Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I’ve given myself a refresher, crash course in the Texas legislative process. There are excellent resources available online at Texas Legislature Online and the House Research Organization

Based on my new found “knowledge”, I’ve outline the following steps this bill will have to go through in order to become law. We could potentially stop it anywhere along the line. Some of the kill options listed here are more likely than others. The right influence at the right time (from a powerful politician, sympathetic TPWD official, effective lobbyist, or our collective calls and letters) is all we need.

1) Originating Committee (Culture, Recreation, and Tourism) –only IF we can get it sent back, and I don’t know if there is a way to do that.
a) Get it amended back to the original text.
b) Get it amended to include an exclusion.
c) Attach a killer amendment –risky move, the idea is to make the bill even worse so it will be more likely to get voted down.
2) Local & Consent Calendar Committee
a) Get it tabled –This will just delay it, but enough delays will kill it. This happened with 5 of 218 bills in the last month.
b) Get it transferred back to the originating committee –I don’t know if this is possible.
c) Get it transferred to the General Calendar Committee – This acts as a delay AND causes the bill to get MUCH more scrutiny. This happened with 23 of 218 bills in the last month.
3) General Calendar Committee – If we can get it sent there.
a) Get it tabled – Stall, stall, and stall some more!
4) HOUSE FLOOR
a) Get it tabled – just keep stalling & stalling.
b) Get it withdrawn –this has happened with 16 bills coming out of Local & Consent this month
c) Get it amended back to the original text.
d) Get it amended to include an exclusion.
e) Attach a killer amendment –risky move, the idea is to make the bill even worse so it will be more likely to get voted down.
5) SENATE –This bill has NOT been introduced to the Senate. If it never goes to the Senate, it will die quietly. If it does go to the Senate will have all the same opportunities to kill it there as we have in the house.
6) House and Senate Conference Committee – If it passes the House and Senate, but with different text.
a) Get it tabled –Still stalling!
b) Get it amended to some acceptable text.
c) Attach a killer amendment.
7) Governor’s Desk – If it gets this far you can start selling your flashlights!
a) Veto –Extremely unlikely.

It is getting close to the end of round one on this thing. And I have no idea who is winning right now….

I think we have two immediate goals and a contingency plan to keep in play at this point.
1 - Keep in contact with local House Reps that are not well informed of the impact this bill will end up having.
2 - Get somebody to Austin by Monday that will be able to visit these House Reps in person, and make sure they are prepared with documentation to leave behind at each office.

The contingency plan needs to address our Senators. The nice thing about them is that there are only 31 of them, so they are smaller pool to work on, and we have a lot more time to bring them up to speed on the full impact of this bill. We will need to find out what committee will pick this up if it passes the house and start with it's members.

BTW, any word on TWA and if they will assist on bringing this bill down or amending it to exclude capture / recovery? How about the rep from THS that is planning a little trip to Austin, how is that coming along? There were lots of ideas planted, now is the time to harvest them.

The Senate does give us a very good "contingency plan" for stopping this thing. However, it should be noted that IF this passes through the House as a CONSENSUS item(as part of the Local & Consent Calendar) it could go straight to the Senate Local & Consent Committee for virtually unobstructed passage in the Senate.

Getting HB 2414 off of the House Local & Consent Calendar is CRITICAL. Failing that, we will have to fight to keep it off, or remove it from, the Senate Local & Consent Calendar.

I have a training seminar for Boy Scout Leaders tomorrow and Sunday. I think it worth mentioning as well, will scouts on a hike be engaging in an illegal activity by catching said herp on a hike along our Texas roadways? Many, many hikes are along these right of ways and back roads.I don't want to p.o. the organization by speaking for them, but they have lobbyists (I think) and have fought some pretty heavy duty cases. This would be a crushing blow to outdoorsmen(boys) all over. I will see if I can get a hold of some higher ups and see if they can climb on board. Anyone involved in Scouting can help out that way as well, mention this at meetings, heck there is even a merit badge for Citizenship in th Community, Nation, and World. It encourages you to contact your legislatures to get a response back. How would it look to have many, many scouts write in asking if they can't pick up a frog or turtle any more? May sound hokey, but that's what kinda guy I am. Anyone think this is flyable?
Todd Hughes

That's the best suggestion I've heard! Politicians don't like offended young boys and their parents.

Please repost this as a new thread. It might get buried way back here.

Daryl Eby

The Local & Consent Committee was called into an unplanned meeting today. When I got the notice of the meeting, I hoped they would use the opportunity to refer HB 2414 to the General Calendar Committee.

Bad news, they moved two other bills but not 2414.
Good news, they still haven't sent it to the House floor.

This committee generally meets in the first half of the week and calendars bills for the end of the week. Keep an eye out for their next meeting (not yet scheduled). 2414 will almost certainly be addressed (moved or sent to the House) in the next their next meeting.