86th Legislature Regular Session

The Texas Legislature Online is an excellent resource to use in gaining knowledge about the current and past legislative sessions.

Here are a few bills that may peak interest.

HB63: Decriminalization of marihuana (this is how it's spelled in the bill), making possession of an ounce or less, under the right circumstances, a misdemeanor with no arrest.

HB3838: Requires mineral rights buyers to place a conspicuous statement on each page of a contract that indicates the rights are being sold, not leased.

HB1139: Prohibits criminals who have intellectual disabilities from receiving the death penalty.

SB240: The issuance of F-35 fighter jet license plates with the words "The Sound of Freedom" along with a jet image.

These bills are only a miniscule example of the business passing through our capitol chambers. This session, the Texas House of Representatives has filed 6,521 bills, the Texas Senate has filed 3,344. 1,988 bills have been passed by the house and the senate. How all that has boiled down to the over-exposed reporting on whether or not we will stay in Daylight Savings Time (HB3784) is a real head-scratcher.

If it all seems overwhelming, which it is, look on the General Reports page for an over-all breakdown of what's going on.

The frac and the furious

- Mojave 31 -

They're hitting it hard and heavy over on the Mojave lease. I can see at least five sandcastles and I can hear it just fine. The haze tells me that it's all in earnest.

The sandcastles are vertical silos filled with sand, which is used in fracking. You can read more about them on the Halliburton website.

The scaredy-cat reporter and public records

- Excerpt -

I've been trying to get back into the game of reporting, and I thought I was starting in the shallowest and easiest water to maneuver, a request for public records.

I've had trouble getting access to minute meetings, deed transfers, and certified birth certificates in the past few weeks. The birth certificates were not for reporting, that was a personal request.

The excerpt posted is a page from the Texas Appraisal Districts Director’s Manual. It states that meeting minutes are to be available to the public upon request. The first time I requested minutes from the Fisher County Appraisal District was mid-March. I was given minutes from a December meeting, but not from the most recent one, which was in February. The next week I requested the February minutes, and they were given to me. After an April 10th meeting, I requested the minutes the next day, by email. This request was unanswered. I went to the office one week later and requested the minutes, again. I was told the minutes were not available and were not usually written up until the next meeting, but they could write them up for me. I was asked when I wanted them, I said Monday. So, tomorrow I shall see.

I requested a record of transfer of deeds for March at the county clerk's office last week when I went to the appraisal office. I was told that a list could not be printed, but I could look in the records, then I was told perhaps the records were at the appraisal office. The person who I talked to seemed unsure of what records were held at that office. I was able to find all the records at Texasfile.com.

The certified birth certificates were requested from the Nolan County clerk's office. I was told that I would have to get them from the county in which each of us were born. I ordered them online from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

 It takes every ounce of my courage to go in these offices and talk to people. I may not be cut out for this business.