Women's Health

• Senate Bill (SB) 8, otherwise known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, passed the Texas House on third reading on May 6th, 2021. Texas Democrats largely opposed this bill, and fought for women’s reproductive rights. Current Texas law generally bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy; but, this bill would prevent abortions from being performed or induced once a fetal heartbeat is detected unless there is a medical emergency. A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks, though Rep. Donna Howard (D-Austin) in a floor debate, cited medical experts who say there is no fully developed heart at that gestational age. As argued, the so-called heartbeat is actually “electrically induced flickering” of fetal tissue. To make matters worse, women often don’t know they are pregnant at the six week mark. SB 8 would also authorize a private civil right of action against any person who performs an abortion in violation of applicable state law, but a civil action may not be brought by a person who committed rape, sexual assault, or incest. SB 8 is one of the most restrictive anti-abortion bills in the United States, yet it is headed over to the Governor’s Desk to become Texas law.
  

Pet Safety

• Some domestic violence victims will refuse to leave an unsafe environment out of concern for a pet; insufficient public information about the options available to a court in rendering a protective order may be influencing these reported actions. HB 674— a bill I joint authored — seeks to address this issue by including the ability of a court to render a protective order prohibiting a party from removing a pet, companion animal, or assistance animal. This bill passed the House Floor on May 6, 2021.
  

Law Enforcement

• On May 7th, the Texas House of Representatives passed fake "Back the Blue" legislation — House Bill 1900. The bill, by Rep. Craig Goldman (R-Fort Worth), would only apply to eleven, largely Democratic, Texas cities. HB 1900 is a blatantly partisan effort by the Republican controlled state government to tighten control of local municipalities and punish cities. This bill enacts a series of penalties against municipalities with a population over 250,000 that have been determined by the Criminal Justice Division of the Governor’s Office to have “defunded” their local law enforcement agencies. Defunding, as defined in the bill, means any decrease in law enforcement funding from the previous year’s budget, without a decrease in the overall budget.

•  A package of bills passed the Texas that provide common-sense reforms to our criminal justice system by improving accountability for officer misconduct, helping to prevent unnecessary arrests and creating uniformity when it comes to corroborating testimony. HB 829 requires each police department to implement a standardized, progressive disciplinary matrix to create uniformity in consequences for police misconduct. HB 830 limits arrests for "non-jailable" offenses, making traffic stops safer for both police and drivers. HB 834 requires corroboration of police officer testimony in undercover drug cases. HB 492 would ban the use of no-knock warrants, aside from instances that a no-knock entry is necessary to avoid the risk of death or serious bodily injury to peace officers and to others. This package of bills passed the Texas House with bipartisan support.

Religious Holidays

• Optional state holidays are those on which state employees are entitled to take paid time off, but important Islamic holidays have been overlooked. This bill ensures that important Islamic holidays are afforded the same status as optional holidays for those of Jewish or Christian faith. HB 1231 seeks to remedy this issue by recognizing Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as optional state holidays! This bill passed the Texas House on May 8th. 
  

Public Education

• HB 3979 passed the Texas House down party lines on May 11th after Texas Democrats expressed their opposition to this cynical piece of legislation. HB 3979 amends current law relating to the social studies curriculum in public schools. This bill provides that for any social studies course in the required curriculum: a teacher is prohibited to discuss a particular current event or any relationships to sex/race, and a school district is prohibited from requiring or awarding a grade for course credit for a student’s political activism or an activity involving social or public policy advocacy. This bill lays out more provisions, and ultimately seeks to limit conversations regarding sex/race in the classroom. This bill was introduced as preventing harmful conversations in the classroom, which it may, but it leaves our Texas students with a limited perspective. In order to overcome the very-real racism in the world today, our students should be able to discuss current events and share their life experiences in the classroom.

Criminal Justice

• State prison and jail facilities are not required to maintain a facility climate of 65 degrees Fahrenheit to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, unlike current local and county jails. With Texas summer weather that can regularly exceed 100 degrees, this poses a major health hazard for inmates and employees alike. HB 1971 seeks to solve this issue through the requirement of the purchase and installation of climate control systems at facilities operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. This bill passed the Texas House on May 14, 2021. 
  

COVID-19 Relief

• HB 396 seeks to establish benefits for nurses who have been forced to come into contact with patients with COVID-19, sometimes without the recommended personal protective equipment to protect the nurses caring for patients. After the tough year we have faced battling COVID-19, it is essential that we financially support our essential workers. This bill seeks to remedy the burden that our nurses have faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have reached the final couple of weeks of the Regular 87th Texas Legislative Session… and as we move forward, we will focus primarily on legislation from the Texas Senate. As we near our end, it is important for the people of Texas to stay well-informed about the outcome of this session. We must hold our legislators accountable, and we must elect those who actually represent our best interests.

Sincerely,

State Representative Michelle Beckley