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March 20, 2025 10:59 AM
Over the objections of Sen. Middleton, Sen. Nichols attached an amendment to SB 19 exempting full-time employees of local governments from lobbying for their association. Middleton argued the change essentially guts the bill
Sen. Mayes
Middleton's legislation aimed at banning all "taxpayer funded
lobbying" was weakened on the floor of the Texas Senate during
a late-night debate that saw Republicans and Democrats come together to
preserve the ability of local communities to have their voices heard at the Capitol
in Austin.
Senate
Bill 19 passed
the chamber, but not before Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, was
able to amend it on the floor to exempt full-time local government employees from
the ban. “It would narrow it down to contract employees,” Nichols said of who
would be banned from lobbying under his amendment.
Sen. Middleton,
R-River Oaks, was unhappy with the change, arguing it would create a loophole that’s
unacceptable to him.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright March 20, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 19, 2025 2:51 PM
Child abuse survivor Cindy Clemshire testified just days after former megachurch pastor turned himself in
Just days
after former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris turned
himself in on five counts of abusing a child, the woman he abused and other
abuse survivors testified in favor of a bill that would bar the use of
nondisclosure agreements for victims of sexual abuse, assault, and human
trafficking.
Judiciary
and Civil Jurisprudence
Chairman Jeff Leach’s House Bill 748, known as Trey’s Law,
is named after the late Dallas resident Trey Carlock, who was abused by
a counselor at the popular Christian camp Kanakuk in Missouri and
signed a nondisclosure agreement in his settlement. He committed suicide in
2019. Kanakuk Kamps has been accused by multiple families of concealing sexual
abuse.
His
sister, Elizabeth Phillips of Dallas, said her brother called his
payment “blood money to Kanakuk.”
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By James Russell
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Copyright March 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 19, 2025 1:07 PM
Only 20 percent favor an outright ban; among GOP voters, legal THC support is 57 to 29 percent
From the
polling memo, in which pollsters tested Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's message about the issue:
“A survey
of likely Texas voters indicates 68% support keeping THC legal in Texas, but strictly regulated. Only 20% prefer an outright
ban of consumable THC.
The actual survey question was presented as shown below…”
You can
download it here.
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Copyright March 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 19, 2025 12:01 PM
A celebration of his life is slated to be held at Riverbend Church in Austin on Thursday March 27 at 1:30pm
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Copyright March 19, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 18, 2025 11:00 AM
Long knives are coming for Kendall Scudder, seen by many as the clear frontrunner. After one of the party’s worst electoral setbacks in a decade, establishment Texas Democrats look to bolster party finances while grassroots activists want a “fighter” to “start mobilizing people where they’re at”
Editor’s
note: Some of the SDEC members quoted in this story were granted anonymity so
that they could speak freely about the race and give you a sense of the
internal deliberations – SB
For the
first time in more than a decade, there’s a wide open race for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. And it’s
about to come to a head.
After suffering
one of the party’s worst recent electoral setbacks in 2024 and the subsequent announcement
that longtime Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa would step aside, party
leaders find themselves at a crossroads heading into a vote for someone new to
take the reins. Next week’s vote by the State Democratic Executive
Committee is “the most important election for Democrats leading up to ‘26
and ‘28 in Texas," said one party insider. “Democrats have to get it right."
There are
8 candidates officially in the running but only three of them are seen as
serious contenders. The SDEC plans to use ranked choice voting – something new
in this process – on March 29 to select the chair.
As is
always the case, an effective chairman of a political party needs to be a
workhorse interested in building party infrastructure to support candidates, not
necessarily a show horse primarily concerned with firing up the base. But when
it comes to getting the job in the first place the show pony usually has a leg
up.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright March 18, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 18, 2025 10:56 AM
That fundraising haul was from 5,000 or so individual contributions, many of them from small donors of about $40, per the campaign. You can
see his list of endorsements
here.
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Copyright March 18, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 18, 2025 10:54 AM
"I considered running for the seat after the untimely passing of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, but at the request of then candidate Sylvester Turner, stepped aside, endorsed him, and campaigned for him," said Rep. Jones. "I will announce my intentions for Congress at the appropriate time."
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Copyright March 18, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 18, 2025 10:50 AM
The list,
as always compiled by former Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale
is below:
The rest of the story, subscribers only
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Copyright March 18, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 17, 2025 4:04 PM
Reporter
Taylor Goldenstein at the Houston Chronicle has
the newsflash:
Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday announced the arrest of a Houston-area
midwife for allegedly performing illegal abortions and practicing medicine
illegally, marking the first criminal case to be filed under the state’s
abortion ban.
Maria
Margarita Rojas, 48, is accused of illegally operating a network of clinics in
the Northwest Houston area, according to a statement from Paxton’s office.
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Copyright March 17, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 16, 2025 11:20 AM
We got word of his passing this morning. He was a Texas Capitol veteran and longtime political director to then-Speaker Joe Straus. He was also an incredible mentor and friend. Arrangements are pending. Prayers for his family - HK and SB
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Copyright March 16, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 14, 2025 4:47 PM
Hughes says the “Life of the Mother Act,” a priority of Lt. Gov. Patrick, is aimed at clarifying the medical exceptions for abortions in Texas without lifting the state’s sweeping ban
Following
an intense debate over the interim about which medical emergencies allow
doctors in Texas to perform legal abortions, Sen. Bryan Hughes late
Friday filed legislation that he said was aimed at clarifying the rules for
medical providers in those situations.
Rep. Charlie
Geren, R- Fort Worth, will carry the bill in the Texas House with
the support of veteran Democrats like Rep. Donna Howard and others. That'll be HB 44.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright March 14, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 13, 2025 11:41 AM
Yes, the headline is stupid but so is the “controversy.” Meantime, Speaker Burrows brings excellent taste to the discussion
Update:
It turns out Patrick fibbed a little – surprising, I know – about Bob’s adding
this to their menu – SB
Despite
the fact that his crew typically rolls at Capital Grille, where
the food is better in my opinion than Bob’s Steak and Chop House but the restaurant is less cigar friendly, Little
Gov. Dan Patrick is giving a boost to the chewier option for steak in
this town.
Patrick’s
new side mission, you may have noticed while doom scrolling, is to rebrand the
New York Strip steak as the Texas Strip. It’s an idea that’s already sparked a $1 million lawsuit and follows Daddy Trump’s
rebranding of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, which Google
quickly changed on its maps. As Patrick has pushed the idea, Bob’s steakhouse
put it on their menu this week in Austin. But it turns out that Patrick was
exaggerating – the menu addition was just a
customization for a private event.
But
Speaker Dustin Burrows had a different and honestly better idea – that
is, if you want your steak to have actual flavor and not just rhetorical flair.
The rest of the story, subscribers only
By Scott Braddock
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Copyright March 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 13, 2025 11:39 AM
Fleck was chosen by the party's executive committee after former Chair Mackowiak stepped down
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Copyright March 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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March 13, 2025 10:47 AM
Here
they are.
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Copyright March 13, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
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