The following is a list of House Bills (HB) and Senate Bills (SB) that have made it through both the House and Senate and must be signed by the Governor by June 21st to become a law. A more comprehensive list will follow when all the updates come in. As for now, here are some Bills that made it through:

HB 103- Relating to the operation of certain health benefit plans through student health centers of certain institutions of higher education.

HB 269- Relating to the awarding of course credit for military service

HB 1096-Relating to the provision of notice regarding the availability of higher education textbooks through multiple retailers.

HB 3353- Charging an Environmental Service Fee at Higher education institutes

**Updates to follow***

Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
	amended by adding Section 411.2031: […]
(b)  A license holder may carry a concealed handgun on or
about the license holder's person while the license holder is on the
campus of an institution of higher education or private or
independent institution of higher education in this state.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall prescribe procedures by which each institution of higher education shall provide to each student enrolled at the institution written notice regarding the availability of required or recommended textbooks through retailers other than university-affiliated bookstores. 

In other words, Bookstores (both on and off campus) that do not have the recommended text available will be required to inform the student of alternate locations of the book, including online retaliers.

Sound good?

The Bill is up for discussion this week, so drop a comment, and Let your representatives know what you think

Maybe a little late, but here's a repost from an email I received this morning:

Oppose SB 690
This bill would stifle public participation when the public is more excited than ever about engaging in the political process.
SB 690 would increase the number of signatures citizens would be required to gather to place a charter amendment on the local ballot in home rule cities – from 5% to 10%. 
Problem:  This bill is anti-democratic. More people than ever before are actively engaging in our democratic process in Texas at the local, state and national level.  This bill would reverse that trend and ensure that the hurdle is too high for citizens to be able to place an item on the local ballot in home rule cities. 

·      The current 5% requirement is not too low.  Many groups fail to collect enough signatures because private property owners refuse to allow petition gatherers on their property and public property managers relegate signature gatherers to parts of the property where there is no pedestrian traffic. 

·      The current system does not result in costly special elections because, if successful, the new ballot item is placed on the ballot in the next regularly scheduled election. 

·      Popular local ballot initiatives in Texas have included local anti-smoking laws and campaign finance limits.  Even when citizen-led initiatives fail at the ballot box, they benefit the public by highlighting important issues and often result in new local policies. 

It shouldn’t be more difficult to get on a local ballot than a statewide or federal ballot in Texas:

·      It only takes 500 signatures for a person in Texas to get on the ballot to run for Congress.

·      It only takes 1% of the presidential voters in Texas to get statewide ballot access for an independent candidate (about 60,000 signatures).

·      It only takes 1% of the gubernatorial voters in Texas for a new political party to get ballot access (about 45,000 signatures).

Please protect Texans’ right to participate in the democratic process.  Vote “NO” on SB 690.
              
  For more information contact: Linda Curtis, 512-535-0989




Thanks,
Mark Allen

"Notwithstanding any other law, an institution of higher education may not admit an applicant for admission to the institution....unless the applicant submits to the institution the documentation required by Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rule verifying that the applicant is authorized by law to be present in the United States."

You can read the full text Here 

In essence, this bill, Submitted by Rep. Leo Berman, calls for Texas Public Universities to refuse entry to students who cannot show proof of documentation relating to citizenship. This would mean any student who is here illegally can no longer enroll in a Texas University.

Like many, the Bill is still in its first stage. However, if approved by a 2/3 majority, the law will be effective immediately.

So upon hearing this, is this bill good for Texas Universities and/or students? What are the pros and cons? Discuss.

Also, if you would like to contact the Texas House about the issue, feel free to respectfully share your opinion with The Author Himself 

I'm sorry this is so late and long overdue, but I've been caught up with school work. If you'd like to take a look at a larger collection of pictures that I took, feel free to go to http://www.mediafire.com/hgslzr

It feels like today was a holiday! I could hardly sleep last night, and I actually felt wide awake and full of energy at 2:00am. I headed over to 7th street with a friend and made it to the front of the line at 3:00am. It was amazing to see how many people were there so early, and it was even more amazing to see everyone at the Mall. The crowds were unbelievable, and the inauguration lifted the spirits of everyone there. Every time President Obama's face showed up on the big screen, the entire Mall was filled with noise and people chanting his name. I was pretty far from the main event and had to see it on a big screen, but all cared was that I stood at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. when President Obama, the first African American President of the United States, took his oath. With crowds being in the millions, I and a friend decided to warm up in (guess where...) the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History (my third time and I still didn't get to see even half of the stuff there). I then headed to the Smithsonian's Museum of American History to view our original Star Spangled Banner (the flag which inspired the poem, which was then turned to a song) and it truly is an inspiring piece of american history (sorry, no pictures were allowed). The day ended today with the Black Tie Inaugural Gala at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. While the attendees were limited to the people in the program and didn't include any officials from Washington, it was still enjoyable because the entire museum was open after hours for us, while we were entertained by a live band.

Well, I'm finally going home tomorrow after a tiring and exciting 4 days.

See you on campus,

-Hugo

Ok everyone, the problem has been solved, and here are some of the pictures that I took on my second and third days at the conference:

  Day 2

General Colin Powell

Political Correspondents James Carville and Mary Matalin

Day 3

Dalton Ross (Editor-at-Large, Entertainment Weekly) and Frances Beinecke (President of NRDC)

Former Vice President Al Gore

The city is full of people just about every minute of the day, but in spite of the crowds and lines everywhere, there is a sense of friendship just about everywhere I go. This morning started off with two seminars. My first speaker was Dalton Ross, the Editor-at-Large of Entertainment Weekly, who spoke about the impact that the media and entertainment industry has regarding politics. The second speaker of the morning was Frances Beinecke, the President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and she spoke about the many negative impacts on the environment, such as greenhouse gas emissions, and suggested alternative energy resources. The highlight of the day was listening to the insights of former Vice President Al Gore. His speech also asked that we use alternative energy sources, and focused on the idea that preserving the environment is a worldwide effort. After returning to the hotel, I took the subway back to the Smithsonian (I could spend a week there if I had the time!) and then passed by the White House one more time for a few more pictures. Now that I'm back at the hotel, I'm going to get some rest because I'm joining some friends at 3:00am to get to the National Mall early enough to stand as close as possible to the Inauguration Ceremony. Also, I'm having some trouble uploading my pictures, but once I get some help fixing the problem, I'll upload them all.

Happy Martin Luther King Day,

-Hugo

As you might have read in yesterday's blog, my day started out at 5:15 in the morning today and it lasted until about 11:50pm. It was a great day, and I have lots to talk about, but I'm sorry to say that I'm going to have to upload the pictures tomorrow when I have more time. The Conference keeps me pretty busy in the morning and leaves us all free to explore the city in the afternoon. Here's a quick summary of what I did:

This morning, at the University of Maryland Field House, we heard a great and inspiring speech about leadership by General Colin Powell. When he finished, we were all shuttled back to our hotels and we broke out into groups to view two out of three seminars that we had chosen earlier this week. I was fortunate enough to hear prominant figures of the press from Washington express their thoughts and ideas, and to hear the humorous political insights of James Carville (a die hard Democrat) and his wife Mary Matalin (a conservative Republican). We were then free to explore the city after lunch. I, and a couple of friends, were able to make it to the Opening Inaugural Ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial, where we heard and saw (on jumbo-trons) U2 perform, and we briefly heard a speech made by upcoming President Barack Obama. There are absolutely no words that can capture the feeling that I had at that moment, and throughout the day. When the ceremony ended, we headed over to the Capital to familiarize ourselves with the Inauguration location, and we stopped by the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History before we headed back to the hotel. I then took a guided tour with a large group of attendees to visit the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial site, the Korean War Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.

Like I mentioned before, I'll post the pictures tomorrow because it'll take a while to load them up, and I need to get to bed for another early day tomorrow.

-Hugo