Letter to Gov. Abbott Asking for Additional Conservative Priorities to Be Added to Special Session Call

Fellow Texan,

The 87th Legislative Session was a productive session for Texas. The Legislature passed numerous conservative priorities, including a ban on teaching critical race theory in social studies curriculum, Constitutional Carry, the Texas Heartbeat Act, several religious liberty bills, and much more.

Nevertheless, other conservative priorities did not pass this session, including those which died on the floor of the House due to the obstructionism of the Texas Democratic Party. We support Governor Abbott's call for a special session this July and his commitment to place on the call legislation to promote election integrity, ban social media censorship, and further protect Texas children from Marxist-inspired ideology in our classrooms.

We sent Governor Abbott a letter today urging him to include the following additional conservative priorities on the call:

• Ban on Child Genital Mutilation and Gender Hormone Therapy: Texas children should be protected from puberty-blocking hormone injections and permanently deformative gender reassignment surgery, sought only to further a radical left-wing agenda.
• Ban on Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying: A supermajority of Texans support prohibiting tax dollars from being used to hire Austin lobbyists. A ban on this unethical practice is paramount.
• Border Security: We applaud your efforts to help secure the border. The Legislature should take bold steps to provide the State of Texas with additional tools and resources to address the worsening border crisis.
• Educational Freedom: Texas must expand its educational opportunities. One size does not fit all. Families should be empowered with more options using tax credits or exemptions, where money follows the child.
• Fair Play in Women’s Sports: The integrity of women’s high school and college sports is currently under siege. Radical leftists seek to eliminate fair competition by allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports. A majority of the House signed on to legislation to ensure fair play in women’s sports. We must get this bill across the finish line.
• Monument Protection: Further legislation is needed to protect our monuments, including the Alamo Cenotaph, from being relocated, removed, defaced, destroyed, or otherwise dishonored.
• Disaster Response Reform: We learned much from the COVID crisis. While some measures passed to protect religious liberty and Second Amendment rights during disasters, omnibus disaster response reform legislation did not pass. The Texas Disaster Act of 1975 needs to be revised to properly limit its scope and conform its provisions to the Texas Constitution.
• Property Tax Relief: We made great strides in 2019 to protect Texas taxpayers from rising property taxes, but more needs to be done. We need to replace our property tax system in whole or in part, reform our appraisal system, or otherwise provide property tax relief to hard-working Texans.

You can view the letter by clicking here.

Fellow Texans, America is at a crossroads. As Texas goes, so goes the nation. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide leadership to the rest of this nation and to fight back against the left’s radical agenda. We are confident that if we pass these, and other conservative solutions to the issues our communities are facing, we will ensure the beacon of freedom that is our great State of Texas will shine even brighter for all the world to see and all our neighboring states to emulate.

Sincerely,

Rep. Mayes Middleton
Chairman, Texas Freedom Caucus

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