SB730 Employer Parking Lot Bill Passes Senate

[Charles L. Cotton]

SB730 passed the Senate minutes ago, with one floor amendment. The amendment was proposed by Senator Ogden to deal with private property that is leased to an oil company for oil drilling. I haven't seen it yet.

Chas.

[stroo]

Great news. One House to go.

[frazzled]

Cool. Sounds like a good amendment. Leases are private property of the leaseholders (ie farmer Bob) with mineral rights leased to the E&P developer. This protects them from worker hooligans on thier very private land.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Cool. Sounds like a good amendment. Leases are private property of the leaseholders (ie farmer Bob) with mineral rights leased to the E&P developer. This protects them from worker hooligans on thier very private land.

I need to see the amendment to see if it really does only that. But that was exactly the concern, because it was claimed that many mineral leases have a "no guns" provision so Farmer Brown doesn't have to let oil company employees on his land with guns.

Chas.

[sskimber]

Is there a place, website or such where we can look up who voted for this bill? I am interested to see if my Senator listens to the people he represents.


Thanks

[WildBill]

While it isn't time for the "animated banana" yet, this is terrific news. Thanks for the update Charles.

[will381796]

Is there a place, website or such where we can look up who voted for this bill? I am interested to see if my Senator listens to the people he represents.


Thanks

From my reading of the register, the vote was 31 yes to 0 no. http://www.journals.senate.state.tx.us/ ... DF#page=25" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[artx]

Is there a place, website or such where we can look up who voted for this bill? I am interested to see if my Senator listens to the people he represents.


Thanks

From my reading of the register, the vote was 31 yes to 0 no. http://www.journals.senate.state.tx.us/ ... DF#page=25" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That is incredible. Hopefully that bodes well for the house version. Even Senator Ellis voted for it then!? Some F ratings might be in jeopardy!

[will381796]

It's all an attempt to preempt the passage of the college carry bill by giving the public the illusion that they support CHL holders, and gun holders in general. "We support your second ammendment rights. We voted for SB730. But we think colleges should be a place of learning, not weaponry. blah blah blah."

Or maybe I'm too big of a sceptic.

[ELB]

It's all an attempt to preempt the passage of the college carry bill by giving the public the illusion that they support CHL holders, and gun holders in general. "We support your second ammendment rights. We voted for SB730. But we think colleges should be a place of learning, not weaponry. blah blah blah."

Or maybe I'm too big of a sceptic.

I guess you can find a cloud around any silver lining, but passing the Parking Lot bill, unanimously, with even an F-rated senator voting it out of committee, is NOT an "illusion" of support, it is a big win. Not complete until the House passes it of course, but unanimous support for something that is as controversial as the parking lot bill (or CHL or guns in general) is not an "illusion" of support. I am not pleased with the amendment exempting schools (what an absurdity -- the government requires private employers to allow guns in parked cars, but not government school!), but this is a big step forward.

[ELB]

BTW, did the folks opposing the parking lot bill make any arguments, either at the hearing or otherwise, based on property rights of the employer? (I am having some trouble getting the video of the hearing to play). How was that countered?

[TrueFlog]

BTW, did the folks opposing the parking lot bill make any arguments, either at the hearing or otherwise, based on property rights of the employer? (I am having some trouble getting the video of the hearing to play). How was that countered?

It was brought up briefly, but I don't remember how it was countered. For the most part, whenever the committee members made an argument, it was typically centered around the idea that "CHL'ers would make parking lots safer" and "Who's responsible for the employee's safety once he leaves the premises?"

[Charles L. Cotton]

It's all an attempt to preempt the passage of the college carry bill by giving the public the illusion that they support CHL holders, and gun holders in general. "We support your second ammendment rights. We voted for SB730. But we think colleges should be a place of learning, not weaponry. blah blah blah."

Or maybe I'm too big of a sceptic.

You are. We have very good friends in Austin and we have some fair weather friends. While campus-carry is a far more emotional subject, employer parking lots pits all the money in Texas against us. In politics, in a emotion v. money battle, money wins. A "yea" vote on SB730 carries a much greater political penalty than the same vote on campus-carry.

I'm not saying campus-carry is in the bag; it's still a very steep and rugged climb and there are more ways to kill a bill quietly and below the radar screen than one can imagine.

Chas.

[tfrazier]

By the way, the parking lot bills are starting to get a lot more media attention. I heard them mentioned on two DFW talk stations on my way in to work ("naked" until these bills convert to law, as usual). We need to continue to follow up with our representatives.

With all the media attention ramping up I'm sure any gun control activists out there who have been asleep at the wheel are going to start waking up and making their own calls. Just because it's passed the senate is no reason for us to stop for a breather.

This is where we need to go into a full sprint for the finish line and cross it at mach 1.

[Charles L. Cotton]

By the way, the parking lot bills are starting to get a lot more media attention.

We are getting a lot of media attention. Scott Braddock of KRLD radio in Dallas called me for an interview last night. He said it's a very hot topic.

Chas.