The Texas Sovereignty Act (HB 796) is at a critical juncture in the Texas Legislature. This landmark bill, which has been years in the making, is now facing a behind-the-scenes effort to gut its essential provisions and replace them with watered-down language that would effectively render it meaningless.
As Texans, we’ve watched for decades as the Federal Government has exceeded its constitutional authority time and again, trampling on our rights and liberties with impunity. The Texas Sovereignty Act provides our state government with a powerful tool to evaluate the constitutionality of federal laws and directives, allowing us to push back against federal overreach that impacts the lives and freedoms of every Texan.
The Republican Party of Texas rightly declared this bill a legislative priority, recognizing its importance in preserving our state’s sovereignty. Now, when we’re closer than ever to seeing this bill become law, powerful forces in Austin are working to replace it with ineffective language that would actually make it harder to challenge unconstitutional federal actions.
This is not a time to compromise on liberty. This is not a time to accept half-measures that move us backward rather than forward. This is a time for action.
You don’t have to visit Austin to make your voice heard. You can take action right now:
- Contact Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and urge him to allow a vote on an intact HB 796 using this link.
- Contact Chair Bryan Hughes and urge him to allow a rapid committee vote on the intact bill.
- Reach out to the Senate State Affairs Committee members and urge them to vote for the intact HB 796.
- Contact House author Cecil Bell and urge him to stand firm against any gutting of his bill.
You can send one email to Senate State Affairs Chair Hughes, the Republicans on Senate State Affairs (excluding Senator Birdwell), and House Sponsor Cecil Bell using this link.
Don’t wait until Monday – you can leave messages this weekend, or set your alarm to call first thing Monday morning. And don’t forget to share this call to action on social media to amplify our collective voice.
The Texas Nationalist Movement has fought for the independence and sovereignty of Texas for nearly two decades. We’ve come too far to see this critical legislation undermined at the eleventh hour. Together, we can ensure that Texas remains a bulwark against federal tyranny.
Below is the full text of the alert from Tom Glass of Texas Constitutional Enforcement.
As we speak there is a non-transparent, behind-the-scenes-effort to gut the Texas Sovereignty Act that the Texas Constitutional Enforcement group met to draft in 2016 and on its fifth session, has passed the Texas House and had a Senate hearing.
The effort, which I am told is coming out of the Lieutenant Governor’s office, but I suspect is instigated by Senator Brian Birdwell, seeks to completely replace the comprehensive Texas Sovereignty Act with the language of SB 707 which was a bill to say that future Texas legislatures can pass resolutions to push back on “federal directives,” if passed with a majority in one chamber and two thirds of the other chamber. The only action directed by SB 707 if such a resolution passes is that state officials are prohibited from assisting the feds on that directive.
The RPT End Federal Overreach Legislative Priority Committee considered both the Texas Sovereignty Act (HB 796) and SB 707 early in the session, endorsing HB 796 and declining to endorse SB 707. The reasoning was that the legislature can already pass resolutions and legislation without SB 707, so the bill is virtually useless. Worse, the addition of the 2/3 majority of one chamber makes it even harder to push back on the feds than it is if we pass nothing.
It is this SB 707 emperor-without-clothes-bill that the Lieutenant Governor reportedly is pushing Senate sponsor Bob Hall to use to kill HB 796 and for Senate State Affairs Chair Bryan Hughes to enforce by refusing to hold a committee vote on HB 796, but only the gutted shell with SB 707 language.
In the hearing on HB 796 yesterday, Senator Brian Birdwell spent half an hour critiquing the bill, and refused to solicit any feedback on his opposition.
From my perspective, and I think, Senator Hall’s perspective, we are not opposed to Birdwell’s comments about 1) insuring that the language of the bill urges the legislative interpreters to consider the intent of all the amendments to the Constitution, 2) changing the standing committee’s quorum statement to avoid potential domination by one chamber over another, and 3) to remove the required two thirds majority for recission that had been grafted in via a committee sub. But toward the end, Birdwell’s real agenda comes out, saying that he does not support the underlying philosophy of the Texas Sovereignty Act, preferring the useless SB 707.
In the comments Senator Birdwell made in the hearing, he restated his position that Texas does not have the authority to pass a law to make it illegal to cross our border with Mexico between ports of entry, based on the same federal judicial supremacy philosophy with which he opposes HB 796. In a special session in 2023, because the rest of the Republican Senators disagreed with that, the Lieutenant Governor ended up having to move the Texas law to criminalize illegal crossing out of Chair Birdwell’s committee to get it passed, and in the end, Birdwell was the sole Republican voting against the bill.
This appears to me to be the same situation, Senator Birdwell historically has the respect of his colleagues on constitutional issues (and he has mine, as well), and I suspect he is the source of the back-room opposition to HB 796. I think that this situation needs to be exposed and that the people of Texas need a vote on an intact HB 796. I suspect that when we do, we will see that once again, Senator Birdwell is out of step with his Republican colleagues and the people of Texas in an area of vital importance to the future liberty of Texans from centralized tyranny.
The ACTIONS needed are to:
- Urge the Lieutenant Governor to allow a vote on an intact HB 796, using this link. (See below what I sent using the link.)
- Urge Chair Bryan Hughes to allow a rapid committee vote on an intact HB 796,
- Urge the Senate State Affairs Committee members to vote for an intact HB 796.
- Urge Cecil Bell, the House author to stand firm and refuse to concur with the gutting of his bill if it comes that way back to the House. Bell, should instead seek a vote of nonconcurrence in the House, so that conferees can actually get a good bill and not a destructive one passed, this session.
- Use this link to send one email to Senate State Affairs Chair Hughes, the Republicans on Senate State Affairs (including Bob Hall, but excluding Senator Birdwell, and House Sponsor Cecil Bell. (See below what I sent using the link.)
BTW, one of the pieces of evidence that the Lieutenant Governor has been swayed for now to gut HB 796 is the very fact that the Birdwell opened up for public view the half hour debate with Hall over the bill in committee. The Senate historically (urged by the Lieutenant Governor) tries to iron out such disagreements behind the scenes instead of in public. The fact that this push-back by Birdwell was allowed is a signal of Lieutenant Governor approval for Birdwell’s opposition.
I hope that we can persuade the Lieutenant Governor that like on the border last session, he should go with a proper understanding of the power of Texas under the U.S. Constitution, rather than taking the subservient role that Birdwell advocates.
Also BTW, I have been urged that I should take something, rather than nothing in this process. My own words of “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” were thrown back at me. I was also advised that if we at least pass something this session, it will be easier to come back next session to get it better.
But SB 707 is not good, and it is not progress. It moves us backward. I am unwilling to abandon the work of a decade for going the wrong direction without a fight. Part of the problem we have always faced is just getting our lawmakers and statewide elected officials to engage in thinking about and commenting and acting on these issues. To back off now robs us of the very rare chance to engage our elected officials on this. To back off now, allows our vital and valid ideas to be rejected in secret with reasoning or debate.
We have come too far to kill ourselves right before we have victory. I hope you will join me in once again, asking for what we want, and not settling for being ignored.
