AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A unique committee shaped after ultimate yr’s faculty capturing at Robb Elementary in Uvalde met Monday to imagine 17 expenses aimed toward improving faculty protection.
The House Select Committee on Youth Health and Safety held its listening to simply hours after any other mass faculty capturing left 3 youngsters and 3 adults useless in Nashville, Tennessee.
House Bill 3 is the legislature’s sweeping faculty protection invoice and was once on the most sensible of the committee’s time table. It is authored by way of State Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, who additionally chaired the House’s investigation into the Robb Elementary faculty capturing.
HB 3 calls for Texas schools to meet enhanced safety requirements for his or her bodily infrastructure and mandates faculty districts position no less than one armed safety officer at each campus. It additionally calls for districts to put in force a “multihazard emergency operations plan” and carry out intruder detection audits yearly.
Under that invoice, faculty districts would obtain no less than $10 in step with pupil in reasonable day-to-day attendance and $15,000 in step with campus yearly to fund infrastructure improvements, acquire safety cameras, rent safety officials, supply psychological well being products and services, and extra. The Legislative Budget Board anticipates all the invoice’s provisions to value the state about $293 million for the following two years.
HB 13 by way of State Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, calls for each faculty district worker who interacts with scholars to entire a “mental health first aid” coaching program to find out how to acknowledge psychological well being problems that can threaten faculty protection. It additionally authorizes and price range schools to designate “school guardians,” who’re faculty workers educated to elevate a firearm on campus.
Under this invoice, each and every faculty district could be required to put in force an energetic shooter preparedness plan that gives legislation enforcement within the space the chance to stroll thru campuses and find out about their safety infrastructure.
School districts throughout Texas in large part give a boost to the sweeping new safety necessities into consideration within the legislature, however some witnesses on the listening to on faculty protection stressed out something: they want the cash to put in force them.
“There are a significant number of mandates that are placed on school districts that have a tremendous amount of cost,” former state consultant Paul Colbert testified.
West Sabine ISD, for instance, stated the prices to put in force simply bodily enhancements could be prohibitive below present ranges of state investment.
“Currently, my district has a school safety allotment of about $4,700,” West Sabine Superintendent Carnelius Gilder stated. “The average cost of just fencing alone is about $204,000.”
The requirement below HB 3 to require faculty districts to body of workers no less than one armed safety officer at each campus additionally raised requires extra state investment.
“They have to have the ability so that every school district can actually afford an officer, and without funding, they’re not going to be able to do that,” stated Chief Charles Ramirez of the Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD Police Department.
HB 3 and HB 13 have been left pending within the Texas House Select Committee on Youth Health and Safety Monday. Both have huge bipartisan give a boost to.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, has filed a sequence of expenses additionally hoping to fortify faculty protection. He hosted households of sufferers killed in Uvalde on the Texas Capitol for a sequence of weekly press meetings hard firearm restrictions.
SB 145 by way of Gutierrez would elevate the age to acquire firearms to 21. A gunman killed 19 youngsters and two lecturers in Uvalde with an assault-style rifle in a while after his 18th birthday.
Gutierrez instructed KXAN more than one Republican senators have privately expressed their openness to the ban, however none have finished so publicly. The regulation faces slender odds within the Texas Senate.
SB 737 would create a brand new arm of the Department of Public Safety referred to as the Texas School Patrol. The company would body of workers each public faculty in Texas with no less than one armed officer.
SB 738 addresses the systematic screw ups of the legislation enforcement reaction to the Robb Elementary capturing on May 24, 2022, by which loads of officials waited for 77 mins to confront the gunman inside of a lecture room. The invoice will require each and every legislation enforcement company to have useful radios and interagency mass shooter coaching after communique and chains of command broke down in Uvalde.
Bill aimed toward oversight for Texas Vet Board advances
Jodi Ware and Judy Santerre made their manner into the Texas Capitol early Monday morning, however it wasn’t their first time there.
Both girls misplaced pets to what they believed was once veterinary malpractice. Both girls declare the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (TBVME) mishandled their circumstances. For years, they have got sat in on hearings and conferences — attesting when conceivable — about ongoing issues on the state company in command of Texas animal medical doctors.
They watched as a number of, other legislative evaluations highlighted the similar problems with information control and grievance solution on the company.
“Despite my past pleas, the Board’s abject failures…worsened,” stated Ware right through her testimony to the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, & Rural Affairs on Monday.
Ware reached out to KXAN investigators in 2021 to alert them about her issues. KXAN in the end discovered dozens of disciplinary information nonetheless lacking from the company’s public web page and a backlog of proceedings, leaving puppy homeowners and veterinarians, alike, in the dead of night.
Steven Ogle, the Deputy Director of the Sunset Advisory Commission (which carried out the legislative evaluations of TBVME) described the board through the years as an “agency in crisis” and a “mess.”
Earlier this yr, Sunset advisable the legislature briefly connect TBVME to any other state company, so as to assist with information control, rulemaking and administrative duties. The advice was once filed as a invoice this legislative consultation, and if handed, would permit the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) to step in and assist for the following 4 years.
Ware and Santerre each testified in choose of this invoice, Senate Bill 1414, which was once in the end handed by way of the committee and forwarded to the total Senate for attention.
“We, the public, need good veterinarians, and we deserve a good board,” stated Ware to lawmakers.
Santerre instructed KXAN she continues to be checking TBVME’s web page for lacking information.
“They have not ever, in all these years, they have not gotten their database up and running,” she stated.
In 2022, KXAN interviewed Heather Kutyba, who waited greater than 700 days for TBVME to unravel her grievance over how a Texas veterinarian handled her horse.
At the time, Kutyba stated, “I felt that there were other people at risk because of their inaction.”
However, she testified in opposition to Senate Bill 1414 on Monday, telling KXAN she has noticed main adjustments on the company during the last six months as new management took over.
TBVME’s new Executive Director Brittany Sharkey testified to lawmakers about how her workforce has attempted to “right the ship” by way of doing extra inspections thus far this yr than the ultimate two years mixed and by way of that specialize in case solution occasions.
In addition to the new adjustments, Kutyba stated she had one more reason for urging lawmakers to say “nay.” She stated, as any person who labored within the veterinary business for years, she would love to see any person with veterinary experience, or perhaps a advisor, step in — somewhat than TDLR.
She believes “that would allow the agency to remain independent, keep its regulatory capacity and serve the public in every which way.”
Dr. Jodi Long, a working towards veterinarian and the president of Texas Veterinary Medical Association, additionally had issues about TDLR having veto energy over board choices relating to clinical experience.
“Administratively, they are great at what they do,” Long stated. “TDLR doesn’t have the expertise, education and opportunity to be experts in veterinary medicine, but we do need that still.”
Long stated the ones have been conversations she and her affiliation would proceed to have with lawmakers as a result of they acknowledge oversight for the board is vital.
“The board needs to be functional,” she stated.
Long additionally testified on a 2nd invoice, Senate Bill 1523, that might permit TBVME to brush aside meritless proceedings. She pointed to different businesses who’ve equivalent processes for comparing proceedings and famous that this could assist the board higher serve as.
KXAN’s authentic investigation and the Sunset evaluations documented a backlog of proceedings and circumstances, pending at TBVME.
“Having those frivolous cases that come through just take up very finite resources that the board has. We want the board to be able to concentrate on those cases that truly need intervention,” she defined.
But Ware and Santerre each concern that given the company’s historical past this is able to permit critical circumstances to fall in the course of the cracks.
“To give them supervision is a great thing, but if you take away a lot of what they are supposed to do before you do that, it seems to be pointless,” Santerre stated.
SB 1523 handed thru committee and can advance to the total Senate for attention. Additionally, there are two House significant other expenses equivalent to the Senate expenses.
‘You should be fired,’ Texas Senators press Homeland Security Secretary on border coverage
On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confronted difficult questions about Capitol Hill over border coverage. Some of maximum heated exchanges on the Senate Judiciary Committee listening to got here from Texas Republicans, who referred to as at the secretary to renounce.
“You should be fired,” stated Sen. John Cornyn to Mayorkas on the listening to. “But you haven’t been fired because you were carrying out the policies of the Biden administration.”
The alternate was once a part of ongoing complaint from Republicans who blame the Biden Administration for the inflow of migrants and fentanyl on the southern border.
Sen. Ted Cruz fired a sequence of questions at Mayorkas, regularly reducing him off as he attempted to resolution. Cruz ended by way of blaming Mayorkas for crimes dedicated in opposition to migrant youngsters.
“Your behavior is disgraceful. The deaths, the children assaulted, the children raped, they are at your feet,” Cruz stated on the listening to. “If you had integrity, you would resign.”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, gave Secretary Mayorkas an opportunity to reply to Cruz. He refused to achieve this.
“What the senator said was revolting. I am not going to address it,” Mayorkas stated.
“Your refusal to do your job is revolting,” Cruz fired again.
At a House listening to Wednesday, Mayorkas defended the management, pronouncing the President’s proposed finances contains essential assets wanted to save you unlawful border crossings.
“We are very focused on filling the positions of the Border Patrol,” he stated.
However, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, says that received’t be sufficient.
“The (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) chief says you need 22,000 agents total to counter the crisis,” she stated. “That’s a total of 3,000 more agents. This request only provides for 350 more.”
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, stated each buck Congress approves wishes to be maximized.
“I just want to make sure that we put the focus and the money’s for we need to look at and look at, you know, not 14th-century solutions, but 21st-century solutions,” he stated.
‘Major problem’: Lawmaker’s invoice would finish paper tags
A years-long series of KXAN investigations into paper license plate fraud helps pressure trade on the Texas Capitol, in accordance to a state lawmaker who desires to get rid of the state’s paper tag gadget.
“The more we dove into it, and the more we saw stories, like what you do,” stated State Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth. “We realized what a major problem it is.”
In February 2020, an undercover sting operation at an Austin Walmart led legislation enforcement to a trove of paper tags. Investigators with the Travis County Constable’s Office Precinct 3 discovered greater than 450 phony license plates stored on a mobile phone. As KXAN previously revealed, it’s a part of a booming $200 million black marketplace with gross sales to all 50 states. The bogus tags flip cars into “ghost cars” making them just about untraceable by way of legislation enforcement.
“The only fix, in our opinion, is to get rid of paper tags altogether,” Goldman stated at his Capitol place of job.
Goldman filed two bills this session, together with House Bill 718, which might do away with paper tags in choose of best steel ones. The invoice won a listening to with the Texas House Transportation Committee on March 29.
Goldman credit KXAN’s investigations for serving to to spark his regulation. He stated news experiences helped make him conscious about the “extent” of the issue. Before the listening to, a stack of news articles have been stacked on his table, together with a number of from KXAN’s “Risky Rides” series of investigations.
“It’s a major issue,” Goldman stated.
Law enforcement packed Wednesday’s listening to in a display of give a boost to for the invoice. Among them was once Sgt. Jose Escribano, with the Travis County Constable’s Office Precinct 3. Escribano has led the statewide rate to prevent the “scourge” of tax fraud.
“Make no mistake, there is no other way out of this mess other than the total elimination of paper tags,” Escribano stated. “The Texas DMV has tried to change the appearance of the paper tag with countermeasure after countermeasure to no avail.”
“At the end of the day, this is still a piece of paper,” he stated, maintaining a brief tag. “You can dress a pig in a suit, but at the end of the day, he is still a pig.”
Tawny Solbrig additionally testified in choose of the invoice. She instructed lawmakers what she instructed KXAN in January 2022 — that her 18-year-old son, Terrin, was once killed by way of a driving force with a fraudulent paper tag.
“This is not a victimless crime. People’s lives are in danger,” she stated. “My son just turned 21 and I had to go visit him at the cemetery because the State of Texas did not take it seriously. When all these law enforcement back here told y’all y’all had had a problem, you didn’t listen. What are you going to do today? Are you going to listen? Are you going to take action?”
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles declined to touch upon any regulation. The company touted its efforts over the last yr to paintings with legislation enforcement to “prevent, detect, and investigate temporary tag fraud schemes on Texas roads.”
The TxDMV notes automotive sellers suspected of fraud are actually in a position to be in an instant bring to an end from its eTAG system and are reported to legislation enforcement for felony investigation.
“The department is not currently aware of any actions, processes, or interventions that would guarantee elimination of all possible future fraud,” TxDMV spokesperson Wendy Cook stated. “While criminals will continue to seek ways to circumvent the law, Texas has addressed the outstanding administrative concerns with the temporary tag process and will continue to prioritize the further reduction of fraud as additional solutions are identified.”
A brand new fear for legislation enforcement is the benefit with which Texas’ new security-enhanced tags may also be altered. Central Texas Deputy David Kohler stated pc instrument is getting used to regulate dates and manipulate watermarks and QR codes.
Kohler, and others, testified at a distinct listening to this month for House Bill 914, filed by way of State Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mt. Pleasant. His invoice would make transparent paper tags are “government records” when it comes to tampering. Law enforcement stated the rationalization would make this sort of fraud more uncomplicated to prosecute.
At that listening to, Kolher held up an altered paper tag that was once manipulated in different techniques with pc instrument, together with converting the expiration date to a made-up date of “Dec. 45, 2056.”
“I’ve been working on this for the last five years,” Escribano stated. “We’re still not finished with this. There’s still more work to be done.”
Escribano described the present scenario as a “tagdemic.”
Back at Goldman’s place of job, he holds up an altered brief tag despatched to him by way of legislation enforcement “within one hour” of the TxDMV freeing its new security-enhanced brief tags. It was once for a automotive that didn’t exist bought by way of “Craig Goldman Auto.”
“No, I do not own an auto dealership,” Goldman stated, guffawing. “But other than that, everything on here is real, including the QR code.”
The Texas Automobile Dealers Association, which represents 1400 dealerships, expressed issues when it comes to storing and securing steel license plates. TADA additionally desires to see “some type of remedy” within the match a broker doesn’t have a troublesome plate in inventory on the time of a sale — requesting a “safety valve.” The Texas Independent Automobile Dealers Association didn’t reply to requests for remark.
If handed, Goldman’s invoice wouldn’t take impact till March 2025, he stated — sufficient time to iron out main points.
“The amount of crime that is caused with these paper tags, the amount of criminal activity…the amount of loss of life because we allow paper tags in this state is through the roof,” stated Goldman on the listening to for his invoice, “And we didn’t know about it, until we filed the bill.”
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