The Texas Tribune: UT-Austin Issues Campus Carry Rules Barring Guns From Dorms

Let's see if there is push back from this - a Second Amendment lawsuit perhaps?

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Save for some narrow exceptions, guns will be allowed in classrooms but not in dorms at the University of Texas at Austin next school year under guidelines reluctantly issued by university President Greg Fenves on Wednesday.

Fenves submitted the rules to comply with the state's new campus carry law, which goes into effect Aug. 1. The law, Senate Bill 11, allows the concealed carrying of weapons in public university buildings by license holders across the state. But it gave universities the power to create limited rules that designate some "gun-free zones" in areas where it would be too dangerous to have weapons. Those zones must be limited in scope, however, and can't have the effect of making it practically impossible to carry a gun anywhere on campus. 

. . . Fenves' rules will ban guns in dorms except for three specific exceptions: Concealed handguns will be allowed in dorms' common areas; people who work in the dorms will be able to carry and family members visiting the dorms will also be allowed to carry.

While no classroom ban will be imposed, faculty members who don't share an office with anyone else can ban guns in their specific areas, Fenves said.

He also issued strict rules for how those guns can be carried. In most cases, students and other people carrying guns must keep the weapons "on or about their person" at all times. If people aren't carrying their guns, they'll have to keep them in their locked cars. Gun safes will only be allowed in one place — university apartments, which are mostly reserved for families and graduate students.

All guns that are being carried will have to be kept in a holster that protects the trigger. The gun can't have a bullet in its chamber. And it can't be visible; the state's new open carry law doesn't apply to college campuses.

From the Houston Chronicle: Local governments under fire for gun bans

File this one under policy implementation. It also fits under a general discussion of the relationship between state and local governments, in addition to the role of the Texas Attorney General in adjudicating disputes. The struggle over where someone can and cannot openly carry a handgun continues.

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Senate Bill 273, which went into effect Sept. 1, allows anyone to file a complaint with the attorney general's office if he believes a state agency or political subdivision is improperly posting the signs where guns are allowed.

Under the law, the complainant first must send a written complaint to the entity. If three days go by without a response, he can file a complaint with Paxton's office. The attorney general then investigates the allegation - which must include proof of the improper signage and lack of local response - and forwards it to the appropriate division if further action needs to be taken.

Governmental entities found in violation of the law have 15 days to remedy the situation; if they do not, Paxton's office can sue, seeking penalties of up to $1,500 for the first day and $10,500 for each subsequent day they are deemed non-compliant. The new law applies only to signs that bar gun owners with a license to carry, or LTC, "from entering or remaining on a premises or other place owned or leased by the governmental entity." As of Jan. 1, those with an LTC are allowed to carry their handguns openly in a shoulder or hip holster.

The complaints received by Paxton's office since Sept. 1 target a variety of entities, from the Deer Park Community Center to the Dallas Zoo.

Nearly a quarter of the complaints were filed against city halls and other government complexes where signs were posted telling Texans they could not carry handguns anywhere in their buildings. Six were filed against local governmental entities that want to ban guns in their entire courthouse or judicial complexes, and three were lodged against county appraisal districts or tax offices.

Several laws passed by the 83rd Legislature took effect September 1st

From ABC13, a list of laws adopted last year which are now in being adopted:

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Texas state legislators meet every other year, but some laws passed more than 12 months ago are finally effective today, September 1, 2014.

"These are the more complicated laws," says State Representative Garnet Coleman, a Democrat from Houston. "We're talking about legislation that we pass and then give to the regulatory agencies. They have to figure out the best way to implement the laws and that can take time."

That's certainly the case with House Bill 5, the sweeping legislation changing the course load requirements for graduating high school seniors. Now, there are multiple tracks a student can choose his or her freshman year. The non-binding track guides a student through classes which offer preparation for college or a job in the workforce.

Also effective today is a new law which makes it easier to go through the inspection/registration process for businesses with fleets of vehicles running on natural gas. The streamlined process is intended to encourage businesses to purchase and run the cleaner burning cars and buses.

Juveniles charged with crimes are now getting a fairer shake in the state's legal system. A law effective today provides indigent juveniles with appointed counsel immediately after arrest. Previously, juveniles who couldn't afford attorneys would get much farther into the legal process before being appointed an attorney.

The state's new abortion law, House Bill 2, will not go into effect as intended today. A federal judge ruled against key parts of that law which would have shuttered abortion clinics not meeting certain enhanced medical standards.

From the Texas Tribune: Craft Brewers Celebrate New Beer Laws

The Texas Legislature made selling craft beer much easier last year:

Marking the passage of sweeping Texas beer industry reform, Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que in Austin on Friday will load a keg onto a distributor’s truck, which, for the first time since Prohibition, will transport the beer to a bar six minutes up the street.

It will be the first transaction in what some predict could become a multibillion-dollar industry over the next decade.
Until January 1 of this year, brewpubs like Uncle Billy’s could only sell their product on site: If you wanted an Uncle Billy’s beer, you had to go to Uncle Billy’s. That changed with the passage of Senate Bills 515, 516, 517, 518 and 639 last year, the largest overhaul of the beer industry since the Legislature legalized brewpubs in 1993.

Under the new rules, the cap on brewpub production doubled, growing from 5,000 barrels a year to 10,000. Now, brewpubs can distribute their beer using third-party distributors, and they can sell limited amounts of their own beer directly to retailers.

Rick Engel, the co-founder of Uncle Billy’s, opened Texas’ first brewpub in Houston in 1993, the first year brewpubs were made legal since Prohibition. Since then he has been working with members of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild to pass major reforms to beer laws.

This ties into our look at economic development policy in the state as well as the influence of interest groups in the state.