The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - June 13, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Thursday, June 13th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans reporter Cameron Abrams, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, a group of federal lawmakers have introduced legislation aimed at prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in the federal government and banning DEI statements and training programs by federal contractors. The, quote, Dismantle DEI Act of 2024 is being led by Congressman Michael Cloud and Senator J.D. Vance, along with 20 other members of Congress. Cloud said, quote, DEI practices have zero place in our federal government. In December last year, Representative Dan Crenshaw introduced legislation that would

Starting point is 00:00:54 prohibit, quote, ideological oaths and similar statements on college campuses. Next, a bill to prevent states from banning in vitro fertilization, brought to the Senate floor by Senators Ted Cruz, Katie Britt, and Roger Marshall, was blocked by Democratic lawmakers. Cruz then requested unanimous consent on the Senate floor from his colleagues in order to pass the bill, meaning there would be no vote. Senator Patty Murray objected, saying, quote, it is ridiculous to claim that this bill protects IVF when it does nothing of the sort. In fact, it explicitly allows states to restrict IVF in all sorts of ways. It's literally in the bill text. Introduced by Cruz and Britt on May 20th, the IVF Protection Act states that while the bill wouldn't compel any individuals or organizations to provide IVF services, states would be ineligible for Medicaid funding if found to be banning them. Also, on

Starting point is 00:01:53 Tuesday, June 11th, the Amarillo City Council voted 4-1 to reject the citizen-initiated, quote, Sanctuary City for the Onboard Ordin ordinance, both in its amended and original forms. Councilmember Don Tips was the only member to vote against rejecting the ordinance. The next step will be for the initiating committee to certify with the city's secretary that it wants to have the measure on the November ballot. It must take this action within 20 days. Initiating committee member Jacob Meyer told the Texan via text message, quote,

Starting point is 00:02:28 It's frustrating that the mayor and city council chose to side with the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance and the radical left over the thousands of signers of the Amarillo Sanctuary City for the Unborn petition. Meyer believes the November ballot measure will have, quote, devastating ramifications for the elections in November because he believes progressive donors like George Soros will pour, quote, millions upon millions of dollars to defeat, unquote, the measure. In other news, a interim hearing in the Texas House Committee on Elections brought to light many insights

Starting point is 00:03:02 concerning both oversight and ballot secrecy. Leading up to the committee hearing, election security has become a focal point of conversation among lawmakers after a flaw in the state's election system allowed for the identification of individual ballots by using publicly accessible data. Additionally, Harris County has continued to experience election issues with one 2022 general election being set for a redo after a visiting judge determined votes were improperly cast after hours. In addition, the city of Houston moved one step closer to resolving a lengthy contract dispute with firefighters after the city council approved new bond debt to cover costs Wednesday. A vote to

Starting point is 00:03:42 fully accept the terms of the settlement agreement was delayed for a second week after the city's comptroller declined to certify the financial details. The dispute has been pending since 2017 when former Mayor Sylvester Turner and the Firefighters Union could not agree to terms for a new contract, leading the union to file suit. After taking office in January, new mayor John Whitmire dropped the city's latest appeal in the lengthy legal battle, and the two parties returned to court-ordered negotiations this year. In March, Whitmire announced that his administration had reached a settlement agreement, but also was slow to release details. City controller Chris

Starting point is 00:04:21 Hollins balked at the costs, which included $650 million in back pay for the firefighters. Last but not least, a quarter of single-family residential properties in Fort Worth are held by commercial interests, according to new data by FW Lab and Tarrant Appraisal District. The data comes from a report issued by City Manager David Cook to the City Council for the June 4th meeting. The report took specific data such as property addresses, owner name, owner address, and the exemptions applied to individual properties from TAD property rules to determine the nature of single-family home ownership between owner-occupiers and commercial owners. Thanks for listening.

Starting point is 00:05:01 To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - June 13, 2024

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