Published: 05-27-07
Today House Bill 13 the bipartisan Border and Homeland Security Bill was officially declared dead after Democratic Rep. Lon Burnam refused to recall his point of order on the bill.Rep. Frank Corte Jr. the House Republican Caucus Chairman and Chairman of the House Defense Affairs and State Federal Relations Committee made the following statement.
“HB 13 was the product of a bipartisan effort to address a very serious issue – the rampant lawlessness created by drug and human trafficking rings. It was – from the very beginning – about border security not politics. Unfortunately some members chose to make a statement by using politics to derail such crucial legislation that is quite literally a life and death issue for many Texans.
“Most troubling is the statement that one of the opponents of the bill made that this legislation would make it more difficult for trial lawyers to sue. This isn’t about lawsuits this is about securing our border and making Texas safer.
“The Texans who suffer from this crime and the implications of smuggling rings for exploitation by terrorists cannot afford to wait two more years for legislation to pass. Unfortunately that is what they will have to do because of the defeat of HB 13.”
