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RHenriksen wrote:I'm confused by the rules on committee work... I thought the rules about open meetings, public records, etc prevented that sort of thing from happening? Yet apparently portions of the legislative process continue to be conducted behind closed doors

As I understand it, the committee to which a bill is assigned (in both the House and the Senate) must hold a public hearing on the bill; however, aside from those public hearings, committees can and do meet in private. And although official votes are a matter of public record, things like "tagging" are not.

And what is 'tagging', exactly?

RHenriksen wrote:And what is 'tagging', exactly?

A member of the Calendars committee can tag a bill, sending it to the bottom of the list of bills to be considered. As I understand it (Charles or someone with more experience with the Texas Legislature can correct me if I'm wrong), the official House rules say that tagging is prohibited; however, tagging is still allowed as an unwritten policy (similar to the policy of the Senate always hearing bills out of order) that has existed for decades.

This is the only mention of tagging in the official House rules; it's also the basis for my assumption that tagging is technically prohibited:

Section 25.
Motion Preventing Reporting or Placement on a Calendar — No motion is in order in a committee considering a bill, resolution, or other matter that would prevent the committee from reporting it back to the house or placing it on a calendar in accordance with the Rules of the House.

EXPLANATORY NOTES
For example, motions to tag a bill, table a bill, postpone consideration of it indefinitely, and to postpone consideration of it beyond the time allowed are all out of order and should be ruled out by the chairman.

So, if some legislator like Rodriguez, who strongly opposes the bill, doesn't want it voted on, he can stick it in the bottom of the pile?

I hope this doesn't happen, since most of the committee have signed on to the bill.

Does anyone know if HB 750 was scheduled? The Calendars committee minutes aren't posted yet.

I don't know. I've been waiting for the schedules, myself.

Maybe tomorrow morning. I don't know what he rules about posting them are.

Jasonw560 wrote:So, if some legislator like Rodriguez, who strongly opposes the bill, doesn't want it voted on, he can stick it in the bottom of the pile?

I hope this doesn't happen, since most of the committee have signed on to the bill.

That's exactly what happened to one (or both, I forget) of the Campus Carry and Parking Lot bills last year. The RINO chair of the Calendars Committee tagged it and kept it from getting to the floor of the House until it was too late to get voted on.

This year they can't blame the Democrats.

Thank you for your e-mail. Your opinion is important to me, and I appreciate the time you have taken to share your thoughts. This reply is to let you know that your input will be included with my materials for Committee hearings and Floor debate on the bill.

Thank you for your input. It is a high honor to represent you at our state Capitol. Please contact me at my Capitol Office at (512) 463-0367 if you require more immediate assistance.

Best wishes.
Dan Branch
=================

Please set HB 750 on the calendar soon.

From 03-18-2011 through 03-22-2011 there have been 4 aggravated robberies reported near our UT/MD Anderson campus.

The UT crime map shows in the past year, 153 assaults, and 186 burglaries (and currently CHLs must store guns in cars for vehicular burglars to get)

I had a guy pull a knife on me in San Jacinto College Parking lot and a gun stolen from the car I'm forced to keep it in while I worked at UH.
Vehicle burglaries are on the rise at College Campuses across Texas since criminals now know we must ''store guns in cars'' on Campus, instead of carrying them in like we do at Wal-Mart and everywhere else.
I'm 56 year old homeowner, not a ''kid''. Current law of ''storing guns in cars'' just provides easier access to guns on campus to criminal car burglars.

RPB wrote:Thank you for your e-mail. Your opinion is important to me, and I appreciate the time you have taken to share your thoughts. This reply is to let you know that your input will be included with my materials for Committee hearings and Floor debate on the bill.

Thank you for your input. It is a high honor to represent you at our state Capitol. Please contact me at my Capitol Office at (512) 463-0367 if you require more immediate assistance.

Best wishes.
Dan Branch
=================

Please set HB 750 on the calendar soon.

From 03-18-2011 through 03-22-2011 there have been 4 aggravated robberies reported near our UT/MD Anderson campus.

The UT crime map shows in the past year, 153 assaults, and 186 burglaries (and currently CHLs must store guns in cars for vehicular burglars to get)

I had a guy pull a knife on me in San Jacinto College Parking lot and a gun stolen from the car I'm forced to keep it in while I worked at UH.
Vehicle burglaries are on the rise at College Campuses across Texas since criminals now know we must ''store guns in cars'' on Campus, instead of carrying them in like we do at Wal-Mart and everywhere else.
I'm 56 year old homeowner, not a ''kid''. Current law of ''storing guns in cars'' just provides easier access to guns on campus to criminal car burglars.

Has anyone received any information on Campus Carry yet? We just had another assault here on UH campus.
"March 28 2011 a visitor reported being sexually assaulted by a non-student resident at Cougar Place Residence Hall on the campus of University of Houston. A suspect in the case was identified and arrested on separate charges of possession of a controlled substance. Charges of sexual assault are being pursued."
I guess that means maybe he'll get charged. We've had one murder on campus already, I hope we don't have another.
I hope it doesn't get stuck in Calendars and not make it to the floor.

What do you guys think?

SB 354 should make it out of committee today.

Criminals are marking calendars and getting in as much crime as possible in safe-criminal-zones/defenseless victim zones while they can. I bet car burglaries skyrocket just before law goes into effect.

Posted this in another thread too:

As a note, while the majority of the members of the Calenders Committee were co-authors on HB 750 and HB 681, committee member Rep. Rodriguez is a staunch opponent to both the Campus Carry and Parking Lot bills. Here is a video clip of him debating Sen. Wentworth (author of SB 354) on CNN. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept- ... ry-on-cnn/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bottom line, I believe there are an additional 1-2 opponents in Calenders out of the 15 total members that may be against the bills.

Even with the majority of alleged support, we need to continue contacting ALL of the Calender Committee members. When you do, respectfully ask them to help vote the bills out of committee ASAP so all of the House members have the opportunity to hear the debate and vote to show their true colors on our 2A rights.

GaryAdrian wrote:Has anyone received any information on Campus Carry yet? We just had another assault here on UH campus.
"March 28 2011 a visitor reported being sexually assaulted by a non-student resident at Cougar Place Residence Hall on the campus of University of Houston. A suspect in the case was identified and arrested on separate charges of possession of a controlled substance. Charges of sexual assault are being pursued."
I guess that means maybe he'll get charged. We've had one murder on campus already, I hope we don't have another.
I hope it doesn't get stuck in Calendars and not make it to the floor.

What do you guys think?

I forwarded your info above to the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice Re: SB 354 asking again not to allow opt-out amendments for public institutions, since they would

I just got an alert that HB 750: the committee report was filed with the committee coordinator.



Now, I'm just a goofy paramedic, but does that mean they're going to (hopefully) schedule it on the special calendar now?