Calls made. Keep the heat on fellas.

Good man, thanks.

Where are we at on this?

https://texas.gunowners.org/tell-the-senate-to-fix-the-constitutional-carry-bill-now/



Seems like the quick 3rd reading was done to torpedo this bill so it couldn't be as easily fixed. All the Republicans get to pat themselves on the back for voting for a pro-gun bill, but too bad those "sneaky" Democrats will kill it in the house on a technicality. Aw shucks better luck next time.

You must fun at a party.  What a buzz kill, you must be against HB1927.

No, GOA and the NRA told Patrick to pass HB1927 with NO amendments. Instead they stripped two out and added a few. IMO the killer is the increasing a convicted felon carrying a gun from 2 year minimum to 5 year, other is not allowing carrying a firearm on some non domestic violence misdemeanors for 5 years after conviction. These same misdemeanors would not prohibit you from buying a firearm. These changes would cause HB 1927 to break house rules and get outside the scope of the bill.

We need to start calling Patrick and your state Senator in the morning and just tell them to fix HB 1927, also use the GOA link above to send messages to Patrick and your senator, then start calling and keep calling.

It's funny you said that. My friend is heavy into the politics in Collin County. He is the son of a prominent politician in Collin County. He was telling me he wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that. Now, his dad did NOT say thats the plan nor does his dad have any sway over TX state bills, but basically he (the son) said he wouldn't be surprised at all if the plan was NOT to pass the bill but to give the illusion that the republicans got it all done and then they blame democrats. This way they can still claim to be very pro gun but secretly allow the bill to get tanked.

I'm pretty sure a domestic violence conviction prevents you from buying a firearm.

What can we do to get the ball rolling again?

Yes a misdemeanor DV conviction bans you for life from owning a gun. But I said NON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE a conviction, like assault with injury from being in say a bar fight and splitting a guy’s lip open.

Call Patrick’s office 512-463-0001

Also call Senator Schwertner who is the senate sponsor of HB 1927. 512-463-0105

And call your state senator, tell them to fix the bill.

Even if the phone number goes to voice mail leave a message to fix HB1927.

Can the State Senators "Fix" the bill - now that it has passed?

I thought it would need to go to Conference or back to House to reconcile the changes?

Thank You for your insight on "What Next?"...

BIGGER_HAMMER

This.

what I'm reading here as well as the emails from FPC and GOA are all vague.  Which amendment violates house rules and for what reason?  'fix the bill' is kind of generic.  thoughts?

Exactly - fix it can be taken to mean anything. We need to tell them exactly what we want done.

This. I don't have enough foundational knowledge of how the Texas legislature works to accurately describe what needs to be fixed. Someone tell me which amendment(s) violates the house rules and tell me how it violates the rules.

Indeed.  I was hoping for a bit more detail from various emails - you carry so much more weight if you can quote bill and amendment numbers.

It's my hobby lobbyist understanding that the amendments in question are related to the 5 year minimum prison term for a felon in possession of a firearm, which is Amendment 8, and the provision about carrying if convicted of misdemeanor assault in the past 5 years, which seems to be Amendment 2, as that says" "has been convicted of an offense under Section 22.01(a)(1), 22.05, 22.07, or 42.01(a)(7) or (8) committed in the five-year period preceding the date the instant offense was committed

Here's the full amendment list:

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Amendments.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=HB1927

It's my understanding that if a bill goes to the House from the Senate with multiple subjects, say a bill about property tax that also changes speed limits, that the whole bill can be stopped via a Point of Order, where the bill is objected to by a member of the House.  The House (I guess in the person of the Speaker or if they have a Parliamentarian like the US Senate does) then makes a determination of it the bill has multiple aspects, and if so, then the bill can't be advanced or even discussed in a conference committee with the Senate, to take things out at that point.  

Now I don't do this for a living, the elected Reps do, and it's not the first time a bill has been passed by the Senate to the House.  So any issues that are happening should not have been surprises to the legislators.

I don't full understand how we ended up right here.  If it's all been an elaborate way to try to take the heat off by moving CC, but then not having it actually pass - the way to do that is in some committee, not after it's been passed by both chambers - too much attention at that point.  All that's going to happen now is the media / Democrats (same thing) are going to say the Republicans are EXTREME!!! for voting for CC, while us Republicans are going to be mad for it not actually passing.  

There's the usual GOA video call tonight, and we'll see what comes out of that, and what the next steps are going to be in the Legislature.  I assume the Senate, which can do about anything it wants, can vote to pull the bill from being sent to the House, and vote to remove the Amendments that apparently keep it from being able to be taken up by the House.  The issue may be that the felon in possession one was needed to get some level of support from cops, and the assault one from Sen Nelson who I believe wanted it and the thanked the author when it was submitted and voted in.  

So without those, would it be able to pass the Senate?  And does the Senate want to have it not pass with them being the holdup, compared to this more arcane Point of Order issue that 0.2% of the population is going to follow, understand, or care?

3 weeks left in this session, we shall soon see!

The anti-gun DUMBocrats in the House can kill HB 1927 on a technicality, before even heard.

This is the thing I posted above, since I did not have solid information from either GOA or NRA on what exactly is the poison pill, I gave only my opinion knowing the House rules. House rules require a bill only deal with one item. IMO it is the increasing penalty for felons, and even misdemeanors caused the problem. If this had been in a separate House bill it would have had to go to the Criminal Justice committee, not Homeland Security.

Only thing the Senate could do is bring the bill back up and strip out the amendments and re-vote.

Sounds reasonable - the other amendments seemed within the scope of a CC law - sign postings, adding a web page to the DPS site about carry laws, etc.

You'd have thought that Senator Schwertner would have known that the two amendments in question, or whichever ones are the issue, would have been a problem in the House.  As before, the Senate has passed plenty of bills over to the House before, and knows what can and can't be added.

I'd have thought any poison pills would have been added by the Democrats, or at least one of the on the fence Republicans, not the chair of the committee that heard CC, and who seemed to be a strong supporter of it.

It's far more complex at this point that it should have been.

This is why I said to call not only Patrick 512-463-0001 but Schwertner too 512-463-0105

I just called and they said it was passed and back in the house's hands.

I said ya but yall screwed up with adding amendments that are not correct and dead upon arrival in the house.

Fix the bill and get this mother fucker passed!!!

Elegant & understated, yet to the point...



I'm calling EVERYONE from the Governor (the Leader of the Conservative Republican Party), the Lt. Governor, My State Senator & My State House Representative, so say "GET THIS DONE!!" ...

I have a CHL so it's not really affecting me, but it is a HUGE Flaming Finger in the face of the Dumb-o-crats and there is NO REASON that Texas can't at least be caught up with the other 20 states regarding Constitutional Carry...

BIGGER_HAMMER

I'm not calling willy nilly until the problem is exactly laid out, w/ references.  Friday it was in the House, call your state reps, today it's back in the Senate, call your Senator.

Figure out what the hell is going on, spell it out carefully w/ links, before you ask folks to call.

Patrick is no friend of gun owners. He has made lots of anti-gun proposals, but gets no support for them. He was lucky in past sessions the House did not pass CC, so he was off the hook. He wanted nothing to do with it this session, and then the House passed it. He still tried to out get of bringing it to a vote this session, but got overwhelmed with calls. At the end of the day, he loves his power, and if we get enough support he will bend, but it is a hard journey given them time constraints.

This is what I was saying above. My friend, who is related to a prominent politician, thinks that the republicans will intentionally scuttle it, but do so in a way that makes it look like they did their jobs and they can all say "we voted for it and passed it, but it was killed over a technicality".

I've made "nice" calls this morning. The Repubs in TX do not want this. ALL they want is to keep their jobs, suck from the corruption in Austin and grow their power base. I hate to say it but I called this clusterfuck right up front. I am ABSOLUTELY for CC but expecting the clowns we elect to help us is a fools dream.

If this gets shit canned because of technicality…. sigh politicians

I was all excited last week and then read about this today.

Is there still a chance that the House can reconcile the bill? If so, who do we need to call?

But it's not really a technicality, it's failure by design.  

The Senate knows what can be put into a bill and have it pass the House - they certainly don't muck up the waters on bills they want passed.

Patrick is shifty enough, and said enough anti-gun rubbish that he's always best kept with an eye on, and a hand on your wallet.  What I am disappointed in is Sen Schwertner, as he was the guy pushing CC through the committee and the Senate floor.  If it was plain to us hobby lobbyists that adding a 5 year felon in possession aspect was going to cause issues in the House, it certainly should have been plain to someone who does this as a job.  

Politically I don't understand the value of sabotaging CC from the Senate.  Texas Republicans will still be called extreme meanies from the media / democrats, now not only won't they have the enthusiastic support of gun owners, but outright dislike.  If CC goes bust on purpose, then I'm done with Patrick, and I've voted for him 5 times already - 14 primary, runoff, general, 18 primary, general.  He only won last time 52-46 or such, so he's no shoo-in for 22.

Give it a day or so for things to shake out behind the scenes, and then get ready Tuesday / Wednesday time frame to call Patrick and say you won't vote for him anymore unless he gets a bill that's already been passed by both Houses, on the Governor's desk.

I figure that's being worked behind the scenes - give it a day and then circle back.

At the Constitutional Issues committee hearing, there was talk of adding the 5 years for a convicted felon to get the Chiefs and LE associations on our side. After more research we found out it was not a good idea to include that in HB 1927 and instead it should be a stand alone bill to stand on it’s own merits.

I guess I am lucky, in 14 I did not vote for Patrick in the primary or run off, I did in the general, in 2018 I voted for him in both elections because the options were so much worse. This may be suicide for Patrick depending on who runs against him in 22.

I would call Patrick keep hitting him hard so he knows things blew up on him. 512-463-0001

Call Schwertner  since he signed on as sponsor in the Senate 512-463-0105

Then call your senator, tell him/her to make fixing HB 1927 a priority.

My 'nice' calls for today are done. Starting to get antsy about this one.

I am done being nice.

I have called about property taxes and nothing but, "well we are working on other more important things" is the answer I keep getting.

I call about CC and they said they passed it and are "working out the details."

FUCK YALL. Stop fucking being politicians and do your damn job.

The House got HB 1927 back at 6:14 this evening.....

I guess the question will be if they can proceed with it, or if it has non-germane amendments and so can’t be taken up.

The GOA zoom meeting is wrapping up. Rachel basically says "call senate and LT Gov and tell them to fix the bill" without direct reasons. She says she doesn't want to get boxed into to one avenue to fix it and everyone is aware of what they need to do to resolve it with the house.

She also mentioned the senate and Patrick were advised the amendments would be poison. She wouldn't admit to which specific amendment it is, but I'm guessing it's the minimum sentence one.

As Rachel said, keep calling, apply very firm but polite pressure. The Senate needs to work with the House to fix the problem they created! If your call goes to voice mail, good, that means others are hammering them, try back a few minutes and keep calling.

Hah she was quoting me on that

Good summary.

There's always more going on behind the scenes that appears in front.  She said she needed us to call and put the heat on to help give GOA the leverage to work with allies on how best to get a bill that the House can take up.  

I like to mention details when I call so as to appear more informed, but for this situation, we're going to just have to talk generalities.  

Something like "Please tell LTG Patrick that the Senate needs to amend HB1927 so that it can be taken up in the House and withstand Point of Order challenges.  I've voted for Mr. Patrick X number of times before, but this is a make it break issue for me. He needs to push this through".  

Call both the answered line and the message line, and drop him an email via the web site.

512-463-0001 answered line. If you are anything but Texas nice to Ms. Helen we will make you pay via honey and fire ants.  

512 463-5342  message line

Email page for LTG:

https://www.ltgov.texas.gov/contact/contact-general/

This!  In Spades!!!

RE: Ms. Helen - the old saying goes "you can catch more flies with Honey" - but if you are anyway mean to Ms. Helen you'll also get the Fire Ants too!

I'll pound the phones & Keyboard to work the system and hope the Senate can "fix" a bill they already voted upon, and that the House can find a way to fight off Dumb-O-Crat challenges to finally getting 1927 to the Governors Desk for signature.

BIGGER_HAMMER

Called and emailled... *crosses fingers*

They're hearing from me regularly these days. Sent more emails and will call tomorrow.

Just fired off another email to putrick.

Guys do not forget to call Senator Schwertner he sponsored HB 1927 in the senate
512-463-0105

Just called Schwertner and Patrick.

I don't see a problem with that not being gemaine.  If it is, it can be stripped in reconciliation.  The panic on this is too early.