End of Legislative Session is a Time of Reflection and Regret

After a legislative session Texas senators and representatives return to our districts reflecting positively on the good bills we passed and regretting the ones that died.

While I regret that some of the bills I had high hopes for died  I am pleased that this session 85 of my bills passed which is more than any other member of either the House of the Senate.  I am also pleased that one of my bills which will implement the Castle Doctrine in Texas was the first bill signed into law this year.

The Castle Doctrine bill Senate Bill 378 protects Texans’ right to use deadly force to protect themselves and their families if they are attacked at home in the workplace or in their vehicles.

A bill authored by Representative Joe Straus that I sponsored in the Senate will help protect victims of domestic violence.  House Bill 3692 amends the Texas Penal Code to allow a judge to deny bail to a person who violates an emergency protective order issued after an arrest for an offense involving family violence.

Texans will vote in November on a constitutional amendment that would authorize the denial of bail to a person who violates certain court orders or conditions of release in a family violence case.

Senate Bill 182 helps protect Texans and their property from trespassers. Current trespass laws apply to most property but not to a recreational vehicle park.  My bill adds a recreational vehicle park as property on which a person commits an offense if he or she enters or remains on the property without consent.

Another of my bills that passed which will impact Texans’ lives includes Senate Bill 593. This bill will make it more difficult for executors of estates to steal from or mismanage the estates they have been chosen to administer.

Public school employees will be able to communicate directly with public school district boards of trustees with the passage of Senate Bill 135.  Previously many school districts required teachers to follow a chain of command before meeting with trustees or had policies in place forbidding teachers to talk with trustees about school matters.

These are a few of my 85 bills that passed.  Of those that did not I am most disappointed that Senate Bills 270 and 1068 died.

Senate Bill 270 a bill requiring sales price disclosure when a person sells a piece of real estate would have resulted in a fairer property tax system in Texas particularly for homeowners.  This bill was voted out of the Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee but never voted on by the full Senate.

Senate Bill 1068 would have taken congressional redistricting out of the hands of the Texas Legislature and placed it in the hands of an independent bipartisan citizens’ redistricting commission.  The Texas Senate passed this bill by a vote of 20-10.  It was referred to the House Redistricting Committee where it was given a public hearing and was supported by a majority of the committee. It died in committee however because the committee chairman would not allow a vote on the bill.

Because both these bills are important to Texans I plan to refile them in 2009.