© 2024 KRWG
News that Matters.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

In Depth: Major Issues Facing Texas Legislature

There's not likely to be cake-cutting this time, but conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage in Texas are staging a Capitol steps rally with outspoken gay rights opponent Roy Moore.

Moore, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, made headlines nationally by instructing his state's probate judges to refuse issuing same-sex marriage licenses after a federal judge declared Alabama's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.

In response to Moore's appearance Monday afternoon, gay rights advocates are holding a family ice cream social elsewhere in the Capitol.

Such tit-for-tat is nothing new. Last month, Republican state lawmakers and social conservatives held a party marking the 10th anniversary of voters' approval of Texas' gay marriage ban. They even crowded together to cut pink and white wedding cake.

That prompted ban opponents to popularize the Twitter hashtag #hatecake.

Here are other upcoming issues at the Texas Capitol:

'PARENT TRIGGER': Senate education leaders are mulling a proposal allowing a majority of parents in a school district to petition to close struggling public schools in just two years, rather than the current five. Advocates say energizing communities via "parent trigger" rules can force improvements at schools even without having to close them outright. The bill is pending in committee but should advance to the full Senate soon.

__

REVERSE 'STAND YOUR GROUND' BILL: A proposal by Houston Democratic Rep. Garnet Coleman to restrict when Texans are allowed to use deadly force in self-defense is pending in committee and faces a murky future. It seeks to limit Texas' "stand your ground" law to authorize using deadly force only if a person is in danger and can't safely retreat — unless they are at home. Current Texas law is similar to Florida's well-known statute and says people can use deadly force in most self-defense cases without a duty to retreat. Coleman's proposal seeks to compel the potential victim to try and retreat, but makes an exception for people at home.

__

BIRTHDAY CONFIDENTIAL: Sunnyvale Republican Rep. Cindy Burkett's bill would exempt Texans' birth dates from being disclosed under requests made using the Texas Public Information Act. Similar measures to shield public employees' birthdates from open records scrutiny stalled in previous legislative sessions. It's too early to tell if Burkett's will advance, but if so, it would apply to everyone statewide.

__

HOUSE BUDGET: House budget writers are expected, perhaps as soon as Tuesday, to send a new budget up for a full vote so that spending haggling with the Senate can begin. The bare-bones draft budget the House began with in January spent close to $100 billion, but that price tag will rise to reflect more dollars for an ambitious border security package and repairs to crumbling state buildings. Settling on a two-year budget comes down to the wire in every 140-day session, but negotiations between GOP budget chiefs in the House and Senate could be particularly tense this year amid differences on how to deliver some of the biggest tax cuts that Texas has seen in a decade.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.