The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - September 4, 2024

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

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Howdy folks, today is Wednesday, September 4th, 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, a fourth candidate for Speaker of the Texas House is now in the mix, with State Representative David Cook's entry on Tuesday. Cook occupies House District 96 and was first elected in 2020, succeeding State Representative Bill Zedler, who retired after a lengthy career in the Capitol. During the current biennium, Cook serves on the Calendars, Criminal Justice, and Juvenile Justice and Family Issues committees. During the last session,

he voted for the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, though he placed in the journal a statement saying he disagreed with three of the articles, and against stripping education savings accounts from the November omnibus bill. Cook joins a field that includes State Representatives Tom Oliverson and Shelby Slauson as challengers to the incumbent, Speaker Dade Phelan, who is seeking his third term with the gavel. Next, Bayar County is proceeding with plans to hire a private company to mail out unsolicited voter registration forms in defiance of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's warning that their actions are, quote, unlawful and reckless. On Monday,

Paxton issued public letters condemning Bayard and Harris counties for their proposed plan to mail voter registration forms to individuals regardless of the eligibility of the recipients. The counties proposed to pay civic government solutions to print and distribute thousands of voter registration forms to, quote, unregistered voters in locations based on targeting agreed to by the county. Paxton filed to sue Bexar County on Wednesday morning following their decision to move forward with the voter registration measure. In other news, the Texas Department of State Health Services has changed its birth certificate sex change policy, making court order documents no longer an acceptable form of documentation when seeking to change the sex marker on a birth

certificate. The developments were first reported by KXAN, which found that the DSHS website has removed certified court orders as an acceptable document for Texans seeking to change the sex marker on their birth certificates. In a statement, a DSHS spokesperson explained the recent change. The spokesperson told KUT, quote, recent public reports have highlighted concerns about the validity of court orders purporting to amend sex for purposes of state-issued documents. DSHS is seeking assistance from the Office of the Attorney General to determine the applicability of these concerns to amendments to vital records.

Also, like much of the American West, Texas is between a rock and a hard, very dry place when it comes to water supply, and state officials are trying to address it. The Texas Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs probed this issue on Tuesday in a hearing on the assigned interim charge from Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Chair Charles Perry told the committee, quote, based on my analysis of our existing water plan, the state of Texas is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 11 million acre feet short of our goals. A fair assessment of that plan would say we're at least 10 if not 20 years behind in meeting those goals. We cannot conserve an 11 million acre-feet

shortfall. By 2070, the state's population is expected to reach 51 million people, the equivalent of adding a new Corpus Christi, or around 300,000 people, every year. Last but not least, the head of Harris County's public health department, who was fired last week, has also been working for an Arizona county since last January. Questions are swirling about her work in Texas, including her role in awarding a contract for sending mental health workers instead of police on some 911 calls. Sources also say there is a pending criminal investigation into the county's health department and related contracts. County officials announced

last Friday that Executive Director of Harris County Public Health Barbie Robinson had been dismissed just days after the Houston Chronicle reported on communications surrounding a $6 million contract awarded to DEMA, a California-based company, to run the county's holistic assistance response teams. The Texan has learned that in January 2024, Robinson also contracted to work with Yuba County, Arizona to provide services for a three-year period. Robinson's work for Yuba County's Public Health Department provides her with nearly $200,000 in compensation for hundreds of hours of work, all while managing Harris County's Public Health Department. Thanks for listening. To support The Texan, please be sure to visit thetexan.news

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