The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - September 20, 2024

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Friday, September 20th, 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, after multiple rounds of voting at a closed-door meeting in Austin, the group of Republican House members opposing Speaker Dade Phelan have chosen State Representative David Cook to support. The selection occurred after State Representative John Smithy dropped out of the race, when neither candidate could meet the threshold needed head-to-head five hours before the meeting first convened. The purpose of the meeting was to coalesce behind one candidate rather than splinter

Starting point is 00:00:45 the opposition to Phelan between multiple candidates. Not all of the current members or prospective GOP members attended, and a chunk of Phelan supporters said they were not invited to the meeting. Sources confirmed to the Texan that the meeting's headcount was 48 in person, with six proxies. The meeting was held at a county-line barbecue restaurant in Austin. As the meeting convened, a text went out to the attendees from a newly publicized group called Texans for a New Speaker. The process for voting followed the Texas House Republican Caucus procedure. A two-thirds majority vote must be obtained to win throughout most of the process. Next, U.S. Senate candidates Senator Ted Cruz and

Starting point is 00:01:25 Congressman Colin Allred will square off in at least one debate during the home stretch of this contentious race. The pair agreed to debate on October 15th at 7 p.m. in Dallas. The event will be hosted and moderated by WFAA, which announced the matchup on Friday. So far, no other debates have been set up by the camps. It will last an hour and will be televised and broadcast across the state on all of media conglomerate Tegna's sister locations. WFAA's senior political reporter Jason Whiteley and the Dallas Morning News' Gromer Jeffers will moderate. Cruz and Allred are locked in a high profile, expensive electoral bout.

Starting point is 00:02:06 Polling has the race anywhere between a 2 and 10-point margin, but all of the surveys filtered to likely voter models have it on the closer side. In other news, two bills securing in vitro fertilization, or IVF, services, one from Democrats and one from Republicans, were blocked by the opposing side of the aisle in the U.S. Senate on September 17th in what both of Texas' senators called a show vote. Senator Cruz said on the Senate floor prior to the vote, quote, Today, unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are staging an empty show vote on what they call an IVF bill in order to stoke baseless fears about IVF and push their broader political agenda. The IVF Protection Act, authored by Cruz and

Starting point is 00:02:51 Senator Katie Britt, was introduced in late May, requiring that states not prohibit IVF services as a requirement for receiving federal Medicaid funding. Under the language of the legislation, it wouldn't compel any individuals or organizations to provide IVF services, but would amend the Social Security Act so that states would be, quote, ineligible for Medicaid funding, end quote, if found to be banning such services. A month later, the Right to IVF Act was introduced by Senator Tammy Duckworth, a package of four bills related to abortion and IVF services. The legislation includes both the individual right to access fertility treatments and to make, quote,

Starting point is 00:03:34 decisions about the use of their reproductive genetic material, i.e. embryos, without limitation or interference. Last but not least, Harris County Commissioner's Court approved an overall property tax rate increase of 9.53% in a partisan vote Thursday and kept cuts to the district attorney's office that outgoing district attorney Kim Aug says could lead to the layoff of experienced prosecutors. Although state lawmakers capped annual property tax increases without voter approval in 2019, the law includes an exception for disasters causing material damage. Since Harris County experienced two significant storms in 2024, a derecho storm last spring, and Hurricane Beryl in July, commissioners were able to increase the maintenance and operations tax by 8% without seeking voter approval. A second portion of the

Starting point is 00:04:26 overall tax levy covering debt expense also jumped, giving property owners an overall increase of nearly 10%. Commissioners also opted to increase the tax rate for the Harris County Hospital District by 13.9% and will ask voters to approve an additional bump for the Harris County Flood Control District of $0.01 per $100 of valuation. Thanks for listening. 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 - September 20, 2024

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