BIEDERMANN PRAISES CONSERVATIVE VICTORIES IN SPECIAL SESSION

September 13, 2021

AUSTIN, TX — With the 2nd Called Spe­cial Ses­sion hav­ing come to a close, State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Kyle Bie­der­mann gave his per­spec­tive on the accom­plish­ments achieved over the last cou­ple of weeks in the Leg­is­la­ture. “This sec­ond spe­cial ses­sion gave Repub­li­cans the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pass strong pro-life and pro-fam­i­ly leg­is­la­tion while also increas­ing fund­ing to secure the bor­der.” Bie­der­mann said, “These are the pri­or­i­ties Dis­trict 73 sent me to accom­plish in the State House, and I was proud to co-author this leg­is­la­tion to keep Texas strong.“

Below are the talk­ing points released by our Repub­li­can Cau­cus detail­ing the spe­cif­ic leg­is­la­tion:

- The Texas leg­is­la­ture passed Sen­ate Bill 1 to secure the integri­ty of Texas’ elec­toral process. This bill takes sig­nif­i­cant steps for­ward to restore vot­er con­fi­dence in elec­tions by cre­at­ing statewide stan­dards for uni­form con­duct of elec­tions.

- Sen­ate Bill 6 is the bail reform pack­age Tex­ans have long-await­ed. The bill sim­pli­fies the bail sys­tem in Texas to pro­vide defen­dants with speedy bail deci­sions while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly empha­siz­ing pub­lic safe­ty. This mea­sure will pre­vent dan­ger­ous crim­i­nals from being afford­ed oppor­tu­ni­ties to com­mit more crimes.

- Ris­ing prop­er­ty tax­es have caused many Tex­ans to strug­gle with the afford­abil­i­ty of own­ing a home. Sen­ate Bill 8 pro­vides home­buy­ers with a home­stead exemp­tion imme­di­ate­ly fol­low­ing their pur­chase of a new home. Sen­ate Bill 12 and Sen­ate Joint Res­o­lu­tion 2 give elder­ly or dis­abled home­own­ers more relief by low­er­ing the ceil­ing for prop­er­ty tax­es imposed by a school dis­trict on their res­i­dence home­stead to reflect any reduc­tion from the pre­ced­ing tax year in the dis­tric­t’s max­i­mum com­pressed rate.

- Sen­ate Bill 4 pro­tects Texas women from com­pli­ca­tions from the risky use of abor­tion-induc­ing drugs. The bill requires that these med­ica­tions be only admin­is­tered by a physi­cian and enhanced report­ing on adverse events from these drugs. This will pre­vent dan­ger­ous com­pli­ca­tions that might arise from mail-order use of abor­tion drugs.

- As the Biden Admin­is­tra­tion con­tin­ues to ignore the grow­ing cri­sis at the Texas-Mex­i­co bor­der, the Texas House has stepped up to address the issue. With the pas­sage of House Bill 9 we have com­mit­ted $1.8 bil­lion to secur­ing the bor­der, including:

  • $1 bil­lion ded­i­cat­ed to fund­ing bor­der secu­ri­ty oper­a­tions through bor­der secu­ri­ty grants to local law enforcement.
  • $300 mil­lion ded­i­cat­ed to fund­ing addi­tion­al bor­der secu­ri­ty personnel.
  • $750 mil­lion ded­i­cat­ed to build­ing tem­po­rary and per­ma­nent phys­i­cal bar­ri­ers along the border.
  • $11 mil­lion ded­i­cat­ed to pur­chas­ing ambu­lances at bor­der secu­ri­ty pro­cess­ing centers.

- The House also passed sup­ple­men­tal appro­pri­a­tions that include crit­i­cal fund­ing for many state agen­cies, includ­ing the Leg­is­la­ture. House Bill 5, appro­pri­ates $90 mil­lion for the Depart­ment of Fam­i­ly and Pro­tec­tive Ser­vices (DFPS) to increase the num­ber of providers in the fos­ter care sys­tem and ensure that chil­dren do not have to sleep in unsanc­tioned loca­tions, includ­ing DFPS offices or hotels. The bill also pro­vides over $700 mil­lion for a 13th check for Texas’ retired teach­ers, $100 mil­lion in prop­er­ty tax relief, and $17 mil­lion in cyber­se­cu­ri­ty enhance­ments.

- Sev­er­al oth­er key pieces of leg­is­la­tion are final­ly head­ed to the Gov­er­nor’s desk.

  • House Bill 20 requires social media plat­forms to increase trans­paren­cy over their terms of use to lim­it user censorship.
  • Sen­ate Bill 3 ensures that Tex­an civic val­ues are expressed in pub­lic education.
  • Sen­ate Bill 7 pro­vides a sup­ple­men­tal “13th check” pay­ment of up to $2,400 to retired teachers.
  • Sen­ate Bill 9 requires edu­ca­tion on fam­i­ly vio­lence, dat­ing vio­lence, and child abuse in schools.
  • Sen­ate Bill 15 seeks to expand the state’s exist­ing vir­tu­al school pro­gram, giv­ing all school dis­tricts dis­cre­tion to open and oper­ate vir­tu­al learn­ing programs.

Bie­der­mann con­clud­ed, “The Democ­rats attempt­ed to stop or slow the ses­sion down by break­ing quo­rum but because of their antics a 2nd ses­sion was called. They not only failed to keep the ses­sion from hap­pen­ing but they also failed their attempt to kill bills that Tex­ans have asked for and expect­ed us to pass.“

Our 3rd spe­cial ses­sion begins on Sept 20 and will we will be busy again with redis­trict­ing and oth­er impor­tant leg­is­la­tion I will give anoth­er leg­isla­tive update soon. Feel free to con­tin­ue to con­tact me or my office any­time, I’m hon­ored to serve all my con­stituents in Dis­trict 73.

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