Charles,Charles L. Cotton wrote:That may be the case legislature-wide, but not for our gun bills. I don't know what percentage of our bills are pre-filed, but it's not large. Recent high-profile bills we passed there were not pre-filed include:Richard_B wrote:History has shown that any bill not prefiled stands a much lesser chance of passage.Charles L. Cotton wrote:Yes, a 3rd Senator is looking at it and may file soon. If she doesn't do it very soon, it likely won't get the traction necessary to pass. Time isn't up until March 3rd, but that's way too late.TrueFlog wrote:Has there been any news on this matter? Hopefully the new Senator has been more receptive.Charles L. Cotton wrote:Only a small update. I/we gave up on the first Senator and it is now being considered by a Houston area Senator.artx wrote:Any updates? There sure seems to be a lot of buzz on open carry....but I know many folks who are 200 times more interested in this process.
Chas.
Chas.
SB766 - Range Protection bill - filed 2/17/11
SB378 - "Castle Doctrine" filed 1/31/07
HB1815 - Motorist Protection Act - Filed 2/22/07
SB501 - Prohibiting government use of TPC §30.06 - filed 2/14/03
HB2909 - Established TPC §30.06 (among other things) - filed 3/13/97
Chas.
I won't get into a "is too" -- "is not" exchange with you, but it is not a "good thing" when a bill is not prefiled.
It is difficult enough to get a bill through the maze of obstacles in the legislative process...as an aside, some of them should have been eliminated many decades ago, such as the requirement for a 2/3rds vote to get a bill out of committee. When a bill is not profiled, it frequently is an indication of uncertainty of its support or issues related to organizations supporting it either involving communication with the hoped for author or other problems.
Speaker Strauss allowed at least one bill to die in committee in the immediate past session during the waning days of the legislative session when he could have moved it along had he wished to do so which is always a problem. Bills need to "hit the ground running" and make their way through the process as expeditiously as possible to stand much chance of passage.
And then there is the matter of leadership by the Governor and Lt. Governor. Gov Perry recently said that Texans should be able to carry anywhere, but where is his support now that it is time to actually do something about it?
I don't doubt the list of bills you cite as successful efforts despite their not having been profiled, but why weren't they profiled? With the legislature meeting every two years, it is not exactly a surprise when it comes into session, though what happens when it is in session may frequently be a surprise, but that's another story.
Failure to have a bill prefiled is not a death knell, but the bottom line is that it is worthwhile to have bills profiled.
Cheers