Early week in the lege

This post is probably more for me than for you, but thought I’d post it in case you’re interested in what bills I think are interesting/controversial being heard the next couple of days:

Monday

8 a.m. House State Affairs:

HB 5042 Hayes
Relating to state preemption of and the effect of certain state health and safety laws on certain municipal and county regulations, including a law providing that an elephant is a dangerous wild animal. — I would love to hear the backstory on this one, allowing someone to sue a municipality if they are injured by an elephant?

9 a.m. Senate State Affairs:

SB 2595 Middleton
Relating to the creation of the criminal offense of harassing, intimidating, or threatening another person while concealing identity with a mask or other headgear.

SB 2876 Hughes
Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for participating in a riot while wearing a mask or other face covering.

SB 2753 Hall
Relating to the time, place, and manner of voting, including abolishing early and absentee voting, providing for a voting period, and establishing voting centers; reestablishing criminal offenses and authorization for certain fees. — I guess one of the Texas Republican party’s goals for this session is to eliminate early voting, which they say “sacrifices security for convenience.”

10:45 a.m. House Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs — Gird your loins, cowboys, it’s gun bill day.

HB 259 Hayes | et al.
Relating to the prohibition of short-barrel firearms. — Securing your right to own or sell a sawn-off shotgun. “This makes them easier to transport and conceal due to their smaller profile and lighter weight. The design also makes the weapon more portable when maneuvering in confined spaces” like, I dunno, school classrooms.

HB 1128 Isaac | et al.
Relating to the applicability to election judges of a prohibition on the carrying of a concealed handgun at a polling place.

HB 1506 Ashby
Relating to the issuance of a license to carry a handgun to certain retired county court judges.

HB 3053 Virdell | et al.
Relating to municipal and county firearm buyback programs. — This would ban cities and counties from hosting buyback programs.

HB 2470 Virdell | et al.
Relating to the age at which a person not otherwise prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a firearm may carry a handgun or is eligible for a license to carry a handgun. — This would lower the legal age to possess a firearm from 21 to 18.

2 p.m. House S/C on Family & Fiduciary Relationships

HB 732 Vasut
Relating to annulment of a marriage on the grounds of impotency. — Why did this even get a hearing? Houston-area Rep. Vasut’s bill to repeal a code that allows women to get an annulment on the grounds of impotency. Why. Why.

Tuesday

8 a.m. House Intergovernmental Affairs

HB 5356 Lujan
Relating to the authority of a municipality to regulate activities involving a horse-drawn carriage. — Another oddball bill that I’d love to hear more about. “A municipality may not adopt or enforce an ordinance, regulation, or other measure that prohibits or limits a person from engaging in an activity involving a horse-drawn carriage, regardless of whether the activity is for a business, educational, or entertainment purpose.”

Frankly, horse-drawn carriages suck and you suck if you rent one.

8 a.m. Culture, Recreation & Tourism

HB 4867 Vasut
Relating to the management of wildlife and exotic animals from aircraft; creating a criminal offense. — Allows you to manage the 30-50 feral hogs on your land with an armed drone? I guess?

8 a.m. Senate Committee on Business and Commerce

SB 383 Middleton
Relating to prohibiting interconnection of an offshore wind power facility. — Yet another bill hamstringing renewables, this time by Mayes Middleton, president of Middleton Oil Company.

1 p.m. Senate Health & Human Services

SB 623 Schwertner
Relating to the authority of a pharmacist to determine whether to administer a vaccine, including a COVID-19 vaccine. — Allowing a pharmacist to deny you the COVID vaccine because they’re RFK-pilled. This, again, would only hurt someone in a rural community because I tell you hwut, if I ever came across a pharmacist at my CVS on Washington Ave. that wouldn’t give me what their employer offers, I’d blow them up on social media so hard.

OK, BYE!