It has been a long, hard, expensive battle but one that has been worthwhile. We are now broke again.
Our HIPAA Correction Bill did not even get a start It was sent to sub committee by the Chair and didn't move. The same is true of the Failure To Yield Bill.
The helmet Bill came out on the final day Bills could be moved, along with 18 pages of other Bills. We were on page 15 but we still refused to leave until midnight rolled around. No point in spending this much time and effort then walk out before it was over. Of course they only covered 8 pages.
Chairman David Swinford of Amarillo was responsible for killing anything having to do with Recorded votes. His staff says he did that of his own volition. He felt it was not necessary to have such a Law. It makes you wonder what he has to hide.
We did have better luck with a couple of other Bills. HB 823 will give you the right to carry a concealed weapon in your vehicle, including on your bike, without a permit.
The real fight came on SB 1195 to cut down on consent searches. Rep. Jim Jackson fought the Bill to the bitter end by trying to run out the clock on the Bill. Rep. Dennis Bonnen finally pointed out that if he looked down a couple of Bills he would see that he was killing a Bill that would allow retired Peace Officers to carry a weapon. The Chair finally accepted a Point of Order that Jackson's time had expired and the vote was taken. The Bill passed to second reading with just 8 minutes to the deadline. The next day was the final day for the House to pass senate Bills on third reading. When it finally came down to SB 1195 on the final vote for passage the war was on again. This was a fight along party lines except for Rep Suzannah Gratia Hupp who strongly supported the Bill. It seemed the Republicans simply did not believe a citizen had the right to invoke their 4th Amendment Rights. Reps Hartnett, Chisum and Talton lead the battle with Hartnett being the most vocal. We will explain this in more detail on the next update.
After one hell of a battle which raged back and forth for nearly an hour HB 1195 passed third reading. Both these Bills will be sent to the governor to let him decide where he stands on the issues.
We are asking that you do just one thing for us beginning now. Contact your Senator and your Representative. Ask each of them if they will support these four Bills. Failure To Yield, the Helmet Amendment, the HIPAA Correction Bill and Equal Access. Write about only one issue per correspondence. That will require only eight letters and I am sure you have the time for that. It is very important that you do this. Then we can look at who needs to be removed from office in the worst way and get to work. Our helmet Amendment will be the same so you can start with that one. Download a copy of the Bill and send it along with your letter. We will send out another Bill in the next update. Please pass the information along to the TMRA 2 office so we can document all the answers.
Thanks,
