Sine Die Report on Priority Bills in the 87th Legislative Session

Educate: Throughout the 2021 session, we educated and mobilized the laity to take an active role in supporting the bishops’ agenda despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the normal legislative process. Specifically, we published weekly Texas Catholic Voice (TCV) newsletters—available here—relating to issues on our legislative agenda explaining the TCCB position and inviting readers to contact their legislators. Our website engaged approximately 15,000 users during legislative session from January to May.

Mobilize: For a second legislative session, we provided an online tool to make it easy for Catholics to contact their legislator via the One Click Politics (OCP) tool. We included OCP campaigns in the TCV newsletter and sent out action alerts to the Texas Catholic network and our coalition partners. These campaigns addressed a variety of issues, including emergency disaster unemployment assistance, support for faith-based non-profits, “Second Look” criminal justice reform, Texas Advance Directives Act reform that respects patients’ rights and the conscience rights of providers, gun safety, homeschool UIL access, payday lending consumer protections, and pro-life legislation such as the Human Life Protection Act and regulation of chemical abortion.

We facilitated 11,064 contacts between legislators and Catholics using this tool.

Advocate: The legislative process is actually designed in a manner to make it difficult to pass bills. This session, 6,930 bills were filed and 1,161 (17%) became law as of June 21, 2021. We publicly registered support for 210 bills, of which 65 (31%) became law. Of the 20 bills we opposed, 19 (95%) failed to pass. The only bill that passed that we opposed was HB 1927, the permitless carry bill. A summary of notable 2021 wins and losses by topic is below.

(The total bills filed in the legislature includes companion bills, which are identical bills filed in both chambers, while the TCCB list excludes companions.)

Life and Family

Win: HB 1280/SB 9/ SB 391: This "trigger ban" bill allows Texas to prohibit abortion if the United States Supreme Court overturns, in whole or in part, Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey. This bill passed.

Win: HB 103/SB 958: This bill establishes the Texas Active Shooter Alert System by the Department of Public Safety to be activated on report of an active shooter. This bill passed.

Win: HB 567/ SB 190: This bill raises the standards for termination of parental rights for neglect from children being "at risk" to children being in "immediate danger.” This bill passed.

Win: HB 725: This bill expands eligibility for free public pre-K programs to children who have ever been in foster care in another state. This bill passed.

Win: HB 892/ HB 2897/ SB 25/ SB 267: This bill establishes the right of residents in nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and state supported living centers to essential caregiver visitation. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1307/SB 806: This bill requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to ensure that an appropriate health care professional promptly orders health and mental health care services for an inmate after a report of miscarriage or sexual assault. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3041/SB 1576: This bill requires the establishment of a pilot program for family preservation services via a rural and an urban pilot program. This bill passed.

Win: HB 4477: This bill addresses financial exploitation of certain vulnerable adults receiving protective services. This bill passed.

Win: HJR 46/SJR 19: This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment establishing a right for residents of certain facilities to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visitation. This resolution passed.

Win: SB 8/ HB 1515: This bill prohibits a physician from performing an abortion on a pregnant woman if the physician detects a fetal heartbeat. This bill passed.

Win: SB 313/HB 524: This bill allows a sales and use tax exemption for firearm safety equipment such as a gun safe, barrel lock, trigger lock, or another item designed to ensure the safe handling or storage of a firearm. This bill passed.

Win: SB 910: This bill requires the development of a comprehensive list of options for how to implement coordinated community-based family preservation services. This bill passed.

Progress: HB 576/ HB 1319/ SB 185: This bill requires a final order in certain suits affecting the parent-child relationship to render an order within 90 days after the trial commences. The Senate refused to concur in the House amendments.

Progress: HB 1171: This bill would allow a court to appoint an attorney ad litem to represent an unborn child during a proceeding under judicial bypass procedures for an abortion on a pregnant minor. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress:  HB 1173/SB 650: This bill prohibits governmental entities from funding any logistical support for assisting a woman with procurement of an abortion. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 1291/SB 573: This bill requires notice of the right to object to participation in an abortion procedure for health care personnel of a hospital or health care facility. This bill was voted from committee but did not get set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 1424: This bill broadens the current right to object to participation in an abortion by a physician, nurse, staff member, or employee of a hospital or other health care facility. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 1854: This bill requires benefit plans that provide a death benefit and health benefit plans to cover the cost of disposition of embryonic and fetal tissue remains with a post-fertilization age of 20 weeks or more. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 2337/SB 394: This bill aligns Texas statutes with the current FDA prescribing rules on chemical abortion to carefully evaluate and mitigate potential risk to women. The House bill was voted from committee but was not set on House Calendars. The Senate companion passed out of that chamber and the House committee but died after not being set on the calendar.

Progress: HB 2676/SB 1558: This bill allows an unborn child's parent to request a life certificate for the unborn child before birth. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 3218/SB 1173: This bill requires the development of and provision to pregnant women informational materials and a list of perinatal palliative care providers. The House bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar. The Senate bill passed from that chamber and the House committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 3691: This bill requires the implementation of community-based foster care via services provided by community-based nonprofits or local governmental entities. This bill passed the House but died on the Senate Intent Calendar.

Progress: HB 3815: This bill provides services to foster youth transitioning to independent living. The bill was voted from committee but did not get set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 4055: This bill would not require a report by a healthcare professional of a pregnant woman who voluntarily discloses illegal use of a controlled substance if the woman successfully completes a substance abuse treatment program, or if the professional determines there is not an immediate risk of harm to the child. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate committee.

Progress: HB 4259: This bill requires the provision of information regarding firearm violence and suicide prevention. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 4527: This bill requires training for peace officers on the laws pertaining to forced abortions. This bill was voted from committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HCR 2: This resolution declares pornography a public health hazard; and recognizes the need for education, prevention, research, and policy changes to address the harmful influence and consequences of pornography. This resolution was voted from committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: SB 29: This bill would require interscholastic athletic participation to be based on the biological sex as determined at a student's birth and correctly stated on the student's official birth certificate. This bill passed the Senate and House committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: SB 734: This bill provides for a property tax exemption for property owned by a charitable organization that provides services related to the placement of a child in a foster or adoptive home. This bill passed the Senate chamber and House committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: SB 1084/HB 2632: This bill relates to the Preparation for Adult Living Program and other services for foster children transitioning to independent living. This bill passed the Senate but died in the House Human Services Committee.

Progress: SB 1146: This bill establishes monthly reporting requirements for abortions performed outside an abortion facility. This bill passed the Senate but died in the House Public Health Committee.

Progress: SB 1646/HB 4014: This bill would add to the definition of child abuse conduct that includes administering or supplying of a puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child, other than an inter-sex child, for the purpose of gender transitioning or gender reassignment. This bill passed the Senate but died in the House Public Health Committee.

Loss: HB 52/HB 245/HB 760/ HB 1765: This bill makes it an offense for a person to sell a firearm at a gun show without conducting a criminal background check and/or maintaining a record of sale. This bill died in the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee.

Loss: HB 683: This bill changes the age from under 60 days to under one year by which a designated emergency infant care provider shall, without a court order, take possession of a child if the child is voluntarily delivered to the provider by the child’s parent and the parent did not express an intent to return for the child. This bill died in the House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee.

Loss: HB 1334: This bill increases from two months to three months at which age emergency infant care providers may take possession of an infant voluntarily delivered to the provider without a court order when the parent does not express an intent to return for the child. This bill died in the House Human Services Committee.

Loss: HB 1343: This bill allows a parent to request a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth for a baby that has died prior to 20 weeks. This bill died in the House Public Health Committee.

Loss: HB 1843/SB 443: This bill improves the "Baby Moses" law to allow additional ways for parents to place their infant with an emergency infant care provider. This bill died in the House Human Services and Senate Health and Human Services committees.

Loss: HB 1927: This bill would allow for the permitless carry of firearms in Texas. We opposed this bill, and it passed.

Loss: HB 3190: This bill establishes a six-month waiting period for no-fault divorce in marriages with minor or school age children or disabled adult children. This bill died in the House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee.

Immigration

Loss: HB 182:  This bill would repeal 85 RS SB 4, passed in 2017, which was an "anti-sanctuary cities" law that required compliance with ICE detainers, preempted local law enforcement policies, and denied state grant funds to cities who prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies. This bill died in the House State Affairs Committee.

Loss: HB 1236/SB 92: This bill would repeal 85 RS SB 4, passed in 2017, which was an "anti-sanctuary cities" law that required compliance with ICE detainers, preempted local law enforcement policies, and denied state grant funds to cities who prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies. This bill died in the House State Affairs and Senate State Affairs committees.

Restorative Justice

Win: HB 39/HB 453/HB 3466/ SB 47: This bill allows certain persons (e.g., victim of trafficking or indecency, adult acting on behalf of victim) to file an application for a protective order.

Win: HB 80: This bill requires judges to allow indigent defendants, children in foster care, homeless children, and unaccompanied children (UAC) to pay fees and fines through community service. This bill passed.

Win: HB 295: This bill funds indigent defense services. This bill passed.

Win: HB 385: This bill amends the process by which a defendant could reduce or terminate their period of community supervision. This bill passed.

Win: HB 402: This bill requires certain funds derived from criminal asset forfeiture to provide services to domestic victims of trafficking. This bill passed.

Win: HB 454/SB 1100: This bill would allow counties to establish a drug court program to treat substance abuse by parents of juveniles who have entered the juvenile justice system and thereby help them stop using drugs. This bill passed.

Win: HB 569/SB 192: This bill requires a justice or judge, when imposing a fine and costs in a case involving a fine-only misdemeanor, to credit the defendant for any time the defendant was in jail or prison while serving a sentence for another offense. This bill passed.

Win: HB 721: This bill requires notice to a victim, guardian of a victim, or close relative of a deceased victim that the inmate is eligible for release to mandatory supervision. This bill passed.

Win: HB 757: This bill prohibits an offense for which a defendant received a discharge to be grounds for denying or terminating housing or employment, or denying the issuance of, suspending, or revoking a professional or occupational license. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1664: This bill requires the reinstatement of eligibility for medical assistance of certain children placed in juvenile facilities. This bill passed.

Win: HB 2352: This bill supports educational and vocational training pilot program for certain state jail felony defendants and certain inmates released on parole. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3157: This bill prohibits violating the civil rights of and improper sexual activity with persons in custody. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3185/SB 957: This bill would allow certain crime victims to receive one-time assistance payments for relocation and housing rental expenses necessary to protect their health and safety. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3606: This bill requires the provision of vocational training to inmates confined in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice transfer facility. This bill passed.

Win: SB 280: This bill would expand the duties of the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs Committee and affect how members are selected. This bill passed.

Progress: HB 77: This bill removes the use the of death penalty for defendants who are found guilty in a capital felony if the finding of guilt is based solely on the testimony of a single eyewitness without any corroborating evidence. This bill was voted from committee but did not get set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 140: This bill prohibits the sentence of death on a defendant who, at the time of the commission of a capital offense, was a person with severe mental illness. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate after not getting assigned to a committee.

Progress: HB 187/SB 1866: This bill allows courts to reconsider the merits or grant relief on a motion for habeas corpus on subsequent application if certain conditions are met, including when the attorney representing the state consents in writing. This bill was voted from the House but died in the Senate committee.

Progress: HB 193: This bill requires that a juvenile court destroy court records of victims of sex trafficking, except those records maintained for statistical and research purposes by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. This bill passed the House chamber and Senate committee but died after being withdrawn from the Senate Calendar.

Progress: HB 217/SB 1884: This bill strengthens the procedures around a postconviction motion for forensic DNA testing. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Progress: HB 225/ SB 1004: This bill allows a court to grant a convicted person relief on an application for a writ of habeas corpus based on certain new evidence that was previously unavailable. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Progress: HB 252: This bill removes directives that require judges and attorneys to lie to jurors about the level of unanimity required for a death sentence. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Jurisprudence Committee.

Progress: HB 275: This bill allows a court to grant a convicted person relief on an application for writ of habeas corpus based on scientific evidence, had it been presented at trial, the person would not have been convicted or would have received a different punishment. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Progress: HB 487/ SB 85: This bill changes the age at which a juvenile court may exercise jurisdiction over a child from 10 to 12. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: Loss: HB 488: This bill prohibits the use of a mechanical or physical restraint on a child during judicial processing. This bill was voted from House committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 686/ SB 687: This bill changes parole eligibility for inmates convicted of an offense when they were younger than 18 years. This bill passed but was vetoed by the Governor because he said it could conflict with jury instructions required by the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure and would cause disparate results in parole eligibility for juvenile offenders. He stated that he looks forward to working with the House author of the bill to accomplish the goals of this bill in the future by addressing concerns.

Progress: HB 688: This bill eliminates the law of parties for capital murder so that one individual in a group of offenders cannot be charged with murder committed by another member of the group. This bill passed from committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 859: This bill requires the expunction of all records and files related to a person's custodial or noncustodial arrest for a misdemeanor offense that has been decriminalized after the date of the commission of the offense. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Jurisprudence Committee.

Progress: HB 869: This bill prohibits a defendant who is a person with an intellectual disability from being sentenced to death. This bill was voted from committee but did not get set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 967: This bill raises the age of criminal responsibility for various crimes to 18. This bill was voted from committee but did not get set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 1293/SB 698: This bill allows for a new trial on motion if the parties agree (written consent of the district attorney or criminal district attorney and defendant). This bill passed the House but was not assigned a committee in the Senate.

Progress: HB 1340: This bill eliminates the law of parties for the death penalty, preventing the execution of a person who did not personally commit a murder. This bill was voted from the House but died in the Senate Jurisprudence Committee.

Progress: HB 1783: This bill would raise the age from 10 years to 13 years for which a juvenile court may exercise jurisdiction over a child and the minimum age of criminal responsibility. This bill passed the House but was not assigned a committee in the Senate.

Progress: HB 2742: This bill adds certain requirements to reentry and reintegration programs provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. This bill passed the House but was not assigned a committee in the Senate.

Progress: HB 3315: This bill requires the creation of a pretrial intervention program for certain youth offenders. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Progress: HB 3660/SB 512: This bill would require that a child be diverted from formal criminal prosecution if accused of certain fine-only offenses (e.g., Class C misdemeanor other than a traffic offense) through a youth diversion plan. This bill passed the House and Senate committee but died on the Senate Calendar.

Loss: HB 277: This bill strengthens the requirements that counsel be provided to indigent defendants in a criminal matter at the initiation of adversarial judicial proceedings. This bill died in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

Loss: HB 486/ HB 1273: This bill raises the age of criminal responsibility from 17 to 18 in various state statutes. This bill died in the House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee.

Loss: HB 841/SB 685: This bill amends procedures for hearings by the Board of Pardons and Paroles regarding clemency matters. This bill died in the House Corrections and Senate Criminal Justice committees.

Loss: HB 1177: This bill would prohibit the imposition of court costs and filing, reimbursement, or other fees for certain indigent defendants and plaintiffs. This bill died in the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee.

Loss: HB 1430/SB 1552: This bill amends the age at which a juvenile court may exercise jurisdiction over a child from 10 to 12 and from 17 to 18 in various sections of state statute. This bill died in the House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues and Senate Jurisprudence committees.

Loss: HB 1894: This bill requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles to review cases of certain felony offenders to recommend to the governor for clemency. This bill died in the House Corrections Committee.

Loss: HB 2190: This bill creates a pretrial intervention program for certain state jail felony offenders. This bill died in the House Corrections Committee.

Loss: HB 2386: This bill allows for the disclosure of certain identifying information of entities involved in the procedures and substances used in the execution of a convict. This bill died in the House Corrections Committee.

Loss: HB 3392: This bill allows a court to grant a commutation of punishment to certain individuals serving a term of imprisonment. This bill died in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

Loss: HB 4371: This bill would raise the age to 13 and 18 from 10 and 17, respectively. It would make conforming changes in other parts of the statute that effectuate that change. This bill died in the House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee.

Loss: HJR 135: This resolution allows the legislature to provide for a court to grant a commutation of punishment to certain individuals serving a term of imprisonment. This proposal died in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

Education

Win: HB 30: This bill provides education for certain incarcerated students. This bill passed both houses.

Win: SB 239: This bill requires the Department of State Health Services to create and distribute educational materials on immunization to public and private schools and childcare centers during public health disasters. This bill passed.

Win: HB 547/SB 491: This bill allows home schooled students the opportunity to participate in UIL activities. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1247/ SB 663: This bill requires the Texas Workforce Commission, TEA, and the TX Higher Ed Coordinating Board to develop a strategic framework to encourage work-based learning by partnering with schools, higher ed, businesses, etc. to implement high-quality project-based learning in middle school and work-based learning in high school and postsecondary education with a particular focus on high-demand, high-growth industries. This bill passed.

Win: SB 204/HB 3129: This bill opens the statute on school bus transportation and allows a district to serve students who reside outside of their district without needing to enter a contract with the other school district. This bill passed.

Win: SB 481: This bill allows a student to transfer to another public school or ISD if their school is only offering virtual instruction. This bill passed.

Win: SB 1716: This bill establishes a program for eligible students to receive a credit of not more than $1500 to purchase supplemental special education services and instructional materials. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3872/SB 442: This bill makes several transparency improvements in the local school health advisory council process as well as in the notification to parents regarding instruction and accessibility to the curriculum to engage parents in human sexuality education curricula development and to know their right to control what their child learns in this area. This bill was amended onto HB 1525, which passed.

Win: SB 1083: This bill requires parents to provide written consent for students to patriciate in school human sexuality education rather than requiring parents to opt-out of it for their children. This bill was amended onto HB 1525, which passed.

Progress: HB 3089: This bill would require all meetings of local school health advisory councils to comply with the open government requirements in Chapter 551, Government Code e.g., open to the public, accessible communications, minutes or recordings required. This bill was voted from committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: SB 1082: This bill requires that school districts provide parents with access to curriculum materials used in the district's or school's human sexuality instruction. This bill passed the Senate but not the House Public Education Committee.

Progress: SB 1968/HB 4537: This bill would establish the Family Educational Relief Program to provide children from low-income households with additional educational options in order to achieve a general diffusion of knowledge. This bill was voted out of committee but died on the Senate Calendar.

Loss: HB 4042: This bill would require public school students to participate in interscholastic athletic activities based on biological sex. This bill died in the House Public Education Committee.

Healthcare

Win: HB 18/ HB 2981: This bill known as the Texas Cares Act establishes a prescription drug program to make prescription drugs available at a discounted rate to uninsured individuals. This bill passed.

Win: HB 119/HB 473/SB 1017: This bill prohibits healthcare providers from making decisions on eligibility, access, and insurance coverage for organ transplants based solely on the disability status of a patient. This bill passed.

Win: HB 133/HB 98/HB 146/SB 121: This bill would extend the medical assistance coverage of women receiving Medicaid for at least one year following a delivery or miscarriage. This bill passed.

Win: HB 290/SB 39: This bill extends eligibility for the Children's Health Insurance Program from six months to one year. This bill was amended onto HB 2658, which passed.

Win: HB 473/HB 119: This bill prohibits healthcare providers from making decisions on eligibility, access, and insurance coverage for organ transplants based solely on the disability status of a patient.  This bill passed.

Win: HB 1164/ SB 2009: This bill creates a Center of Excellence for the treatment of placenta accreta spectrum disorder designation for those hospitals best equipped to care for complex pregnancies. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1616/SB 517:  This bill creates an interstate medical licensure compact in order to enhance the portability of medical licensing in the United States. This bill passed.

Win: HB 2211: This bill prohibits a hospital from denying in-person visitation during a period of disaster unless federal law or a federal agency requires the hospital to do so. This bill passed.

Win: HB 2609/SB 917: This bill requires health care providers to provide medical treatment they view to be inappropriate indefinitely at the demand of a surrogate. The TCCB opposed this bill. The bill died.

Win: HB 3088: This bill lowers the match requirements for a community to receive a county mental health services grant. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3752: This bill establishes the Texas Mutual Health Coverage Plan to offer health coverage to individual residents and small employers outside the workers' compensation marketplace. This bill passed.

Win: SB 572/HB 1354: This bill requires the Texas Department of State Health Services to provide patients with access to clergy when they are patients or residents in a health facility during a public health emergency. This bill passed.

Win: SB 1059/ HB 2963: This bill requires the design and implementation of a streamlined process for determining a former foster youth's eligibility for Medicaid. This bill passed.

Progress: HB 136: This bill allows the voluntary and confidential reporting of pregnancy-associated deaths and pregnancy-related deaths by certain persons and requires the development of a work group on maternal mortality and morbidity data registry. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 270: This bill increases the personal need allowance for nursing home residents on Medicaid to $75 per month. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Progress: HB 2333/SB 1520: This bill establishes a competitive grant program to award grants to eligible services providers to provide or expand home nursing visitation services for newborn caregivers. This bill passed the House but was not assigned a committee in the Senate.

Progress: HB 2758: This bill requires training for physicians in identification and assistance of victims of human trafficking. This bill passed the House and Senate committee but died after being withdrawn from the Senate Calendar.

Progress: SB 1200/HB 2332: This bill would require DFPS and HHSC to coordinate to promote the referral to a partnership program of pregnant women receiving services through a public benefits program. This bill passed the Senate but died in the House Public Health Committee.

Progress: SB 1439: This bill requires written consent of a physician, intern, or resident at an educational institution before directly or indirectly performing or participating in an elective abortion. This bill passed the Senate and House committee but was not placed on the calendar.

Loss: HB 2943: This bill ensures that a patient's surrogate decision maker can only authorize the revocation of a DNR order that the surrogate initially authorized. This bill died in the House Public Health Committee.

Loss: SB 1944: This bill amends the Texas Advance Directives Act to increase to 21 the total number of days families have to transfer a patient to another facility, establishes ethics committee composition and decision criteria while providing protection against disability-based discrimination. This bill died in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Social Concerns

Win: HB 390/SB 316: This bill requires the operator of a commercial lodging establishment display certain signs and require each employee to complete an annual human trafficking awareness and prevention training program. This bill passed.

Win: HB 610: This bill allows a license holder in an industry regulated by a state agency to sue to enjoin the enforcement of that local law if it regulates that business in a more stringent way than that imposed by state law. The TCCB opposed this bill because it would weaken municipal consumer protections in areas such as payday lending. This bill died.

Win: HB 701/SB 224: This bill requires simplified certification and recertification requirements for certain persons under the supplemental nutrition assistance program. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1791/SB 770: This bill allows individuals who are low-income or at risk of becoming dependent on public assistance benefits to be eligible for job-training programs under the self-sufficiency fund. This bill passed.

Win: HB 2432/SB 1089: This bill increases the maximum reference base amount for certain consumer loans from $200 to $300. The TCCB opposed this bill. This bill died.

Win: HB 3520/SB 315: This bill prohibits an individual younger than 18 years of age from being on the premises of sexually oriented businesses. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3721: This bill requires the inclusion of information for reporting suspicious activity to the Department of Public Safety on certain human trafficking signs or notices. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3767/SB 1622: This bill supports workforce development, including through the establishment of the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative and additional employer workforce data reporting. This bill passed.

Win: SB 30/SB 222: This bill would allow an owner of real property or an interest in it to request that the county clerk remove discriminatory restrictions recorded in the property records. This bill passed.

Win: SB 49: This bill requires a written report regarding a defendant suspected of having a mental illness or an intellectual disability. This bill passed.

Win: SB 271: This bill prohibits a licensed assisted living facility from employing an applicant who fails to indicate in a written statement that the applicant has not been convicted of certain offenses. This bill passed.

Progress: HB 985: This bill requires that information on human trafficking be included in driver education and safety courses developed in consultation with the human trafficking prevention coordination council. This bill passed the House but was not assigned a committee in the Senate.

Progress: HB 1019/ SB 1532/ SB 1795: This bill requires simplified certification and recertification requirements for certain persons under the supplemental nutrition assistance program. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 1196: This bill requires the issuance of a certified birth record, driver license, or personal identification certificate to a homeless individual. This bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 1916: This bill prohibits payday and auto-title lenders from using telemarketing calls to solicit consumers whose name and telephone number are on the Texas no-call list. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Business and Commerce Committee.

Progress: HB 2591: This bill would allow an owner of real property to petition to remove from a recorded instrument affecting or conveying an interest in the property a provision that violates the U.S. Constitution, is unenforceable under law, and is unambiguously discriminatory. This bill died in the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, but another similar bill passed addressing this issue.

Progress: HB 3111: This bill would make online solicitation of a minor an offense. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Progress: HB 3616: This bill provides for the regulation of massage therapy. This bill passed the House and Senate committee but died after being withdrawn from the calendar.

Progress: HB 3718: This bill would require a cosmetology facility, hospital, hotel, massage establishment, sexually oriented business, and a transportation hub to post human trafficking signs. This bill was voted from committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: HB 4528: This bill increases the punishment for the offense of trafficking of persons. The bill was voted from committee but did not otherwise advance.

Progress: HB 1230/SB 1914: This bill requires that the value of motor vehicles not be considered as a resource of value in determining the eligibility of an applicant for or recertifying the eligibility of a SNAP recipient. This bill was voted out of committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Loss: HB 116: This bill broadens the eligibility for relative caretakers of dependent children to receive supplemental financial assistance. This bill died in the House Human Services Committee.

Loss: HB 206: This bill adopts statewide the payday and auto-title lending regulations passed in more than 40 cities throughout the state along with strong provisions to limit fees through their inclusion in borrowing limits. This bill died in the House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services Committee.

Loss: HB 417: This bill makes it an offense to threaten or pursue criminal charges against a consumer in association with certain extensions of consumer credit. This bill died in the House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services Committee.

Loss: HB 820: This bill requires a covered business (an entity doing business in the state with annual, worldwide gross receipts of more than $500 million) to conduct an annual audit of their supply chain and on-site services to investigate the use of forced labor by the business's suppliers. This bill died in the House Business and Industry Committee.

Loss: HB 945: This bill requires the commission to ensure by rule that an individual whose eligibility for SNAP benefits has been initially established or recertified remains eligible to receive those benefits for a period of 12 months. This bill died in the House Human Services Committee.

Loss: HB 1449: This bill would require the exclusion from the calculation of a SNAP applicant's available resources each motor vehicle in which the applicant or recipient or member of the applicant or recipient's household has an ownership interest for the purposes of determining benefit eligibility. This bill died in the House Human Services Committee.

Loss: HB 1937: This bill sets the maximum interest rate or amount of interest that may be contracted for, charged, or received from a borrower for a deferred presentment transaction to 36% a year. This bill died in the House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services Committee.

Loss: HB 2126: This bill requires the Health and Human Services Commission to contract with one or more third-party service providers to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) employment and training services. This bill died in the House Human Services Committee.

Loss: HB 2285: This bill prohibits minors from being on the premises of a sexually oriented business. It designates "general residential operation operating as a residential treatment center" a child safety zone. This bill died in the Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee.

Loss: HB 2624: This bill would prevent annual percentage rates for payday and auto title loans for residents residing in a disaster area from exceeding 30% during a designated disaster period and the two-year period immediately following. This bill died in the House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services Committee.

Loss: HB 2813: This bill would cap the annual percentage rate of an extension of consumer credit that a credit services organization obtains for a consumer or assists them in obtaining to 36%. This bill died in the House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services Committee.

Loss: HB 3391: This bill prohibits third-party fees paid in connection with certain extensions of consumer credit. This bill died in the House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services Committee.

Loss: HB 4116: This bill would prohibit a credit services organization from obtaining an extension of consumer credit for a consumer or assisting them in obtaining an extension of credit unless they are licensed.  This bill died in the House Pensions/Investments/Financial Services Committee.

Loss: SB 1151: This bill requires the provision of transitional supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits to certain households. This bill died in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Religious Liberty

Win: HB 115: This bill broadens the property tax exemption for certain property owned by charitable organizations and used in providing housing and related services to homeless individuals. This bill passed.

Win: HB 525: This bill declares that religious organizations are essential and prohibits any governmental official at local or state levels from prohibiting religious organizations from engaging in religious and other related activities or continuing to operate in the discharge of the organization's foundational faith-based mission and purpose. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1197: This bill would expand the time period from 6 to 10 years for the property tax exemption for land owned by a religious organization that is contiguous to the tract of land on which the religious organization's place of regular religious worship may be exempted. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1239/SB 26/ SB 251: This bill would prohibit a government agency or public official from issuing an order that closes or has the effect of closing places of worship in the state or in a geographic area of the state. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1569/SB 581: This bill amends the statute governing the ability of property owners' associations to regulate religious displays. This bill passed.

Win: HB 3659/SB 6: This bill provides for liability protection for certain claims arising during a pandemic or other disaster or emergency. This bill passed.

Win: HJR 72/SJR 27: This resolution proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit the state or a political subdivision of this state from prohibiting or limiting a religious service conducted by a religious organization. This proposal passed and was filed with the Secretary of State.

Progress: HB 3940/SB 247: This bill prohibits discrimination against or burdening certain constitutional rights of an applicant for or holder of a license to practice law in this state. This bill passed the Senate and House committee but was not set on the House Calendar.

Progress: SB 1699/HB 4500: This bill requires the protection of expressive rights of student organizations at public institutions of higher education. The House bill was voted from committee but died on the House Calendar. The Senate bill passed the House and the subsequent House committee but was not set on the calendar afterwards.

Loss: HB 1691: This bill protects religious freedoms and religious institutions during a declared state of disaster. The bill died in the House State Affairs Committee.

Loss: SB 330: This bill amends a pre-existing tax exemption for property owned by a charitable organization that provides a meeting space and support services for organizations that provide assistance to persons with substance use disorders and their families. This bill died in the Senate Finance Committee.

Creation

Win: HB 531: This bill requires a landlord to provide notice concerning a leased dwelling about whether they are aware that the dwelling is in a floodplain. This bill passed.

Win: HB 1345/SB 44: This bill allows a state employee who is a volunteer of an organization that is a member of the Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster to be granted leave to participate in disaster relief services. This bill passed.

Win: HB 2757: This bill expands the ability of certain nonprofit wildlife conservation associations to conduct charitable raffles. This bill passed.

Progress: HB 1059/ SB 461: This bill would require the seller of property of less than 15 acres and that does not have a residence located on it to provide to the purchaser a written notice disclosing whether any part of it is in a floodplain. This bill was voted from committee and was recommended for the Local and Consent Calendar but not set.  

Progress: HB 1143: This bill requires the publication of pathogen-related freshwater data by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This bill was voted from committee and recommended for the Local and Consent Calendar but was not set.

Progress: HB 1367: This bill would allow a vehicle used by a nonprofit disaster relief organization exclusively for emergencies, training, equipment maintenance, transportation of disaster relief supplies, or other activities related to disaster relief from being exempt from registration fees. This bill was voted from the committee but was withdrawn from the Local Calendar and died.

Progress: HB 2148: This bill requires notice of contamination of a public water supply to certain water providers by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This bill passed the House and Senate Committee but died after being withdrawn from the Local Calendar.

Progress: HB 2990/HB 348: This bill requires the TCEQ to make environmental and water use permit applications available online. This bill passed the House but died in the Senate Natural Resources/Economic Development Committee.

Loss: HB 242: This bill allows the Railroad Commission to require an owner or operator of a facility used in oil and gas production to submit to the commission a water pollution abatement plan if they are in a recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer. This bill died in the House Natural Resources Committee.

Loss: HB 289/HB 889/SB 1166: This bill allows a representative of a school, place of worship, licensed day-care center, hospital, or medical facility to request a public hearing from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality related to the construction of a concrete plant. This bill died in the House Environmental Regulation and Senate Natural Resources/Economic Development committees.