House
The House will stand at ease until Thursday, August 12th at 4 p.m.
Senate
The Senate gaveled in at 9:00 a.m. this morning to pass a series of bills on second reading, then adjourned and reconvened at 3:00 p.m. to finally pass this series of bills. At roughly 6:00 p.m., Sen. Carol Alvarado began filibustering SB 1 on third reading ahead of the final passage. Prior to that the Senate had taken up the following bills:
SB 1 (Hughes) relating to election integrity and security, including by preventing fraud in the conduct of elections in this state; increasing criminal penalties; creating criminal offenses; providing civil penalties was passed to engrossment as amended (19-10) on 8/11 with 7 adopted floor amendments. In addition to a perfecting amendment by the author, amendments were adopted removing attorneys fees for ballot harvesting suits, allowing voters to correct additional information in the mail ballot application, and allowing voters to correct information in the online tracking tool, among other provisions. This bill is currently being deliberated on the floor as Sen. Alvarado continues her filibuster.
SB 2 (Perry) Relating to requiring public school students to compete in interscholastic athletic competitions based on biological sex was finally passed in the Senate (19-10) on 8/11.
SB 3 (Hughes) relating to civics training programs for certain public school social studies teachers and principals, parental access to certain learning management systems, and certain curriculum in public schools, including certain instructional requirements and prohibitions was finally passed in the Senate (18-11) on 8/11 with 2 adopted floor amendments.
SB 4 (Lucio) relating to abortion complication reporting and the regulation of drug-induced abortion procedures, providers, and facilities; creating a criminal offense was finally passed in the Senate (19-10) on 8/11.
SB 5 (Hughes) relating to complaint procedures and disclosure requirements for, and to the censorship of users’ expressions by, social media platforms was finally passed in the Senate (17-12) on 8/11.
SB 14 (Creighton) relating to the regulation by a municipality or county of certain employment benefits and policies was finally passed in the Senate (18-11) on 8/11 with 1 adopted floor amendmentent.
SB 15 (Taylor) relating to virtual and off-campus electronic instruction at a public school, the satisfaction of teacher certification requirements through an internship teaching certain virtual courses, and the allotment for certain special-purpose school districts under the Foundation School Program was finally passed in the Senate (27-2) on 8/11 with 3 adopted floor amendments.
SJR 1 (Birdwell) proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the determination of a quorum of the senate or house of representatives was passed to engrossment in the Senate (19-10) on 8/11 with 1 adopted floor amendment.