Texas progressives roundup: more on voting and Abbott Blackout

Per the header, those issues continue to lead the Texas Legislature's plate. (That said, there's plenty of other stupidity in the Lege, and plenty of lost opportunities on bills not considered.)

With that, let's dig in.

R.G. Ratcliffe says SB7 is a continuation of the Abbott-Whitley attempted voter purge of 2019.

Off the Kuff analyzes the big Senate and House voter suppression bills.

The Texas Civil Rights Project reminds us that there are other, smaller but still malicious voter suppression bills to watch out for. 

Progress Texas highlights the efforts to put pressure on the Legislature to reject voter suppression.

The Lege still refuses to require the RRC to require weatherization. My legiscritter, Drew Springer, protested at first on the Senate side, but then willingly accepted signing off on Charles Schwertner's head fake. I guess Drew really fell for the oil and gas bidness PR head fake. Meanwhile, ERCOT claims it has sovereign immunity from lawsuits, even though it's a private entity. Given some past history with the Texas Supremes, that may not play out legally. At the same link, ERCOT's insurer is claiming that this is legally NOT an act of god and that it should therefore be off the hook.

SocraticGadfly says that with new legislation on the table in Oklahoma and passed in New Mexico, Texas faces new pressure to liberalize its marijuana laws.

Stace is riding for Alzheimer's Research. Read about it, and, if you can, make a donation!

Emily Eby personally points out all of the bad things in voter suppression bill SB7.

Charles Luke opines against the proposed ban on local governments hiring lobbyists at the Legislature.

Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria get Honorary Texan status for the week for their deconstruction of Dan Patrick.

National

RIP to America's best attorney general at least since World War II, Ramsey Clark.

The NYT editorial board doesn't quite say the US should remove ALL Trumpian sanctions as part of restoring the Iran deal, but it comes close.

Yes, it's time to replace the 1953 Panmunjom cease-fire with an actual Korean peace treaty.

David Sirota's team thinks the DSA Roseys are actual socialists.