Abbott vetoed 13 bills authored by Democrats and seven by Republicans. Twelve of the vetoes targeted bills that originated in the House, and eight were from the Senate.
Gov Greg Abbott vetoes 20 bills mysanantonio.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mysanantonio.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The package of legislation, championed by House Speaker Dade Phelan, is called Smarter Justice, Safer Texas. Author: Michael McCardel, Jason Whitely Published: 9:30 AM CDT April 25, 2021 Updated: 9:30 AM CDT April 25, 2021
DALLAS Texas state representatives are collectively moving a package of bills through the House in the final weeks of the legislative session aimed at reforming the criminal justice system.
The goal, according to state Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, is to give some offenders a second chance while making sure the justice system continues to target predators across the state.
“What we re trying to do is push the needle forward to getting back to what the criminal justice system was really designed to do, which is to punish those really harmful individuals who really do not contribute to society,” Collier said on
House Republicans Reject Medicaid Expansion
Texas has the highest rate and number of uninsured people in the country, by far. Hundreds of thousands more Texans lost their coverage during the pandemic. Rural health care is in crisis across the state, with the most rural hospital closures in recent years anywhere in the county in large part because they can’t continue footing the bill for uncompensated care of uninsured people. Yet Texas lawmakers again rejected a proposal on Thursday to draw down billions in federal funds to expand insurance coverage to more than 1 million Texans.
After just a few minutes of debate on the House floor on Thursday, Republican members voted down a budget amendment from Representative Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat, to accept the federal funds available under the Affordable Care Act and create a version of Medicaid expansion modeled after plans in other conservative states.