Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priority bills signal another twist in pushing Texas to the right

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On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced a list of 30 sweeping bills that he has identified as his legislative priorities, including granting property tax breaks and increasing the number of natural gas-fired power plants to improve the reliability of the state’s power grid. He also laid out in more detail his plans to promote a socially conservative program that would ban certain books from schools, limit the participation of transgender student athletes in varsity sports, and end gender transition treatment for young people.

In a statement announcing his priority bills, Patrick said he believes Texans have largely supported his proposals because they “largely reflect policies supported by the conservative majority of Texans.”

Traditionally, the Lieutenant Governor, who presides over the Senate, and the Speaker of the House, who presides over the lower house of the Legislature, introduce 20 low-numbered bills at the beginning of each legislative session to indicate their priorities. Since 2017, Patrick, considered one of the most powerful lieutenant governors in modern Texas history, has expanded his priority list to 30 people.

In December, Patrick told reporters about his legislative priorities. But Monday’s announcement contained a brief description of priority bills (many of which are yet to be filed) and was more direct about the controversial laws that the most socially conservative members of the Republican Party have been calling for, including bills aimed at imposing restrictions on transgender Texans. .

Patrick has also included legislation banning what he considers “obscene”, books in schools, and forbidding children from being “exposed” to drag shows. The legislation came after some Republicans called for a ban on books they consider sexually explicit in public schools, and after similar groups and activists called for an end to events where transvestites read to children. In recent months, Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials have moved to remove certain books from school shelves, including those with content related to gender identity or describing LGBTQ relationships.

On education, Patrick said he would fight for “parental empowerment” including through “school choice”, pointing to support for a voucher law that would use government dollars for parents to pick up their children from public schools. and put them in private schools. On a collegiate level, he has also doubled down on ending tenure, a political idea he originally floated last year as a way to stop professors from teaching critical race theory and ban policies of diversity, fairness and inclusiveness in hiring.

These issues are consistent with Patrick’s typical role pushing the Legislature to the right. He is perhaps the most socially conservative among the leaders of the state’s Big Three, which also includes Abbott and Speaker of the House Dade Phelan. But Patrick shied away from them during his earlier announcement in December, focusing more on property taxes, immigration and the power grid.

Patrick, who has a Republican majority in the Senate, should find it easy to pass his priorities through the upper house, despite what is expected to be strong opposition from advocacy groups on issues related to LGBTQ rights, education and civil liberties. But bills must pass through both houses of the Legislative Assembly and then be signed by the governor to become law.

In the past, the House of Representatives has stifled attempts to take money away from public schools and divert it to private education, largely because rural Republicans don’t have private school options in many of their counties, and public schools are among the biggest employers in their counties. The lower house also has less appetite for socially controversial legislation, such as anti-LGBTQ bills.

But in recent elections, the House has become more socially conservative, passing legislation to ban transgender student athletes from participating in K-12 sports. And this year, key players such as Abbott have pledged support for vouchers, with Patrick expressing his hope that lawmakers can create a framework that does not harm rural areas.

Patrick also said he wants to fire district attorneys and state judges who “refuse to follow the laws of Texas.” Republican lawmakers have been particularly angered by prosecutors and judges in Democratic-dominated parts of the state who do not prosecute certain types of crimes, such as petty marijuana possession or petty theft, and judges who allow defendants to leave prison without bail. Proponents of the policy say this discretion gives prosecutors more time to focus on serious crimes that are more important to investigate.

Patrick also highlighted the importance of rural Texas, listing among his priorities the state’s future water needs, the need for more mental hospitals in rural areas, and the need to help rural law enforcement agencies that do not have the broad tax base of urban areas. centers.

He also made “banning local COVID-19 mandates” a priority, perhaps in deference to Abbott’s threat to retain his emergency powers until lawmakers codified his order to ban cities and counties from implementing vaccine and mask mandates.

Patrick, who has to lead the 31 senators that make up his House, has tried to calm down some members whose priorities may not have been on his list.

“In this session, I could use 50 low-scoring numbers because there are so many issues to resolve,” he said. “Just because a bill isn’t on the priority list doesn’t mean it isn’t a priority for me or the Senate.”

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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