Oppose SB 16

With only two weeks and a few days of the 89th Legislative session, deadlines for bills to cross over from one house to the other have passed or are rapidly approaching. The maneuvering is beginning. An excellent example is HB 2, the House supplemental budget for public education. The bill passed the House before the debate on SB 2, the educational savings account bill. Last week, the Senate Education committee gutted HB 2 and substituted 225 pages of counter proposals that did not include an increase in the basic allotment limiting the flexibility of the proposed funding.

Similarly, after hearing HB 5337, the House companion to SB 16, the House Elections Committee voted the bill out of committee and immediately substituted SB 16, which lingers in House Calendars, having never had a public hearing in the House. SB 16 may reach the House floor this week. The League participated in a Day of Action with Move Texas and other partner organizations last week the purpose of which was to distribute a one page explanation of our opposition to SB 16.

Source: League of Women Voters of Texas