As the legislative session ramps up, our very own Kevin Hale, has a busy week ahead of him making sure LPTexas' Platform and legislative priorities are well represented at the capitol.

 

As the legislative session ramps up, our very own Legislative Coordinator, Kevin Hale, has a busy week ahead of him. 

Monday: Legislative Action Day #2

Our members are convening for the second Legislative Action Day, with a primary focus on education-related legislation. They will be meeting with the Public Education Committee to discuss HB 3 and attending the meeting of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee in preparation of the Defend the Guard legislation.

Tuesday: Public Education Committee Meeting

LPTexas will be represented at the House Public Education Committee meeting to speak on HB 3. Our testimony will emphasize the values embodied in the LPTexas Platform that support preserving parental rights and school choice in a free market. By speaking on HB 3, we aim to promote a more diverse and competitive educational landscape in Texas, pointing out the downfalls of HB 3 where it continues to tie school funding to property taxes and only allows for the Education Savings Account to be used for state approved schools/curricula. The creators of this bill are headed in the right direction, and we intend to use this opportunity to push the Overton window further in the right direction.

Wednesday: Civil Jurisprudence & Government Efficiency

Kevin will be attending the Civil Jurisprudence and Delivery of Government Efficiency committee meetings on Wednesday without testimony, but with an eye toward collaboration with other organizations with focus on these issues.

Thursday: Elections Committee Meeting

Our focus will shift Thursday to election integrity and transparency as we participate in the Elections Committee meeting. We intend to voice our opposition to HB 496, which proposes a ballot option to not vote for any candidate, unless it is amended to include the undervote ballots among those determining the threshold for a candidate to win

Conversely, we will express our support for HB 657, which seeks to enhance transparency by requiring counties to post election information on their .gov or .texas.gov websites, as it aligns with our commitment to open government and informed citizenry. We also back HB 952, which mandates that each early voting ballot voted by mail include a unique code. This provision aims to bolster the security and integrity of mail-in voting, ensuring that each ballot is accounted for accurately.

Looking ahead

If you missed this Legislative Action Day, and would like to join us in the future, you can find the rest of our scheduled events on the LPTexas Events Calendar. Our next LAD will be April 7 where we will be focusing on bills relating to criminal justice reform. We will also be making calls to action throughout the session as hearings are scheduled, asking people to join us at the capitol, contact their legislators, and make noise in support or opposition to bills we can make a difference on. To make sure you don't miss out on those calls to action, you can sign up here. And as always, you can support our work at the Capitol by donation to the Legislative Action Fund. All donations made to this special project will ONLY be spent supporting LPTexas' legislative efforts, representing Libertarianism at the capitol and making this the most impactful legislative session we've seen to date.