Connecting the Citizens of North Texas with their elected officials
Your phone calls WORKED! Gov. Perry vetoed SB 346 yesterday (May 25th), but our job is not finished! Please continue to make your voice count…
See full explanation and contact information at: http://gawtp.com/spending-up-26-texas-legislature-takes-wild-left-turn-spends-like-theres-no-tomorrow/
Senate Bill 346 requires that any “person or group of persons” making more than $25,000 in so-called “political expenditures” in a calendar year turn over to the government the identities of the sources of all “political contributions” over $1,000 (§ 254.253(a)). This obligation applies unless the group of persons is “labor organization or any subordinate entity or associated account of a labor organization,” in which case there is no obligation to turn supporters’ identities over.
Excluded from this mandate are unions!
If Governor Perry signs SB346, this will lead to enhanced scrutiny of grassroots groups in Texas and their supporters. Supporters’ identities will have to be turned over if the groups are found to have tendered–or agreed to tender–more than $25,000 of value “in connection with” election-related activities in a calendar year, or tendered such value knowing that it could potentially be used “in connection with” such activities.
PERRY NEEDS TO VETO THIS BILL TODAY (Saturday), OR IT BECOMES LAW.
Governor Rick Perry’s contact info: Phone: (512) 463-2000 http://governor.state.tx.us/contact/
By Thatcher Townson
May 24, 2013
On Wednesday, May 22nd, five high school students along with two adults from the Collin County civics group, SALT[1], accompanied the North Texas Citizens Lobby to the capitol. We spoke with Representative Phil King, and Representative Scott Turner, and 
Continue reading “Students Lobbying in Austin”
NTCL welcomed new citizen lobbyists, Suzanne and Elizabeth Souza on May 15th. Suzanne, Elizabeth, and Barbara Harless traveled to the capitol to visit with legislators and tour the capitol. Gratitude goes to Rep. Jodie Laubenberg for sponsoring Elizabeth as a House Page for the morning of May 15th. Continue reading “Welcome, New Citizen Lobbyists”
Here’s a good link to keep up with what bills are being passed in Austin:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Reports/General.aspx
To get to this link, if you should lose sight of this post:
…if you’re looking for a particular subject, you can cut to the chase by hitting Ctrl+F and typing a key word into the box, which should highlight all of those words on that page. Ex: “firearm” will highlight all the text on that page that has “firearm” in it.
I want to thank Rep. Lois Kolkhorst for her leadership on the House Committee on Public Health. SB 303 (aka Death Panel bill) has died in her committee, and with good reason.
SB 303, by Representatives Deuell | Estes | Lucio III, proposes to remove my inherent right to life and Continue reading “Texas Death Panel dies in Committee, with Heated Testimonies”
This year, Senator John Carona (Dallas) authored a bill (SB 241) that would allow electricity consumers to opt-out of the advanced meters (aka smart meters) without additional fees, but the bill is dead in the senate. This story reads much like the TSA Anti-Groping bill by David Simpson in the 82nd legislative session. Continue reading “Invasion of Privacy and Dereliction of Fiscal Duty”
Below is a cut & paste from Terri Hall (http://texasturf.org/grassroots-action-center/327-bad-bill-alert). Read her explanation below – or – go to the bottom of this article for info on what you can do now – TODAY – to stop this bad bill
SB 1029 keeps 5 loopholes in the law that allow the conversion of free lanes into toll lanes, removes public vote Continue reading “BAD Bill Alert…SB 1029 removes local public hearing/county commissioner approval (toll roads)”
Another relevant and important article from Empower Texans:
Unethical Commission (updated with vote results)
Texas House GOP moderates — and the entire block of Democrats — voted to silence conservatives and give new powers to labor unions. The legislation still has to be voted on one more time by the House (probably Tuesday), and then it will go to Gov. Rick Perry for either his signature or veto. See how your legislator voted at the link below.