As Texas completes its biennial legislative session, GOP state elected officials are touting a “Super Bowl” session. Led by Gov. Greg Abbott, Republican elected officials claim great success.
Unfortunately, their failure to protect Texas’ business climate, continued taxpayer subsidies for public sector unions, and failure to secure honest elections leave Texas more vulnerable to a Democratic takeover than it was even six months ago.
To be fair, the Texas legislature did pass reforms to the property tax system and school funding formulas. Senate Bill 2 was a long-overdue measure to give voters additional control over property taxes. House Bill 3, the so-called school finance bill, combined a modest property tax cut with a $6 Billion payout to Democratic labor unions. For those keeping score, they gave up $6 billion in additional spending in order to obtain $5 billion in taxpayer relief.
Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends. The 86th Texas legislature was catastrophic for the free enterprise system, not in what it passed but in what it failed to pass.
In February 2018, the Austin City Council created a new entitlement. Modeled after Bill De Blasio’s policies in New York City, Austin now mandates private employers provide eight annual days of paid “sick leave.” This level of governmental intrusion into the employer/employee relationship is unprecedented in Texas. The Austin “sick leave” ordinance is a deliberate attempt by Bernie Sanders-aligned organizations to establish a foothold in Texas; San Antonio and Dallas have subsequently followed.
While a court case has temporarily stayed the Austin ordinance, the legislature was expected to explicitly preempt it. On April 11, the Texas Senate passed SB’s 2485-88 to pre-empt sick leave ordinances along with other local wage and benefit mandates. Yet these bills died in the Texas House.
In an effort to appease frivolous objections from left-wing interest groups, House State Affairs Committee chairman Dade Phelan, a Republican, slow-walked them past the point of relevance.
Speaking of left-wing interest groups, in 2018 the Republican Party of Texas made abolition of the automatic collection of public sector union dues a top legislative priority. This followed consecutive sessions in which such legislation passed the Texas Senate to die in the House. This past session, both Republican majority chambers refused to file a bill.
Finally, for those concerned about Texas and the 2020 presidential election, special attention must be paid to Republican failures on election integrity. Senate Bill 9, an omnibus measure to protect honest elections, passed the Texas Senate on April 15. It was subsequently slow-walked past relevance by Republican House Elections Committee Chairwoman Stephanie Klick. We’re in for some unpleasant surprises if the 2020 election is close, especially in Dallas, Hays, and Travis counties.
These are only the Republican failures with direct relevance to the 2020 presidential election.
The Trump era has brought a new political paradigm to Texas. While the state remains red, the GOP’s margin for error is thinner. Following the 86th session of the Texas legislature, Sanders-aligned organizations are ascendant, labor union coffers are full, and our elections are vulnerable. That’s the political reality in Texas, no matter how many “lemonade stand bills” Governor Abbott signs.
Perhaps Democrats still cannot win Texas, but Republicans are well on their way to losing it.
Adam Cahn is an Austin-based political blogger.
