Texas Legislative Watch: Update on Bill Filings

Left of College Station reported on bills pre-filed by Representative Fred Brown (R-Brown) before the 82nd Texas Legislature began. Those pieces of legislation included a proposal to abolish the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and transferring the coordinating board's functions and activities and the State Board of Education, a proposal to create one independent school district in each county in this state, and a bill that would require cities with a population of less than 185,000 but more than 65,000 to receive approval from voters in an area they wish to annex before the annexation is allowed. According to the Texas Legislature’s web site, no action has been taken on any of Brown’s initial filings and none have been assigned to any committees.

Since those initial filings Representative Brown has filed five more pieces of legislation (which brings the total amount of bills filed by Brown to twelve.) Among the new pieces of legislation filed is another piece of legislation concerning annexation, a proposal to require that college class syllabi be posted online, a proposal to shorten the amount of time before a vehicle is considered abandoned, and a proposal to allow state agencies to sell advertising on the state web sites. None of the pieces of legislation that Brown has recently filed have had any action taken on them, and none have been assigned to any committees. In fact the only thing that Brown has filed that has any action taken on it is House Resolution 33 “Congratulating members of the Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership XII class on their selection for participation in the program.” Perhaps after Governor Rick Perry’s legislative priorities have been addressed, other pieces of legislation will be considered.

Bills Filed by Fred Brown:

HB 381 “The student health center of an institution of higher education shall assist a student or other person entitled to obtain health care services from the health center in receiving benefits under a health benefit plan by filing or having a claim filed with the health benefit plan issuer on behalf of the student or other person.”

HB 524 Removes the provision “failed to perform in good faith” from the law that says that “if the governing body fails or refuses to disannex the area within 60 days after the date of the receipt of the petition, any one or more of the signers of the petition may bring a cause of action in a district… [which] shall enter an order disannexing the area if the court finds that a valid petition was filed with the municipality and that the municipality failed to perform its obligations in accordance with the service plan.”

HB 537 “Each institution of higher education shall make available for public inspection through the Internet or in person a list of required or recommended instructional materials for a semester or other academic term at the same time the institution provides the list to the operator of a university-affiliated bookstore.”

HB 668 Would shorten the amount of time from 41 days to 10 days after a notice is mailed to the own of a vehicle that has not been “claimed by a person permitted to claim the vehicle,” before the “operator of the vehicle storage facility shall consider the vehicle to be abandoned.”

HB 682 “A state agency may lease advertising space on the agency's official Internet website; and the department may lease advertising space on the official Internet website for the State of Texas.”