Pre-filed bills address variety of timely issues
Members of both parties in the Texas House of Representatives have been pre-filing bills for consideration before the legislative session begins on Jan. 8. The bills touch on a number of subjects ranging from firearms to elections and even Daylight Saving Time.
Firearms Legislation
HB 38, filed by Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg), would prohibit the manufacture, assembly or ownership of unmarked firearms (guns without an identifying mark such as a registration number).
HB 143, filed by Rep. Valoree Swanson (R-Spring), would authorize a state agency to provide temporary secure weapon storage for a building or portion of a building generally open to the public that is used by a state agency and in which carrying a weapon on the premises or part of the premises is a violation of the law or of the agency’s policy. The legislation would not apply to penal institutions or schools.
HB 349, filed by Rep. Cesar Blanco (D-El Paso), would make it illegal to intentionally or knowingly possess, manufacture, transport, repair or sell a part or combination of parts meant to increase the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but that does not convert the semiautomatic into a machine gun.
Cybersecurity
Blanco has filed two bills regarding cybersecurity. The first, HB 350, would require the state’s Cybersecurity Council to have one member who is an employee of the Elections Division of the Office of the Secretary of State. The second, HB 351, would add cyber attacks to the list of threats the state seeks to guard against, along with “natural or man-made catastrophes, riots, [or] hostile military or paramilitary action.”
Elections and Voting
Rep. Ramon Romero Jr. (D-Fort Worth) has filed bills relating to elections and voter registration. HB 22 would require a paper audit trail at the ballot box. The bill would prevent the use of direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines in elections unless the system is an auditable voting system, meaning there would be a paper record or a paper receipt allowing voters to make sure their votes will be counted properly. The bill is in line with an opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton approving of the use of DREs that provide some kind of paper trail. Another of Romero’s bills, HB 77, would allow any volunteer deputy voter registrar to serve as a registrar in any county in Texas.
HB 140, filed by Rep. Ina Minjarez (D-San Antonio), would authorize county voter registrars to automatically register any county resident who is eligible to vote through the Department of Public Safety during the issuance of a Texas driver’s license or personal identification card or changes to a Texas driver’s license or identification card.
Other Issues
School finance: Rep. Mary Gonzalez (D-El Paso) has filed a lengthy bill on school finance. The bill would require a review of weights, allotments and adjustments in current state school finance policy. The bill also would require a study of legislation affecting school finance at the end of each legislative session and, starting in the 2021-2022 school year, an increase in the basic allotments granted to school districts. The increase would be the greater of either 1 percent of the previous school year’s allotment or the amount resulting from the application of the inflation rate to the previous year’s allotment.
Taxation for surviving military spouses: Rep. Rick Miller (R-Sugar Land) has filed a bill that serves as a counterpart to one filed in the Senate by Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels). HB 275 would allow the surviving spouse of a member of the U.S. armed services killed or fatally injured in the line of duty to be exempt from taxation of the total appraised value of the surviving spouse’s residence homestead if the surviving spouse has not remarried since the death of the armed services member.
Protecting federal law enforcement officers: Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg) proposed HB 27, which would increase the criminal penalty for assault or aggravated assault of a federal law enforcement officer.
Daylight Saving Time: Rep. Lyle Larson (R-San Antonio) would exempt Texas from Daylight Saving Time. The bill would apply to the portions of Texas in both the Central and Mountain time zones and would take effect on Nov. 4, 2019, to coincide with the end of Daylight Saving Time.
Erin Zwiener, the new representative for Hays and Blanco counties in the Texas House, will be sworn into office in January.
