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Hey #Changemakers,
Monday, May 31st marked the last day of the 87th legislative session and to say it was a disastrous one would be the understatement of the year.
Texans needed our legislature to focus on meaningful improvements to our failed electric grid, after winter storm Uri caused needless deaths and suffering. We needed our legislature to focus on expanding Medicaid in a state that has the highest percentage of uninsured people - including uninsured women and children (twice the national average rate).
Instead, this particular session felt like one where lawmakers focused their energies on being as cruel as possible. They took on trans youth with hostile attempts to remove their healthcare autonomy and keep them off the sports field. They boldly and proudly passed the most aggressive abortion ban in the country, and empowered any ole’ Tom, Dick and Harry to enforce it. Making it even easier (as if that were even possible) to carry a gun in Texas was a priority, while making it even harder (again, as if it were even possible) to vote occupied an enormous amount of their time and energy.
What made the session particularly terrible, was how painfully anti-democratic it was. Taking advantage of COVID (rather than trying to help our state rebound from it), the Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker created almost insurmountable hurdles for people to speak out against their agenda of hate. Only invited speakers were allowed to testify. And I bet you can guess who was on the invitation list. No, it wasn’t you.
Despite these challenges, our #Changemakers showed up time and time again to demand that their voices be heard. From unfurling banners in the rotunda, to protesting outside the Capitol, to bombarding committees with written and recorded testimony, to incessantly tagging legislators in social media posts, Deeds’ advocates were FIERCE and a FORCE!
I’m so proud of how hard and how effectively our team worked. More than that, I am honored that Deeds was part of a collective effort of like-minded organizations and lawmakers from across the state who were relentless in their demand to be heard. Because of the unity of those efforts and the courage of lawmakers who stood up for us, some really horrible bills were blocked (like SB 29, which targeted our trans youth and SB 7, the racist voter suppression bill) and some real progress was made (like HB 133’s 6-month extension of Medicaid coverage for women who have just given birth or had a miscarriage, SB 827’s cap on out-of-pocket insulin costs, SB 45, which expanded protections against sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as an original bill filed by our Changemakers at Deeds at Rice that bans non-consensual pelvic exams).
We’ll barely have time to recover from it all, though, before lawmakers will be called back for a special session. While it’s clear that one special session will address redistricting and allocation of federal COVID relief dollars, it is also quite likely that there will be another special session called much sooner, where some of the most dangerous bills from this session could come back to life. Here at Deeds, we stand ready to join others in fighting for Texans who are counting on us. We know you’ll be there right beside us #Changemakers, just as you always are.
In Solidarity,
Amber Davis
Deeds Not Words, Executive Director
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