By Brett Rogers,
Now that the legislature is in session, even though we’re coming off of COVID and Gov. Abbott has finally seen fit to rescind his job-killing restrictions, things are moving much faster behind the scenes than what we can see.
That’s part of the problem with government today: deals are made and the wheels are put into motion long before the public knows what’s about to happen.
For example, a common critique of this past year is that a single person in Texas – Gov. Abbott – made decisions without the input of the people.
The language in the Texas government code is that the legislature can “terminate a state of disaster at any time,” and “on termination by the legislature, the governor shall issue an executive order ending the state of disaster.”
That’s nice language that makes it sound like the people can act through the legislature, but only if the legislature is in session, and the legislature is only in session if the governor calls them into session. If the governor doesn’t call them into session, then whatever “executive orders, proclamations, and regulations” the governor issues during an emergency “have the force and effect of law.”
That’s a king. A monarchy. In Texas. And it’s unconstitutional.
According to the Texas government code, “the governor may suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives, and combustibles.” So if the governor wants to curtail your enjoyment of beer and wants you to keep your guns at home and not buy any more, he can.
That too is unconstitutional. So much for making Texas a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary state…
But the Texas House of Representatives doesn’t seem to have a problem with any of what is clearly unconstitutional.
They authored and put forward HB3, which is all this same language but instead of just being about disasters, they copied it and changed it to “pandemic disaster.”
Odds are that you didn’t know any of this. That’s because the wheels were in motion for all of this and getting ready to be blessed by the public relations team in the House before we knew the language.
Then HB3 was filed, and for those who read such things, they responded with a “Bless your heart,” and set about quickly letting representatives know that, no sir, this unconstitutional business will not serve the people of Texas.
Whether you think COVID was well-handled by Gov. Abbott or not, the truth is that no governor should have the power to overrun your God-given rights – at any time, for any reason.
Tens of thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – of businesses in Texas folded because of locking down and limiting Texas.
Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs, suffered drastic loss of income… None of that should happen by the signature of one person alone. Our representatives needs to represent us. During COVID, we had no representation.
Those in the legislature had to sit on their hands and wait until either the governor called a special session – which he didn’t – or wait until the legislature reconvened as scheduled for 2021 – which it now has.
The great sin of this session could be that we do not curtail the emergency powers of the governor without giving the legislature – hence, the people of Texas – a voice during crisis.
Even the New York legislature has acted to limit their governor.
Legislators from New York’s Assembly and state Senate struck a deal Tuesday to strip their governor of his pandemic-linked emergency powers and return matters like lockdowns to local control.
The deal forces the governor of New York to notify various legislative leaders and accept public comment for or against his actions. New York’s legislators will also have the power to repeal a gubernatorial declaration of a state of emergency.
Will we the people allow even New York to outshine Texas when it comes to protecting our freedoms? If we Texans allow this to happen, then shame on us.
Brett Rogers is a well-known political activist throughout Texas and resides in Marion County by Lake O The Pines. He publishes NETX.News and believes that smaller government is better government. He can be reached at brett@rightrally.com. His opinions are his own and do not reflect those of the Jefferson Jimplecute.