All of these are from the Texas Tribune:
- Texas lawmaker abruptly spiked his bill to punish cities that don’t deal with homeless encampments.
After several attempts by Democrats to weaken the bill and challenge its legitimacy through other procedural tactics, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, asked for debate on the bill to end and resume on June 3, one day after the session ends.
Senate Bill 241, which had already passed the state Senate, would have forced Texas cities and counties to beef up their enforcement of a statewide ban on homeless encampments. Critics had argued the legislation won’t help reduce homelessness.
- New limits for personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits may become a reality in Texas.
A proposal to limit how much an accident victim can recover in lawsuits for medical care won preliminary approval from the Texas House on Monday, but not without changes that leave open monetary awards beyond medical bills and preserve the court’s ability to decide what evidence is relevant.
The bill passed 94-52 on Monday with the support of at least five Democrats.
Senate Bill 30, authored by Georgetown Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner, intends to curb “nuclear verdicts,” or jury rulings that award victims more than $10 million, which proponents say makes doing business in Texas unpredictable.
If the proposal becomes law, those who sue in personal injury or wrongful death cases can submit only the amount paid for medical services, and directs juries to limit the amount of damages based on a set of options such as the maximum that can be charged to Medicare.
- Bill that would increase oversight of Texas’ largest energy users gets OK’d in Texas House.
The Texas House approved a bill Tuesday that would give Texas more oversight over energy transactions between power generators and the state’s largest consumers of electricity.
Senate Bill 6 also proposes new ways to assess the amount of electricity that is available to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the main manager of the state’s grid.
The bill now returns to the Senate. Legislators in the upper chamber must agree to the changes made to the bill before it goes to Abbott.
The bill would give ERCOT the power to oversee energy transactions between power generators and large consumers that don’t involve the state’s grid. ERCOT would also have the authority to cut their power and use it during an emergency.
- Proposal to automatically deny bail to some previously accused of felonies falls in Texas House.
The Texas House on Monday rejected a last-minute proposal asking voters to amend the state Constitution to automatically deny bail to certain repeat offenders, with Democrats banding together to defeat a final part a long-running push to jail more dangerous defendants before trial.
Senate Joint Resolution 87, part of a broader package stiffening the state’s bail laws, fell short of the 100 votes necessary to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, winning votes from all present Republicans and just nine Democrats. It failed, 93 to 32, with 19 Democrats declining to take a position by marking themselves “present” or not at all.
The House will have one more chance to adopt the proposal tomorrow, though its path to 100 votes remained unclear. The House approved the centerpiece of the bail package and one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities, Senate Joint Resolution 5, last week.
- Bill to allow smaller homes on smaller lots resurrected in Texas House.
A proposal to allow smaller homes on smaller lots in Texas cities — part of a slew of bills intended to tame the state’s high home prices and rents — is back from the dead after a procedural move killed it in the Texas House Sunday.
Senate Bill 15 — a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate — would reduce the amount of land cities require for single-family homes in new subdivisions. That would give homebuilders the flexibility to build smaller homes on less land, reducing the final cost of the home.
The bill, which has already cleared the Senate, briefly came before the Texas House Sunday afternoon before state Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., D-Fort Worth, moved to kill the bill on procedural grounds. That move prevailed. But in a sigh of relief for housing advocates, lawmakers resurrected the bill hours later, fast-tracking the bill to come back before the chamber Tuesday.