The more I read this bill, the worse it got. Today, I sat down with two conservative lawyers, Matt Rinaldi and Tony McDonald. They honestly do an excellent job pointing out the significant flaws in HB 3.
This legislation gives the governor, during a pandemic, dictatorial authority over Texas citizens and businesses; it also threatens businesses who don’t obey every one of Gov. Abbott’s executive orders, with legal liability due to their disobedience. It’s an attempt to create more loyal subjects, not freer citizens.
The worldview of this bill is one that runs antithetical to our Founding Fathers, the state Constitution, and the Republican Party priorities that clearly state executive power needs to be curtailed.
State Rep. Dustin Burrows is declaring open warfare with Allen West, any state representative who has criticized Abbott, and any business that disobeyed Abbott’s shutdown orders. This bill is a direct contradiction to the position of Sen. Charles Perry, who is also a constituent of Burrows.
It’s truly remarkable just how much this bill is a pure endorsement of the big government dictatorial actions of Abbott. Not only that, but Speaker Dade Phelan has prioritized the passage of this bill by giving it such a low bill number.
Instead of handling these issues separately, like the Texas Senate, House leadership has decided to use D.C. tactics of putting everything in one omnibus bill, which means there are some little nuggets of good things to cover up their destruction of the Texas Constitution. Hopefully, this is not a trend that Phelan continues. We shall see.
