This week, legislators elected to the upcoming 89th Legislative Session in Texas started filing bills to be considered once the session begins on January 14th.
There are already several bills that address our organization’s major Legislative Priorities. There were over 1,000 bills filed between the Texas House and Texas Senate, but here are some that stood out to us:
- HB 354 (Cain) and SB 135 (Hall) Border Protection Unit/Texas Division of Homeland Security
- SB 324 (Kolkhorst) Mandatory E-Verify for All Employers
- HB 160 (Leo-Wilson) Ending In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens
- SB 307 (Kolkhorst, Bettencourt, Hall, Middleton) and HB 402 (Cain) Protecting Texas Land
- SB 216 (Creighton) Eminent Domain Authority for Border Wall Construction
- HB 371 (Bumgarner) Requiring Federal Government to pay for Illegal Aliens in public schools rather than the State of Texas
We will be providing a more comprehensive list of filed bills and our analysis, as well as our list of 89th Session Legislative Priorities in the near future.
The success or failure of these bills is likely to be contingent on the outcome of the election for Speaker of the Texas House. The House GOP Caucus will meet next month to elect their candidate for speaker. Currently, David Cook, who gained pledges of support from a majority of the caucus, is the favorite, but Speaker Dade Phelan’s team has insisted that they already have the votes. This raises significant questions since these votes would presumably have to come from Democrats.
This week, President Trump began to reveal his nominees for various positions in his cabinet. Most notable to border security are former ICE Director Tom Homan for the position of Border Czar and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for Secretary of Homeland Security.
The pick of Tom Homan was widely lauded by border security advocates and experts, but some concerns have been raised about Kristi Noem.
Noem has sent South Dakota troops to Texas to assist with Operation Lone Star, but as Governor she opted into a refugee resettlement program during the Trump administration and is also very close to various business lobbies that have resisted efforts to crack down on illegal labor and restrict work visas that depress the wages of American workers.
We will be monitoring the situation closely. Other picks within DHS will be key in determining the success of Trump’s promised mass deportations of illegal aliens, especially the Chief Operation Officer of U.S. Customs and Immigration Services, Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
We are beginning to put together our slate of events for the Spring.
If you have a group who would like us to give a presentation, please reach out. We speak to groups all over the state in order to educate Texans just like you and empower them to hold our elected officials accountable.