Suing doctors, tax-free guns and a commission to find more boobs in libraries
It's all very bleak!
Our friend Mayes Middleton is back with some bangers today.
First, he is proposing a tax-free weekend on guns and ammo (SB755.) It pairs nicely with our with our tax-free weekends on disaster and school supplies.
Second, with SB753, he is proposing an amendment to Texas’ SB14, which already prohibits health care workers from providing certain transition-related medical treatments to people younger than 18, to making it a felony for Texas doctors to even refer patients to doctors in other states for care.
These laws are having a very real chilling effect on healthcare in Texas because doctors are afraid to practice here. In a Texas Tribune article out today, one of only TWO pediatric endocrinologists in El Paso County is being sued by Ken Paxton for prescribing puberty blockers and hormones to minors. The doctor says when SB14 went into effect, he stopped providing transgender care to minors. But there is still a medical need for puberty blockers in children when they start puberty too early. So Paxton is suing a doctor for providing appropriate care, putting these children’s health in danger.
Pediatric endocrinologists treat a wide variety of hormonal conditions, including diabetes, thyroid disorders, pituitary gland disorders and growth deficiencies. Some of Granados’ youngest patients in El Paso have been preterm newborns with hypothyroidism, which, if not treated immediately, can delay growth and brain development.
Several mothers who take their children to Granados for Type 1 diabetes told El Paso Matters they’re anxious about how this lawsuit could affect their future care — and whether they would have to travel out of town for a doctor should he be forced to stop practicing.
This week, the Texas Medical Board’s director Robert Bredt was forced to resign because Reps Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) and Briscoe Cain (R-Clown Town) found out Bredt was also a medical director for Planned Parenthood South Texas, which, as you are all aware, provides necessary medical care services, and took to Twitter to create a shitstorm:
As Harrison’s post made the rounds around New Year’s Eve, he escalated his campaign by writing that he’d instructed his staff to call the Texas Medical Board every day until Bredt was gone and said he’d tweet about it every day as well. On Jan. 2, Harrison also threatened to draft a bill to cut off funding to the board until Bredt was removed. A couple days later, he circulated an online petition that doubled as a political ad.
Why would you want to provide care here when this is how you’re treated?
Finally today, let’s look at HB1805 filed by Tom Oliverson of Cypress: relating to the creation of the Religious Freedom Commission.
“The commission shall: (1) advance the right to freedom of religion within this state, denounce violations of that right, and recommend appropriate responses by the legislature to the violations; (2) identify system-level challenges and solutions relating to religious liberty for all faith communities; (3) serve as a principal advisor to the governor regarding matters affecting religious freedom within this state; (4) make recommendations regarding: (A) local and state policies that violate freedom of religion or that fail to ensure the individual's right to religious belief and practice; (B) policies that advance the right to freedom of religion in this state; and (C) strategies to address and prevent faith-related bias incidents; and (5) engage in education, advocacy, and outreach efforts to promote understanding and awareness of the importance of religious liberty.”
This will just be another way for the lege to harass school boards, libraries, doctors, etc. etc. etc. Meanwhile, the state will continue to fall apart and rank last in every quality-of-life metric while these dunderheads sit around in their committee rooms getting mad about a picture of a boob one of them found in a library.
In news of Houstonians who get shit done, MY state senator, Molly Cook, is out here trying to actually fix things:
She has authored SB270: relating to a study of the costs and benefits of burying distribution power lines in certain metropolitan areas. SB271, which would prioritize outage repairs for vulnerable people who have to use elevators to access or exit their home (nursing homes, etc.) And SB272, which would apply more scrutiny to utility resilience plans (“the extent to which the plan is expected to enhance service reliability for vulnerable customers, including elderly persons and persons with a disability.”)
Again, these are completely sensible bills that most Texans would agree are necessary after the few years we’ve had, but because they are authored by Democrats, they probably won’t even be discussed.
Meanwhile, Briscoe Cain is shitting on the extremely controversial plan to, uh, mandate backup power for nursing home and assisted living facilities in Harris County:
Sorry, grandma, we simply can’t afford to insure that you’ll survive the next hurricane/freeze/drought/locust onslaught because we believe in small government.
Sigh. I need to touch grass before my veins explode. Bye.
