SB1164 Campus-Carry Voted favorably from State Affairs Cmt.

[Charles L. Cotton]

The Senate version of the campus-carry bill (SB1164) was voted favorably from the Senate State Affairs Committee tonight. The vote was 6 to 3, with Senators Duncan, Ellis and Van de Putte voting no. Chairman Duncan offered two amendments, and Senator Van de Putte offered one. I strongly suspect that Van de Putte's amendment was actually Chairman Duncan's. The Van de Putte amendment would have allowed state universities to opt-out, as private institutions can under the bill. It was pointed out that this would gut the bill and it failed, even though Chairman Duncan argued fervently in favor of the Van de Putte amendment. That amendment failed on a 5 to 4 vote.

Chairman Duncan's first "official" amendment would have authorized universities to ban handgun from residential housing, rather than just regulate their storage. It was pointed out that this would leave residents defenseless in the dorms. This amendment also failed on a 5 to 4 vote.

The third and final amendment was offered by Chairman Duncan and it delayed implementation of the bill until Sept. 1, 2010. The excuse given was to allow universities sufficient time to draft regulations for storage of handgun in residential housing. (I could do this in about 2 minutes.) This amendment passed 7 to 0, but Senator Frazier later changed his vote to no.

Now we have to get it to the Senate floor and that takes 21 votes, but only a simple majority to pass.

Chas.

[txmatt]

Can the house version pass as written? Does the fact that the senate version had this amendment added mean that it will have to be added to the HB1893 as well?

Having campus carry in September of 2010 is better than never, but this seems like an unnecessary and frustrating delay, especially considering that the vast majority of CHL holders do not live in dorms, which is the only thing that the universities could possibly have to deal with.

[Aggie_engr]

Exactly what I posted earlier. Why they couldn't have just let everyone that lives off campus go ahead and carry is beyond me. Cotton I'm sure you could, I think the delay is just out of spite because he knew it was going through and wanted to do anything he could just to slow it down, kind of like getting the last laugh.

Oh well, Sep. 2010 is better than no campus carry at all!

Edited to add: Mr. Cotton, let me know when it's for sure going into law so I can use the wave smilie, I've been itching to but I know we can't sing victory just yet...

[74novaman]

Can the house version pass as written? Does the fact that the senate version had this amendment added mean that it will have to be added to the HB1893 as well?

Having campus carry in September of 2010 is better than never, but this seems like an unnecessary and frustrating delay, especially considering that the vast majority of CHL holders do not live in dorms, which is the only thing that the universities could possibly have to deal with.

An identical version must be passed by both houses of Congress.

[Charles L. Cotton]

I don't know if HB1893 will ever get reached on the House Calendar. It's way too far down to make it by the deadline, unless the House starts moving much faster than it is now. If it doesn't pass, then SB1164 will be the only bill with a chance. The Duncan Amendment can be stripped in the House and, if passed, it will go back to the Senate. If the Senate concurs with the House changes, then it passes as it left the House. If they do not concur, then a conference committee is established with the House and Senate authors and others. They will reach an agreement, then the bill that comes out of the conference committee goes to the House and Senate for an up or down vote. It cannot be amended further.

This is far from over, so be ready to make more calls and send more faxes when the call goes out.

Thanks for your efforts thus far,
Chas.

[jlangton]

They look as if they're trying to smoke through a pile of stuff today-the chairman sounds like an auctioneer up there right now,and has a young fellow banging the gavel as fast as he can get the words out of his mouth and point to the block...
JL

[jimlongley]

They look as if they're trying to smoke through a pile of stuff today-the chairman sounds like an auctioneer up there right now,and has a young fellow banging the gavel as fast as he can get the words out of his mouth and point to the block...
JL

I will always get a kick out of watching that, the gavel is moving before the clerk even starts to call the roll.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Urgent Action Item:

I don't have time to go into detail, but everyone needs to flood the offices of Senators Duncan, Van de Putte, and Ogden with calls politely but resolutely asking for their votes to bring SB1164 to the Senate floor for debate. Senator Van de Putte is rated A- and received TSRA's endorsement, only to stab us in the back and vote against SB1164.

Everyone knows Senator Duncan also voted against us, after delaying a vote on this bill. Senator Duncan is on the Republican Platform Committee and is quite aware that the Platform calls for supporting campus-carry.

Senator Ogden offered a killer amendment to SB730 (employer parking lots) and he has been quoted in a Chronicle article (I haven't seen it) as saying SB1164 is dead, presumably meaning Senator Wentworth will not have the 21 votes necessary to get the bill to the floor. He apparently goes on to say that, if campus-carry passes, professors will live in fear. What an insult to the most law-abiding people in Texas.

These people need to be politely reminded that Texas Republicans who support candidates with their money and votes must be able to rely upon Senators and Representatives adhering to the Party's Platform. Not all issues are made planks in the Platform, so there is room to differ on those matters. But issues important enough to be included in the Platform are vitally important to voting Republicans and independents. To have a candidate run under the Republican Party banner, then vote against the wishes of Party members as expressed in the Platform is unacceptable. Some may argue that planks in platforms are often vague and that is true. But support for campus-carry is crystal clear.

Be polite, but please make the calls.

Chas.

Senator Contact Numbers

[jlangton]

Here's a link to the article that quoted Sen Ogden:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6420377.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'll be calling in a few minutes to express my concerns and dissatisfaction for the blatant disregard of the Republican voters and the platform's stance on this issue.
JL

[AggieMM]

As Senator Odgen is my Senator, I made the call just now.

Grrrrrr. Early on I emailed Senator Ogden about these two bills (730/1164). He sent me a letter stating that he was behind these bills, and even was signing up as a co-author. Man, I wish I had saved that letter, as it seems now that he is changing his mind.

Thanks Charles for the updates, please keep them coming!

Ryan

[jlangton]

Just got off of the phone with one of Sen Ogden's aides,and was IMO,basically blown off as a non-constituent that really didn't matter. She took my name and recorded that I was in support if the bill,but ran circles around my questions in quoting the article that references Sen. Ogden stating that the Bill would not have enough votes.
JL

edit:
Sen Duncan and Ogden's Office have both told me now that it's up Sen Wentworth to present the Bill to the floor,and they're dodging the questions and comments.

[ELB]

Charles -- suggest you make this a separate thread to gain more attention. I skipped over this thread several times thinking I had already read most of it, and it was about a past event, e.g. yesterday's state affairs committee, not realizing there is anew event now.

elb

[ELB]

Oh, and I made my calls. elb

[J.R.@A&M]

Called Sen. Odgen's Bryan and Capitol offices. The lady at the Bryan office said the contacts coming in were roughly even for/against. She wouldn't say whether Ogden was for/against.

[TrueFlog]

Senator Ogden offered a killer amendment to SB730 (employer parking lots) and he has been quoted in a Chronicle article (I haven't seen it) as saying SB1164 is dead, presumably meaning Senator Wentworth will not have the 21 votes necessary to get the bill to the floor. He apparently goes on to say that, if campus-carry passes, professors will live in fear. What an insult to the most law-abiding people in Texas.

In the Chronicle article, the claim that "students and faculty will live in fear" is attributed to "opponents" of campus carry, not to Senator Ogden himself. While I agree that it's insulting, there's nothing in the article to suggest that the insult came from the Senator.