September is here, and so are all of the new laws for the state of Texas. 666 to be exact, hopefully that number is not a bad sign!
"These are a significant batch of laws" said UH professor Brandon Rottinghaus, "It's probably as profound a change in the politics of the state in a decade. These laws are certainly going to push the state farther to the right."
The big one of course is constitutional carry, along with the anti-abortion bill, the ban of CRT, protecting the national anthem at sporting events, and churches will not be allowed to be closed.
One big item that will surely be in the spotlight moving forward, the Governor's statewide ban of vaccine passports. "This is going to be tricky to enforce" Rottinghaus told KTRH, "This is going to become a major political issue in 2022, and this is not the end of the legislation on this."
The same goes for ERCOT, which is supposed to be fixed. Companies are required to weatherize their facilities, and the state has to set up an emergency alert system to let everyone know when outages are coming. Plus, all board members must reside in Texas. "It's not clear that it's going to solve the problem" Rottinghaus said, "But it definitely is moving in the direction to suggest that the lawmakers are concerned about this, and it's definitely going to be a political issue in 2022."
Some other notable Texas laws that are now in effect, police are now required to wear body-worn cameras. And protestors, like we saw last summer with BLM and ANTIFA, will now be charged with a felony if they choose to block emergency vehicles.
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