The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - May 8, 2025

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

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Howdy folks, today is Thursday, May 8th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans Assistant Editor Rob Lauschus, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, a new Texas politics project poll of registered voters finds President Donald Trump's personal approval rating wavering while residents of the Lone Star State continue to approve of the administration's handling of immigration and border security. Of the 1,200 registered voters included in the poll, 47% approve of Trump's job in office while 46% disapprove.

This, the report details, shows a quote, cooling off of attitudes. As back in February, the same question showed Trump with 52% approval compared to 38% disapproval. Other federal office holders, such as Senator John Cornyn, have also seen declining job approval ratings. In February, Cornyn saw approval ratings at 30%, which is now 27%. Senator Ted Cruz also saw a drop to 42% approval of his job in the Senate, as compared to 46% in a February poll. Next, Governor Greg Abbott and Republican state lawmakers leading a push for bail reform

met with crime victims and law enforcement officials in Austin on Wednesday and publicly pressed House Democrats to support amendments to the Texas Constitution targeting violent suspects. In February, the Texas Senate approved a constitutional amendment by Senator Joan Huffman that would give judges the discretion to hold certain violent suspects without bail. The measure passed the Senate with the required two-thirds vote, but both Huffman's bill and a similar proposal introduced by Representative John Smithey, chair of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, have stalled in the House, where it will need all Republicans and at least 12 Democrats to pass. citing constitutional concerns. But earlier this month, Abbott called for more stringent measures that would include mandatory detention of suspects charged with murder, rape, and human trafficking

unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant will return for hearings and not endanger the community. In other news, Representative Kerry Isaac presented a bill on the Texas House floor to allow licensed election judges and certain early voting clerks to carry concealed handguns while performing their official duties at polling places, sparking a heated debate among members. House Bill 1128, according to the bill analysis, seeks to establish that a quote, election judge and an early voting clerk or deputy early voting clerk serving as an election judge are able to carry a concealed handgun during the performance of their duties.

Isaac explained during the bill layout that the bill would codify a 2018 Texas office of the attorney general opinion, allowing licensed election judges to lawfully carry a concealed handgun at polling places. Also, ghastly stories of tragic deaths, horrific injuries, torrential sexual abuse, and bellying up small businesses subsumed the debate over technical legalese in a high-profile tort reform bill intended to stymie so-called nuclear verdicts. The Texas House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee fielded testimony on House Bill 4806, the lower chamber's version of the marquee tort reform bill making its way through the Texas Capitol.

The Senate passed its priority version last month, and now all eyes are on the House and its JCJ Committee, watching how the biggest lobbying fight, almost unknown outside of Austin, shakes out. State Representative Greg Bonnen laid out the bill with the main change being scrapping the Senate's limit of medical damages to 300% of the Medicaid reimbursement rate, replacing it with a broader provision that provides for a range of costs. The Senate versions of the bill, along with its relative HB 4688, a revision of a 2021 law relating to civil liability involving

semi-truck collisions, have passed the upper chamber. HB 4688 passed the JCJ committee last month. Last but not least, René Ramírez is relieved that his ranch house and working ranch operations won't be destroyed by a planned expansion of US Highway 83 in Zapata County. Ramirez can continue to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the 1600-acre El Milagro Ranch that his family has owned and operated for nearly two centuries. Visit the Texan.News to read reporter Kim Roberts' story on the situation. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be

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