It is time for everybody who is interested in NFA to start making phone calls to get SB 476 added to the House Calendar and brought to the floor for a vote.

The Senate passed SB 476 (NFA CLEO Shall Sign) without amendments. It was a clean bill.

House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety passed SB 476 without amendments (clean bill) and sent it to Calendars on 5/7, where it has remained. House Calendars does not show SB 476 listed on any calendar.

SB 476 will readily pass House floor vote if everybody starts making phone calls and sending emails. The only thing preventing it from passing is the fact Calendar Committee has not added SB 476 to House Calendar.

The following individuals in the Senate helped create and push SB 476 to the House:

Primary Author Kolkhorst

Coauthors Campbell, Hall, Huffines, and Perry

I recommend calling and sending an email to all pro-2nd Amendment members of the House Committee on Calendars. Make note that the Chair for House Committee on Calendars is Todd Hunter. His office stated nobody has called to push SB 476.

Pro-Second Amendment calendar committee members have an * before their name.

Chair: Rep. Todd Hunter

Vice Chair: Rep. Eddie Lucio III

Members:
Rep. Roberto R. Alonzo
*Rep. Byron Cook
*Rep. Sarah Davis

*Rep. Charlie Geren   SPONORED this bill and wrote HB 1179. SB 476 / HB 1179 are worded the same.

Rep. Helen Giddings
*Rep. Patricia Harless
*Rep. Dan Huberty
Rep. Eric Johnson
*Rep. Ken King
*Rep. Lyle Larson
*Rep. Four Price
*Rep. Debbie Riddle
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez

Straus, Joe  Speaker of the House
(512) 463-1000

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick
(512) 463-0001

Hunter, Todd  Chair Calendar Committee   Hunter’s office said nobody else has called about this bill
512-463-0672  
361-949-4603

Cook, Byron
(800) 643-7026
(512) 463-0730

Davis, Sarah      nobody answered, left voice mail
(512) 463-0389
(713)521-4474

Geren, Charlie  
(512) 463-0610
(817) 738-8333

Harless, Patricia
(512) 463-0496
(281) 376-4114

Huberty, Dan
(512) 463-0520
(281) 360-9410

King, Ken
(512) 463-0736
806-323-8870

Larson, Lyle
(512) 463-0646
(210) 402-5402

Price, Four
(512) 463-0470
(806) 374-8787

Riddle, Debbie
(512) 463-0572
281-257-4222

 
I'll call tomorrow. Tag for reminder.

Late this afternoon I called Speaker Straus' office and my House rep who is strong 2A supporter, asking this important NFA Bill be placed on the Calendar stressing it has passed both the Senate floor vote and House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety without amendment.

Please be sure to call Todd Hunter's office. Hunter is the Chair over Calendar Committee, which means he has stroke to prevent this if he feels nobody is interested. I'm not in his district, but since he is the Chair, he must hear from us.

Also, every name with a phone number above needs to hear from us. They are the pro-2A members on Calendar Committee. None of them represent my district, but they did hear from me today.

Thanks for the efforts OP, I will certainly get a call into Hunter's office tomorrow morning for sure, in addition to the others...

Last week I emailed every Republican on the Calendars Committee and started calling today. I think I will call every day until the end of the session next week. (or until this is placed on the calendar.)
I really had hoped when the Senate passed this a month ago that it would be taken up in the House. Perhaps I don't understand how the legislature works, but with the author of the House version of the bill on the Calendars Committee, I figured this would be placed on the calendar for sure. Honestly I'm baffled that it is just sitting there. I think it should be a rule that if the opposite chamber passes a bill and there is an identical bill in the other chamber it should automatically get a vote. If you look at the bill history you'll notice that the companion bill passed the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee a long time ago, but when the House was notified that the Senate bill had been passed, the exact same identical bill had to be referred back to the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee again. This took a week to get back out of committee. Guess what? It passed with the exact same vote count. Go figure! What a waste of time.

If this doesn't pass it will be two years until it can be brought up again.

I might have gone overboard, but the below email to my rep (Dennis Bonnen) contains the email I sent to all pro-2A calendar committee members.

Thank you for expressing interest in helping to bring SB 476 to a vote. You should speak with Charlie Geren to obtain information to help move SB 476 onto the House Calendar and House Floor. Charlie sponsored SB476 and he authored HB1179, so I’m sure he knows exactly who on the Calendar Committee could use some gentle persuasion.

I would rather you spend time working to push SB 476 and other important bills through for vote instead of sending me correspondence. You can reply next month. My SBR’s and Suppressors are used for hunting & target shooting. For the record, I’m not part of the open carry crowd. I always felt open carry makes the person a target who would be the first to be taken out when criminals want to rob a lucrative business.

BTW, you helped keep Straus in a position of power, and Straus appointed Hunter to the Chair over Calendar Committee. Maybe you have some influence with Straus which could be used to motivate Hunter, as well get Straus to bring SB 476 onto the floor for passage?

The following is just to let you know how important SB 476 is to me.
Yesterday I sent emails to those in the Senate who helped create and push SB 476 to the House, asking them to make phone calls to get SB 476 moving again:
Primary Author Kolkhorst
Coauthors Campbell, Hall, Huffines, and Perry

Today I made phone calls and sent emails to all pro-2nd Amendment members of the House Committee on Calendars. I did not email nor call Lucio or any other anti-2nd Amendment calendar committee members.

Make note the Chair for House Committee on Calendars is Todd Hunter.

Hunter’s office stated nobody has called to push SB 476, other than me. Hmmm, I find that a little hard to believe, and the person answering the phone wasn’t thrilled with this bill. His voice tone made it sound like “oh, you’re one of those”. I guess one of those means someone who wants to save his hearing.

Pro-Second Amendment calendar committee members have an * before their name.
Chair: Rep. Todd Hunter   (at this point I do NOT consider Todd Hunter to be pro 2nd Amendment)
Vice Chair: Rep. Eddie Lucio III (not pro 2nd Amendment either)
Members:
Rep. Roberto R. Alonzo
*Rep. Byron Cook
*Rep. Sarah Davis
*Rep. Charlie Geren   SPONORED this bill and wrote HB 1179.
Rep. Helen Giddings
*Rep. Patricia Harless
*Rep. Dan Huberty
Rep. Eric Johnson
*Rep. Ken King
*Rep. Lyle Larson
*Rep. Four Price
*Rep. Debbie Riddle
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez

This is the email I sent out today to Calendar Committee:
Please ensure SB 476 is added to House Calendar today and brought before the House Floor for a vote.
The Senate passed SB 476 (CLEO NFA Shall Sign) without amendments.
House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety passed SB 476 without amendments and sent it to Calendars on 5/7, where it has remained. In reviewing House Calendars for this week, I do not see SB 476 listed.
I anticipate SB 476 will readily pass House floor vote. The only thing preventing it from passing is the fact Calendar Committee has not added SB 476 to House Calendar. I urge you to please ensure SB 476 is added to the House Calendar today.

Federal Judges continue to state the ownership of firearms is a constitutional right under the 2nd Amendment. For example:
“Federal Judge Scullin in DC, who previously ruled against DC's onerous gun laws, just ruled that having to show a "good reason' to get a concealed carry permit in DC is unconstitutional and deprives most of the people from getting permits by the whims of the Chief of Police (may issue is no longer in effect in DC). That fact is clearly shown by how few people have gotten CCW permits in DC.”
“However, not only did he throw out 'may issue' but in his written opinion he took to task the decisions by Federal District judges in Maryland and New Jersey as well as the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld 'may issue'. He wrote that their decisions were nothing other than an opinion colored by political bias against the 2nd Amendment.”

Based upon Scullin’s decision, I cannot understand why SB 476 would not be on the House Calendar, especially since a few Texas CLEO’s will not sign Form 1 &/or Form 4 based upon their own political view or personal discrimination against people within their jurisdiction. Scullin singled out the actions of DC Chief of Police, which is why it is so important for Texas to ensure our CLEO’s will act accordingly towards civilian constitutional rights.

First: This bill provides liability protection for CLEO's when they sign BATFE Form 1 &/or Form 4. Currently no such protection is available to them.

Second: This bill prevents CLEO's from creating a "defacto" ban on items which are legal to own per both Texas law and Federal law. To purchase a hearing safe suppressor &/or short barreled rifle for hunting or target shooting requires the CLEO to sign the form stating:
"I have no information indicating that the transferee will use the firearm or device described on this application for other than lawful purposes. I have no information that the receipt or possession of the firearm or device described would place the transferee in violation of State or local Law."

Currently the CLEO can simply refuse to sign based upon his/her political party view, personal view, race, religion, social standing in the community, fear of liability, individual’s gender, etc. Luckily Brazoria County doesn't have this problem, but other areas within Texas do, and those law abiding citizens need this bill to be brought before the House Floor for a vote now. The Constitutional Rights of Texas Citizens should not be based upon the whims of a CLEO who uses their personal biased discriminatory view or political party view to prevent the law abiding citizen from exercising said right.

It is legal in Texas to own and to hunt with suppressors and short barreled rifles. Suppressors help control noise pollution as well as provide hearing protection for hunters. SBR’s are convenient to use when sitting in a deer blind/stand, and provide better ergonomics along with weight distribution for people of smaller stature.

SB 476 must be brought before the House Floor for a vote ASAP.  

Kindest Regards,
xxxx, SMSgt, USAF, Retired

Called the House Calendar Committee Chair Todd Hunter's office requesting SB 476 be placed on the calendar emphasizing it's common sense follow-on legislation given SB 473 is heading to the Governor for signature, along with the fact that SB 476 has passed the Senate floor vote, in addition to, the House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety essentially twice now without amendment when considering that committee has voted on both SB 476 and its House companion HB 1179 which contain identical language.

Edited to add I noted the House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety sent its report to Calendars back on May 7th...

Seems like TSRA needs to be flooded with calls!!!  I get NRA calls every week atleast twice and dig mailers from TSRA wanting money . Give us what we want and we'll talk about more money!!!

So you are only for certain amendment 2 items, just the ones that you are okay with.  This may sound harsh but by praising one and giving a negative opinion on another can derail them all.  Next time either go all in or stay the fuck out.

God Bless You! You have your right to opinion and the freedom of speech you were born with. Guess I’m not supposed to have the same freedom?

Let’s see, the bills that are important to me this session are: SB473/HB989 & SB476/HB1179. I enjoy hunting with suppressed SBR’s. I called a lot of people to express support for SB476/HB1179. Seems it was wrong of me to call about something I feel passionate about.

With that said, while my Rep & Senator know I’m pro-2A, I want my Rep to know exactly which bill I’m the most passionate about. They are getting flooded with OC calls and I wanted mine to know I’m pushing hard for NFA, and want to know what he is doing about it. I hope all pro-2A bills pass, but what is important to me at this moment in time is SB476/HB1179. It’s the one I’m focused on and the one I’m going to badger him about. With that said, I never said anything about any other pro-2A bills to any other elected official. Furthermore, while I’ve voted my whole life, I’ve never called my elected officials before about anything.

In summary, it seems per your assessment that I totally screwed up and that I should never ever contact my elected officials about anything I’m passionate about since I’m not making calls about other pro-2A bills.

+1 Well said Trip, and thanks for your time and efforts communicating with our representatives.  Vandy was all sorts of wrong in his post...

Is anybody on here in Rep Todd Hunters district? Corpus Christi area

Since SB476/HB1179 are worded exactly alike, look at them as one bill. It has passed through the complete SENATE once, and has twice passed through House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety without issue.

SB473/HB989 are headed to the Governor. SB476/HB1179 should be with them. They are both NFA bills.

Is Rep Hunter anti NFA and don’t want hunters to have access to common sense hearing protection? That’s the only reason why he would prevent a democrat vote on the House Floor. It appears he is afraid this bill will pass, so he is bypassing a democratic vote by keeping it off the calendar. In essence, Rep Hunter is vetoing this bill before it has a chance to go to the Governor, and he is doing the same thing that Anti-Gun Anti-2A police chiefs are: continuing to allow a defacto ban to be upheld which prevents hunters from using hearing safe suppressors and short barreled rifles to take game. Shame on Rep Hunter.

Is an Anti-Gun Anti-2A police chief (like the one in Austin) offering Rep Hunter something to keep SB476/HB1179 from going forward? That’s what this bill is all about, stopping an Anti-Gun Anti-2A police chief from creating a defacto ban on NFA items. If Rep Hunter continues letting an Anti-Gun Anti-2A police chief pull their strings, then we have no need for elected officials because the police chief knows what is best for everybody.

Which elected officials on the Calendar Committee are stopping SB476/HB1179 from going forward?

I admit I may read your post wrong but this is what I was referring to
"I would rather you spend time working to push SB 476 and other important bills through for vote instead of sending me correspondence. You can reply next month. My SBR’s and Suppressors are used for hunting & target shooting. For the record, I’m not part of the open carry crowd. I always felt open carry makes the person a target who would be the first to be taken out when criminals want to rob a lucrative business."

I originally read it in a way that said you expressed that to the officials you contacted so to me that says only support certain 2a bills.  I come from an open carry state, as some have heard many times, never in those 25 years did a situation you are describing ever happen.  39 states (I believe) allow open carry of hand guns.  I cannot find one instance that what you are describing ever happened.  Even using Texas as an example with open carry of rifles, I cannot find a single instance when this happened.  I will admit, some Texans are fucking crazy with this open carry stuff but realistically all states have neck beards lurking around.  I used to bitch about Texas a lot on here.  Over the past year I have grown to like many aspects of this state including where I live, Austin.  It's not perfect but my old home wasn't either, none of them are.  pivking and choosing what is good and not when it comes to a constitutional right is ridiculous.  We should all have constitutional carry with very minimal restriction.  As stated, I live in Austin and I currently have two class III items.  I am all for this bill, it is ridiculous it needs to be made a law as the second amendment is pretty easy to understand.  If there is one thing hanging around with Texans and having many arguments with Texans has taught me, there is no middle on 2A.  Being opposed to one thing but not the other only muddy's the waters which is exactly what both sides want.

Edit:  thank you for your service

Vandy58,
I'm not opposed to OC, and I hope it passes because then I will stop worrying so much about trying to conceal a handgun and keeping it from printing while motorcycle riding. Simply place pistol in holster, drop shirt over it, and go ride without worry. Same with a lot of other issues with CC carry, it'll be easier due to OC on the books.
My opinion about why I prefer CC versus OC is because that's how I would think if I was a criminal. If I was going to take out a public yet lucrative target, I would ensure the security guards, law enforcement, and OC civilians were neutralized at the very beginning and have enough co-criminals to keep the unknowns covered to prevent a CC from acting. That's all I'm saying and it as simple as that. It's my opinion from how I think, and not a slam at OC. It's not an opposition to OC, nor is it a reason for not passing OC. The example doesn't matter if it has or hasn't ever happened because it's how I would do it. Most importantly I do not want to discuss OC in this thread. I simply copied the email I sent to my rep un-edited and pasted it here. I was not expecting to receive "political correctness" issues from it.
Let's keep this to NFA.

Vandy, could you Austin PD Chief be pulling strings with Hunter &/or Straus? Allow SB473/HB989 to get to the floor to save face, but prevent SB476/HB1179 from getting to the floor?

It's fishy to me why SB476/HB1179 is not on calendar yet SB473/HB989 is headed for signature.

I guarantee assevado is doing what he can.  Ironically the only reason I want OC is the exact same reason as you!  Well I am sorry, I miss read, my bad.

I would also like to know who is preventing this bill from advancing. I keep looking at the Calendars meeting minutes online and no even moves to place it on the calendar. I had quite a few people call this morning in support of this bill. I really don't think they care what we think which is pretty sad, but not unexpected. When it comes to NFA, Republicans are almost as bad as Democrats. I think they are actually worse, because you vote for them believing they will do the right thing and they turn out to be a huge bunch of wimps that hide from NFA owners and just hope we will go away. At least the Democrats will tell you to your face what they think about...although of course they will lie about anything else.

I believe this would easily pass in the House as it did in the Senate. What really annoys me is I don't think we should have to call about this. They should just put it up for a vote. There are tons of useless bills that are advancing and I'm pretty sure no one is calling about them.

I've been following the OC closely tonight so I could get a feel for things, and it made me wonder about SB476/HB1179 again. In addition to my thought process about it being blocked by Austin PD Chief, I thought of a couple more:
Some members on the Calendar committee are taking orders from a police chief within their own district.
Members figured they would allow making the ownership law better in Penal code knowing they would continue allowing Chiefs to have defacto bans in place. It's legal to own, but we will not provide you a signature on the form.

You are probably right about that. Last I checked, they were elected to represent the people not the chief of police or sheriff of their district. It just goes to show that they are all a bunch of statists. If this doesn't get on the calendar, I hope those that are preventing it are decimated in their next election. Sadly, I'm sure it won't even come up. If I had a dollar for everyone I talked to that "believed in owning guns and stuff" but looked at me cross eyed when I mentioned NFA items, I'd be a rich man.

Have emailed my state senator for this.
To me, this is more important than OC.
Hopefully, we can get this done.

Agreed, SB 476 is of paramount importance to many of us, and thanks for taking the time to call your Senator.

That said, the Senate has already done their job by passing SB 476 without amendment in a timely fashion and handing it off to the House.  It’s also passed the subsequent House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety twice now without amendment when taking into account SB 476’s House companion Bill HB 1179.  SB 476 has been stalled awaiting placement on the House Calendar for readings and House floor vote since May 7th.  

SB 476 is on the 2 yard line to getting done, if we can just get it on the House Calendar for reading and floor vote.

IMO, the most important representative to contact immediately is Todd Hunter, Chair of the House Calendar Committee at 512-463-0672 or 361-949-4603.

For others on that Committee which need to be contacted, please see tripntx’s 5/21/2015 9:07:28 PM CDT post above.  Thanks for that post with all of the contact info tripntx…

I hope so too. Email and call your House rep too since the senate has already passed this bill. You can also call the house calendar members. They are ultimately holding this up unless they are getting orders from above so please call the speaker's office as well..

As of 5/24, SB 476 still is not on the calendar. Please everyone call and hound them about this.

I will call everyone on the list tomorrow.

tag for tuesday to do list

Tuesday - is too late. Unless it is placed on the house supplemental calendar at the end of the day tomorrow the bill is dead.
If it doesn't get a vote remember the calendars committee members and vote them out in the next primary.

I suspect that the Leg is not going to be in a big hurry to fight over this one with class letting out.



 

What pisses me off on the Texas legislature, is here is a good bill, has many good merits to pass it. But feet get dragged and good bills do not get handled while B.S. bills do, like hair braiding, making the cowboy hat the official hat of Texas. Remember this the Calender Committee is picked and pressured from the top by Joe Straus, this jackass needs to go it and final.

We need to work very hard to unset Joe Straus in the next PRIMARY election, looking for good candidates in his area and help the strongest defeat Straus.

Yes Strauss has to go and all of the calendars folks as well. I don't know exactly how it all works, but I really feel like the so called 2A supporters on the Calendars Committee should stand up for what is right. I mean Geren authored the identical house bill. When I saw this pass the Senate a month ago, I figured no worries - the sponsor/author of the companion bill is on the Calendars Committee. I mean how hard is it just to schedule a vote on it?

In the meantime we can rest easy that they are voting on a bill today relating to the creation of a commission to recommend a new system for student assessment and public school accountability. I mean geez - how many years have we had public school, and they haven't figured out yet how to assess students?

Made the rounds again too, and was told by one of the rep"s personnel that yesterday was the last day to get a bill on the calendar and that there will be no supplemental calendar posted today for consideration tomorrow.

Essentially that means it is dead.

Well the lady lied - there was a supplemental calendar posted, but unfortunately it doesn't include SB 476.

I sent this to both Straus & Hunter this morning:

Subject: Stop listening to Acevedo, SB476 must be heard

Message: SB476 must be heard on the House Floor today for a democratic vote. It has the full support of the Senate and was passed by House Homeland Security & Public Safety twice. You have a near perfect pro-gun House & Senate, yet you are allowing an anti-2nd Amendment police chief from California pull your strings. What kind of double speak is taking place when a couple of years ago you allowed hunters to start using suppressors to protect their hearing while taking game, this year you pass SB473 to better define the law about owning NFA items, but then you fail to stop Police Chiefs from creating "defacto" bans on NFA items. Police Chiefs like Acevedo is the reason why SB476 must be heard on the House Floor today and allow a House Vote to take place. Why are you afraid to allow SB476 to be heard and voted on by the House?

I will do the same.

Well said, calling Straus' office to convey the same...

ETA: Just called Straus' office paraphrasing tripntx's email.  Individual took my information and did not convey it wasn't possible to get it on the Calendar, so well see.

At lunch I made phone calls to Patrick, Straus, Hunter, and Geren offices. Didn't get anywhere with any of them. My intensions are to ensure my Rep obtains whatever information he can after the fact to determine by whom and why it was held up in calendars. Need the information to know how to properly fit it the next time.

Unacceptable that Straus and the House Calendars Committee did not place SB 476 up for House floor vote.  Certainly needs to be remembered during the next elections cycle for the 85th session.  

I am not legislative procedure savvy, but is there no remaining recourse for SB 473 this session?  For example, what if Governor Abbot decided to extend or call a special session.  What are the circumstances where he can do that? And if he were to call a special session, can he decide if SB 473 would be Calendared for House floor vote?  

Yes, I'm grasping here, but am curious as to what options, if any, remain for CLEO Shall Sign this session...

I wish Straus would suck start a shotgun.
Fuck that guy.

I do not the answer to this either.

Ugh. Damn it all to hell.

There needs to be hell to pay next election. We need a shit-list for this failure.

I am not legislature savvy either, but I think it is doubtful that Governor Abbot would include this in a special session. I sent him an email about this issue during his campaign, and I received no response. I have also never received responses from my reps or anyone on the Calendars Committee. I emailed Rep. Green who authored the identical house bill over a month ago to ask what I could do to help get his bill passed, and again I received no response. I really don't think they care about our opinions at all which is frustrating.

This could still theoretically go forward on the local & consent calendar as long as not a single Rep opposes it.  However the deadline for that calendar has passed as well and I don't see it on there.  Plus going forward that way means any Rep who wishes to talk for 10 minutes can kill it.

Take a look at what they've done next door in Louisiana on LEO sign-offs.  Their gov took it out of the hands of the counties and put the onus on the State Police. This move eliminates the county-by-county patchwork.



I know our governor is statutorily limited compared to other states, but it could be a solution.



Problem is of course that leaves statewide sign offs in the hands a future governor with different politics.

Thank you for that clarification BR.  Obviously those chances are slim to none...

Ironically, BATFE announced yesterday their plan for a final action on 41P in December 2015, so it sounds like they are still moving forward with it.  

Arfcom thread link: ATF 41P update: New decision date: Dec 2015

DOJ/ATF Notice on the OMB OIRA site link: DOJ/ATF  RIN: 1140-AA43

The guy at Straus' office said they hadn't gotten many calls on this one today.
I was respectful, but made sure my displeasure was voiced.