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Texas pushes ahead with ‘bathroom bill’ as others shy away

After that point, it is completely up to the discretion of the Governor to decide if he needs to call the Legislature back to handle specific items of business in a special session.

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But Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday said he hopes that legislators will still be able to form some kind of plan to pass one of the bills.

“He says, ‘I don’t want to happen in Texas what happened in North Carolina, ‘ but we now know nothing happened in North Carolina”, Patrick said.

“It’s a little unconventional and not a normal process, but I think it’s very helpful for the governor to go around the various entities at the Capitol to understand the positions and nuances and relative advantages of each plan”, said Carmichael, R-Jackson.

The House budget still has far to go.

House Minority Leader Scott Inman said he had “never seen more lipstick applied to a pig” and blamed Senate President Pro Tem Mike Schulz and Senate Republicans for the impasse over revenue.

“The Senate is going to have to thread the needle here and craft a new compromise”, said Penn, whose poll questions 2,006 voters.

“This is an issue about nothing”, said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who earlier in the week slammed the door on House Bill 4180, which had ended up with a Senate bathroom amendment he couldn’t live with.

Patrick accused Straus of using the language of “left-wing Democrats”.

At a bill signing Friday, Abbott said he was hopeful of a resolution of this issue, and also on property tax reform, on Saturday, though he mistakenly said a conference committee already was set for both issues.

The analysis said the House bill would reduce federal deficits by $119 billion over the next decade.

“As outlined during the campaign, votes in the House of Commons will be free votes for members of the Liberal caucus with the exception of those that implement the Liberal electoral platform, traditional confidence matters like the budget, and those that address our shared values and the protections guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms”, said Mark Kennedy.

However, Straus announced today the house will not appoint members to negotiate with the Senate on its proposed compromise on a “bathroom bill”.

But House Republicans prefer a narrower approach that targets restroom usage in schools, requiring students to use facilities based on biological sex, but allowing transgender students the alternative option of using single-stall restrooms.

Republican state Rep. Chris Paddie of Marshall, who offered the amendment in the House, contends that it would keep transgender students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity unless they use a multi-occupancy bathroom when no one else is in there.

The budget office concluded that on average, premiums for people buying their own insurance would eventually be lower than under the 2010 law under the House bill.

However the NCAA and several other organizations and businesses pulled out of deals in North Carolina after the state passed its version of a bathroom bill, saying it discriminated against transgender people.

The Kansas House gave the new school finance bill final approval on an 84 to 39 vote Thursday morning after initially agreeing to the new formula the day before. Patrick has signaled willingness for a special session over a bathroom bill, although only Abbott can make that call.

The Texas Tribune examined the issue closely in a February series.

The Senate bill also would raise the corporate net income tax from 6.5 to 7 percent, something else Cowles faulted.

“Despite tensions, the session is not yet over”, the statement read. “The taxpayers deserve to have the Legislature finish their work on time”, spokesman John Wittman said.

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Depending on when such a ruling were handed down, that could mean a special session.

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