Latest news with #SenateBill241
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Texas House Democrats block bill to punish cities that don't clear homeless encampments
A Republican-led bid to increase enforcement of Texas' 2021 camping ban died in the state House on Monday night after Democratic members challenged the bill on a technicality. Senate Bill 241 by Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, would have required cities to establish channels for residents to report illegal homeless encampments. If a complaint were not addressed within 90 days, the state could send the Department of Public Safety to clear encampments, then charge the city for that enforcement by withholding sales tax revenues. Flores said the bill strengthens the 2021 ban by "empowering residents to hold their cities accountable." "Every Texan deserves safe, clean communities, and this bill is an important step toward ensuring that," the senator, whose district includes San Antonio, said in a social media statement May 14. Texas' attorney general, currently Republican Ken Paxton, would have been responsible for notifying the DPS and the state comptroller about unresolved complaints. The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, argued cities aren't sufficiently enforcing the law. "The state has been the one footing the bill for the cities that have failed to address homeless camping in their jurisdiction," said Capriglione, R-Southlake. "Whether it's in my area, in Fort Worth, or in Dallas or here in Austin, everybody knows that these homeless camping restrictions have not been enforced." Austin city officials, however, disagree. The city cleared 1,500 encampments in 2024, according to David Gray, the city's Homeless Strategy Officer. "Every day, we have staff out in the community that are engaging with people on the street, offering them access to shelter and housing services, and posting 72-hour notices to clear encampments," Gray told the American-Statesman in a phone interview Tuesday. "From our perspective, the bill wasn't necessary. We're already doing the work." During floor debate of the bill, Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, argued that the state is contributing to Austin's homelessness problem by sending formerly incarcerated people into the city when their sentences end. She pointed to a state-licensed halfway house in East Austin, the Austin Transitional Center, where she said the majority of the population has no connection to Travis County. "We are blamed for our homelessness problem in Austin when it is the state of Texas who is in large part creating the problem," Hinojosa said. State Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic Caucus chair, dealt the death blow to SB 241 late Monday night. He argued its caption, "relating to prohibitions on camping in a public place," violated a House rule that requires captions to "give reasonable notice of the subject of the proposed measure." Wu said he killed the bill because it would have done nothing to alleviate the homelessness crisis, but instead punish people experiencing homelessness and municipalities such as Austin, Dallas and Houston that are trying to find compassionate solutions to the ongoing crisis. "It is a genuinely evil bill," Wu told the Statesman. Capriglione postponed the bill to June 3, an acknowledgement that there is not enough time to fix the caption issue before the 2025 legislative session adjourns on June 2. The bill had passed in a bipartisan 22-8 vote in the state Senate, with Democratic Sens. Royce West of Dallas, Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa of McAllen and Carol Alvarado of Houston joining Republicans to support the measure. Austin, the seat of state government, has struggled with how to address homeless encampments. Austin voters in 2021 reinstated the city's camping ban, which the City Council had repealed in 2019. In 2021, the political action committee behind the city's homeless camping ban sued Austin, accusing the city of failing to fully enforce the ordinance. The Third Court of Appeals affirmed in February 2025 that the group, Save Austin Now, lacked standing to bring the lawsuit. Gray said that eliminating unsheltered homelessness will take more than clearing encampments. In Austin, there is one shelter bed for every five people living on the streets, he said. "Rather than the Legislature taking up bills that make it more challenging for us to enforce, we invite them to be part of the solution," he said. "And the way that you do that is by getting people into shelter and getting people into housing programs wrapped around with case management, substance treatment and job training that they need to stabilize their lives and then thrive on their own." Statesman staff writer John C. Moritz contributed reporting. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Democrats kill bill penalizing cities over homeless encampments
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Democrats kill Texas bill to punish cities that don't clear homeless encampments
A GOP-led bid to increase enforcement of Texas' 2021 camping ban died in the state House on Monday night after Democrats challenged the bill on a technicality. The measure, Senate Bill 241 by Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, would have required cities to establish channels for residents to report illegal homeless encampments. If a complaint were not addressed within 90 days, the state could send the Department of Public Safety to clear encampments, then charge the city for that enforcement by withholding sales tax revenues. Texas' attorney general, currently Republican Ken Paxton, would be responsible for notifying the DPS and the state comptroller about unresolved complaints. "The state has been the one footing the bill for the cities that have failed to address homeless camping in their jurisdiction," House sponsor Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, said. "Whether it's in my area, in Fort Worth, or in Dallas or here in Austin, everybody knows that these camping restrictions on homeless camping restrictions have not been enforced." Rep. Gina Hinajosa, D-Austin, argued the state is contributing to Austin's homelessness problem by sending formerly incarcerated people into the city when their sentences end. She pointed to a state-licensed halfway house in East Austin, the Austin Transitional Center, where she said the majority of the population has no connection to Travis County. "We are blamed for our homelessness problem in Austin when it is the state of Texas who is in large part creating the problem," Hinojosa said. State Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic Caucus chair, dealt the death blow to SB 241 late Monday night. He argued its caption, "relating to prohibitions on camping in a public place," violated a House rule that requires captions to "give reasonable notice of the subject of the proposed measure." Wu said he killed the bill because it would have done nothing to alleviate the homeless crisis, but instead punish people experiencing homeless and municipalities such as Austin, Dallas and Houston that are trying to find compassionate solutions to the ongoing crisis. "It is a genuinely evil bill," Wu told the Statesman. Capriglione postponed the bill to June 3, an acknowledgement that there is not enough time to fix the caption issue before the 2025 legislative session adjourns on June 2. Tuesday is the last day for the House to give initial approval to Senate bills. The bill had passed in a bipartisan 22-8 vote in the state Senate, with Democratic Sens. Royce West of Dallas, Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa of McAllen and Carol Alvarado of Houston joining Republicans to support the measure. Austin, the seat of state government, has struggled with how to address homeless encampments. Austin voters in 2021 reinstated the city's camping ban, which the city council had repealed in 2019. In 2021, the political action committee behind the city's homeless camping ban sued, accusing Austin of failing to fully enforce the ordinance. The Third Court of Appeals affirmed in February 2025 that the group, Save Austin Now, lacked standing to bring the lawsuit. Statesman staff writer John C. Moritz contributed reporting. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Democrats kill effort to increase enforcement of camping ban
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas lawmaker abruptly spiked his bill to punish cities that don't deal with homeless encampments
A proposal in the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature to enhance a statewide ban on homeless encampments met a spectacular demise late Monday when the bill's sponsor effectively ended debate on the bill. After several attempts by Democrats to weaken the bill and challenge its legitimacy through other procedural tactics, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, asked for debate on the bill to end and resume on June 3, one day after the session ends. Senate Bill 241, which had already passed the state Senate, would have forced Texas cities and counties to beef up their enforcement of a statewide ban on homeless encampments. Critics had argued the legislation won't help reduce homelessness. Capriglione, who carried the proposal in the House, told The Texas Tribune he withdrew the bill to avoid a protracted procedural process that would have ultimately killed it. Capriglione, who authored the state's ban on homeless encampments, said he plans to work on similar legislation when the Texas Legislature convenes again in two years. State lawmakers have shown exasperation with visible homelessness four years after Abbott signed the state's ban on homeless encampments into law. 'Whether it's in my area, in Fort Worth, or in Dallas, or here we're in Austin, everybody knows that these camping restrictions on homeless camping restrictions have not been enforced,' Capriglione said. The number of unhoused Texans has grown in recent years as the state's housing costs have ballooned. Almost 28,000 Texans experienced homelessness last year, federal estimates show — about 8% more than before the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 12,000 people experienced unsheltered homelessness, meaning they slept outdoors, in their cars or in other places where people aren't supposed to live. The bill from state Sen. Pete Flores, a Pleasanton Republican, would require cities and counties to allow residents to make formal complaints if they suspect a violation of the camping ban. The Texas attorney general could declare that city or county a 'violating local entity' if local officials don't resolve that complaint within 90 days. The state could then step in to clear encampments and recoup the costs from that city or county's sales taxes. House lawmakers made some tweaks to the bill Monday, requiring the attorney general's office to give cities and counties a 45-day heads-up that they're at risk of becoming a 'violating local entity.' They shot down other amendments, like a Democratic proposal to make it clear that cities and counties could resolve complaints about homeless encampments by finding ways to rehouse people camping there. Texas lawmakers enacted the statewide camping ban after Austin officials in 2019 relaxed restrictions on public encampments. The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness grew in following years, and Austin voters restored the city's camping ban through a public referendum. Shortly after, state lawmakers enacted the statewide camping ban — making sleeping outside or camping on public property a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine. Austin has issued more than 1,300 citations since 2021 for violations of the camping ban and related violations, according to city data. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld bans on homeless encampments last year. Homeless service providers and advocates have long argued that ticketing people experiencing homelessness only makes it harder for them to get back on their feet. Compelling local governments to do so, some have worried, might sap resources from strategies that focus on finding new housing for people experiencing street homelessness. They say those initiatives have helped Houston and Dallas reduce unsheltered homelessness by more than 25% since before the pandemic. Texas lawmakers also advanced legislation requiring cities to give neighbors a heads-up if it wants to convert a property to house homeless people. 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
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates fear Texas lawmakers are about to worsen the state's homelessness crisis
DALLAS — As thousands of Texans sleep on the streets, Republicans in the Texas Legislature have pushed proposals that advocates worry will only worsen the state's homelessness crisis. GOP lawmakers have advanced bills to force cities to beef up their enforcement of a statewide ban on homeless encampments and prevent organizations that provide services to the homeless from setting up shop near schools. They've also pushed legislation that housing advocates fear will accelerate evictions, potentially driving up homelessness as a result. As the state's housing costs rose in recent years, so did the number of people experiencing homelessness. Nearly 28,000 Texans did not have a permanent roof over their heads last year, according to federal estimates — about an 8% increase from the year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of those, more than 12,000 were unsheltered — meaning they lived outside, in their cars or in other places not fit for human habitation. Homeless advocates say proposals that have gained traction in the Legislature so far do little if anything to address the root causes of the state's homelessness crisis — chiefly its shortage of affordable homes — and would make it harder for unhoused people to get out of homelessness. 'A lot of legislators feel like the cities aren't doing their job,' said Eric Samuels, who heads the Texas Homeless Network. 'The presumption is they're not already working to prevent and end homelessness, which is far from the case.' Chief among those proposals is a stiffening of the state's ban on homeless encampments. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the ban into law four years ago — and the U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld it last year. But homeless encampments remain visible, driving frustration among lawmakers. [The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban on homeless encampments. Here's what it means for Texas.] Senate Bill 241 — authored by state Sen. Pete Flores, a Pleasanton Republican — aims to compel localities to show stricter enforcement of the ban. Under the bill, cities and counties would have to set up a process to allow residents to file formal complaints if they suspect a violation of the camping ban. If a city or county doesn't resolve that complaint within 90 days, the state attorney general could declare it a 'violating local entity.' The state would then step in to resolve the complaint and recoup the costs of clearing encampments from that city or county's sales taxes. 'It's already against the law,' Flores said during a March committee hearing. 'They're just not enforcing it.' The bill cleared the Senate earlier this month by a 22-8 vote, largely along partisan lines, and awaits a committee hearing in the House. Much of lawmakers' ire has been directed at Austin. City leaders there relaxed restrictions on public encampments in 2019 — and an uptick in the number of people experiencing street homelessness prompted Austin voters to reinstate the city's camping ban. State lawmakers quickly followed enacting a statewide ban, which makes sleeping outside or camping on public property a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine. Since 2021, Austin has issued nearly 1,300 citations for violations of the camping ban and related violations, city data show. As encampments remain visible and the city fields hundreds of complaints a month related to homelessness, there's frustration and hunger for greater enforcement of the ban. 'The simple fact is that (the camping ban) is not being enforced in the city of Austin,' said Matt Mackowiak, who co-founded the group Save Austin Now, which put the city's camping ban on the ballot in 2021. 'Anyone that spends more than 30 minutes in Austin knows that and sees that.' Ticketing people experiencing homelessness for camping violations is counterproductive, homeless service providers and advocates have long argued. If someone can't afford to pay for housing, they likely can't afford a $500 fine. Fining them can make it more difficult to escape homelessness — especially if they don't show up for their court hearing, prompting arrest warrants and creating criminal histories that can make housing and employment nearly unobtainable. In Austin, the ban effectively forced people experiencing homelessness out of the city center, where they could more easily access necessary services and into places like neighborhoods and parks. Some major Texas cities have reduced the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in recent years. Officials in Houston and Dallas have focused reduction efforts on quickly finding new housing for people living in encampments and other places that aren't suitable for living while connecting them with support services. Those cities saw street homelessness fall by more than 25% from 2019 to 2024, federal figures show. Under that strategy, ticketing people experiencing homelessness is often unnecessary, said Sarah Kahn, CEO of Housing Forward, the lead agency in charge of tackling homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties. That's because they've either been connected to services or law enforcement authorities have made it clear that camping at those sites will no longer be tolerated, she said. Homeless advocates also worry that a proposal billed as cracking down on squatters will result in more people experiencing homelessness. Senate Bill 38 would speed up the eviction process and reduce legal protections for the state's 4.2 million renter households, tenants' advocates have said. Those facing eviction face a higher risk of becoming homeless, researchers have found. Homeless service providers worry the bill would accelerate evictions and lead to higher levels of homelessness. 'The more people that we evict, the more people who are going to fall into homelessness,' Samuels said. 'It's that simple.' Landlord groups like the Texas Apartment Association have pushed the bill to deal with what they've said is an uptick in encounters with squatters — and difficulty under existing law getting them to vacate their property. The bill's opponents argue that squatting cases are rare and don't necessitate relaxing tenant protections against eviction. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican who authored the bill, dismissed concerns that the legislation could spur an increase in homelessness. 'The only way to get rid of [squatters] is to speed up the eviction process,' Bettencourt said in an interview. Senators approved the bill, 21-8, in April, and it awaits a committee hearing in the House. Meanwhile, bills that advocates say could help people escape homelessness have yet to hit the floor in either chamber — like a proposal to help people experiencing homelessness regain crucial personal identification documents such as birth certificates and driver's licenses. A bill by state Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, would require the state's six largest counties to set up crisis service centers to provide mental health services for people experiencing homelessness. About 22% of homeless Texans suffer from a severe mental illness, federal data shows. Parker's bill, which has been left pending in committee, would help address a population whose needs are often difficult — if not impossible — to meet, Kahn said. 'We all want the same thing,' Kahn said. 'We want to end street homelessness, and we want to really address public health and safety for all of our neighbors, and we have tools that can achieve that outcome.' Disclosure: Texas Apartment Association has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Human mulching legislation passes in Georgia House, heads to governor's desk
An effort to expand how you lay your loved ones to rest in Georgia passed its second floor vote, putting it on its way to the governor's office for approval. Senate Bill 241 would allow dead Georgians to be disposed of through 'organic human reduction.' In short, a dead Georgian can have their remains composted or mulched, rather than being buried or cremated. SB 241 changes regulations in the state of Georgia when it comes to how burials and funerary rites can be conducted, while setting safeguards to ensure respectful treatment of the dead. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The bill requires certain steps be taken to ensure proper identification and licensing of funeral homes and mortuaries to perform the mulching and composting process, in addition to maintaining records for unclaimed remains. Establishments that seek to undertake this service would have to receive permits to dispose of human remains or fetuses through this method, including for burial at sea. TRENDING STORIES: UGA student's smiling mugshot breaks the internet Man bitten by unruly passenger on Delta flight says he tried to help restrain him Georgia Tech student realizes his classmate is the doctor who delivered him The bill also states clearly that 'the disposition of organically reduced remains shall not constitute the offense of abandonment of a dead human body,' meaning it would not be considered illegal to leave the remains, cared for in this way, in nature. Lawmakers also set the following definitions for what organic human reduction is in Georgia: 'Organic human reduction' means the contained, accelerated conversion of dead human bodies to soil. 'Organic human reduction container' means a container in which organic human reduction occurs. 'Organic human reduction facility' means a location where organic human reduction is performed. 'Organically reduced remains' means the resulting residue of a dead human body that has undergone organic human reduction. Similar to the release of remains after cremation, crematories and other establishments that handle remains would be able to release the composted remains to an authorized person on behalf of the deceased. Those authorized to receive remains would be members of the dead's family, whether a spouse, child, parent or sibling who is 18 or older and is net of kin to the dead, or a legal guardian, personal representative or public health officer, according to SB 241. Along with the new regulations for funeral services involving human composting, the bill also sets fines for those who violate the rules, including up to $500 for each violation. The bill also makes it illegal for those operating funeral service businesses to reward people or provide commission for the encouragement of using their services. For the indigent, the state would also be able to choose organic human reduction or cremation for burial, rather than a typical casket burial, if the family or immediate kin are also indigent or unable to provide funds for the dead's final disposition. If approved by Gov. Brian Kemp, Georgia would be the 13th state in the country to allow it. Should Kemp approve, the bill would take effect July 1. The first in the United States to allow human composting or mulching for funerals was the State of Washington, in 2019. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
