A report from the National Institute for Money in State Politics revealed that Texas House Speaker Joe Straus was the second biggest recipient of campaign contributions from public employee labor unions in the entire state.
He is one of only two Republicans in the top 10 recipients of union cash in Texas.
It’s no surprise, then, that he killed a bill designed to end the collusion between public employee labor unions–like the SEIU—and state bureaucracies. SB 1968 was passed, but by the Texas Senate, and it was the No. 1 legislative priority of the Texas Republican Party.
The bill would have stopped state agencies from automatically deducting union dues from their employees’ paychecks. Millions of dollars annually are funneled from employees paychecks to the Democratic party using this union mechanism.
But Straus and his handpicked committee chairman killed the bill and refused to let Republican members vote on it. In interviews following the session, Straus attacked the GOP’s efforts advocating for the bill.
Straus Facts is a project of Empower Texans, shining a light on the record of House Speaker Joe Straus.
