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The 86th Session of the Texas Legislature opens today, and both the House and Senate have plenty of business to attend to.
According to the Texas Legislature website, members of the House of Representatives have already filed 707 bills for consideration, and in the Senate 292 bills have been filed — including 43 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) and six by Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels).
Zaffirini and Campbell co-authored one bill, Senate Bill 38, related to the offense of hazing. The bill strengthens the statutory definitions of hazing, clarifies immunity provisions and broadens reporting requirements for universities. Any person who voluntarily reports a specific hazing incident before being contacted by the institution concerning the incident and who is considered to be acting in good faith throughout any institutional process regarding the hazing incident would be offered immunity under the proposed bill.
According to the website LegiScan.com, one of the most viewed and most monitored pieces of legislation concerns the legalization of cannabis. Sponsored by Sen. Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso), Senate Joint Resolution 8 — yes, it is called a joint resolution — proposes a constitutional amendment that would authorize and regulate the possession, growth and sale of cannabis. The measure would include “every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of that plant or its seeds.” Texans would vote on the amendment on Nov. 3, 2020.
Another cannabis-related bill, SB 90, is on LegiScan.com’s most viewed and most monitored lists. Sponsored by Sen. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio), the bill would prevent courts from terminating a parent-child relationship based on evidence that the parent provided medical cannabis to a child for whom the treatment was recommended.
Another popular bill, based on LegiScan’s data, is SB 63, which would create the Texas Mental Health Care Consortium. Campbell was one of several authors of the bill, which would create an agency tasked with coordinating the expansion and delivery of mental health care services by using the infrastructure and expertise of higher education institutions, nonprofits and other stakeholders.
Other bills on LegiScan.com’s lists include House Bill 49, which would exempt Texas from Daylight Saving Time, and HB 336, which would abolish the death penalty.
The legislature is also set to consider several bills regarding election issues, such as voter registration and a requirement that electronic voting machines provide a paper record or paper receipt.
