2021
Regular Session
HB 17
Sponsor
Prohibits local governments from adopting policies that discriminate against natural gas utility services.
HB 885
Sponsor
Allows Navarro College to offer a four-year nursing degree program.
HB 1069
Sponsor
Creates workplace protections for publicly-employed first responders who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights while on duty.
HB 1758
Sponsor
Requires law enforcement departments that plan to use drones in the field to develop a use-of-force policy and submit that policy to the appropriate state agency for uniform oversight of the use of drones in law enforcement.
SJR 45 & SB 1025*
Author
Would have rebalanced the branches of state government in respect to emergency and disaster situations. This legislation would have engaged the Legislature at critical decision points during the state’s disaster response.
SB 8
Joint Author
The “heartbeat bill” prohibits abortions after the presence of a detectable heartbeat in the womb.
SB 13
Author
Directs state agencies to divest from financial companies that boycott businesses on the basis of their status as an energy company.
SB 15
Coauthor
Ends the practice of certain governmental entities divulging citizens’ data, as linked to their motor vehicle records, to private companies.
SB 25
Joint Author
Guarantees the rights of long-term care residents (e.g., nursing homes) to designate an essential caregiver, ensuring that Texans are never stranded in isolation as was often the unfortunate scenario during the height of the pandemic.
SB 725
Joint Author
This bill ensures that property owners are not forced to pay rollback taxes on condemned land they had no choice but to sell.
SB 726
Joint Author
Increases the opportunity for a property owner to reacquire land lost through eminent domain by bolstering the reporting requirements for how an entity demonstrates “actual progress” towards its stated public use.
SB 741
Author
Strengthens school security by affording school boards the freedom to designate school marshals that may carry handguns in areas near students, as opposed to requiring marshal handguns to be stored in an inaccessible and impractical manner.
SB 742
Author
Grants statutory authority for local taxing units to set up property tax installment payment plans for businesses that, as a result of a disaster, have suffered economic damage. Prior to this law, businesses were only eligible for installment plans if they suffered physical damage as a result of a disaster, and the pandemic disaster demonstrated the need for this change.
SB 1116
Coauthor
Increases transparency and public trust in the electoral process by requiring local governments to post election results on their websites as soon as practicable after an election.
SJR 27
Joint Author
Amends the Texas Constitution to prohibit limitations on religious services under virtually any circumstance. This was largely in response to a handful of local governments who attempted to shut down churches at the outset of the pandemic.
* These bills passed the Senate 30-1, but failed to receive a vote in the House. Senator Birdwell intends to have these important pieces of legislation reconsidered by the Legislature in the upcoming session.
Second Special Session
HB 7
Sponsor
HB 7 prohibits the disposal and storage of high-level radioactive waste in Texas without the affirmative approval of the Legislature.
SB 1
Coauthor
Reforms the Election Code with an emphasis on the integrity of Texas elections. This legislation makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat in Texas elections.
SB 3
Coauthor
Prohibits the instruction of critical race theory in Texas public schools and creates a civics training program for teachers and administrators to guarantee that Texas students are provided a robust and honest school curriculum.
SB 4
Coauthor
Protects Texas women who receive abortion-inducing medications by developing a state-level standard for the use of these drugs and prohibiting any manufacturer, supplier, physician, or other individuals from providing these powerful drugs via mail service.
SB 6
Coauthor
Addresses deep flaws in our state’s bail system, which had formerly perpetuated a cycle of violent reoffending by primarily basing bail on a defendant’s ability to pay rather than the individual’s risk of being a danger to others.
SB 7
Coauthor
Provides retired teachers with a well-deserved supplemental payment (or 13th check) for the 2021 fiscal year.
SB 8
Coauthor
Allows property owners claiming a homestead to begin enjoying their homestead exemption in the same year they purchase their property, rather than waiting for the beginning of the proceeding year.
SJR 2
Coauthor
Provides over $100 million in property tax relief to Texas citizens by allowing voters the option to extend the tax rate compression from HB 3 (2019, Regular Session) to those who have an Over65/Disabled exemption.
Third Special Session
SJR 2
Coauthor
Allows voters the option to raise the homestead exemption for school district property taxes from $25,000 to $40,000, which amounts to an annual savings of $176 for most homeowners.
2019
SB 2
Coauthor
Delivers $2.6 billion in property tax relief over the next five years by requiring voter approval of a tax rate that brings in 2.5% or more revenue from the previous tax year as opposed to the 8% increase rate. Local governments must now come to the taxpayer for revenue increases at a much lower level of increase than the previous 36 years. This makes the process more transparent and gives taxpayers more control over their property taxes.
SB 12
Joint Author
Honors the state’s promise to teachers by securing the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) through reforms ensuring the TRS pension fund is actuarially sound. The pension fund can now fund its liabilities and has provided security for TRS retirees to receive their promised benefits for years to come.
SB 22
Joint Author
Prohibits certain transactions between a governmental entity and an abortion provider or an affiliate of the provider.
SB 30
Author
Requires local taxing entities to write more transparent and detailed ballot language for propositions to issue bonds or impose or increase a tax. Instead of lumping multiple projects with different purposes into a single bond item where the voter may only choose to support all the items or reject all the items, these bond proposals must be printed on the ballot as separate propositions, allowing each issue up for voter approval to be considered individually. This bill affords you the ability to control public expenditures better and have more control over subsequent tax increases associated with such bonds’ approval.
SB 31
Joint Author
Establishes a guardianship abuse, fraud, and exploitation deterrence program at the State Office of Court Administration.
SB 72
Coauthor
Establishes a coordinating council to tackle the grave issue of human trafficking.
SB 405
Author
Expands the protections for law enforcement officers against false accusations by including corrections officers and jailers as persons to whom an individual may not knowingly make a false claim without facing a penalty. This adds more protection for our law enforcement officers against erroneous claims.
SB 530
Author
Holds public water suppliers accountable for their service users’ health and safety by increasing the penalties associated with violating state laws enforcing the Safe Drinking Water Act.
SB 535
Coauthor
Protects our places of worship by ensuring handgun license holders can legally carry handguns in churches, synagogues, and other places of worship unless the church prohibits its members from carrying.
SB 548
Author
This legislation implements several necessary reforms at the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC). The bill precludes the TEC from continuing abuses that were occurring in previous years that did not afford due process protections in their administrative procedures. This bill ensures that when complaints are filed, the person against whom the complaint is lodged has the right to representation, speedy resolution of the complaint, ability to present facts and evidence in their own defense, and thus protecting the citizen, citizen groups, activists, PACs or public officials from being abused by the commission.
SB 616
Author
Made several necessary reforms to help provide the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) the ability to work more efficiently and effectively in performing their duties. Among these reforms, the bill streamlines the state’s driver’s licensing program by enabling its eventual transition to another state agency, extends the term of a driver license from six to eight years, so citizens don’t have to renew as often, streamlines and simplifies private security regulation, and deregulates seven unnecessary and duplicative licenses and registrations for individuals and entities that do not directly provide private security services.
SB 1319
Author
Increases transparency in taxation by bolstering the reporting requirements for counties levying a hotel occupancy tax.
HB 347
Sponsor
Eliminates forced annexation across the state, ensuring annexation occurs only after obtaining the consent of the property owners involved.
HB 1313
Sponsor
Helps citizens have a more active role in helping keep their appraisals fair. HB 1313 prohibits a taxing district from “punishing” a taxpayer with a higher appraisal in the year immediately after the taxpayer successfully protests unless the appraisal district achieves a higher standard of proof. In addition, HB 1313 prohibits appraisal districts from charging property owners a fee to file a protest
HB 1545
Sponsor
Made many necessary reforms at the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission (TABC). Innovates the state’s approach to the alcohol beverage industry by introducing “Beer to Go” for craft breweries. The bill also eliminated several protectionist’s carve-outs. It delivered free-market solutions to the issuance and regulation of liquor store permits and other alcoholic beverage industry elements.
2017
SB 4
Coauthor
Prohibits local governments from adopting “sanctuary city” policies in violation of federal immigration guidelines.
SB 5
Joint Author
Preserves election integrity by adjusting and strengthening Texas’s voter ID laws in compliance with the Constitution.
SB 7
Coauthor
Amends current state laws to more forcefully deal with inappropriate relationships between educators and students. This bill prevents educators who engage in inappropriate relationships with students from being able to jump from school district to school district without facing any consequences. It expands reporting requirements to include not only superintendents, but principals as well, with penalties for failing to report, and gave Texas Education Agency (TEA) more authority to investigate and sanction school districts who fail to report an inappropriate relationship.
SB 12
Coauthor
Supports our men and women of law enforcement by creating a program that helps abate the cost of bulletproof vests for local police.
SB 16
Coauthor
Reduced the fee for obtaining a license to carry a handgun.
SB 24
Coauthor
Protects the First Amendment rights of religious leaders by prohibiting governmental entities from compelling them to divulge the contents of their sermons in civil proceedings.
SB 524
Author
Ensures the dignity of the deceased by increasing penalties for the atrocious crime of abusing a corpse. This legislation was brought to me by constituents, stemming from a criminal case in Tarrant County that directly affected their family members. I was honored to work with them to get this passed.
SB 740; SB 741; SB 742
Coauthor
Strengthens the private property rights of Texas by constraining local governments’ eminent domain authority and ensuring citizens have more protections against an abusive taking.
SB 975
Author
Requires any future privately-operated high-speed rail system to comply with a minimum framework of safety standards to benefit rail users and Texans situated near the rail site.
SB 1893
Joint Author
Added two additional Regional Presiding Administrative Judges, for a total of eleven serving the entire state. These Administrative Judges appoint visiting judges who hear cases in circumstances where a normally elected judicial officer has chosen to recuse him, or herself or absence occurs. They also perform other court administering functions. Texas’ growth made nine regions too large and unworkable. The additional judges ease the administrative workload, which better serves Texans.
SB 1542
Sponsor
Reduces the strain on Texas’ foster care system by affording foster care authorities the option of placing children in cottage home settings. This was particularly needed for foster care cases with multiple siblings to keep the siblings from being separated.