Campus-Carry Bills are dying!!!

[DCortez]

HB1893 (campus-carry) has been placed on the House General Calendar for Monday, May11th. You can watch the debate by going to Texas House of Representatives and clicking on the link for Live House Chamber Stream. Again, thanks for the good work folks.

Chas.

Thank you Charles. atriot:

 

[Charles L. Cotton]

Action Needed Now!!

Please respond to this request immediately! We need everyone to call their Senator and politely request that they support SB1164 and oppose any and every amendment that is not acceptable to the author (Senator Wentworth)! I can't go into detail now, but it is very important that we get these calls going folks. And please use that terminology; i.e. "oppose any amendment not acceptable to the author."

If you don't know your Texas Senator, then go to this website and fill in your address: Texas Legislature Online
Then, you can go to this webpage and click on your Senator for contact information: Texas Legislature Online - Senate Members

Thanks,
Chas.

 

[Charles L. Cotton]

The Senate version of the campus-carry bill (SB1164) was voted favorably from the Senate State Affairs Committee tonight. The vote was 6 to 3, with Senators Duncan, Ellis and Van de Putte voting no. Chairman Duncan offered two amendments, and Senator Van de Putte offered one. The Van de Putte amendment would have allowed state universities to opt-out, as private institutions can under the bill. It was pointed out that this would gut the bill and it failed, even though Chairman Duncan argued fervently in favor of the Van de Putte amendment. That amendment failed on a 5 to 4 vote.

Chairman Duncan's first "official" amendment would have authorized universities to ban handgun from residential housing, rather than just regulate their storage. It was pointed out that this would leave residents defenseless in the dorms. This amendment also failed on a 5 to 4 vote.

The third and final amendment was offered by Chairman Duncan and it delayed implementation of the bill until Sept. 1, 2010. The excuse given was to allow universities sufficient time to draft regulations for storage of handgun in residential housing. This amendment passed 7 to 0, but Senator Frazier later changed his vote to no.

Now we have to get it to the Senate floor and that takes 21 votes, but only a simple majority to pass.

Chas.

 

[GI-John]

charles

Cheers for Charles. A true advocate of the 2nd.

 

[Starker]

Thank you so much, Charles, for working so hard on this.

I assure you that those of us in Senator Duncan's district are going to work hard to get him out next time around. He just becomes more disappointing every day.

 

[Charles L. Cotton]

Rep. Joe Driver has pre-filed an amendment to HB 2730, the DPS Sunset bill, which would de-criminalize the carrying of a concealed handgun by a CHL on the campus of public or private college or university. It would not affect the ability of institutions to adopt administrative policies regulating CHLs.

While this amendment represents only part of the original bills filed by Driver and Sen. Wentworth, it may also represent the most realistic chance for advancing the issue this session. Both time and legislative procedure are working against HB 1893/SB 1164.

Driver's amendment is currently #42, although amendments are frequently pulled down by their authors, so it may move up in order of consideration from that slot. The House could begin debate on amendments to HB 2730 after the lunch recess, so please contact as many House members as possible this afternoon and urge them to SUPPORT REP. DRIVER'S AMENDMENT TO DPS SUNSET BILL TO DE-CRIMINALIZE CHLs ON CAMPUS! Don't just say Amendment #42. It's fine to say it's currently #42, but be sure to identify it as "Representative Driver's amendment to de-criminalize CHLs on campus."

This is realistically our last chance this session folks, so please respond. Call your own representative, then call all the rest. We need to let them hear from us on this amendment or it will fail.

Here is a link to the House members' contact numbers: Texas Legislature Online - House Members

Thanks for all of your efforts thus far and please stick with us.
Chas.

 

[DCortez]

Who are the middle of the road guys we should call first?

 

[Charles L. Cotton]

I wanted to give you folks an update. When Rep. Driver offered his amendment to de-criminalize the carrying of handguns by CHLs into school buildings, a point-of-order was raised by Rep. Jessica Farrar. Unfortunately, the point-of-order was well founded and Rep. Driver withdrew the amendment. It was a valiant effort and I commend Rep. Driver for his hard work on this issue for over two years. (This was the first session for campus-carry, but Rep. Driver chaired an Interim Study that was commissioned in 2007 and it included campus security issues.)

Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make campus-carry a reality, including all of you who answered the call when time was so critical. Time is going to run out on the House version of the campus-carry bill (HB1893) and it is going to die on the House General Calendar with a lot of other bills. It appears the Senate version (SB1164) will not make it to the floor either, but that's not absolutely certain.

We need to focus on SB730, the employer parking lot bill and get it passed.

Thanks again folks,
Chas.

 

[jfrey]

It is pathetic when politicians, playing politics, let the will of the people die on the vine just because "they" don't like a bill or its contents. Times like this convince me, more than ever, we need to selectively clean house in Austin.

 

[Texas1911]

Thank you for the updates Chas. I might be giving you a call next week.

 

[Jeff B]

I wanted to give you folks an update. When Rep. Driver offered his amendment to de-criminalize the carrying of handguns by CHLs into school buildings, a point-of-order was raised by Rep. Jessica Farrar. Unfortunately, the point-of-order was well founded and Rep. Driver withdrew the amendment. It was a valiant effort and I commend Rep. Driver for his hard work on this issue for over two years. (This was the first session for campus-carry, but Rep. Driver chaired an Interim Study that was commissioned in 2007 and it included campus security issues.)

Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make campus-carry a reality, including all of you who answered the call when time was so critical. Time is going to run out on the House version of the campus-carry bill (HB1893) and it is going to die on the House General Calendar with a lot of other bills. It appears the Senate version (SB1164) will not make it to the floor either, but that's not absolutely certain.

We need to focus on SB730, the employer parking lot bill and get it passed.

Thanks again folks,
Chas.

Should Representative Jessica Farrar receive the special attention of the 2A & RKBA Activists and voters in the next election?

Jeff B.

 

[40Arpent]

...the point-of-order was well founded

What was the basis behind the point-of-order?

 

[Charles L. Cotton]

What was the basis behind the point-of-order?

It was a subject matter based Point-Of-Order; i.e. it violated the germane rule. It amended the Penal Code and that has nothing to do with the caption of HB2730 which reads "Relating to the continuation and functions of the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas and the Texas Private Security Board; providing a penalty."

It was a last gasp attempt; a valiant effort that failed.

Chas.

 

[Charles L. Cotton]

The Senate version of the campus-carry bill (SB1164) passed the Senate on a 19 to 12 vote with one amendment exempting "teaching" hospitals.

Chas.

 

[Starker]

The Senate version of the campus-carry bill (SB1164) passed the Senate on a 19 to 12 vote with one amendment exempting "teaching" hospitals.

Chas.

Fantastic! Charles, how does House passage look?

 

[res1b3uq]

It will probably die, as are several bills because of the time limit. It would tickle me if Perry called a special session until all these bills were voted on. I think he has the power to do this.

 

[JKTex]

Cross post for both bills.....

I'm sure Chas is making the rounds but the quicker the better on this.

He's posted this on another forum so I hope he doesn't mind me copying it here.

>>><<<
We need everyone to call Rep. Brian McCall, Chairman of the House Calendars Committee and politely but strongly tell him that you want both SB730 (employer parking lots) and SB1164 (campus carry) set on the House MAJOR Calendar, not the General Calendar.

Tell him you are aware that:
1. SB730 - parking lots has been in the calendars committee for two weeks and a day;
2. You have watched other bills going into Calendars then being set to the Floor within 2 to 3 days;
3. That the Calendars Committee pulled the same stunt with the employer's parking lot bill last session;
4. That you know putting a bill on the House General Calendar is a move designed to kill the bill.

Then call House Speaker Joe Straus and tell him that you are very disappointed that important NRA and TSRA bills (campus and parking lots) are clearly being stalled by the Republican leadership for the second session in a row.

Both of these men need to hear from a whole bunch of people. As always, be polite but firm.

Chas.
>>><<<

He also posted the NRA alert

>>><<<
URGENT: HELP NEEDED FROM TEXAS NRA MEMBERS ON SENATE BILL 730!

The Texas Legislature is entering its last 10 days of session, and the Texas House has not voted on one single significant pro-Second Amendment issue the entire session. That means that NRA's top legislative priority – Senate Bill 730, a bill that would allow employees to lawfully store firearms in their locked motor vehicles while parked at work -- may die this session. Not because SB 730 doesn't have the votes, but because the House won't be given a chance to vote on it.

This bill passed the Senate unanimously back on March 25! It enjoys strong, bi-partisan support among House members. But the House Calendars Committee has thus-far refused to set SB 730 for a vote by the full House. Powerful business and industry lobbyists are pulling out all the stops to keep this bill bottled up in Calendars, because they know it has a good shot at passing if it gets to the House floor. In 2007, the House Calendars Committee pulled the same trick - and finally scheduled that session's employee/parking lot bill so late and so far down on the House Calendar that it had no hope of coming up for a vote before the consideration deadline. < STRONG>Unless you take the following actions, the same thing may happen to SB 730 in the 2009 session:

* Contact House Calendars Committee Chairman Brian McCall's (R-66) office TODAY at (512) 463-0758 and urge him to set SB 730 on the Major State Calendar so that the bill has a chance to be voted on by the full House before its too late. Major State Calendar bills are the first to be considered each legislative day, and it's the only way to guarantee that SB 730 actually has a shot at a vote before the consideration deadline.

* Contact Speaker Joe Straus' (R-121) office TODAY at (512) 463-1000 and urge him to do everything he can to ensure that SB 730 is placed on the Major State Calendar and voted on by the full House before next week's deadline.
>>><<<

Y'all know what to do.

Oh, and if you're in Collin County, remember McCall next election.

 

[Greybeard]

From checking on on this Chas' 5-21-09 "Urgent Action" thread in "2009 Texas Legislative Session" forum at www.texaschlforum.com, it looks like a few thousand of us overwhelming their phones and fax machines today got some kind of results ... Especially Texas "constituents", please read the most current posts there before calling or faxing. Where appropriate, let's keep hitting the right people at the right time all the way through Memorial Day!

 

[SapperMapper]

I'm reading some the news articles, and looking at the Texas legislature website. The statesman reports that HB1893 died in the House 'on a technicality'. I can't find any specific reference to the technicality. Can anybody here clue me in?

 

[JKTex]

I'm reading some the news articles, and looking at the Texas legislature website. The statesman reports that HB1893 died in the House 'on a technicality'. I can't find any specific reference to the technicality. Can anybody here clue me in?

SB 1164 is what Chas has been referring to. They are identical companion bills, and it appears it's still moving as if today (or late, late last night into this morning)