The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 8, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Thursday, August 8th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lausches, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, in a landmark ruling on Galveston County's 2021 redistricting plans, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upended a decades-old precedent that allowed a minority coalition to claim discrimination under the Federal Voting Rights Act, potentially setting up the issue for consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. Last year, Judge Jeffrey Brown, a Trump appointee, ruled that Galveston County's redrawn map for county commissioners' precincts

Starting point is 00:00:45 was unconstitutional since he found that it illegally diluted the voting power of a coalition of Black and Hispanic voters. Brown's decision was based on the Fifth Circuit's 1988 ruling in Campos v. Baytown. Now, that court says Campos was decided in error. In reexamining the language of the Voting Rights Act, the Fifth Circuit concluded that, quote, the text of Section 2 does not authorize coalition claims, either expressly or by implication. Next, the Texas Education Agency has proposed a new set of state-owned instructional material, but one aspect of the curriculum has caused a stir, references to

Starting point is 00:01:25 religion that are interspersed in the material. The new instructional materials review and approval process, enacted under House Bill 1605 last year, replaces the State Board of Education Proclamation and the Texas Resource Review Process's governing curriculum review, instead consolidating reviews under a single SBOE-governed system. The program review guide for the reading and language arts curriculum provides rationale for the religious inclusion in the material and contends that religious source materials remain relevant for knowledge building. In other news, a regulatory scheme at the local government level could topple like a house of cards if two Brazos County residents are successful in their lawsuit at the Texas Supreme Court,

Starting point is 00:02:09 and the case the petitioners are making is essentially the same as that made by colonial Americans. The plaintiffs live outside the city limits of College Station, but within the city's extraterritorialiction, or ETJ. ETJs are land that fall explicitly outside the limits of a locality but still must follow municipal ordinances. The pair of plaintiffs want to build or modify their driveways and install portable signs on their properties. The residents sued the City of College Station, its Mayor Carl Mooney, and City Manager Brian Woods in May 2022. The city filed a plea to the jurisdiction contending both that no ordinances had yet been enforced against the property owners and that the court cannot consider the issue at hand as it's political and outside the purview of the judicial branch.

Starting point is 00:02:58 The district court granted the plea and dismissed the case. The Sixth Court of Appeals then affirmed the previous decision, which has now been appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. Also, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has provided an update into an investigation related to allegations that the Democratic fundraising operation ActBlue is involved in illicit activities. Paxton stated in his press release, quote, ActBlue has cooperated with our ongoing investigation. They have changed their requirements to now include CVV codes for donations on their platform. This is a critical change that can help prevent fraudulent donations. Paxton added that, quote, suspicious activity on fundraising platforms must be fully investigated to determine if any laws

Starting point is 00:03:42 have been broken. In addition, five Texas juvenile justice centers were found by the U.S. Department of Justice to be violating the U.S. Constitution in its treatment of detained minors. In a lengthy report on the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the DOJ found the TJJD infringed upon children's constitutional rights in five locations across Texas, as well as violated the Individuals with Disabilities Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The alleged violations include subjecting minors to excessive chemical and physical force, sexual abuse, harmful isolation, discrimination against disabled children, and failure to provide sufficient mental health care and special education resources. Last but not least, the Tarrant County Sheriff did not appear at this week's Commissioner's Court meeting for a requested briefing about the department's

Starting point is 00:04:33 standard operating procedures. According to the Commissioner's meeting agenda, quote, the Commissioner's Court will be briefed with the current Tarrant County Sheriff's Office standard operating procedures for all main divisions, including patrol, warrants, and the jail. In addition, an explanation of the process for amending and changing, how those changes are disseminated throughout the Sheriff's Office, and an overview of what changes have been made since Sheriff Wayborn came into office. However, instead of appearing, Sheriff Bill Weyburn's office sent a letter to County Administrator Chandler Merritt the morning of the meeting, respectfully declining to appear. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and

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The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - August 8, 2024

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