Hey there — Greg here with the latest edition of Regulated Discourse.

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Quotable

Sunday, November 12

Protests in Austin. Protesters marched on the Texas Capitol demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Some noticed an Antifa presence.

Monday, November 13

House Calendars. The House Calendars Committee, responsible for receiving bills out of committee and scheduling them for floor debate, set a Tuesday floor calendar for border bills SB 3 and SB 4.

The Brain Surgeons of Lawyers. Attorney General Paxton announced the hiring of new Solicitor General Aaron Nielson. The Solicitor General is the State’s Arguer-in-Chief, appearing often before federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

(in)Decision 2024. U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon filed to run for his old State Senate Seat which is being vacated by Sen. Drew Springer. Lt. Gov. Patrick endorsed Fallon, essentially clearing the field for him. Other folks then announced campaigns for Fallon’s congressional seat. But within 24 hours, Fallon reversed course and decided to stick with his congressional seat, putting all the cats back into the bags.

Judgment Day. Speaker Phelan tells members that the school choice bill—HB 1—will come to the floor on Friday. It could be the first true up-and-down vote the House has taken on ESAs. The House could also strip out the ESA provision and just do school funding. And the nuclear option: strip out ESAs, send over a school funding bill to the Senate, and gavel out Sine Die.

Tuesday, November 14

Like Oil and Water. The City of Midland is challenging a company’s ability to dispose oil and gas wastewater near the city’s source of drinking water.

Got the Go Ahead (Again). A Burnet County Judge denied Ken Paxton’s request to halt discovery in the Whistleblower case.

“I respectfully disagree.” Rep. David Spiller, the Republican House member taking the lead on the illegal entry bill, noted his disagreement with Sen. Brian Birdwell. Recall that Birdwell is adamant that SB 3 as written is unconstitutional. The House passed both SBs 3 and 4.

Gas Securitization. Recall that during Winter Storm Uri, gas prices skyrocketed. Gas utilities had to buy that gas and incurred major losses. To help from those losses being passed onto consumers, the Legislature created the Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corporation. That entity, pursuant to a financing order from the Railroad Commission, has the ability to issue rate relief bonds to gas utilities. And now the gas utilities began passing along the cost of those bonds—the interest, not the principal—to ratepayers, whose average monthly surcharge is about $3.48.

Wednesday, November 15

Come and Take It. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is using its eminent domain power to transfer ownership of Fairfield Lake State Park from Todd Interests to the State. The State says the land is worth $85 million while the current owner—who would rather keep the land—says it’s worth $475 million.

Mexico Rejects Border Laws. The Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations “rejects” the new Texas border laws. The statement says that Mexico has a right to protect the rights of Mexican nationals in Texas. Makes me think of a book I read about a decade ago called The Next 100 Years by George Friedman. Friedman predicts Mexico-U.S. relations will deteriorate significantly after decades of mass immigration. Food for thought on this issue.

Everything the Light Touches: The Power of Eminent Domain

Eminent Domain.

Maybe one of my favorite legal phrases. Up there even with some of the great Latin quips like res ipsa loquitur (“the thing speaks for itself”) and ignorantia juris non excusat (“ignorance of the law excuses not”).