As the 85th Texas Legislative Session continues, HCRP will be bringing you highlights from the session. See articles below on Voter ID, Pension Reform and Straight Ticket Voting. 

Voter ID
SB 5
Houston Chronicle- Gov. Greg Abbott late Sunday declared passage of a voter ID legislation an emergency for Texas lawmakers, pushing them to approve the faltering bill with just a week to go in the legislative session. The unusual move came about 9:30 p.m., after Senate Bill 5 has languished in the House after being approved in the Senate on March 28. The House immediately placed it on its emergency calendar for expedited consideration. The bill would make changes to the state's controversial voter ID law to bring it into line with a federal appeals court ruling that declared it discriminatory toward minorities.

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Pension Reform
SB 2190
Houston Chronicle - The Legislature is expected to take its final votes on Houston's pension reform legislation within days after a group of House and Senate lawmakers Sunday night hashed out the differences between their chambers' versions and produced a final bill.

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Straight Ticket Voting
HB 25
The Texas Tribune - The Texas Senate gave initial approval [last] Wednesday to legislation that would eliminate straight-ticket voting in all elections. The bill's supporters say it would force voters to make more informed decisions in individual elections. "What we're doing is showing every race matters," the Senate sponsor, Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills, said Wednesday. The legislation's backers also argue it would bring Texas in line with at least 40 other states that do not allow straight-ticket voting, the option for voters to automatically cast their ballot for every candidate from a single party. Straight-ticket ballots made up nearly 64 percent of total votes cast in the state's 10 largest counties in 2016.

The preliminary approval of HB 25 on Wednesday came after Hancock amended it to postpone its effective date from September 2017 to September 2020. That will allow candidates more time to prepare for the change, Hancock said.

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We still have work to do for a clean sweep! Democrats and their leftwing allies are still working to takeover local governments in our backyard. We can stop them! Local runoff elections conclude Saturday, June 10. There is one Republican-vs.-Democrat runoff for a Pasadena City Council post, and two heated runoffs in Pearland -- partly in Harris County -- for Mayor and City Council (at-large).

We can make the difference in these low-turnout contests, but need to act quickly to get Republicans to turn out to vote.
You can help beat the Democrats NOW!

Democrat Party Workers Guilty of Election Fraud. Watch the KHOU story on the two Democrat Party workers who were found guilty of election fraud. We can't continue to let this happen! Sign up today to be an election worker so we can have all of the polls covered. Click here to see the story.

In light of President Trump’s Executive Order rightly returning the power to the state to protect its citizens, 
Will Democrat Lawmakers Turn Their Backs on Voters?

In 2015, a broad coalition of Houstonians resoundingly defeated former Mayor Anise Parker’s so-called HERO ordinance (61%--39%) that would have let men into women’s restrooms and burdened private businesses with needless regulation.

Houston is the only major metropolitan where voters have had the chance to cast a ballot on such an issue.  In that historic election, a broad coalition of ethnically and culturally diverse voters came together to overwhelmingly reject the liberal elites’ inane bathroom policies.  

Harris County Republican Party Chairman Paul Simpson supports Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s Privacy Act, which will stop liberal elites from using our schools for social experiments and keep them from repeating their failed Houston ordinance fight in every city and school district across Texas.  

Fred Barnes, a leading conservative columnist, this week posted an article that appeared to be a thoughtful analysis of the November 2016 election results in Harris County.  Unfortunately for Mr. Barnes, his two named sources appeared to have fed him outdated and fact-free material whose source was not disclosed.

This morning we gathered together at Lakeside Country Club to support Congressman John Culberson. Liberal groups planned to gather and protest the Congressman's speaking engagement, so HCRP rallied support to show the Congressman that we stand with him and his conservative values. Thank you to everyone who came out today to show their support. We are a strong, united group and we must continue to stand together to protect the great men and women we elected to office.

Make sure to set your DVR's to watch Chairman Simpson this Sunday, February 19 at 10:00 am on KRPC 's Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall.

President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch for the U.S Supreme Court is a home-run for conservatives in Harris County and Texas. Judge Gorsuch is an extremely well qualified jurist with a proven track record of following the law and honoring the Constitution. Elevating Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court -- given his record of defending religious freedom, his unwillingness to surrender power to bureaucratic administrative agencies, and his devotion to the Constitution as ‘a carefully drafted text judges are charged with applying according to its original public meaning' -- may well have saved America from liberal ruin. 

Paul Simpson, Harris County Republican Party Chair

Please join us for a private reception honoring members of the Harris County delegation in Austin, Texas. For questions about the event, please contact Kate Tankersley at kate.tankersley@harriscountygop.com or (713)828-4468

Join HCRP at Ninfa's on Navigation for an Inauguration Day Celebration & Brunch. Don't let D.C. have all of the fun! 

Click here to purchase your $10 ticket.