Friend or Foe? Texas Pandemic Response Act
This legislative session, Texas State Representative Dustin Burrows filed House Bill 3. Also known as the Texas Pandemic Response Act (TPRA), the bill has gathered significant criticism. Specifically, the bill, as currently written, would give Governor Abbot the power necessary to enforce mask mandates and occupancy restrictions. If passed, the governor would be able to declare “Pandemic Disasters.” This would grant the power to the governor to enforce executive mask mandates with the force of law. However, the bill seeks to prevent people form being jailed for not following pandemic disaster order.
The declarations of pandemic disaster last only up to thirty days, but the order can be renewed indefinitely. The Texas Congress would have the power to end executive orders made using emergency pandemic powers, yet Texas Congress only meets regularly every other year for a few months. Critics have noted that it seems unlikely that a governor would call an emergency session to revoke his own orders. This criticism lead to a ten-person committee being written into HB 3 to act in place of the State Legislatures absence. The Texas mask mandates ended on March 10, 2021. Additionally, more and more states are opening up and reducing restrictions. Therefore, HB 3 is aimed at possible future pandemics.
In a discussion with Mr. Matt Crow, Rep. Burrow’s communications and district director in Lubbock, Crow listed nine things that House Bill 3 seeks to accomplish:
(1) Protections for places of worship from forced closures; (2) Protections for our second amendment rights and business ancillary to those from closure; (3) Protecting our elections from having local jurisdictions create their own set of rules; (4) Liability Protection for business from being sued for people who may have been exposed to pandemic disease; (5) Liability Protection for volunteers who want to help with much needed resources; (6) Protections for taxpayers to prevent taxes from being races when their commerce has been shut down; (7) Opportunities for families to find in-person education when their local school districts don’t provide it; (8) Stopping the threat of jail for people who may run afoul of any order; and, (9) Stopping local jurisdictions from making orders that would have gone much further.”
When asked about the most controversial parts of HB 3, the part giving force of law to a governor’s orders under a Pandemic Disaster, Crow responded that HB 3 “is a long way from being voted on.…[B]oth the State Senate and the House must get under the hood and tinker with it.”
The True Texas Project, a grassroots conservative movement, has voiced much concern over HB 3:
“True Texas Project is urging all our grassroots followers to contact their own Texas House Representative, and tell them that Texans want nothing to do with this legislation. Instead, we expect them to pass legislation that will ensure that we will not see a repeat of 2020 by a future governor. The Texas Constitution needs to be protected and upheld, and Texans need to be protected from over zealous state and local government tyrants.”
Fran Rhodes, president of the True Texas Project, claims that this bill “grants the governor authority to do all the things he already did that we’ve all been screaming about.”
However, James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation agreed with those from the True Texas Project that the response to the coronavirus was problematic. He said, “Officials responded to COVID-19 by upending our lives, shutting down the economy, and closing schools…. Today it’s clear that pandemic powers need to be changed.” Both Rhodes and Quintero agree that possible pandemic responses in the future need to be changed. However, their responses to House Bill 3 are very different. While Rhodes and the True Texas Project want “nothing to do with this legislation,” Quintero said, “Calls to abandon the TPRA are shortsighted.” He continued:
“Without a viable legislative vehicle for reform, no changes will be made to pandemic powers and Texans will be stuck with the confusion and overreach of the past twelve months for the next eighteen. That would be tragic, especially because the TPRA proposes several important changes conservatives should cheer.”
According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, positive elements of HB 3 include creating a ten-member Legislative Pandemic Disaster Oversight Committee that has the power to end the state of disaster and terminate any rule/order issued as a result of a declared pandemic disaster. Nonetheless, Quintero maintains that HB3 needs work and it not an immaculate bill.
The bill has undergone some significant changes. Indeed, the Pandemic Disaster Oversight Committee is a result of rewrites. Despite changes, Michael Quinn Sullivan, publisher of the Texas Scorecard, called the rewritten version of the legislation “worse” than the previous. Others have claimed that HB 3 falls short of fully recognizing a separation of powers during a pandemic.
Despite receiving criticism for filing House Bill 3, Representative Burrows has received much praise for his support of the Sanctuary City for the Unborn movement in Lubbock, Texas and other pro-life causes like the Texas Heartbeat Act.
The Texas Pandemic Response Act was left pending in committee as of March 11, 2021.
