legislature’s official website, which tracks the progress of legislation. Abbott’s office has announced a ceremonial signing of the bill and other gun-related legislation at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Abbott’s signature seals a win to conservative activists who have long sought the measure without success. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and other Republicans who were initially noncommittal about the bill were under immense political pressure this session from conservatives and gun rights advocates, who have long lobbied the Texas Legislature for permitless carry but historically struggled to win support.

Before approving the bill, the Senate tacked on several amendments to address concerns by law enforcement groups that opposed permitless carry, worried it would endanger officers and make it easier for criminals to get guns.

The compromise lawmakers reached behind closed doors kept intact a number of changes the Senate made to the House bill, including striking a provision that would have barred officers from questioning people based only on their possession of a handgun.

The deal also preserves a Senate amendment enhancing the criminal penalties for felons and family violence offenders caught carrying. Among other Senate changes that made it into the law was a requirement that the Texas Department of Public Safety offers a free online course on gun safety.

Proponents of what Republicans call “constitutional carry” argued that Texas should follow the lead of at least 20 other states with similar laws on the books. Meanwhile, gun control advocates are disappointed the Legislature made it easier to carry firearms after repeated instances of gun violence — including the 2019 massacres in El Paso and Midland Odessa that left 30 people dead.

“The permitless carry bill will cause more violence and loss,” said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, in a statement Wednesday. “Despite overwhelming support for common-sense gun violence prevention legislation like universal background checks, Texas Republicans, led by a cowardly governor, are more interested in groveling for the gun lobby’s attention than they are in preventing gun violence and honoring victims and survivors in El Paso and across Texas.”

A solid majority of Texas voters don’t think permitless carry should be allowed, according to an April University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Before the permitless carry law was signed, Texans generally needed to be licensed to carry handguns openly or concealed. Applicants had to submit fingerprints, complete four to six hours of training, and pass a written exam and a shooting proficiency test. Texas does not require a license to openly carry a rifle in public.

The permitless carry movement saw a breakthrough in April when the House passed HB 1927. Patrick initially said the Senate did not have the votes for permitless carry, but he created a new committee, referred HB 1927 to it, and got it to the floor, where it passed in early May.

Some Democrats and state lawmakers from El Paso have denounced the bill, which came during the first legislative session since the 2019 massacres. Abbott and Patrick softened their tones on gun control after those shootings but have been quiet on the issue since.

In 2019, Abbott swore to do “everything we can to make sure a crime like this doesn’t happen again,” raising concerns about state laws allowing private gun sales between strangers without background checks. Patrick went so far as to say he was “willing to take an arrow” from the gun lobby in order to pursue the change.

But this legislative session, Texas Republicans moved in the opposite direction, pushing to loosen gun laws and vowing to defy any new federal gun rules. Laying out his policy priorities in February, Abbott made no mention of either shooting. He said Texas must become a “Second Amendment sanctuary state.”

“We need to erect a complete barrier against any government official anywhere from treading on gun rights in Texas,” Abbott said during his speech.

Of the dozens of gun safety bills lawmakers filed to codify state leaders’ 2019 calls for action, few have advanced.

Source: www.click2houston.com

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday pointed to Texas Republicans’ push for sweeping new voting restrictions as a key illustration of the need to restore federal oversight of elections.

While meeting at the White House with a group of Democratic members of the Texas Legislature, Harris pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling to nullify the lynchpin of the landmark Voting Rights Act that kept states like Texas under “preclearance” of its voting laws to safeguard the rights of voters of color — a measure Democrats are hoping to bring back with new federal legislation.

“We have seen exactly what we feared when that case came down in 2013. Because that case was an opening of a door to allow states to do what otherwise we have protected against, which is states putting in place laws that are designed, in many cases quite intentionally, to make it difficult for people to vote,” Harris said. “And so this is what we’ve seen over and over again, and what’s happening right now in Texas is, of course, a very clear and current example of that.”

Harris’ remarks came at the start of a meeting with 16 Democratic members of the Texas Legislature. The vice president, who is leading the Biden administration’s voting rights efforts, invited the lawmakers to the White House after state representatives in May staged an 11th hour walk out of the state Capitol to break quorum and prevent a final vote on what is considered one of the most restrictive GOP-backed state voting bills following the 2020 election. On Wednesday, Harris called the Democrats “courageous leaders” and “American patriots.”

The bill Democrats defeated, Senate Bill 7, would have brought sweeping changes to Texas elections by restricting voting hours, narrowing local officials’ control of elections, further tightening the rules for voting by mail, and bolstering access for partisan poll watchers, among several other provisions.

It is just one of a series of Republican-backed bills that have been proposed in state legislatures across the country following the 2020 election during which former President Donald Trump pushed false and baseless claims of voter fraud. In Texas, Republicans have defended SB 7 as an “election integrity” measure meant to combat fraudulent votes, even though there is no evidence of widespread fraud.

In a series of meetings with U.S. senators and congressional leaders, Democrats have been using the trip — and the national attention their quorum break garnered — to push for a pair of federal bills that could preempt portions of the Texas legislation they temporarily prevented from becoming law and restore expansive protections for voters of color. With Republicans in full control of the Legislature, Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to call lawmakers back this summer for a special legislative session to pass the bill into law.

The far-reaching federal For the People Act would overhaul elections, requiring states like Texas to offer automatic and same-day voter registration. Under the law, Texas would also have to drop its tight eligibility requirements for voting by mail, among several other changes to state law. The more narrowly tailored John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act could place Texas back under federal oversight so its election laws could not go into effect before the federal government ensured they wouldn’t undermine the voting rights of people of color.

Under preclearance, various sets of political maps and voting restrictions were placed on hold with federal courts repeatedly finding Texas lawmakers intentionally discriminated against voters of color in drawing them up.

“The many Democratic legislators here today in Washington, D.C. are the latest in a long line of Texans who have come to our nation’s capital to fight for election access and equality and to ask for federal oversight in order to protect the right to vote,” state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, said in a statement after the meeting. “Two weeks ago, in our state Capitol, Texas House and Senate Democrats stood united to stop a harmful voter suppression measure from becoming law. We’ve done our part. Now, we need Congress to do theirs.”

While several Texas Democrats expressed hope this week that their trip to Washington moved the ball forward in passing the legislation, it remains to be seen whether their efforts will do anything to break the stranglehold Republicans have on moving the Democratic agenda.

While the For the People Act has passed the House, it is short Democratic votes in the U.S. Senate. Both pieces of legislation also face a Senate procedural hurdle known as the filibuster, which sets a 60-vote threshold to bring the legislation up for a vote. Democrats have been unable to overcome that requirement, and two Democratic senators — U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — remain as holdouts to eliminating the filibuster.

“We know we have a great challenge in front of us and therefore a fight, which is to fight for every American’s right,” Harris said on Wednesday, flanked by Thompson and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin in the Roosevelt Room.

Texas U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz both oppose the legislation, criticizing the Democratic push behind them as an effort to diminish the state’s control of elections.

“The theme that came out of it is that we need to continue to build a broad-based coalition and really let Americans of all stripes understand the precarious nature of our democracy and the importance of our right to vote,” said state Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Source: www.click2houston.com