SAN ANTONIO – Monday marks the halfway level of the third special session of this yr for the Texas Legislature.
Jon Taylor, a chair of the political science & geography division at UTSA, mentioned an finish isn’t in sight simply but.
“Normally, it’s like one special session,” Taylor mentioned. “It’s a little unusual to already have three and the governor potentially threatening a fourth one and maybe even a fifth one.”
But he mentioned a reason why for that is on account of the session agenda’s contentious nature. Among the subjects that Gov. Greg Abbott decided on for this special session are faculty vouchers, border safety and COVID-19 mandates.
Senate Bill 7 is a bill that might ban private employers from having mandates that require any individual to have the COVID-19 vaccine as a situation in their employment or place.
The Senate handed the bill only a week in the past, and now it waits within the House. On Thursday, a House committee held a public listening to to speak about the bill.
Juan Sepulveda, a professor of follow in political science at Trinity University, mentioned this bill has ignited an ongoing dialogue of person rights.
“It’s a classic battle about individual rights,” Sepulveda mentioned. “The majority of the Republicans are saying, ‘we don’t want people getting fired because they don’t want to take the vaccine. We don’t think you should force them to do it.’ On the other side, you’ve got the Democrats saying, ‘this a public health crisis and we have to take care of each other.’”
On Sept. 1, a regulation went into impact banning governmental entities from implementing or developing masks or vaccine mandates.
“They passed the restrictions on local government and now are talking about the private employers,” Patricia Jaramillo, an affiliate professor in political science at St. Mary’s University, mentioned. “Governor Abbott has really said that he sees this as being a very important issue.”
This comes as the town of San Antonio’s Metropolitan Health District reported a decline in COVID-19 circumstances all over the previous few weeks.
“The virus that causes COVID-19 is always changing,” a spokesperson with Metro Health mentioned in a remark. “As we approach fall and winter seasons and holiday festivities begin, Metro Health encourages the community to stay up to date with their routine vaccines.”
In Texas, each and every special session is restricted to 30 days, that means legislators have 15 extra days to compromise, cross or reject any ongoing law.
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