RESOLUTIONS BY THE HOUSE AND SENATE
Over the past several months or so I have been telling you about the new bills which have been signed in to law. As a reminder the office of the Governor determined the final outcome of certain bills which had managed to pass out of both the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate during the Regular Session of the 83rd Texas Legislature. During the twenty days following the end of a regular session, the Governor of Texas has the ability to sign bills in to law, pass them in to law without a signature or to veto them. It is during these twenty days that members of the Texas House and Texas Senate find out if the bills they worked on during the session will become law or not.
The 83rd Texas Legislature succeeded in sending a little over fourteen hundred bills to the Governor. In addition to these bills House Concurrent Resolutions (HCR) and Senate Concurrent Resolutions (SCR) were also sent to the Governor for signature. Concurrent resolutions are important because they allow for the state to officially recognize people, places, and things throughout the State of Texas, make official statements for the state, as well as outline specific ideas and concepts to be studied by the Texas Legislature in between sessions. Here are some of those Concurrent resolutions which were signed by the Governor:
• HCR 80 – Requesting the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house of representatives to create a joint interim committee to study the effects on international trade of wait times at points of entry between the United States and Mexico.
• HCR 81 – Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the agreement between the State of Texas and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• HCR 82 – Requesting the creation of a joint interim committee to study education policy as it relates to developing a skilled workforce.
• HCR 89 – Requesting the creation of a joint interim committee to study recruiting firearms and ammunition manufacturers to Texas.
• HCR 90 – Designating March 2013 as Women’s History Month.
• HCR 98 – Designating May 2013 as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Awareness Month in Texas.
• HCR 100 – Commending retired Texas Supreme Court chief justice Jack Pope for his service and congratulating him on his 100th birthday.
• HCR 104 – Encouraging school districts to adopt policies that promote the use of technology and technological devices in classrooms.
• HCR 111 – Designating April as Texas Personal Financial Literacy Month for a 10-year period beginning in 2013.
• SCR 27 – Urging Congress to reauthorize Section 5056 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 and to appropriate sufficient funds for the Rio Grande Environmental Management Program.
• SCR 28 – Designating the first Tuesday in March as Texas Assisted Living Awareness Day for a 10-year period beginning in 2013.
I was proud and honored to be the author of HCRs 82 and 89. These studies are important to not only South Texas but to the State of Texas as a whole.
I invite you to examine the complete list outlining the bills and resolutions signed, passed in to law without signature or vetoed by going to Office of the Governor Rick Perry.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.state.tx.us or at 512-463-0672.
