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This month I am providing a synopsis of the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) Meeting held in Austin on June 16 and 17. Both Mary Jane and I attended Committee Meetings on Friday, June 16, with the General Session conducted on Saturday, June 17. It was a pleasure seeing many of our SD24 membership in attendance. These meetings are open to you and we encourage you to attend to see the inner workings of the Party and provide your input.
Notable actions taken at the meeting are below.
· Report of our General Counsel, Rachel Hooper, included a website for those who wish to track the Election issues and contests in Harris County from the November 2022 Election. Go to freeandfairelections.blog to follow the progress of the lawsuits. You can watch the hearings live every Thursday at 1:30 pm.
· Report of National Committeewoman Toni Anne Dashiell – Toni Anne reported on the format and requirements for the 2024 Republican Presidential Debates. Please contact Mary Jane or me and we can provide the details of the format and requirements. She also reported on a Bank Your Vote program with Early Voting. Details can be found at this link - bankyourvote.com. Toni Anne also reported on digital efforts to get out the vote during the recent municipal elections.
· Report of National Committeeman Dr. Robin Armstrong – Dr. Armstrong reported on his work in the latest legislative session to help get our priorities passed. He made specific mention of his School Choice, Property Tax, and Banning Vaccine Mandates work, and his efforts to make the Republican National Committee more conservative. Dr. Armstrong discussed trying to reach people in Churches for the Republican Party. He also mentioned potential battles coming in 2024 to keep the National Platform conservative.
· Report of Vice-Chair Dr. Dana Myers – Dr. Myers reported on her work with Texas High School Republicans and College Republicans. She also discussed the need to counter the Democrat strategic push on college campuses. She reported on the Party’s Election Integrity Taskforce activities, including dividing the state into Taskforce regions for more effective Election Integrity efforts. Finally, Dr. Meyers reported on SB1070, the bill (now law) to remove Texas from ERIC (the Electronic Registration Information Center).
· Report of Chairman Matt Rinaldi – Chairman Rinaldi, among other things, covered the Legislative Priority bills that passed in the Legislature. Those include bills on Protecting Children (including SB14, SB15, SB12, and HB900), four bills on Election Integrity (SB1070, SB1933, SB1750, and HB1243 to restore the felony penalty for illegal voting), and two non-priority bills on stopping ESG and DEI. Finally, he reported on the good Senate bills on Election Integrity, Medical Freedom, Immigration, and Protecting Children that the House killed. Some of these good bills that were killed include: SB1029 on detransitioner protection, SB1601 on defunding libraries hosting drag queen story hour, SB1515 to display the Ten Commandments in the classroom, SB177 to ban a COVID vaccine mandate, HB20 for border protection, and SB921 to ban ranked choice voting. Please contact Mary Jane or me for a complete list.
· Resolutions Committee Report
o Friday the Resolutions Committee moved and conducted debated on eight resolutions with seven adopted for report to the full SREC body on Saturday.
§ I Chaired the Sub-Committee on Special Session Resolutions where we debated and adopted three of those resolutions to report to the full Resolutions Committee.
§ Multiple Resolutions on Censure of Dade Phelan and John Cornyn were considered out of order due to notice requirements contained in the Rules.
§ Resolutions on Gambling and Abortion Criminal Penalties were not considered again as similar Resolutions were recently passed by the SREC.
§ Resolutions on Montgomery County Party issues and on encouraging county parties to develop plans for censuring were not moved and thus died in Committee.
§ A resolution to condemn Dade Phelan for his actions of appointing Democrat Chairs, killing Legislative Priorities, and conducting an improper impeachment of Ken Paxton in the 88thLegislature failed to advance after a debate and a vote by the Committee.
o All seven of the resolutions reported by the Resolutions Committee were finally adopted by the full SREC on Saturday.
§ “Resolution Condemning the Impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton” – Condemns the impeachment and requests the Senate to dismiss it with prejudice. (passed 53-11)*
§ “Resolution Calling for Special Session to Ensure Election Integrity” – Requests a special session on Election Integrity specifically for items like banning ranked choice voting, a Constitutional Amendment that Voters must be a US Citizen, prohibition of foreign ownership of US elections equipment suppliers, increased auditing, and limiting mail ballots. All items were from bills that we approved that did not pass in the Legislature during the Regular Session. (passed 63-0)
§ “Resolution Calling for a Special Session to Defend Texas” – The first special session called by Governor Abbott did not go far enough and this resolution made further requests such as finishing the border wall, establishing and funding a Border Defense Unit, defunding organizations that assist illegals, ending medical, living, and in-state tuition for illegals, and requiring E-Verify for hiring. (passed 63-0)
§ “Resolution in Support of Bold Property Tax Relief and Reform” – The first special session called by Governor Abbott did not go far enough and with no potential resolution in sight with the differences between House and Senate versions of Tax Relief, this resolution calls for a Special Session which adheres to our Platform planks on Property Tax Relief and Reform. (passed 63-0)
§ “Resolution Committing RPT (Republican Party of Texas) Efforts to Promote School Choice” – Requests that RPT resources be utilized to promote School Choice efforts within the state through email, social media, and weekly digital publications. (passed 63-0)
§ “Resolution Reaffirming Importance of RPT Local Endorsements” – Commends all County Executive Committees that endorsed candidates in the recent local non-partisans races and encourages other to adopt processes to do the same. (passed 60-1)
§ “Resolution Calling on the Texas Governor’s Border Authority” – “Calls upon Governor Abbott to discharge all responsibilities, duties and powers conferred upon him by both the Constitutions of the United States of America and of the State of Texas and by statute instanter to repel and suppress the invasion as declared and now notorious by taking all measures necessary including, without limitation, making war “…as will not admit of delay” and to continue to do so until such time as peace has been restored to this sovereign state.” (passed 62-0)
*Full Text of this resolution can be found here -
https://texasgop.org/category/resolutions/
Please contact me for the text of the other resolutions.
· Election Integrity Committee (EIC) Report
o Of the fifty-eight bills endorsed by the EIC, six passed. For the Election Integrity Legislative Priority, fifty-six bills were endorsed with two passing.
o SB1070, removing Texas from ERIC was the biggest win.
o SB3159, a bill to allow email voting, which we fought against in the Session, was vetoed by the Governor, scoring another victory for us.
· Legislative Priorities (LP) Committee Report
o Thirteen LP Approved Bills passed in the 88th Legislative Session.
o Protection of Children – SB14 (Ban Gender Mod), HB900 (Ban Explicit Books in Schools), HB1181 (Online Porn Age Verification), SB12 (Ban Sexually Oriented Drag Shows), SB1527 (Criminal Penalty for Sexually Grooming Children), and HB4520 (Distribution of Harmful Material to Minors)
o Election Integrity – HB1243 (Restore Felony for Illegal Voting), and HB5180 (Public Inspection of Cast Vote Records, Ballot Images, and Ballots Quickly After an Election)
o Border Security – SB1403 (Interstate Compact for Sharing Intelligence and Building Border Wall), and SB1900 (Designates Cartels as Terrorist Organizations)
o Gun Rights – HB3 (Armed Guards on School Campuses), and HB3137 (Prevents Counties from Restricting Gun Rights)
o Educational Freedom – SB29 (Prohibiting School and Governmental COVID Mask and Vaccine Mandates
· Local Government Committee Report
o Twenty-five endorsements were made by the RPT in the recent non-partisan elections, with seventeen victories.
o Standing Rule III-B for the SREC Bylaws, dealing with RPT endorsements, was changed so that “two” SREC members must veto a requested endorsement instead of “one”. (voice vote)
· RPT Rules Committee Report
o Resolution Approving Forms and Process per RPT Rule 38 Dealing with Presidential Electors and National Convention (passed 61-0).
o Presidential Filing Form Application Approval (voice vote)
o Presidential Petition in Lieu of Filing Fee Form Approval (passed without objection)
o Sample Ballot Style for Presidential Race Approval (passed without objection)
o Pursuant to RPT Rule 38 Section 9a, process to determine At-Large National Delegates, will be by paper secret ballot in the Congressional District Caucuses. (passed without objection)
For those that want to put it on their calendar now, the next SREC Meeting is scheduled for September 22 and 23 in Corpus Christi. More details will be coming, as we get closer to the date.
No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.
Andy Eller, SREC SD24 Committeeman
ajeller921@att.net
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