Last day of texas legislative session full#

The Home Food Security (HB 92) and the Fair Taxes for Small Farmers (HB 3857) bills both passed the House with strong bipartisan support, and both were sent to the Senate Local Government Committee, chaired by Senator Bettencourt. Our other four bills made it through the House, only to die in the Senate. HOME FOOD SECURITY, FAIR TAXES, TDA and UNGRADED EGGS We had the votes to pass it - it was a victim of unrelated power fights. Due to the fights between the House and Senate leadership, and between the Democrats and the Republicans, the voting moved at a snail’s pace that final day and the clock ran out eight bills before they would have reached SB 829.

Last day of texas legislative session full#

But it only made it to the calendar for a vote by the full House on the last day possible. It was unanimously approved by the Senate and then by the House Public Health Committee. The Cottage Foods bill expansion came within a whisker of passing. Our combination of grassroots power building, perseverance, and strategic relationships has now led to the passage of 13 bills in the Texas Legislature to help small farmers! More on our other bills: It often takes multiple sessions to pass a bill, and many grassroots organizations go years without passing any bill.

As with every session, it is infuriating seeing common-sense bills die that would have helped small farmers be better able to provide food for our local communities. Unfortunately, power is still concentrated in too few hands at the Capitol, and entrenched Agribusiness lobbyists are always exerting influence, which resulted in most of our bills dying after passing one chamber. We had in-depth meetings with dozens of key offices, both our champions and our opponents, developing strategies and countering opposition.All 6 of our bills were approved by one chamber (House or Senate).Farmers and consumers – regular people just like you - visited 178 legislative offices during grassroots Lobby Days.Farmers and ranchers from all over the state – from the Panhandle to the Valley – testified at committee hearings.

Our bills garnered dozens, sometimes hundreds, of written comments submitted to House Committees (where most other bills got two or three).This session, we continued to grow the reputation and impact of small farmers & regenerative agriculture in Texas: While the big goal is always to pass the bills, the mark of success in a legislative session is measured by more than just that. Then we will work with government agencies to set up the new policies while also educating livestock producers across the state about the new opportunities so that everyone can benefit.

Governor Abbott has until Sunday, June 18, to sign, veto, or allow our meat processing reform bill to become law without taking action. This will make local meat more affordable and available for many people! The bill allows small farmers to sell any size “share” in a live animal to consumers and then use a custom-exempt slaughterhouse for processing. It was by all measures a political bloodbath.īut the good news is that we succeeded in winning a major reform for small-scale meat processing! SB 691 will benefit small livestock farmers, and consumers who want to buy meat directly from farmers. Less than 15% of the bills filed made it to the Governor’s desk. While the Texas Legislature has already been called back into special session, the regular session is over, leaving us to assess the impacts. Texas Legislative Session Report – June 6, 2023