Texas: Campus-carry bills

C

Charles L. Cotton

Inactive
Please respond to this request immediately! We need everyone to call their Senator and politely request that they support SB1164 and oppose any and every amendment that is not acceptable to the author (Senator Wentworth)! I can't go into detail now, but it is very important that we get these calls going folks. And please use that terminology; i.e. "oppose any amendment not acceptable to the author."

If you don't know your Texas Senator, then go to this website and fill in your address: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/
Then, you can go to this webpage and click on your Senator for contact information: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Members/Members.aspx?Chamber=S

Thanks,
Chas.
 
The Senate version of the campus-carry bill (SB1164) was voted favorably from the Senate State Affairs Committee tonight. The vote was 6 to 3, with Senators Duncan, Ellis and Van de Putte voting no. Chairman Duncan offered two amendments, and Senator Van de Putte offered one. The Van de Putte amendment would have allowed state universities to opt-out, as private institutions can under the bill. It was pointed out that this would gut the bill and it failed, even though Chairman Duncan argued fervently in favor of the Van de Putte amendment. That amendment failed on a 5 to 4 vote.

Chairman Duncan's first "official" amendment would have authorized universities to ban handgun from residential housing, rather than just regulate their storage. It was pointed out that this would leave residents defenseless in the dorms. This amendment also failed on a 5 to 4 vote.

The third and final amendment was offered by Chairman Duncan and it delayed implementation of the bill until Sept. 1, 2010. The excuse given was to allow universities sufficient time to draft regulations for storage of handgun in residential housing. This amendment passed 7 to 0, but Senator Frazier later changed his vote to no.

Now we have to get it to the Senate floor and that takes 21 votes, but only a simple majority to pass.

Chas.
 
Rep. Joe Driver has pre-filed an amendment to HB 2730, the DPS Sunset bill, which would de-criminalize the carrying of a concealed handgun by a CHL on the campus of public or private college or university. It would not affect the ability of institutions to adopt administrative policies regulating CHLs.

While this amendment represents only part of the original bills filed by Driver and Sen. Wentworth, it may also represent the most realistic chance for advancing the issue this session. Both time and legislative procedure are working against HB 1893/SB 1164.

Driver's amendment is currently #42, although amendments are frequently pulled down by their authors, so it may move up in order of consideration from that slot. The House could begin debate on amendments to HB 2730 after the lunch recess, so please contact as many House members as possible this afternoon and urge them to SUPPORT REP. DRIVER'S AMENDMENT TO DPS SUNSET BILL TO DE-CRIMINALIZE CHLs ON CAMPUS! Don't just say Amendment #42. It's fine to say it's currently #42, but be sure to identify it as "Representative Driver's amendment to de-criminalize CHLs on campus."

This is realistically our last chance this session folks, so please respond. Call your own representative, then call all the rest. We need to let them hear from us on this amendment or it will fail.

Here is a link to the House members' contact numbers: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Members/Members.aspx?Chamber=H

Thanks for all of your efforts thus far and please stick with us.
Chas.
 
I wanted to give you folks an update. When Rep. Driver offered his amendment to de-criminalize the carrying of handguns by CHLs into school buildings, a point-of-order was raised by Rep. Jessica Farrar. Unfortunately, the point-of-order was well founded and Rep. Driver withdrew the amendment. It was a valiant effort and I commend Rep. Driver for his hard work on this issue for over two years. (This was the first session for campus-carry, but Rep. Driver chaired an Interim Study that was commissioned in 2007 and it included campus security issues.)

Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make campus-carry a reality, including all of you who answered the call when time was so critical. Time is going to run out on the House version of the campus-carry bill (HB1893) and it is going to die on the House General Calendar with a lot of other bills. It appears the Senate version (SB1164) will not make it to the floor either, but that's not absolutely certain.

We need to focus on SB730, the employer parking lot bill and get it passed.

Thanks again folks,
Chas.
 
Knowing that Chas is up to his eyeballs about now, I posting to bring this thread back to the top. Without getting into details, Campus Carry was brought to the top of the "to-do" list in the Texas Senate last Monday. The best version of a Campus Carry bill that we can get (for now anyway) PASSED in the Senate today.

It appears we'll need to focus on HOUSE member Representatives from here on out, remembering that many of them are in favor of Campus Carry. Like the Parking Lot bill (which is also the best we could do for now), the votes are there for it to pass if we can just get them through Committee(s) and to the floor for debate and a vote before time runs out.

While Chas may or may not get time to get back here, supportive Texans in this critical period are encouraged to also follow Chas' related threads such as http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasC...start=90&sid=5ce824c5fea9d5bff4c1bdfd72f97dfd in the "2009 Texas Legislative Session" forum at www.texaschlforum.com.

Like Yogi said "It ain't over 'til it's over!".
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Edited to add: Re: CAMPUS CARRY: TIME CRITICAL ACTION ITEM!
by Charles L. Cotton » Wed May 20, 2009 12:10 pm

Keith B wrote:
pbwalker wrote:
Charles L. Cotton wrote:

SB1164 passed on a 19 to 12 vote with one amendment exempting "teaching" hospitals.

It's now on to the House.

Chas.

and the odds of it passing the house?

I think the odds of it passing in the House are great, IF and only IF it will get through committee and Calenders quickly enough to be set on the House calender far enough up the list to get to debate and vote.

The votes are clearly there, but as you noted, time is not on our side. Any delays like we are seeing with employer parking lots and it's dead.

Chas.Project One Million:Texas - Click here and Get Involved Today!
Charles L. Cotton
Site Admin
 
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We need everyone to call Rep. Brian McCall, Chairman of the House Calendars Committee and politely but strongly tell him that you want both SB730 (employer parking lots) and SB1164 (campus carry) set on the House MAJOR Calendar, not the General Calendar.

Tell him you are aware that:
1. SB730 - parking lots has been in the calendars committee for two weeks and a day;
2. You have watched other bills going into Calendars then being set to the Floor within 2 to 3 days;
3. That the Calendars Committee pulled the same stunt with the employer's parking lot bill last session;
4. That you know putting a bill on the House General Calendar is a move designed to kill the bill.

Then call House Speaker Joe Straus and tell him that you are very disappointed that important NRA and TSRA bills (campus and parking lots) are clearly being stalled by the Republican leadership for the second session in a row.

Both of these men need to hear from a whole bunch of people. As always, be polite but firm.

Chas.

Here is the official NRA email alert:
NRA Alert said:
URGENT: HELP NEEDED FROM TEXAS NRA MEMBERS ON SENATE BILL 730!

The Texas Legislature is entering its last 10 days of session, and the Texas House has not voted on one single significant pro-Second Amendment issue the entire session. That means that NRA's top legislative priority – Senate Bill 730, a bill that would allow employees to lawfully store firearms in their locked motor vehicles while parked at work -- may die this session. Not because SB 730 doesn't have the votes, but because the House won't be given a chance to vote on it.

This bill passed the Senate unanimously back on March 25! It enjoys strong, bi-partisan support among House members. But the House Calendars Committee has thus-far refused to set SB 730 for a vote by the full House. Powerful business and industry lobbyists are pulling out all the stops to keep this bill bottled up in Calendars, because they know it has a good shot at passing if it gets to the House floor. In 2007, the House Calendars Committee pulled the same trick - and finally scheduled that session's employee/parking lot bill so late and so far down on the House Calendar that it had no hope of coming up for a vote before the consideration deadline. < STRONG>Unless you take the following actions, the same thing may happen to SB 730 in the 2009 session:

* Contact House Calendars Committee Chairman Brian McCall's (R-66) office TODAY at (512) 463-0758 and urge him to set SB 730 on the Major State Calendar so that the bill has a chance to be voted on by the full House before its too late. Major State Calendar bills are the first to be considered each legislative day, and it's the only way to guarantee that SB 730 actually has a shot at a vote before the consideration deadline.

* Contact Speaker Joe Straus' (R-121) office TODAY at (512) 463-1000 and urge him to do everything he can to ensure that SB 730 is placed on the Major State Calendar and voted on by the full House before next week's deadline.
Click to expand...
 
Called McCall and all calls are going straight to the voicemail box - which is full. Attempted to call Strauss and that line is constantly busy - don't know if it is off the hook purposely or just overwhelmed with response.
 
In trying the numbers above, Rep. McCall's 512-4630758 mailbox was full and Speaker Straus' number was busy. I went to their respective web pages and looked up the following to try as well - pronto please if unable to get through on the others.

Rep. Brian McCall: 512-463-0594 (Austin) Fax: 512-463-5896
972-881-0890 (Plano) Fax: 972-422-9061

Speaker Joe Straus: Austin Fax: 512-463-0675
San Antonio Office Phone: 210-828-4411 Another Fax: 512-463-1064

Edited to add: I was able to get my message through to a lady at McCall's 512-463-0594 number. She suggested I contact other committee members as well. I was also able to speake with a lady at Straus' 210-829-4411 number - and let her know many of us are quite displeased with the Republican "stall ball" to date on these two issues.
 
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From checking on Chas' 5-21-09 "Urgent Actions" post in "2009 Texas Legislative Session" Forum at www.texaschlforum.com
just now, it looks like a few thousand of us overwhelming their phones and fax machines today got some kind of results. Especially Texas "constituents", please read the most current posts there before calling or faxing. Where appropriate, let's keep hitting the right people at the right time all the way through Memorial Day!
 
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