Day 52: Dan Patrick Skips Work While Senate Gambles On Bitcoin

Bitcoin reserve and voting limits show GOP’s misguided priorities.

Yesterday, several bills were on the Senate’s Notice of Intent, but the Senate did not bring them up. A Notice of Intent in the Texas Senate is essentially a list of bills that could potentially be brought up for debate on a given day. However, it does not guarantee that all those bills will be debated. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick was noticeably absent yesterday, probably why the bills weren’t brought up.

Where was Dan Patrick? Perhaps he was still in Houston, as he posted these pictures with him and actor Dennis Quaid on social media at the Houston rodeo.

Are those slacks he’s wearing? 🤔 Marylander Patrick is always one to use Texas culture as a costume.

One bill that did pass the Senate yesterday was SB21, establishing the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to invest in cryptocurrency. This bill was authored and championed by Charles Schwertner (R-SD05), an Alabama native and multi-millionaire.

Having a state bitcoin reserve is pretty dumb considering bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile. Using taxpayer money to invest in an asset that can swing 20% (or more) in a day is not exactly what I’d call a “prudent investment.” It’s essentially gambling with public funds.

Establishing an advisory committee for Bitcoin investments and giving the comptroller the authority to manage a cryptocurrency reserve seems like a waste of resources. Shouldn’t the comptroller focus on, I don’t know, actual currency?

Listen to Roland Gutierrez speak out against this bill.

He’s 100% right. Too many people in this state don’t have food to put on their table. They don’t have access to healthcare or affordable housing. Meanwhile, 99% of Texans don’t own cryptocurrency.

SB21 is legislation that benefits wealthy Texans only. However, if the reserve loses money, the risk is socialized, meaning taxpayers bear the loss.

Worse, nine Senate Democrats voted in favor of it.

The House Committee on Elections had its first hearing yesterday.

Every session, Republicans come up with creative solutions on how they can strip more people of access to voting. We should expect this session to be no different. One moment that particularly stood out to me was when a representative at the Secretary of State’s Office spoke about how poll workers were harrassed, threatened, and even assaulted.

It’s the Republicans’ fault. They’ve spent years crafting a narrative that our elections aren’t safe and then passed bills that encourage poll workers to harass voters. This is just another outcome of years of lies and bad policy.

Republicans are setting the stage for yet another attack on voting rights. This session focuses on election equipment, countywide polling place programs, and heightened auditing requirements—all under the guise of “election security.”

Republicans spent an inordinate amount of time questioning whether voting machines and tabulators could connect to the Internet. Representatives from Hart InterCivic, one of Texas’s two certified voting system providers, repeatedly emphasized that their machines are “air-gapped,” meaning they cannot physically connect to the Internet. Despite this clear explanation, Valoree Swanson (R-HD150) continued to push the narrative of potential hacking and remote tampering, sowing doubt about the integrity of our elections.

Swanson is the most prolific vote suppressor in the Texas House. Paul Bettencourt (R-SD07) is in the Texas Senate. Both of these lawmakers live in the white suburbs of Houston and have spent their careers trying to stop Black and brown Texans from voting. This session will be no different.

Another clear target was the countywide polling place program. This allows voters to cast ballots at any polling location in their county on Election Day, making voting more accessible, especially for disabled voters and in emergencies. Officials testified about how this program improves efficiency and can significantly reduce costs. However, Republicans hinted that they might restrict or even eliminate countywide polling places, citing “ballot privacy” and “election security” as their rationale.

This means more obstacles to voting. The flexibility of countywide polling places benefits all voters, particularly those with disabilities or those in rural areas. Limiting this program would only suppress turnout, particularly among voters less likely to support Republican candidates.

The House Committee on Natural Resources.

The other hearing I watched yesterday was the first hearing in Natural Resources. This committee is critical because it oversees Texas’ water, land, and environmental resources legislation. How Texas manages its natural resources can have significant consequences in a state that regularly faces extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes. Water rights and infrastructure, land conservation, and policies on climate resilience are all on the table in this committee.

With Republicans controlling the Texas Legislature, this committee has a history of prioritizing deregulation, weakening environmental protections, and pushing through water and land policies that benefit wealthy landowners and corporations over everyday Texans.

Did you know that $14 billion has been spent on Texas communities impacted by hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and winter storm Uri through the General Land Office?

It’s a little crazy that we’re spending that much on climate disasters through one agency, yet the head of the agency still repeats the mantra of, “Drill, baby, drill.”

Did you know that in the early 1900s, Black workers were excluded from the oil boom after they struck black gold at Spindletop? The history of the oil industry in Texas has always been ugly.

One big topic for this House Committee yesterday was housing, specifically regulations and zoning.

Every session, Republicans file more and more deregulation of housing development, often led by Gary Gates (R-HD28). Gates has long had the reputation of a “Millionaire Slumlord,” so it should come as no surprise that he’s behind reducing regulations. While the GOP will claim it’s about “affordability,” it has already led to lower building standards, fewer protections for low-income communities, and environmental impacts.

Regarding zoning laws, Senator Bettencourt has filed SB15, which, on its face, looks like a YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) bill. The bill limits municipalities’ ability to enforce lot size and density restrictions, allowing for smaller lots and higher housing density.

Of course, I saw this and thought, “Does Bettencourt know YIMBY is woke?” However, after further inspection of the bill, there appears to be a Trojan horse for developer interests. It’s not a bad bill, but a few things need to be changed. Perhaps Democrats will be able to do that through the amendment process. Specifically:

• The bill allows developers broad legal immunity and allows housing organizations (including industry groups) to sue municipalities for violations with automatic attorney fees. This might incentivize lawsuits that stifle local control rather than promote equitable housing.

• True YIMBY policies often pair density with affordability requirements, like inclusionary zoning or affordable housing set-asides. This bill lacks any such requirements.

The bill uses pro-housing language and focuses on density, aligning with YIMBY’s goal of reducing barriers to housing supply. However, the lack of affordability measures and legal advantages for developers suggest it might be more about facilitating market-rate and luxury development than genuinely addressing housing affordability and equity.

We’ll see how it flushes out, but the future of Texas is a densely packed urban utopia where cities thrive on mixed-use development, walkable neighborhoods, and vibrant public spaces. With the right amendments, SB15 could be a step toward that vision, balancing growth with genuine affordability and keeping developer interests in check.

Tom Oliverson (R-HD130) filed a bill to criminalize the existence of transgender people.

HB3817 is a new attempt to criminalize the existence of transgender people in Texas. By proposing a new crime of “gender identity fraud,” the bill would make it a state jail felony for a person to identify their gender in a way that does not align with their assigned sex at birth when interacting with government entities or employers.

This legislation is not about fraud but about erasing the legal and social recognition of transgender individuals, stripping them of their rights, and subjecting them to potential imprisonment for merely living as their authentic selves.

It is a dangerous escalation in the ongoing legislative assault against the LGBTQ+ community. It represents an abhorrent overreach of government power into profoundly personal and private aspects of an individual’s life.

The Texas Legislature will clock back in on Monday.

With committees holding hearings and bills moving through the process, we could see legislation hitting the House floor by the end of the week. Whether it’s election integrity, housing, or managing our natural resources, the stakes are high, and the potential impacts on everyday Texans are immense. I’ll be watching closely. You can bet I’ll have plenty more to say as these bills take shape. Stay tuned.

• March 14: The last day Legislators can file bills.

• June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

LoneStarLeft is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Follow me on Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.