Tag: The Swamp

Effecting Charter Changes

If you live in the City of Bastrop, you may remember quite a few charter amendments on your ballot last November. Two failed. All the rest passed.

November? That’s almost 3 months ago. Are the changes in effect yet?

Good question. So, let’s figure that out. State law allows charter changes to be placed on the ballot. Citizens vote. If citizens approve a change, there are other steps that must be taken before they are law.

According to Texas law: Title 2, Subtitle A, Chapter 9, Sec. 9.005(b):

Sec. 9.005. ADOPTION OF CHARTER OR AMENDMENT.
(b) A charter or an amendment does not take effect until the governing body of the municipality enters an order in the records of the municipality declaring that the charter or amendment is adopted.

Has that been done? Well, it’s all a bit confusing and more of the sloppy government in the City of Bastrop that I’ve written about before.

  • The election was November 5, 2024.
  • On the November 12, 2024 City Council agenda was a draft “first reading” ordinance (2024-41) certifying the results of the election. This was deferred to a future meeting because final vote tally had not been sent to the City Council.
  • On the December 10, 2024 City Council agenda was a draft “first reading” ordinance (2024-41) certifying the results of the election. All questions except J were approved by the City Council as canvassed.
  • On the January 14, 2025 City Council agenda, more than 2 months after the election, was a draft of a resolution (rather than the previously adopted ordinance for second reading) (2025-07) certifying the results of the election.
  • As written, that resolution provided for the “adoption of Propositions A, B,C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, and M.
  • On January 13, 2025, after reviewing the agenda, I emailed several City Council members and the Mayor letting them know that this verbiage was incorrect and that Proposition L had, in fact, been defeated by the voters. Further review showed that Proposition G had also been defeated.
  • At the meeting of January 14, 2025, a motion was made to modify the City Secretary’s written resolution to provide for the “the adoption of Propositions A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, J, K, , and M; and the rejection of Propositions G and L.”
  • With that modification, the resolution certifying the results of the November 5, 2024 was finally adopted on January 14, 2025.

So, with all those delays, the City Manager bought almost three months more to move into the City limits. The current charter requires her to live in the City limits, but the City Council somehow gave her a pass. Voters reaffirmed that provision on November 5, 2024. So, has she moved into the City limits?

There are a couple of other legal steps once the Council has certified the results. Under Title 2, Subtitle A, Chapter 9, Sec. 9.007:

Sec. 9.007. CERTIFICATION OF CHARTER OR AMENDMENT.
(a) As soon as practicable after a municipality adopts a charter or charter amendment, the mayor or chief executive officer of the municipality shall certify to the secretary of state an authenticated copy of the charter or amendment under the municipality’s seal showing the approval by the voters of the municipality.

(b) The secretary of state shall file and record the certification in his office in a book kept for that purpose.

And, last, the City Secretary must record the changes either on microfilm or in a “book kept for that purpose.” As of this writing, the changes have not been recorded on the City’s website.

Sec. 9.008. REGISTRATION OF CHARTER OR AMENDMENT; EFFECT.
(a) The secretary or other officer of a municipality performing functions similar to those of a secretary shall record in the secretary’s or other officer’s office a charter or charter amendment adopted by the voters of the municipality. If a charter or amendment is not recorded on microfilm, as may be permitted under another law, it shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose.

The Clock is Ticking

Did you know that the Texas Legislature meets for only 140 days every 2 years? Some of us think that’s good as it limits the damage they can do. Others think it’s not enough time. One would think that with only 140 days, they’d work every single day for the State of Texas and its citizens.

At least in the Texas House, they don’t.

A quick look around the website Capitol.Texas.Gov shows the work done so far by the House and Senate. The Texas Legislature (House and Senate) gaveled in on January 14, 2025.

The Texas House

  • The full House has met 8 of the 18 days since then. They won’t gavel in again until February 4.
  • The House elected a Speaker and adopted rules, without debate or amendments being allowed. (more on that in another post)
  • Speaker Dustin Burrows has not yet assigned committees. Thus, House committees have not met.

The Texas Senate

  • The full Senate has met 6 of the 18 days. They gavel in again on February 3.
  • Senate committees have met 9 times: Sunset Advisory Commission, Finance Committee, Education K-16 Committee, Administration Committee.
  • Senate Bill 1 (SB1) Appropriations, was sent to the Finance Committee on January 22.

More than 10% of this session is over and the Texas House doesn’t even have committees assigned. They were to be assigned today, but Speaker Burrows announced on Tuesday that wouldn’t happen.

The Governor gives his State of the State address on Sunday, February 2. He will announce his priorities. Once done, those priorities can be addressed immediately, yet the House won’t even have committees to do so.

So much to look forward to in the coming days. Will Democrats be appointed as chairs of the new category of “Permanent Standing Subcommittees”? What will Governor Abbott specify as his legislative priorities? Will we get our overpayment of taxes (surplus) back or will the legislature spend it? Will loyal Burrows renegade House members be rewarded with committee chairmanships? Will we finally find out how much the House spent last session to impeach Ken Paxton? Will we find out how much Democrat vice-chairs can spend on committee work? Will legislators get raises or will we never see a 2025 Housekeeping resolution? The clock is ticking….

No Dem Chairs Vote Rings Hollow

Bastrop County Republicans overwhelmingly voted for Republicans in November. We swept all contested races. Why, then, would our Republican Texas House representative vote for Democrat chairs? He claims he didn’t. But, he did.

Perhaps he didn’t read the rules before he voted on them. After all, they were sent to House members at 4AM, all 232 pages of them. Perhaps he didn’t understand what he was reading. Perhaps he didn’t realize they were written by Democrat Hugh Brady, former Obama General Counsel and Democrat Parliamentarian whose decisions killed conservative legislation during the last session. Perhaps he thought WE wouldn’t understand what we were reading. Perhaps he thought we’d be fooled by the splitting of hairs: banning Dem Chairs for committees but allowing them for extremely powerful subcommittees.

Rep Gerdes’ Facebook post says “I proudly voted to implement a new House rule that BANS the appointment of minority party chairs to lead committees in the Texas House.”

Not true.

“Oh! What a Tangled Web We Weave/When First We Practice to Deceive!” – Sir Walter Scott

Permanent Standing Subcommittees

The Rules Gerdes so “proudly” voted for created 12 new Permanent Standing Subcommittees. Permanent Standing Subcommittees is an entirely new class of committee this session, clearly created to allow members to claim they voted against Dem Chairs, all while allowing Dem Chairs and influence over legislation.

These 12 new Permanent Standing Subcommittees have assignments of “all matters related to” specific areas. The extensive matters falling under the jurisdiction of each Permanent Standing Subcommittee are listed in Rule 3. STANDING COMMITTEES. Pages and pages of them.

The 12 Permanent Standing Subcommittees are:

  • Juvenile Justice
  • Defense and Veterans’ Affairs
  • County and Regional Government
  • State-Federal Relations
  • Family and Fiduciary Relationships
  • Academic and Career-Oriented Education
  • Disease Prevention and Women’s and Children’s Health
  • Telecommunications and Broadband
  • Workforce
  • International Relations
  • Transportation Funding
  • Property Tax Appraisals

The Rules Gerdes so “proudly” voted for allow the Speaker to assign bills to these Permanent Standing Subcommittees. (In reading legislation, underlined words are new. Strikeout words are removed. The word shall means must. The word may means optional.]

“All proposed legislation shall be referred by the speaker to an appropriate standing committee, permanent standing subcommittee, or select committee with jurisdiction, subject to correction by a majority vote of the house.”

The Rules he so “proudly” voted for require the Speaker to appoint Permanent Standing Subcommittee chairs and vice chairs. The Rules he so “proudly” voted for require the Speaker to appoint Permanent Standing Subcommittee members.

“The speaker shall appoint the chair and vice-chair of
each standing procedural committee and permanent standing
subcommittee and the remaining membership of each such [the]
committee and subcommittee.”

And, there is no provision in the rules prohibiting the Speaker from appointing Dem Chairs to these 12 Permanent Standing Subcommittees. The additional words “permanent standing subcommittee” were not added in the Rules section below as they were in many other Rules sections.

If, at the time the speaker announces the membership of standing committees, the members of the house of one political party constitute a majority of the membership of the house, the speaker shall designate a member of that party to serve as chair of each standing committee. The speaker shall not designate a member of that party to serve as vice-chair of a standing committee.

I verified with three House members that these Rules allow the Speaker to appoint Democrats as chairs of any of these “Permanent Standing Subcommittees”, that the Speaker could assign bills directly to them, and that committee and subcommittee chairs would have the same powers to hold hearings on bills, refer them out unchanged or with substitutions, offer amendments, or just ignore them.

We’ll see when Speaker Dustin Burrows announces committee and subcommittee appointments. They were due this Friday, January 31, but Burrows announced yesterday that those appointments would be delayed.

If even one Democrat is appointed as a chair of any Permanent Standing Subcommittee, Gerdes’ words “I proudly voted to implement a new House rule that BANS the appointment of minority party chairs to lead committees in the Texas House” will ring hollow and untrue.

As Predicted

It took 2 hours. See my post “The Poison Pill” in which I predicted that within a few hours, Rep Stan Gerdes would tell you that he banned Dem Chairs, but he wouldn’t tell you “the rest of the story”. And, that’s exactly what he did.

He did not tell you about Permanent Standing Committees and the other Dem-favorable provisions of these Rules. He did not tell you he voted to shut off all debate, to not allow any amendments, shutting off representation of the people. Rep Lowe stated “I am disgusted that the process of fair debate was eliminated in an effort to concede power to the minority party.” Rep Gerdes voted “yes” to eliminate debate in an effort to concede power to the minority party. (See page 116 of the 1/23/25 Journal. See also Rep Pierson’s relevant comments on why he voted “no” on page 118 of the 1/23/25 Journal.)

Gerdes did not tell you that he knew of this strategy when he voted against the GOP Caucus choice, violating the rules of the Caucus. Yet he did. And, he did not tell you what he’ll get in return for his votes. A chairmanship of one of these subcommittees? Again, we’re watching and time will tell.

Here’s the text message his consultants sent just 2 hours after adjournment.

Stan Gerdes text message

Don’t believe Stan Gerdes sent this text. He did not. His consultants did.

Don’t be duped or played. Consultants who are given access to (and often design) elected official communications put out these texts and social media posts.

More on that in a future post.

The Poison Pill

This morning at 4AM while most of us were sleeping, including many of our TX House Reps, the 232 page Texas House Rules bill dropped. That’s right, 4AM. I’m writing this at 4PM the same day and that package was adopted by the Texas House just an hour ago. No amendments were allowed.

Exactly as predicted, it allows chairs of committees to only come from the majority party. So, yes, Dem Chairs aren’t allowed. But all vice chairs must be from the minority party. And, much more benefiting Democrats is in the rules.

These rules create twelve “Permanent Standing Subcommittees” (a new category of subcommittee) to which the Speaker shall appoint chairs (of either party), may refer bills, will choose members. These committees will hold separate meetings from the committee to which they report…. In other words, through these rules, subcommittees have been permanently established that will, in essence, act as full committees.

Clearly, “Permanent Standing Subcommittees” have been established to circumvent the rules, especially that rule requiring chairs from the majority party. And, should a new Speaker be appointed, that Speaker is not allowed to change the make-up of the committees appointed by the prior Speaker during this entire session.

This is the first of things Democrats will get for their votes putting Dustin Burrows in the Speaker’s position, the majority of votes that put him there by the way.

What else will Speaker Burrows give away during this session to the renegade Republicans who thwarted GOP voters, our platform, our legislative priorities and their own rules? He’ll give away “Permanent Standing Subcommittee” chairmanships to those who joined with Democrats to keep the Austin Swamp in power.

We’re watching and wondering. I’m wondering how long it’s going to take Stan Gerdes’ consultants to post on his Social Media that he voted to ban Dem chairs. Probably a few hours…. But, I’ll bet he doesn’t tell you about Permanent Standing Committees, and the other Dem-favorable provisions of these Rules. I’ll bet he doesn’t tell you he voted to not allow any amendments or to shut off all debate. We’ll see.

So Goes Texas. So Goes the Nation

Texas CapitolI’m off to the Texas Capitol tomorrow (Tuesday) for the very important vote for TX Speaker of the House. Will Democrats with a few Republican votes pick our Speaker when EVERY statewide position is in Republican hands, the TX Senate has a Republican majority, and oh yeah, the TX House has a Republican majority (88 / 62)?

Yes they will because of a few power-grabbing Republicans who won’t follow the rules (my Rep included), who would rather throw their lot in with Democrats than to support the GOP Caucus choice, who would rather slap those Republicans who supported them with time and money, who would rather get in bed with lobbyists than support their Republican voters.

I hate getting up early but will do so tomorrow at 5:45 AM in order to get the bus at 8AM. This is very, very important to the Great State of Texas, and to the United States as a whole. So goes Texas, so goes the Nation.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place

HD-17 House member Stan Gerdes has been a constant supporter of former House Speaker Dade Phelan and now his think-alike Dustin Burrows. Both either got, or are attempting to get, elected as House Speaker by courting a majority Democrat vote.

Republicans will control the Texas House with 88 of 150 members. Last session, the Paxton-impeachers (including Gerdes) and those who worked to stall Republican legislative priorities had the Speakership. The Phelan Speakership was obtained with Democrat votes in a House with a similar party split: 86R, 64D.

Burrows, with Gerdes support, seeks to do the same thing in 2025. If he can get those 64 Dems to back him, he only needs 12 Republicans to win the Speakership. But, by rule, Republicans are committed to vote for the Caucus choice. If they don’t, what a slap to Republicans who worked hard for them.

Don’t believe any text messages or comments saying Burrows does not support Democrat chairs. He says he’ll support the members making the rules. But if a majority of Dems vote for him as speaker, they will also vote for rules that give them chairmanships. So, Burrows can waffle all he wants in his commentary about rules, but the bottom line is that if we get a speaker elected with more Democrat votes than Republican votes, we’ll have Dem chairs, thwarting the will of Republicans across Texas.

Gerdes appeared in all the lists of supporting votes for Dade Phelan until Phelan dropped out. (His mentor, Rick Perry, was hired as an advisor to Dade Phelan in September.) Then Gerdes’ name appeared in all the support lists for replacement Dustin Burrows. Gerdes was one of the “walk-outs” on December 7 when Burrows didn’t win the Republican caucus vote to be the next speaker. He has yet to state his support for the choice of the Republican caucus: David Cook.

Rumor has it that Gerdes (with Perry support) is eyeing higher office.

Congressman Michael Cloud co-signed a letter stating “We urge you to stand with the Texas House Republican Majority and support the Texas House Republican Caucus nominee for Speaker.”

Gov Abbott (who endorsed Gerdes for re-election based on his pro-school choice vote) recently posted on X “I worked this entire year to elect conservative candidates who will pass conservative laws, including school choice. To achieve that goal we need a Texas House Speaker chosen by a majority of Republicans in accordance with the Republican Caucus Rules.”

TexasGOP Chairman Abraham George has called for all House Republicans to support the choice of the Caucus. And, on Saturday, the Bastrop County CEC will meet to decide if they’ll sign on to a letter urging House Republicans to support the will of the Caucus, a letter already signed by over 100 GOP Chairs.

So, does Gerdes heed the advice of conservative Michael Cloud and support the will of the Republican caucus and Republican voters, or does he support Democrat chairs? Does Gerdes heed the advice of Gov Abbott and support the will of the Republican caucus and Republican voters, or does he support Democrat chairs? Does Gerdes support the voices of his constituents and the GOP, or does he support Democrats in power? Will Gerdes stay loyal to Perry and those who join with Democrats to thwart the will of Republican voters?

It seems Stan Gerdes has put himself between a rock and a hard place. We’ll see where his loyalty lies on January 14.