TX Progressives look at late-session Lege nuttery, runoff elections, climate change

The Texas Progressive Alliance practices saying sine die in the mirror and wondering what new stupidity the Texas Lege will offer up in its last two weeks as it brings you this week's roundup.

Brains and David Bruce Collins talk about HB 2504 which, if it passes the Senate and is signed by Gov. Abbott, greatly reduces the hurdle for third-party ballot access — at the price of paying duopoly party filing fees, which were intended to have those parties, with primaries, reimburse the state and counties for election costs. And since Texas shunts new parties into a non-primary convention system, this is not really fair. Yours truly also weighs in. Brains, like me, sees the Libertarians as Drew Springer's main and original target; the reduction in ballot access requirement percentages was only a late amendment probably added to kick Democrats and Springer has offered his original bill in years past.

Several other items have made news from the last week or so in the Lege, with just weeks left on the session.

Off the Kuff warns that the end of the SOS voter purge lawsuit is not the end of the story.

The Texas House has passed a bill to stop the state from executing severely mentally ill defendants. Its Senate chances? 

After the state lost a federal district court battle over its anti-BDS bill, the Lege passed and Greg Abbott has signed, a “looser” bill that seems just as unconstitutional.

Although it failed in the House, Dan Patrick's wingnuts in the Senate have resurrected (I see what I did there) the "save Chick-fil-A" bill. Why anybody but Religious Right virtue signalers like that bland white-meat chicken on bland, soggy white-bread buns, I don't know.

The new Sandra Bland video is raising plenty of controversy over the DPS and AG Ken Paxton reportedly never giving it to her parents during their lawsuit. Michael Barajas reports there’s also now claims that TV station KXAN may have spiked running it on local news a year or so ago. 

Eric Trayson explains why one House bill (stopped by a Democratic point of order last week) was a mortal threat to trans people like himself.

Ross Ramsey at The Trib says GOP legiscritters caught a break when the sales tax for property tax swap bill never came to a vote.

Related to that, Scott Braddock sees a crackup coming in Texas Republican tax orthodoxy.

Sanford Nowlin talks about Bryan Hughes' SB9, which many civil rights groups see as voter suppression.

Environment Texas provides another legislative update.

At the Dallas Observer, Stephen Young, who's showing more and more chops, looks at what to expect, and his priorities, before the Lege hits sine die.

Outside the Lege? 

SocraticGadfly continues his Greens s Democrats Green New Deal series with Part 4 about ag tech and its role in addressing climate change.

In a two-parter, Jim Schutze explains environmentalism’s role in the Dallas mayoral runoff and how runoff candidate Eric Johnson makes the man he’d like to succeed indirectly as Dallas’ second black mayor, Ron Kirk, look like a raving liberal. 

The Texas Observer reports on how discussion is heating up about unpaid prison labor. 

The Trib nutes how the state GOP continues to refuse to discuss climate change (even as Houston floods again)  while Trump’s border wall could exacerbate climate-driven flooding on both sides of the Rio Grande and in likely violation of a border treaty, the Observer reports.

Better Texas Blog is concerned about Medicaid managed care protections.

The Texas Living Waters Project uses the Austin Central Library to showcase the value of rainwater capture, condensate reuse and reclaimed water.

The Rivard Report reviews the data from San Antonio's Mayoral election.