Legislation from the 85th Session

HB 7 – Co-Author – CPS reform bill

HB 15 – Co-Author – Property tax transparency bill

HB 28 – Co- Author – To abolish the franchise tax

HB 44 – Joint-Author – limits the appraisal rates on property values to 5% of the appraised value of a property for a preceding tax year.

HB 45 – Co-Author – ensures there will be no foreign laws in US courts

HB 52 – Authored – Anti sanctuary cities bill similar to the one which was passed. This was the first filed bill on sanctuary cities of the legislative session.

HB 56 – Joint-Author – To allow first responders to carry a concealed handgun if they are LTC holders

HB 57 – Co-Author – To allow consumers to purchase raw milk

HB 65 – Co-Author – Requires a waiting period for divorces to encourage couples to stay together.

HB 77 – Primary Author – Extended graduation committees in public high schools.

HB 83 – Joint Author – Waive the fee for a combo fishing/hunting license for state military personnel.

HB 85 – Joint Author – Makes the chief appraiser of an appraisal district an elected position.

HB 89 – Co-Author – Does not allow the state govt. to do business with companies that boycott Israel.

HB 93 – Co-Author – Would end no-fault divorces to encourage couples to work out differences.

HB 99 – Joint-Author – Specifies that only Texas state entities have the right to enforce federal firearm statues and regulations.

HB 100 – Co-Author -Provides a statewide regulatory framework for ridesharing apps like lyft and uber.

HB 105 – Authored – To abolish the internet access service tax from the sales and use tax.

HB 113 – Joint-Author – To abolish red light cameras.

HB 121 – Joint-Author – Would not allow the state to deny motor vehicle registration because of unpaid red light cameras.

HB 131 – Joint-Author – Would not allow the federal govt. to regulate firearms and firearm accessories if they are made within Texas state borders.

HB 150 – Joint-Author – Exempts the ad valorem tax at the same rate as the disability rating of a disabled veteran.

HB 167 – Joint-Author – limits the appraisal rate that can be adopted by an appraisal district.

HB 170 – Joint-Author – Creates a sales tax holiday for college textbooks.

HB 200 – Co-Author – Prohibits the disposal of fetal remains from abortions and prohibits partial birth abortions.

HB 300 – Co-Author – Lowers the LTC fee from $140 to $40.

HB 339 – Co-Author – Removes the fee for a LTC

HB 355 – Co-Author – Prohibits registered sex offenders from living on a college campus.

HB 375 – Co-Author – Constitutional carry bill

HB 376 – Authored – Limits the appraised value for a homestead residence to a 5% appraisal cap.

HB 421 – Co-Author -Exempts church security from state regulation which many churches cannot afford.

HB 428 – Co-Author -Protects religious liberty by allowing a college group to accept whatever members they want and denying membership to whoever they want.

HB 429 – Joint-Author – Increases the penalty for those who attack law enforcement.

HB 432 – Authored – Would start the process for dedicating 100% of the motor vehicle tax toward the state highway fund.

HB 434 – Co-Author – To end the wrongful birth cause of action where an individual can sue a doctor for allowing a child with a disability to be born.

HB 436 – Co-Author – To require individuals who seek public assistance to be drug tested.

HB 453 – Co-Author – To require equal parenting in suits that affect parent-child relationships.

HB 455 – Authored – Allows a property owner to attend a protest hearing by conference call if they choose to do so rather than showing up in person.

HB 456 – Authored – To use capped state revenue which goes into the rainy day fund to retire state debt.

HB 479 – Authored – Would prohibit red light cameras.

HB 490 – Co-Author – Would provide hearing aids for children in health plans.

HB 497 – Co-Author – To ensure that a business owner is not held legally liable for injuries for allowing handguns on their property.

HB 500 – Co-Author – Ethics bill which does not allow elected officials to have a pension if they have felony convictions.

HB 515 – Co-Author – Reduces and revises state testing requirements on classroom instruction

HB 522 – Co-Author – Does not allow a property association to limit and regulate religious displays.

HB 538 – Authored – Would set up a rebate system for the franchise tax which would return unused money to businesses.

HB 540 – Authored – Allows you to receive uncapped attorney fees if you win a property tax case 3 years in a row.

HB 541 – Authored – limits the growth rate of appropriations.

HB 542 – Authored – Drug testing for Medicaid recipients.

HB 547 – Co-Author – Would allow an adopted person to request an original birth certificate.

HB 577 – Co-Author – Prohibits a political subdivision from adopting or enforcing any ordinance or other local regulation regulating a private employer’s use of criminal background information for employment hiring.

HB 753 – Joint-Author – Would not allow illegal immigrants to receive in state tuition.

HB 758 – Joint-Author – Allows a church to receive a property tax rebate on property they own and conduct worship

HB 787 – Co-Author – Would create the state electric grid security commission.

HB 844 – Co-Author – Ends dismemberment abortion.

HB 889 – Co-Author – Makes sanctuary cities illegal.

HB 920 – Co-Author – Allows an ATV on public roads if they are volunteer first responders or agriculture workers.

HB 921 – Co-Author – Anti-sanctuary city bill.

HB 966 – Joint-Author – Extends graduation committees.

HB 968 – Authored – Eliminated the potential of floating gun free school zones by clarifying that buildings where weapons are prohibited must be actually leased, owned, or under the control of a school.

HB 969 – Authored – Would lower the interest rate for seniors who choose deferral and abatement on their property taxes.

HB 973 – Co-Author – To allow some public junior colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees.

HB 979 – Co-Author – To allow star of Texas award family to receive specialty license plates.

HB 981 – Co-Author – To exempt church security from state regulation.

HB 1024 – Co-Author – Would remove fee for a LTC

HB 1113 – Co-Author – Health plans cannot provide for abortions unless medically necessary.

HB 1118 – Co-Author – Would abolish the state council on competitive government and place the duties on the comptroller.

HB 1142 – Co-Author – Would not allow the state to contract with Sudan, Iran or any other state sponsor of terror.

HB 1169 – Joint Author – Creates a sales tax holiday specifically for small businesses to encourage patronage of small business.

HB 1267 – Co-Author – Exempted volunteer security personnel at private schools and churches from security officer licensure requirements.

HB 1290 – Co-Author – Requires state agencies, when they adopt a new rule, to eliminate an existing rule prior to the new rule’s effective date.

HB 1327 – Author – Provided more enhancement triggers for intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter.

HB 1333 – Co-Author – Reduced reliance on standardized testing in evaluating students and teachers. This legislation also provided for alternative assessment instruments in lieu of high stakes exams.

HB 1344 – Co-Author – Created a whistleblower protection provision for those who report immigration policies of governmental entities that are contradictory to state or federal law.

HB 1542 – Co-Author – Designated non-group foster homes as the least restrictive place for a child and would require DFPS to designate this type of home as preferred foster homes. The goal is to keep as many children as possible out of large group foster homes.

HB 1565 – Author – To waive state park fees for veterans

HB 1567 – Author -To waive combo hunting and fishing license fees for veterans

HB 1729 – Co-Author – Would establish the Evidence Testing Grant Program. Funds of this grant can be used by laboratories who analyse evidence related to sexual assault and other sex offenses that were collected on the scene of the crime. Allows an original or renewing driver’s license applicant to donate $1 or more to the program if the applicant chooses to do so.

HB 1774 – Co-Author – Restrict large tort law firms from filing frivolous insurance lawsuits after storm events that drive up all rate-payers premiums as a result.

HB 1813 – Co-Author – Allows county employees to refuse to personally issue a marriage license on the basis of the employee’s sincerely held religious belief.

HB 1911 – Joint Author – Removed the licensure requirement for individuals to carry a firearm.

HB 1923 – Co-Author – Prevents a governmental entity from taking any adverse action against a person on the basis of that person’s sincerely held belief in traditional marriage.

HB 1971 – Co-Author – Women who are pregnant with a child diagnosed with a life threating disease would first have to be informed on perinatal hospice care before they are authorized for an abortion. Also bans discriminatory abortions.

HB 1982 – Authored – Amends the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District to allow voters to elect the District’s board of directors. Bringing accountability and transparency to the LSGWCD board.

HB 2063 – Co-Author – Clarifies regulations on Do-Not-Resuscitate orders to allow them to be executed in health care facilities and under hospice care settings

HB 2119 – Co-Author – Corrects previous legislation passed last session to allow spouses of fallen first responders to receive death benefits after they remarry, regardless of when the marriage occurred relative to the passage of last session’s bill.

HB 2160 – Co-Author – Gives County Commissioners authority to assess damages caused by high-speed rail companies and to deny them access to private land, but does not give high-speed rail companies eminent domain authority. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2161 – Co-Author – A high-speed rail company would not be included in the definition of a rail of a rail road company and therefore would not have immediate eminent domain rights. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2163 – Co-Author – Requires high-speed rail tracks to be built over pylons 40 feet or more above ground when built in counties or adjacent to counties with a population of one million or more. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2164 – Co-Author – Prohibits the use of private activity bonds to finance the construction of facilities to operate high-speed rail services. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2165 – Co-Author – Prohibits high-speed rail companies the statutory right to survey private property. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2167 – Co-Author – Prohibits the use of state money, credit, or guaranties to fund privately owned high-speed rail projects, unless the state contacts with the entity to ensure the repayment of funds. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2168 – Co-Author – Prohibits high-speed rail companies from entering privately owned waters and land to make an examination or survey. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2169 – Co-Author – Requires high-speed rail companies to establish security procedures in their facilities. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2172 – Co-Author – Prohibits state agencies from accepting or using money to pay for the cost of planning, maintaining or constructing facilities, security for, or operation of a privately owned high-speed rails. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2179 – Co-Author – Ensures that high-speed rail companies have no eminent domain rights. (Anti high speed rail)

HB 2189 – Co-Author – Creates a blue alert system to provide aid in the capturing of individuals who kill a police officer.

HB 2317 – Authored – Authorizes Emergency Communication Districts to access records of criminal history to ensure that their employees and volunteers have the necessary integrity to work with sensitive data.

HB 2338 – Co-Author – Establishes the Texas Sovereignty Act to ensure that Congress does not overreach its federal authority over the state.

HB 2358 – Authored – Places into law requirements that voters who create the Municipal Utility Districts are not related to the developer of the property, married to the developer and employee of the developer, or in some way compensated for their vote.

HB 2489 – Author – Authorizes the Department of Child Protective Services to use state and federal funds to provide grants to charitable and faith-based organizations that provide services to children and families.

HB 2524 – Co-Author – Provides property tax exemptions on the residence homestead of the spouse of a first responder who is killed or fatally injured in the line of duty.

HB 2571 – Co-Author – Creates the National Center for Warrior Resiliency to research and provide clinical care for combat related post-traumatic stress disorder.

HB 2639 – Co-Author – Includes individuals who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, regardless of age, to be covered in the silver alert system.

HB 2759 – Author – Exempts active duty members and their spouses from paying sales and use taxes for out of state vehicles and would allow them to submit documentation via US mail to apply for a gift tax on a motor vehicle.

HB 2779 – Co-Author – Protects freedom of conscious from discrimination by the foster care system.

HB 2795 – Co-Author – Gives a deputy county clerk the authority to issue a marriage license and grants officials authorized to conduct a marriage license the right to decline to conduct a marriage ceremony.

HB 2815 – Co-Author – Creates procedures of oversight, performed by election judges, on mail-in ballots sent by residents of a residential care facility to ensure that voter fraud is not committed by care facility employees.

HB 2876 – Co-Author – Protects the religious beliefs of wedding industry professionals and their employees and cannot be forced to offer their services when in violation of their beliefs.

HB 2878 – Co-Author – Protects the religious beliefs of physicians by establishing the Texas Health Care Right of Conscience Act to remove liability on physician’s and health care provider’s conscientious refusal of a health care service.

HB 2899 – Co-Author – Would require political subdivisions to establish anti-discriminatory measures for protected classes established by federal law only and would nullify current measures to reduce or expand classes of persons that are protected from discrimination.

HB 2962 – Co-Author – Requires emergency rooms and hospitals to report complications from abortion procedures.

HB 3276 – Co-Author – Freestanding emergency medical care facilities would be required to list out their participating health benefit plans or state that they do not contract with any health benefit plan in order to offer transparency for patients seeking care.

HB 3332 – Co-Author – Provides a state wide process for home-rule municipalities to conduct election ballot referendums and recall petitions to avoid current issues with local government elections where poor language ballot has led to continuous recalls and waste of taxpayer money.

HB 3451 – Co-Author – Prohibits the use of lethal pesticides by the Department of Agriculture to control feral hog populations unless studies are conducted to test the effectiveness of using these chemicals.

HB 3571 – Co-Author – Protects an individual’s sincerely held religious beliefs by creating an affirmative defense to a civil action based on the defendant’s religious belief and prohibits a municipality from punishing an individual for violating an ordinance if compliance with this municipal order would have violated a person’s religious beliefs.

HB 3606 – Co-Author – To ensure that parents are informed on the physical education (PE) classes offered by their children’s schools, school districts would be required report to the Texas Education Agency on the PE classes offered by their schools.

HB 3690 – Author – Updates provisions governing the Crime Stopper Council to reflect modern practices and technology.

HB 3769 – Co-Author – Ensures that improper relationships between students and school employees are stopped by adding new reporting requirements on school districts and holding school administrators accountable if reports are not carried out.

HB 3856 – Co-Author – Would protect the sincerely held religious beliefs of professionals offering psychological services by removing liability on the refusal of their services if doing so would violate their religious beliefs.

HB 3859 – Co-Author – Protects religious child welfare service providers.

HB 3901 – Author – Creates a parental administration form of guardianship to allow the parents of disabled children a simpler process to establish their guardian status once the child reaches the age of majority.

HB 4194 – Author – Requires physicians to state whether a patients nonemergency service is not included in the patient’s insurance network with 48 hours of the scheduled arrival at health care facility.

HJR 17 – Joint-Author – Proposes a constitutional amendment to limit the maximum of appraisal value to 105 % or less to limit the growth of imposed property taxes.

HJR 21 – Join-Author – Proposed a constitutional amendment to offer partially disabled veterans property tax exemptions based on the veteran’s percentage of disability.

HJR 26 – Join-Author – Proposes a constitutional amendment to limit the maximum of appraisal value to 105 % or more to limit the growth of imposed property taxes.

HJR 33 – Author – Proposes a constitutional amendment to limit the appraisal of property when calculating property taxes.

HJR 39 – Co-Author – Urges Congress to call a Convention of States, under Article V of the Constitution, to set limits on the powers of the federal government.

HJR 41 – Author – Proposes a constitutional amendment to use surplus state revenue to refund franchise-tax payers.

HJR 42 – Author – Proposes a constitutional amendment to limit the growth of the state’s rate of growth of appropriations.

HJR 49 – Joint-Author – Proposes a constitutional amendment to allow the state to refund churches on property tax payments.

SB 4 – Co-Sponsor – Prohibits sanctuary city policies by requiring police officers to comply with immigration detainer requests and would punish officials who refuse to comply.

SB 5 – Co-Sponsor – Individuals seeking to register to vote would be offered more ID options to prove their eligibility to vote and would face increased criminal penalties when offering false information on their inability to acquire an acceptable form of ID. (Voter ID bill)

SB 7 – Co-Sponsor – Ensures that teachers who are involved in sexual relationships with children and move to another school district still face the appropriate penalties.

SB 8 – Co-Sponsor – Places a state bans on the practice of dismemberment abortions and the sale of human fetal tissue, creating a state jail felony for offenses. Also requires fetal remains to be treated with respect and dignity through cremation or burial.

SB 15 – Co-Sponsor – Creates a property tax emption for the surviving spouse of a fallen first responder.

SB 16 – Co-Sponsor – Reduces the license fee for a handgun license down to $40.

SB 21 – Co-Sponsor – This legislation would put limitations on what the Texas delegates to Constitutional Convention would be authorized to do. SB 21 authorizes the Legislature to appoint the delegates to an Article V Convention. The bill would provide requirements relating to the qualifications, duties, and limitations of Texas delegates and alternate delegates appointed for this purpose.

SB 24 – Co-Sponsor – Prohibits a governmental entity from subpoenaing a sermon from a religious institution.

SB 132 – Joint Sponsor – Removes restrictions on the State Agency Savings Incentive program and provides a tiered bonus system on the basis of agency savings in order to encourage state agencies to save money where appropriate.

SB 252 – Co-Sponsor – Prohibit governmental entities from contracting with companies that deal with known terrorist organizations, Sudan, or Iran.

SB 349 – Sponsor – Eliminated the potential of floating gun free school zones by clarifying that buildings where weapons are prohibited must be actually leased, owned, or under the control of the school.

SB 500 – Co-Sponsor – Provides for the removal of officials from office and restricts their ability to collect retirement benefits upon a final felony conviction.

SB 554 – Sponsor – requires Municipal Utility Districts to give notice of the process to request the MUD board move its meetings to a location within the district if they currently meet outside the district.

SB 669 – Co-Sponsor – Establishes the Tax Administration Advisory Board to advise the comptroller on property taxes. Board members would go through training in procedures set by the comptroller. Set provisions on how the Chief Appraiser must cooperate with the board. Additionally it included a number of transparency measures to ensure taxpayers had all necessary information when reading their property tax statements.

SB 975 – Co-Sponsor – Requires high-speed rail companies to provide their own security and to reimburse local law enforcement and DPS for any services they use. (Anti high speed rail)

SB 1138 – Co-Sponsor – Creates a blue alert system to aid in capturing an individual who kills a police officer.

SB 1290 – Sponsor – Authorizes Emergency Communication Districts to access records of criminal history to ensure that their employees and volunteers have the necessary integrity to work with sensitive data.

SB 1807 – Sponsor – Allows federal felony prosecutors and assistant attorneys general who prosecute felony cases to get a waiver of their handgun license fee and also allow them to carry in certain places that would otherwise be restricted.

SB 1873 – Co-Sponsor – Requires each school district to provide a report on physical education classes offered to the TEA.

SJR 1 – Co-Sponsor – Provide for a partial or total exemption from homestead taxes for the surviving spouse of a first responder killed or fatally injured in the line of duty.

SJR 2 – Co-Sponsor – Call for an Article V Convention of the States. Call is to impose federal budget limitations, restrict power and authority of the federal government, and place term limits on federal officials.

HCR 26 – Joint-Author – Claims state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution over all powers not granted to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution.

HCR 35 – Authored – Urges the United States Congress to amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to limit the types of food items eligible for purchase under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

HCR 38 – Co-author – Urges the United States Congress to abolish the income based system of taxation.

HCR 44 – Authored – Urges the United States Congress to pass the “Care Veterans Deserve Act of 2016”.

HCR 52 – Co-author – Urges the United States Congress to reimburse the State of Texas for funds used to secure the U.S. border.

HCR 56 – Co-Author – Recognizing Texas as a Purple Heart State.

HCR 107 – Authored – Urges appropriate state agencies to support the establishment of a veteran’s memorial in Conroe.

HCR 129 – Joint-Author -Expresses support for the creation of the Sam Houston Republic of Texas Presidential Library at Sam Houston State University.

SCR 51 – Sponsor – Urges appropriate state agencies to support the establishment of a veteran’s memorial in Conroe.

SCR 52 – Sponsor – Urges the United States Congress to pass the “Care Veterans Deserve Act of 2016”.