On April 22nd the Texas House is set to debate 240 amendments to the state budget.

Below are TFR’s vote recommendations for the Fiscal Responsibility Index.

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Quickly moving through the Texas Senate is a bill sold as a measure to protect businesses and healthcare providers from liability during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, but if implemented would likely accomplish the inverse of what is intended.

Authored by State Sen. Kelly Hancock (R-N. Richland Hills), Senate Bill 6 has been sold as a necessary response by the Texas Legislature to limit physician, medical facility, and individual business liability due to COVID-19.

However, the specific terms of the bill are far broader, applying for the duration of the disaster called by Gov. Greg Abbott. They’re also extremely onerous (applying to only entities who followed government-approved guidelines during the disaster).

Attorney and TFR board member Matt Rinaldi took note of that point and characterized the legislation as a “blueprint to establish liability for virtually every business in Texas.”

“So a business failing to mask toddlers or requiring double masking would be liable because they didn’t follow CDC ‘guidance’? This bill is terrible,” said Rinaldi. “It reads like a blueprint to establish liability for virtually every business in Texas.”

In effect, SB 6 codifies protections for only entities who followed in lockstep with the executive orders issued by Abbott and other officials, while stripping away existing protections for businesses who decided to manage themselves.

While Texans for Fiscal Responsibility believes that the goal of protecting Texans and their businesses from frivolous lawsuits is a noble one, the text of SB 6 appears to promote the contrary.

TFR recommends lawmakers oppose SB 6 as filed and work to pass legislation that protects Texans’ liberties and property from not only bad-faith actors in the marketplace but also governmental overreach.

Following the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 1, the state budget, in the Texas Senate, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility president Cary Cheshire issued the following statement:

“The Texas Senate’s budget provides only a modest increase in total state spending below population and inflation, a traditional standard of a conservative budget.

That fiscal restraint is noteworthy, but taxpayers desperately need far more than the minimum standard from their elected leaders.

Indeed, majorities in both chambers of the Texas Legislature were not elected on promises to merely not grow government as fast, but rather to deliver sorely needed tax relief to hardworking Texans.

Unfortunately, the budget passed by the Texas Senate does not prioritize tax relief and Texans will not see the reductions in their tax bills they deserve.”