Monday, July 17
All day. Call Sen. Ted Cruz and ask how weakening protections for pre-existing conditions helps Texans
Virtually everyone except a handful of Republican senators thinks the Cruz Amendment to the BCRA is a terrible idea. From the CPPP:
His amendment would set up two parallel health insurance markets – one with popular consumer protections from the Affordable Care Act and one without them. The idea would result in people with pre-existing conditions paying much more for health insurance, if they can afford it at all.
Additionally, his so-called “Freedom Plans” are junk, subprime insurance plans that could even force people to lose coverage when they get sick. From the Los Angeles Times:
Buyers of cheap Cruz plans would be locked out of the insurance market if they get sick. A little-noticed aspect of the Cruz proposal is that the cheap plans it allows would not qualify as legitimate insurance coverage under the GOP’s “continuous coverage” rules.
Those rules, embodied in both the House and Senate GOP repeal bills, guarantee coverage for preexisting conditions as long as the buyer maintains insurance coverage without a break of longer than two months. Under the Senate bill, anyone with such a lapse would face a six-month waiting period for new insurance before the preexisting condition guarantee would be effective.
Our Senator is working every day to make Texans sicker. Call and tell him what you think.
Tuesday, July 18
One Texas Resistance Rally
On the first day of Special Session, July 18, we will be holding a full day of action at the Capitol. This will kick off the 30 days of action during Special Session. Get ready, it will be all hands on deck!
We are requesting that everyone wear a shirt to represent one of their organizations or causes. We want to show a large coalition of groups coming together as one to stand in opposition to Abbott and Patrick’s backward agenda!
Official schedule for July 18th is as follows:
- 10:00-11:30am – Training to prepare for our 30 days of action in the Reagan building–Room 140
- 1:00pm- Rally on the Capitol south steps
- 2:00pm- Direct action inside the Capitol
- 4:00pm- Happy Hour at Scholz Garten
See the Facebook event for more detail and full list of sponsoring organizations.
Wednesday, July 19
10 to 11 a.m. Quinceañera at the Capitol
From Jolt! Texas:
Join us on Wednesday, July 19, at the South Steps of the Texas Capitol for Quinceañera at the Capitol. Come and rally around 15 young women who will share the 15 reasons that they’re resisting SB4. We’re going to combat hate and racism by celebrating Latino culture.
PROGRAM
- 10:00 AM – 10:05 AM Procession
- 10:05 AM – 10:10 AM Welcome & remarks
- 10:10 AM – 10:25 AM Dance performance
- 10:25 AM – 10:30 AM Call to action & procesion
- 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Quinceañeras deliver gifts to authors of SB4
~~~
In Latino culture, Quinceañeras are an important tradition that highlight the bonds of family, community, culture and bring people together through celebration.
This is the spirit of the Quinceañera at the Capitol event: to celebrate the resistance to SB4 by highlighting our commitment to our communities and culture. After all, SB4 isn’t just about politics: it will sow fear and distrust into our communities and break apart our families. To resist this harmful and hateful law, we will draw on the incredible power within the very communities that SB4 will affect.
2 p.m. Twitter Chat: Latinx & the BCRA
Join Voto Latino, Planned Parenthood and other organizations using the hashtag #LATINXCARE to discuss how Trumpcare would be devastating to the Latinx community.
Thursday, July 20
8 p.m. Texas Solidarity Singalong
From the organizers: In solidarity with singers across the nation, we sing songs of resistance in the Texas Capitol rotunda every Thursday evening.
https://www.facebook.com/solidaritysingalongtx/
Friday, July 21
9 a.m. Hearing on the “Bathroom Bill” in the Texas Capitol
Sen. Huffman has announced there will be a hearing on Sen. Kolkhorst’s anti-transgender bill. The hearing will be Friday, July 21st at 9 a.m. at the Texas State Capitol.
FromBill language has not been released. We will continue updating this page as we get more information.
Info on the hearing:
The Hearing will be in the Senate Finance Committee Room.
There will be no invited testimony.
Registration will be open for 3 hours; we are unsure what the start time will be for registration.
All testimony will be limited to exactly 2 minutes.
We will likely see paper registration for testimony & registering opposition to bills.
If you are intending on testifying, plan on arriving early on Friday.
The hearing is currently schedule for room E1.036.
Registration for testimony will begin around 7am-7:30am. Everyone should be there by 6:45am and staff members & volunteers from coalition organizations will be there to help direct traffic.
Update on Special Session Schedule:
FRIDAY
8 a.m., Health and Human Services in the Capitol Extension, Room 1.016
SB 11/SB 80, SB 4, SB 10, SB 17
All abortion except insurance, maternal morbidity, DNRs
9 a.m., State Affairs, Senate Gallery
Bathroom bill – SB 3 and “other privacy bills”
10 a.m., Education
Vouchers, school finance commission – SB 2, SB 16 and “other school finance bills”
SATURDAY
9 a.m., Business and Commerce – SB 8, and SB 12, 13, 14, 15
Abortion insurance, construction projects, local permits, tree reg, texting pre-emption
11 a.m., Government Reform – SB 1, SB 18
Property tax cap, local spending limit
1 p.m., Finance – SB 9, SB 19 and “maybe other teacher hiring bills”
State spending cap, teacher pay raise and benefits