AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Texas Senate on Monday approved several law enforcement measures, including a $25 million program to provide officers with bullet-resistant vests. It also approved designating July 7 as an annual day of remembrance for officers killed in the line of duty.
The bills were prompted by the ambush-style slayings of five Dallas officers on July 7, 2016.
The grant program would be run by the governor’s office and would provide for bullet-resistant vests for about 50,000 patrol officers statewide.
The Senate also voted to approve homestead property tax exemptions for surviving family members of first-responders killed in the line of duty, and to create the “Blue Alert System” to advise the public about suspects if police officer is wounded or killed.
Each measure now goes to the House for consideration. The homestead tax exemption would be similar to one available to survivors of military members killed in active duty, and would require an amendment to the state constitution.
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VOTER IDENTIFIATION
A Senate panel approved changes to Texas’ strict voter ID law that includes tougher penalties for people found guilty of trying to get around the rules while casting a ballot.
But the proposal cleared a first vote in the Legislature without calls to make more photo identifications acceptable. Under the current law, showing a concealed handgun license is good enough to vote, but not a college ID.
The new bill aims to bring Texas’ voter ID law into compliance with a federal court ruling last year that found the measure discriminatory. The revisions include making permanent an option allowing people without required ID to vote by signing an affidavit.
It also creates a criminal penalty of two to 10 years in prison for lying on an affidavit.
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VOTING DISTRICTS
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said federal judges got it wrong in ruling that Republicans racially gerrymandered some congressional districts to weaken the voting power of minorities.
But his office didn’t say what Texas may do next. A three-judge panel in San Antonio didn’t propose any immediate fix after concluding that the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011 drew maps with discriminatory intent.
A Paxton spokeswoman says the state is evaluating its options. Paxton says the challenge to the old maps is moot since they were redrawn by a court in 2012 and never used in an election.
The original maps were drawn the same year the Texas Legislature passed the state’s voter ID law. Another federal court is now considering whether that law, too, was crafted with discriminatory intent.
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ON DECK
The Senate meets at 12 p.m. Tuesday and is expected to debate and pass the so-called “bathroom bill” which requires people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificates. The bill has drawn backlash from big businesses including Google and the NFL. It has been deemed a priority Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, but appears to have little traction in the House. The House meets at 10 a.m.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“This is a day that we take off our red jerseys and our blue jerseys to come together for law enforcement across Texas.” - Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas.
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