New Laws in Texas

[Alolan_Apples]

This is my first political entry using the Change Rating System I made for video games. As you know, Texas passed a total of 820 laws over the year, as they are going into effect today. Although some are more right-leaning, there are also a lot of bipartisan or politically neutral.

Laws going into effect:

Using the rating system, a positive score means I support the new las, a negative score means I oppose, and a score of 0 means that I don’t care or it’s just as bad as it’s good. The significance score talks about how much it impacts society. Here are some examples to highlight.

• Save Chick-Fil-A Bill: Easily the issue I’m most passionate about in this entry. Because of San Antonio’s ban on Chick-fil-a from airports due to their funding of religious organizations (which people deem as anti-gay for opposing same-sex marriage), the Texas government made a law that bans cities from banning religious businesses. Opponents say that it would allow discrimination against LGBT people, but Chick-fil-a doesn’t even discriminate against LGBT people, not from service or employment. The apparent issue may be about LGBT rights vs religious liberty, but it goes deeper than LGBT issues. It includes all issues related to religion.
  • Score: +3
  • Significance: 2
• Children’s Lemonade Stands: In the 90’s or earlier, it’s common for kids to sell lemonade at their house along a street. I don’t know why the government chose to regulate that now, but at least kids can sell lemonade in Texas again.
  • Score: +2
  • Significance: 1
• Smoking Age raised to 21: When California did this in 2016, it was one of the many signs showing how coercive California is getting. But this is a good idea. Smoking is bad for your health, and it’s getting unpopular. Texas followed this suit as well.
  • Score: +2
  • Significance: 2
• Free Speech on Campus: Texas now requires all colleges to allow conservatives to have rallies on campus. While I don’t join rallies or express my beliefs in colleges, this law is a good idea as well. In the past few years, conservatives are very prone to political discrimination due how intolerant and desperate liberals are getting. This is happening on Facebook (pages deleted), Twitter (shadow banning), Reddit (downvoted), and Hollywood. Schools are doing it too. Free speech is a very important right in our country. It may bother me that socialism is getting more popular among liberals or that liberals are getting more radical on the social issues, but even I wouldn’t discriminate against them for that. So why are they discriminating against conservatives if they aren’t being radical enough?
  • Score: +3
  • Significance: 3
• Red Light Cameras: While the security cameras on streetlights are here to stay, you can no longer get ticketed for running a red light. Especially if it’s very close to the yellow light or if the streetlight is broken. Loosening traffic safety laws may be dangerous, but it would be easier on people who aren’t driving recklessly.
  • Score: +1
  • Significance: 3
• Born Alive Act: Although Texas can’t outlaw abortion on every case except serious cases, they have tried regulating it on many other areas. This law requires doctors to treat the baby if the abortion fails. Since I am against abortion in general, I am in support of the law.
  • Score: +2
  • Significance: 1
• Beer Delivery: Thanks to Door Dash and Uber Eats, we can now order food from a restaurant without having to go to the restaurant. But is ordering beer from a brewery and having it delivered to your door illegal? Not in Texas.
  • Score: +1
  • Significance: 1
• Stealing Packages: If someone ordered online, it’s still already against the law to steal someone else’s packages. But changes in the law makes it a Class C Felony in Texas. Although I was never a victim to this, I agree with this law.
  • Score: +3
  • Significance: 2
• Dogs in restaurants: More specifically, dogs in patios of restaurants, restaurants can allow them if they meet certain conditions. Before the law, they needed to pay fees, have licenses, and more.
  • Score: 0
  • Significance: 1
• Looser Gun Laws: One issue Texans are very passionate about is guns. You can now have them in parking lots, in churches, and after natural disasters, while apartments and homeowners associations can’t forbid them. Some may say that it could allow more shootings, but this can also prevent public shootings since a few potential public shooters were shot dead before they did the crime.
  • Score: +3
  • Significance: 3
• Final Score: +2.000

Although this is just a sample, I approve of the Texas Congress over the job they are doing.

Laws not going to effect:

While there are many laws that have yet to be written, there are some issues I want to discuss on my blog, as they relate to the laws that failed this year, the laws that failed last year, and issues people are hoping to resolve. The rating system is the same as my similarity rating system as a positive score means they are right about not doing anything about it, a negative score means they should’ve passed a law about the issue, and a score of 0 means that I don’t care.

• The Death Penalty: One thing Texas was famous for was the number of state-level executions they did. Since 1976, they topped the other states in most people executed. A couple of states have abolished the death penalty, but even more still hasn’t done it. What was Texas right about? They didn’t abolish the death penalty. Score: +2
• Bathroom Bill: Although they were going to pass it two years ago, it didn’t happen this year. They would have another chance to pass it again this year, but since the Democrats gained seats in the state house, they were unable to do it. Since they didn’t even write the law this year, I strongly approve of our Congress. Getting rid of gendered bathrooms is a bad idea, but so is requiring people to use certain bathrooms. Score: +2
• Ban on some abortions: Now this is when I’m starting to disapprove of Texas state congress. While they written the law, it has failed in the house. Even if I were to become pro-choice (I’m only getting more pro-life BTW), I would never support legal abortions if it’s based on race, sex, or disability. Even though the left wing has gotten even more radical on the issue of abortion, sex-selective abortions and the other two I mentioned were already legal since Roe v Wade. If they can’t outlaw it except for the most serious cases, they should at least outlaw discriminatory abortions. Score: -2
• Social Media Censorship: One law they suggested earlier is the right for the attorney general to take legal action against Facebook and Twitter for discriminating against conservatives. Even though the social media companies are ran in California, they are public resources for everyone across the world. I believe they should have the right to sue since discrimination against people based on political beliefs is just as bad as discrimination based on race, religion, and sexual orientation. On the flip-side, this may violate the 11th Amendment to the Constitution, as you’re giving one state the power to sue a business from another state. Score: 0
• Daylight Savings: They were right to write a law that considers letting citizens choose if we should make DST permanent or abolish it completely. What they were wrong about, they let it fail. No matter what action you take, there’s going to be a disadvantage. If we abolish it, we wouldn’t have the advantages of DST as we would be behind the other states in our time zone. Make it permanent, it would screw over the early birds in the winter as sunrise won’t happen until 8:00 AM. Not do anything about it, we would still be changing the clock twice a year, which would cause trouble for us. I would like it if people can vote on this. Score: -2
• Final Score: 0.000

While I appreciate of them not doing the wrong, some issues need to be solved.