Texas 2009 Legislative Session. On Your Mark...

Here are a few more gems from our representatives in Austin, legislation that has already been introduced for the 2009 Legislative Session:

First a couple of bills authored by Dallas Democrat Roberto Alonzo.

1. HB 188 - Relating to the rights of children and the education of parents regarding their duties as parents.
   
   This bill would create a "Children's Bill of Rights" require that "parents are educated regarding their duties under law as the primary protectors of their children..." I have an idea for Rep. Alonzo. Why don't you worry about ways to improve the lot of your constituents (of which over 26% have a hard time with English), and leave the parenting of our children to us.


2. HB 193 - Relating to the identification information required of an applicant for a driver's license.
   
   This bill would allow illegal aliens to receive Texas drivers licenses.
   
   The Mexican Consulate in Dallas issues ID cards to illegal aliens. Under Rep. Alonzo's bill, these ID cards could be used to obtain a valid Texas drivers license. This bill actually does serve his constituents. Almost 32% of the population of Alonzo's district are non citizens of the United States. In this case, serving his constituents places a burden on the general population and further legitimises criminal activity.

There is more from Representative Alonzo, but these two bills should give you a general idea of his focus.

Next we have an oldie but goodie from Republican Representative Todd Smith of Bedford.

1. HB 169 - Relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Public Safety and certain local law enforcement agencies to establish a checkpoint on a highway or street to determine whether persons are driving while intoxicated.
   
   Representative Smith thinks it is a grand idea to allow the police to set up road block sobriety checkpoints in our cities and rural areas. Treating Texans as guilty until proven innocent is not the way to keep drunk drivers off of our roads. Sobriety checkpoints are an abuse of police authority and should continue to be forbidden in the State of Texas.

El Paso Democrat State Senator Eliot Shapleigh has a couple of ideas of his own for the good people of Texas:

1. SB 204 - Relating to a prohibition of foods containing trans fat; providing a criminal penalty.
   Yep, you read it here first. There is nothing better to do in El Paso than worry about the evil trans fat dealers. Most of the food we eat here at Casa JR is fresh and cooked in nut oils if oils are used at all. We are not big on trans fats, but if trans fats are the evil food substitute that our legislators would like for us to believe, why aren't the slip and fall lawyers making a mint off of those who manufacture and sell trans fat related products to the public?

There is more, much more. So far there have been 586 pieces of legislation introduced for the 2009 session, and many are just as frivolous as the ones mentioned above. A majority of these bills will be allowed to die in committee and more will be scraped on the House and Senate floors, but a few will get through. It is up to us to help determine which ones make it, and which ones do not.

Current firearm and CHL related bills are:

HB 47 - Relating to the procedures for registering to vote and accepting a voter at a polling place.

HB 125 - Relating to requiring a voter to present proof of identification.

HB 140 - Relating to the use or display under certain circumstances of an expired license to carry a concealed handgun.

HB 176 - Relating to the punishment for the offense of aggravated assault.

HB 267 - Relating to the interstate purchase of certain firearms.

Nothing to really get excited about yet. HB 140 allows you to continue to carry under an expired CHL while waiting for the state to issue a new license.

Thanks to Charles Cotton for saving me some time in looking these up.