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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers reach last-minute deal on pay raises for Texas judges
AUSTIN (Nexstar) – Lawmakers worked into the final hours of the legislative session to reach an agreement to provide pay raises for Texas judges. The legislation led to a sharp divide between the House and Senate over how the raises would affect pensions for lawmakers. Senate Bill 293 calls for raising the pay for judges to $175,000 per year. That's a 25% increase from the current $140,000 salary. The legislation comes amid concern that Texas lags behind other states in judicial pay. 'Texas cannot afford to continue to lose talent due to a lack of appropriate compensation,' the analysis for SB 293 states. The idea of raising pay for judges has bipartisan support. The division comes over how those raises affect funds for retiring lawmakers. Currently, pensions for lawmakers are calculated as a percentage of the base pay for judges. Raising judges pay would also raise retirement benefits for lawmakers. Some House members believed that amounted to unethically approving a benefit for themselves. Their legislation included an amendment to keep decouple lawmaker pensions from judicial base pay, instead keeping it linked to the current level of $140,000. 'I do not believe, speaking for me that this is the right way for us to consider and/or pass increases to our legislative retirement,' Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said Friday, explaining why the House added the amendment. He called on the Senate to accept the House amendment. 'I can tell you that if they want judges to get a pay raise, then they should move to concur with the House changes to Senate Bill 293, and in the interim and next session, we can have and should have a conversation about legislative compensation, including our retirement benefits,' Leach said. When the legislation came before the Senate Friday night, Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, raised a point of order, saying that the amendment was not germane to the legislation. He agreed that legislation to revamp how lawmaker pensions are calculated should happen separately from SB 293. The point of order was sustained, potentially killing SB 293 and pay raises for judges. Senators called on House members to remove the amendment. House members pushed to keep the measure to decouple judicial pay from pensions for lawmakers. With the House and Senate deadlocked, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock weighed in with a potential compromise. On Saturday, he sent a memo to members of the legislature, including proposed language for the bill. Blacklock's proposal would maintain the link between judicial pay and legislator pensions, but the impact of a pay raise approved this session would not immediately affect those pensions. Instead, Blacklock proposes that the next legislature would determine the effect. 'As you know, judicial salaries in Texas currently rank 49th in the Nation – an embarrassment that is making it harder and harder to attract and retain qualified, hard-working judges capable of delivering a high quality of justice to Texas families and businesses across our State,' Blacklock wrote. He added that he fears the long-range impact, should the impasse keep judges from getting a raise. 'If that happens, it is not the judges themselves but our Texas justice system – which should be the envy of the world – that will suffer most, along with the thousands of Texans who seek justice in our courts every day,' Blacklock wrote. Monday afternoon, word of the agreement was announced in the Senate. 'The House and the Senate came together, and the result of the conference committee report and the legislation will lead to the judges getting this raise,' Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said as she laid out the conference committee report. 'I don't think I've ever worked so hard on a bill that wasn't mine,' Sen. Menéndez said, acknowledging the difficulty of the negotiations that started after his point of order, then stretched into the final day of the session. 'We went over and met with our House colleagues, and all 10 of us signed the conference committee report, because every person in the state of Texas recognizes that our judiciary and our judges needed a much needed raise so we can continue to attract competent persons to our judiciary,' he said. Senators did not discuss specifics of the agreement on the floor. In the House, Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas asked Rep. Leach to give further details. 'The bill raises the judicial base pay, salary, 25% to $175,000 along with that, the legislative retirement is linked, at least initially, to that $175,000,' Leach explained. He said going forward, the Texas Ethics Commission will decide how much legislative retirement pay should rise. 'We are requiring the Texas Ethics Commission every five years to adjust the legislative class retirement accordingly, taking into account various factors. Of those factors they're allowed to consider all statewide elected official judges from all branches of government, judicial, legislative and executive,' Leach said, responding to Anchia's question. Leach said the changes allow the legislature to increase judicial pay, and in the future do so without worrying about it affecting the pensions of lawmakers. 'That's, I think, the real big win in this bill,' he concluded. The measure passed 114-26. The legislation now goes to Governor Abbott for approval. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
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Texas ‘Parent's Bill of Rights' targets LGBTQ+ clubs, DEI programs in schools
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — On Saturday night, the Texas Legislature sent Senate Bill 12 — unofficially titled the Parent's Bill of Rights — to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. If signed, the bill would ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts from the Texas public schools, including banning DEI student groups. When the Texas House first heard SB 12 on May 24, the bill's sponsor State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney, added what's commonly-known as a 'perfecting amendment.' The term is typically used for amendments the bill's author puts forward at the beginning of the floor debate to address any late concerns they have with the bill. Like most perfecting amendments, Leach's passed overwhelmingly with only two votes against. Leach said his amendment was to clarify language after a similar bill in Florida led to a lawsuit. Both sides reached a settlement, which reinstated the rights of teachers to talk about LGBTQ+ issues in the classroom and protected LGBTQ+ student organizations. ''Classroom instruction' means the provision of information as part of a curriculum by a teacher, or other person designated by a school district to serve in the role of a teacher, in an academic instructional setting,' the amendment says. 'The term does not include… the sponsorship of or participation in a club or other extracurricular activity.' However, the language defining classroom instruction was removed from the bill during conference committee — a process where five members of each chamber meet to hash out the differences between their versions of a passed bill. 'Does this bill, or does it not, now have language to explicitly deny students from being able to organize Gay-Straight Alliance clubs?,' State Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Hays County, asked Leach. Zwiener is openly bisexual. 'Our bill does put a ban in that would prevent a — let's say a fourth grader or an eighth grader from joining a club that is sexual in nature,' Leach responded. 'I'm sorry Representative Leach, are you saying the fact that sexual orientation exists is more sexual than straight people existing?' Zwiener responded. 'If a student is struggling with their sexuality or their identity and they want to talk to their friends at school about it or talk to a teacher or talk to a counselor, that's fine if they have the parent's consent,' Leach said. 'But we do not need to have school-sponsored and school-sanctioned sex clubs, period.' 'I don't know what you all think happens in [LGBTQ+ student organizations], but for them to be described as sex clubs is astonishing to me,' State. Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, said. 'It equates a child's orientation or identity with sex. Let me tell you, these clubs are no more about sex that 4-H or ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) or the basketball team.' 'Would you call a homecoming king and a homecoming queen a heterosexual couple? Would you call that a sex act? No. What about a prom king and a prom queen? No. So why is it that when there are gay kids that get together to form a club that's called a sex club,' State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, rhetorically asked Anchía. 'Because it's a freaking double standard,' Anchía replied. 'And the fact that grown-ass people on this House floor will say (LGBTQ+ organizations are sex clubs) is a problem, and that's not okay.' When Leach got the chance to respond, he apologized for his characterization. 'Especially to you Representative Anchía,' Leach said. 'I misspoke and I apologize for that word blunder.' On social media, Zwiener pointed out that Leach personally apologized to Anchía, a straight man, and not her. 'The tone on the House Floor has gotten more and more callous this session. Texas deserves better. Texas kids deserve better,' she said in a following post. 'Instead of a bunch of overgrown frat boys looking to score a point on the microphone, we should be able to have robust debates on the House Floor.' In addition to banning student clubs based around sexual orientation, the final version of SB 12 removes a House protection to ban targeted recruitment to encourage a diverse applicant pool, includes a House provision banning public schools from helping with social transitioning and allows parents to inspect what library books their children have signed out. 'SB 12 imposes a 'Don't Say LGBTQIA+' rule that mimics Florida's widely criticized law. It also requires school districts to adopt policies that could 'out' transgender students to unsupportive parents or guardians, putting them at risk of abuse or homelessness,' Ash Hall with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, said. 'Our students and educators deserve so much better.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Long-awaited raise for Texas judges in limbo over legislative pension clash
Long-awaited pay raises for Texas judges are stuck in a legislative limbo as the clock winds down and lawmakers battle over the future of their own retirement plans. Senate Bill 293 would give judges their first raise in over a decade, increasing base pay 25% to $175,000 a year from $140,000, addressing what both chambers and parties have deemed an emergency in the state. But now they are at odds over a change the House made to the bill that would keep lawmakers' retirement plans flat, while the Senate wants to see their pensions increase alongside judicial pay. Despite several hurried meetings Saturday among representatives and senators involved in this issue, they did not put forward a report harmonizing the disagreement by the midnight deadline, narrowing the chances that raises are approved before the session ends Monday. While lawmakers earn just $7,200 a year for their part-time legislative service, those who serve more than eight years are eligible for a pension when they turn 60 (or when they turn 50 if they've served 12 years.) Rather than basing that payout on their meager legislative salary, it's tied to the base salary for a district judge, a benefit that allows some of the longest-standing lawmakers to earn annual retirement payments of $140,000 a year. The House amendment said these pensions would remain tied to the current judicial salary of $140,000, rather than increasing their retirement benefits alongside judicial pay. 'I do not believe, speaking for me, that this is the right way to consider increases to our legislative retirement,' said bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican. The Senate disagreed. On Friday night, less than 72 hours before the end of an unusually smooth legislative session, Sen. José Menéndez, a San Antonio Democrat, called a point of order, saying the legislative pension amendment was not germane to the bill and should be removed. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick upheld Menéndez's challenge, a shocking procedural development for the upper chamber. While bills sometimes fall victim to a point of order in the House, senators rarely bring these procedural challenges. When the House gaveled in on Saturday afternoon, it became clear members had no intention of backing down on their amendment as the Senate had requested. House Speaker Dustin Burrows said under House rules they were 'not authorized' to remove just one amendment, and there is 'certainly no rule or precedent' that allows the Senate to amend House amendments. 'To your knowledge has anything like this ever been done before?,' Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat asked. 'Not to my knowledge, no,' Burrows responded, noting that the traditional way these sorts of disputes are resolved is in conference committee, where a group of members from both chambers negotiate the final disagreements over a bill. Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, a Democrat from Austin, told The Texas Tribune on Saturday that the senators felt Leach and bill author Sen. Joan Huffman had agreed to the decoupling without the full support and knowledge of the chambers. She said they 'have to get to a yes' on this, but she is 'pro-public servant' and wants public officials to be appropriately compensated. Lawmakers often try to plan their legislative tenure based on these pension timelines — eight years of service gets you vested in the retirement system, and they earn more each additional year they serve. Some are worried that removing the judicial pay connection will make it harder to argue for an increase to the pension program going forward. Meanwhile, judges are panicking about their pay raises. Judges earn less in Texas than almost any other state, and this 25% raise will still leave them far behind where they would be in the private sector. 'Most law students … going into the first year at a law firm are making more than the starting salary of our judges,' Leach said Saturday. There are still paths to pay raises for judges, but it would likely require the Senate adopting the House version, or both chambers suspending the rules, which takes a three-fifths vote in the Senate and a two-thirds vote in the House Lawmakers said they've been deluged with calls from judges urging them to resolve this snag, with some judges telling them they'd only stayed on the bench because of the promise of raises on the horizon. On Saturday, Supreme Court of Texas Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock sent a letter to all lawmakers, proposing amended language that kicks the can to next session. 'At this critical juncture, if either legislative chamber insists on its favored solution to the legislator-pension question, I fear we will end the session without any increase in judicial pay,' Blacklock wrote. 'If that happens, it is not the judges themselves but our Texas justice system — which should be the envy of the world — that will suffer most, along with the thousands of Texans who seek justice in our courts every day.' First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘Classrooms into closets': LGBTQ student club ban clears Texas Legislature
Texas Legislation billed as empowering parents will harm LGBTQ public school students, Democratic lawmakers said during a May 31 debate. The wide-ranging education bill, Senate Bill 12, cleared its final hurdles before heading to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk, after the latest version of legislation, crafted in a conference committee of House and Senate members, advanced from both chambers on Saturday. 'SB 12 isn't about protecting children or parental rights,' said Rep. Jessica González, a Dallas Democrat who serves as vice-chair of the Texas House LGBTQ+ Caucus. 'It's about silencing them. It's about erasing families, banning truth and turning our classrooms into closets.' Democrats called particular attention to a portion of the bill banning LGBTQ clubs at public schools. The bill, called the 'Texas Parent Bill of Rights' by supporters, says student clubs cannot be 'based on sexual orientation or gender identity.' Public schools also cannot provide instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, the bill says. The measure sparked a tense exchange between Rep. Erin Zwiener, a Driftwood Democrat, and the bill's House sponsor Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican. Zwiener asked whether the bill bars students from organizing gay-straight alliance clubs. During the back and forth, Leach said the bill will not allow 'gay clubs' or 'straight clubs' in schools. 'We shouldn't be sexualizing our kids in public schools, period,' Leach said. 'And we shouldn't have clubs based on sex. I believe that, and that's what the bill does.' That doesn't mean students have to hide who they are or that he believes in bullying or discrimination, Leach said. 'If a student is struggling with their sexuality or their identity, and they want to talk to their friends at school about it, or talk to a teacher or talk to a counselor, that's fine, if they have the parent's consent,' Leach said. 'But we do not need to have school sponsored and school sanctioned sex clubs. Period.' 'Wow,' Zwiener said. These clubs are the place where LGBTQ students feel safe and can build a social network where they're not bullied, Zwiener said, sharing that she came out to one friend when she was 16 and didn't tell anyone else for a decade. There's been a generational change since then, and teenagers who are LGBTQ are feeling safe enough to come out, in a way that didn't exist when she and Leach were in school, Zwiener said. Leach countered that schools were not 'hyper-sexualized' the the way they seem to be moving today. Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat, called the bill 'bad policy.' Clubs for LGBTQ students are no more about sex than the 4-H club, ROTC or the basketball team, Anchia said. Anchia said his daughter served as the vice president of her school's Pride club. 'They'd get together, and they'd watch movies,' he said. 'They'd color. They'd go to musicals. It was about a kid who felt weird who found her people.' Leach later apologized for remarks offending anyone or being taken in a way that wasn't intended. Leach said he misspoke. 'I apologize for that word blunder,' Leach said. Leach said he believes strongly in the bill. Parents should have a 'seat at the head of the table,' when it comes to their child's education, he said. His daughter is in a club called PALS, which stands for peer assisted leadership, Leach said. There's an array of students who are struggling with issues teenagers face, and who think and believe different things, he said. Leach's daughter has learned 'not to separate yourself with people that you agree with,' but to learn how to reason with each other and be respectful and kind, Leach said. 'Those clubs are the clubs that we should be promoting, and those are the clubs that this bill protects,' Leach said. 'And I would hope that a student would feel eager to join those clubs. Feel eager to be free to express themselves and wrestle with the things they wrestle with, and to do life with their fellow students.' Among its various measures, the legislation outlines a ban on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives in public schools. It says school districts cannot assist with 'social transitioning,' banning the use of 'a different name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender that deny or encourage a denial of the person's biological sex at birth.' The bill also requires school boards to let parents submit comments electronically and adopt a policy for grievances. It says a school district cannot withhold information about a child from parents, and outlines parents' right to information about their child's health, including mental health. Districts must give parents information about their rights when they first enroll their child in a district, among other required notices. Near the start of the legislation is a prohibition on the 'infringement of parental rights.' It reads: 'The fundamental rights granted to parents by their Creator and upheld by the United States Constitution, the Texas Constitution and the laws of this state, including the right to direct the moral and religious training of the parent's child, make decisions concerning the child's education, and consent to medical, psychiatric, and psychological treatment of the parent's child ... may not be infringed on by any public elementary school or secondary school or state governmental entity' unless the infringement is to 'further compelling state interest, such as providing life saving care to a child' and is 'narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means to achieve that compelling state interest.' This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Down to the wire: Key highlights from Texas' legislative session with one week to go
On the last day for the Texas House to consider bills sent over from the Senate, the mood in the lower chamber for much of Tuesday was anything but frantic. In fact, the more accurate description might be methodical as the 2025 legislative session enters its final week ahead of final adjournment June 2. Most of the early action was routine, such as recognizing selected Texans for good works and recent achievements and giving something akin to putting the final stamp of approval for legislation that was voted on the day before. Tuesday was not a major deadline day in the Senate. Here's a look at some of the highlights of the day in the Capitol. A bill with potential to tie up the House with a protracted debate was killed on a procedural point. At issue was Senate Bill 552, which would have made "illegal aliens" ineligible to be sentenced to deferred adjudication for criminal offenses. The bill, authored by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston and sponsored by Republican Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano, was unacceptable to House Democrats who are outnumbered in the chamber. Without the votes needed to defeat the bill, Democratic Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio pointed out that the legislation's official description — called the "caption" in legislative parlance — gave no notice that its provisions applied only to people who had entered the United States without legal authorization. Because House rules state that members must be able to gain an at-a-glance understanding of the subject matter of any bill, House leadership ruled that SB 552 was ineligible for consideration. Part of a signature Republican effort to toughen Texas' bail laws fell just short of passing the Texas Legislature on Tuesday. Lawmakers have already approved several bail reform provisions, including a proposed constitutional amendment which, if approved by voters, would give judges greater discretion to deny bail to defendants charged with certain violent offenses. But another proposed constitutional amendment – Senate Joint Resolution 87 by Huffman – died lacking just three votes, 97-40, as it failed to reach the two-thirds margin of lawmakers required to pass it on to voters. SJR 87 would have required judges to automatically deny bail to suspects accused of nine specific serious crimes — including murder, capital murder, aggravated sexual assault and human trafficking — if the person has been convicted of or is out on bond for one of those offenses. Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, wrote on social media after the vote that he expects a call for legislative overtime if the resolution is not reconsidered before a looming Wednesday deadline. 'I have no doubt that we will be called into a special session if this is not passed,' he wrote in a post on X. 'We will ask for it to be reconsidered and will not stop until it passes.' The median age of Texas homebuyers is 49 years old, according to a 2024 Texas REALTORS report, and state lawmakers are hoping to remove barriers to homeownership. Senate Bill 15, which the Texas House preliminarily approved Tuesday, would overrule local government ordinances to allow smaller homes on smaller lot sizes. Large cities would be barred from requiring lot sizes to be larger than 1,400 square feet, wider than 20 feet, or deeper than 60 feet. They would also be forbidden from density caps below 31 units per acre. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the three-term Republican who presides over the Senate, designated the measure a priority this session. SB 15, authored by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, passed the upper chamber by a 29-2 vote in March. 'This bill cuts red tape and lets the market do its job,' Bettencourt said in a March 24 news release. 'Local regulations and permitting issues are choking our housing supply and making it impossible for our communities to meet current and future demand.' Some Democratic House members, however, argued the bill inappropriately infringed on the authority of local governments. One was Rep. Ramon Romero of Fort Worth, who said some high-density developments in his hometown are costly and difficult for police to secure. 'I think it's really important that we think for a moment about what we do up here at the Capitol and how much local control we take away from the local electeds,' Romero said. 'It's important for us to allow these local officials to decide what these lot sizes are.' The House voted in favor of the bill 87-48 Tuesday, advancing it to a final vote Wednesday. May 27 is just not a good date for Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Texas House. On Tuesday, which was May 27, Paxton sauntered onto the House floor during the floor session, as statewide elected officials sometimes do. Plus, he is a former member of House, and sometimes former members are allowed on the floor while the chamber is conducting business. However, while the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state have automatic House floor privileges, the attorney general and the others do not. Therefore, Paxton was escorted out of the chamber by the sergeant at arms. More: Dan Patrick blasts 'wasted taxpayer funds' for Ken Paxton impeachment. Here's the cost. The kerfuffle came two years to the day of another unpleasant day in the House for Paxton. On May 27, 2023, the House overwhelmingly voted to impeach him on 20 charges, including abuse of office and bribery. The Senate later acquitted him. Sometimes victory looks like a loss and sometimes a loss looks like a win. Case in point: A bill that would offer some student loan forgiveness for people who become mental health counselors appeared doomed after some members suggested it was a backdoor for subsidizing counselors who might recommend controversial measures such as gender-affirming care. Supporters called such arguments distractions, saying the goal is to make sure Texas can improve mental health care across the board. More: Bringing down the hammer: Where the Texas Legislature's gavels are made When the vote was called, the opponents had 68 votes while supporters only had 64. As often happens with close votes, the House did what's called a "verification," which means everyone sits at his or her own desk and verifies that the vote they cast was actually reflected on the big tally boards at the head of the chamber. On this occasion, the bill's supporters ended up with 70 votes, and the opponents tallied 63. The measure is now on its way to the governor's desk. Why the discrepancy in the vote counts? The standard answer is that some voting machines "malfunctioned." The right answer is, representatives are often scattered throughout the chamber lobbying their colleagues on unrelated matters or simply taking a break, trusting their neighbors to press their voting buttons for them. Rep. Brian Harrison, a conservative Midlothian Republican who often bucks his party's leadership, used the opportunity to pull back the veil on the long-accepted practice known as "ghost voting." Harris — sort of tongue in cheek, sort of seriously — asked why House business wasn't immediately halted so a maintenance crew could be brought in to debug all of the malfunctioning machines. Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that will require mobile phone app stores to verify the ages of users, despite a phone call from the CEO of one of the world's largest companies urging the governor to veto the legislation. Having secured the governor's blessing, Senate Bill 2420 by Republican Sen. Angela Paxton of McKinney will take effect in January. It will require operators of mobile phone app marketplaces, like Apple and Google, to limit access of app downloads to minors without parental consent. Tech companies will be required to use an industry-standard method to verify users' ages, which supporters say will protect kids from harmful content online. While the proposal has support from some industry giants, like social media companies Meta and X, iPhone manufacturer Apple has pushed back against the proposal. The company's chief executive, Tim Cook, personally called Abbott to urge him to veto the bill, the Wall Street Journal reported. Abbott signed it anyway. App store operators have argued that the bill would place onerous requirements on virtual storefronts while sparing developers. Others have shared concerns about privacy, as users would likely be required to provide personal information to prove their age. The signing comes as the Legislature contemplates other internet age-gating bills, like one that would bar minors from holding accounts on social media platforms. Incoming freshman and undergraduate transfer students of institutions of higher education would have to attend an "orientation on the institution's sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking policy before or during the first semester or term in which the student is enrolled at the institution" under Senate Bill 500, which the House approved Tuesday. The House added amendments to the bill aimed at preventing suicide, reporting sex crimes and finding support organizations. The Senate will have to review those changes before the bill can advance to the governor's desk. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Key highlights from Texas' legislative session with one week to go
