The Texas House of Representatives faces an impending deadline at midnight Tuesday. With a ticking clock, House members must vote to give initial approval to a number of bills originating in the Senate. At midnight, the House will no longer be able to forward these bills along, rendering them dead for the remainder of the session.
The House already faced such a deadline for bills authored by members of their own chamber and found that the deadline ended in heartbreak for many representatives.
Should they miss the deadline, these five bills will be without hope of passage in the 85th session.
1. Senate Bill 5 tackles the subject of voter identification in the state of Texas after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Texas' 2011 voter ID law had a discriminatory effect on minority voters. In April, a federal judge followed up that ruling with a second decision that the law also had a discriminatory intent.
SB 5 would change the more restrictive requirements for identification that were ruled against to allow voters to use expired identification for up to two years and affidavits that state a voter has a reasonable impediment to using photo identification. The bill would also create mobile voter registration units for use throughout the state to register hard-to-reach populations such as the elderly.
The bill was passed by the Senate in late March and was placed on the emergency calendar by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday. Without the passage of this bill, there is some fear that Texas will be placed on the list of states that must get a federal stamp of approval before changing election laws. On June 7, Texas will return to the courtroom of the federal judge who issued the second decision and undergo a status conference to review where the state stands on voter rights.
2. Senate Bill 1929 seeks to address the issue of maternal mortality and morbidity within Texas. The bill requires the Health and Human Services Commission to evaluate different solutions for the problem of maternal mortality. The commission would be required to submit an annual report to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House and Legislative Budget Board summarizing its actions.
The commission would also be required to apply for federal money to fund the treatment of postpartum depression, one of the causes of maternal mortality. The bill also extends the life of the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force from Sept. 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2023.
3. Senate Bill 195 allows a public school district or county to apply for additional transportation funding for children living within 2 miles of campus who are at risk of violence by walking to school.
These areas can be established by law-enforcement agencies who report a high volume of violent crimes in the area. The funds could be used for walking transportation programs or vehicular transportation.
4. Senate Bill 26, heralded as one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's 30 priority bills, would renew and expand the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan. The TERP is the state's plan to lower ozone emissions and keep the state compliant with the federal Clean Air Act. The bill amends a number of elements within the Health and Safety Code, Tax Code and Transportation Code.
5. Senate Bill 2 would address rising property taxes throughout the state. The Senate passed a version of the bill that would hold property tax revenue growth to 5 percent, and raising tax rates over that threshold would automatically require an election. In the House's initial version, this revenue growth would be kept to inflation plus 6 percent before triggering an election.
This bill struggled to find a path through the House and barely made it out of a House committee hearing after a point of order remanded it back to the committee. Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, revived the idea behind property tax legislation by tacking on a property tax provision to Senate Bill 669.
The provision requires local governments to notify the public of a "no-new-revenue" rate, which would allow property tax revenue to grow by inflation but no more. The bill would require the governments to show this as a comparison to the proposed tax rate so taxpayers could take action before the proposed rate is approved.
Without any further action by the House, which is unlikely given that SB 2 has not been placed on the calendar for the final day of consideration, SB 2 will die in that form. SB 669 was passed out of the House Saturday in a unanimous vote.
The next deadline the House faces comes Wednesday when the House must approve all remaining Senate bills or resolutions on third reading.
