Wednesday, March 6, 2019 25th Day

1 HOUSE JOURNAL. EIGHTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, REGULAR SESSION. PROCEEDINGS. TWENTY-FIFTH DAY WEDNESDAY, March 6, 2019. The house met at 10:02 and was called to order by the speaker. The roll of the house was called and a quorum was announced present (Recordi46). Present Mr. Speaker(C); Allen; Allison; Anchia; Anderson; Ashby;. Beckley; Bell, C.; Bell, K.; Bernal; Biedermann; Blanco; Bohac; Bonnen;. Bowers; Buckley; Bucy; Burns; Burrows; Button; Cain; Calanni; Canales;. Capriglione; Clardy; Cole; Coleman; Collier; Cortez; Craddick; Cyrier; Darby;. Davis, S.; Davis, Y.; Dean; Deshotel; Dominguez; Dutton; Farrar; Fierro; Flynn;. Frank; Frullo; Geren; Gervin-Hawkins; Goldman; Gonza lez, J.; Gonza lez, M.;. Goodwin; Guerra; Guillen; Gutierrez; Harless; Harris; Hefner; Hernandez.

2 Herrero; Hinojosa; Holland; Howard; Huberty; Hunter; Israel; Johnson, E.;. Johnson, ; Johnson, ; Kacal; King, K.; King, P.; King, T.; Klick; Krause;. Kuempel; Lambert; Landgraf; Lang; Larson; Leach; Leman; Longoria; Lozano;. Lucio; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; Metcalf; Meyer; Meza; Middleton; Miller;. Minjarez; Moody; Morrison; Mun oz; Murphy; Murr; Neave; Neva rez; Noble;. Oliverson; Ortega; Pacheco; Paddie; Parker; Patterson; Paul; Perez; Phelan; Price;. Ramos; Raney; Raymond; Reynolds; Rodriguez; Romero; Rose; Rosenthal;. Sanford; Schaefer; Shaheen; Sheffield; Sherman; Shine; Smithee; Springer;. Stephenson; Stickland; Stucky; Swanson; Talarico; Thierry; Thompson, E.;. Thompson, S.; Tinderholt; Toth; Turner, C.; Turner, J.

3 ; VanDeaver; Vo; Walle;. White; Wilson; Wray; Wu; Zedler; Zerwas; Zwiener. Absent Bailes; Smith. The invocation was offered by Mark Hughes, pastor, Greater Life Church, Webster, as follows: Eternal God and our refuge, we pause before engaging in the business of the hour to acknowledge our need of you, to seek your guidance and help for the duties of the day. Save this moment from being a mere nod to formality or custom, and make it significant to the outcome of today. We are grateful for our rich heritage, to forefathers, which reside even today as witnessing spirits over the activities of these chambers. May we ever be attentive to our freedoms, forged by patriots on the anvil of sacrifice and service, so that their sacrifices and service be not made in vain.

4 Save us from the pride that cannot acknowledge our accountability to the past and the blindness that does not see our responsibilities to the future of our liberties. Direct the wise and noble members of this house into the best paths and policies to pursue for the welfare of our families and our futures. Help us filter through the rhetoric and the divisive nature of our debates 564 86th LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION. and divine a better way. Let us act in ways so that those who look to this place have a stronger faith in our system of government. May we not be so deafened by our politics that we cannot hear the heart of reason or the voice of wisdom, neither so panicked by the problems before us that we fail to act resolutely in the faith of mankind.

5 Make it clear to all of us what is the right thing to do. Let our want of answers press us ever toward you. Give us the grace to lay aside rancor for reconciliation, acrimony for agreement, grievances for goodwill, lest their corrosive acids devour our peace and destroy our hopes. Give us a new spirit, a fresh vision, a new hope for our labors. Let love speak in this chamber today love of country, love of state, love of our freedoms, love of peace, love of people lest we should become "forgers of lies and physicians of no value." May an evidence of your presence be felt in the debate and decisions made. In every chamber, at every desk, let the whisper of your counsel be heard. In Jesus 'name we pray. Amen. The chair recognized Representative Middleton who led the house in the pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags.

6 MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE. A message from the senate was received at this time (see the addendum to the daily journal, Messages from the Senate, Message No. 1). (Smith now present). (Zerwas in the chair). CAPITOL PHYSICIAN. The chair recognized Representative Israel who presented Kravitz of Austin as the "Doctor for the Day.". The house welcomed Dr. Kravitz and thanked him for his participation in the Physician of the Day Program sponsored by the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. ADDRESS BY REPRESENTATIVE BIEDERMANN. The chair recognized Representative Biedermann who addressed the house, speaking as follows: This is a tribute to the Alamo. Remember, today is the day that the battle took place. So today is the 183rd anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo.

7 In the early morning hours of Marchi6, 1836, the Mexican forces surrounded the Alamo and made their final assault. By 6:30 , all the defenders were dead. Before the battle, Travis sent a letter to the people of Texas and all Americans in the world. His letter said: "The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or Wednesday, March 6, 2019 HOUSE JOURNAL 25th Day 565. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to 3,000 or 4,000 in four or five I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country.

8 Victory or Death.". Colonel William Travis asked Jim Bowie, So Jim, what are you fighting for? And Jim responded, To be like an American, where the people own the government. You see, Santa Ana thinks he owns the people. I don t' like being owned, and I m ' kind of particular about that thing. Well, we all should be particular about that kind of thing here in the legislature. And once again there s' a battle for the Alamo, and once again it is about a controlling government and its people. The first battle was fought by 181 defenders standing against government tyranny. Today, the battle should be fought by 181 Texas legislators to honor the men who sacrificed their lives for Texas independence. Will we stand up and fight to defend the Alamo?

9 The defenders stood up for us. Are we going to stand up for them? Don t' move the cenotaph, the monument to our defenders. God bless Texas. HR 736 - ADOPTED. (by Rose). Representative Rose moved to suspend all necessary rules to take up and consider at this time HRi736. The motion prevailed. The following resolution was laid before the house: HR 736, In memory of Barbara Joyce Parker Williams of Dallas. HR 736 was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. On motion of Representative Geren, the names of all the members of the house were added to HRi736 as signers thereof. (Goldman in the chair). HR 100 - ADOPTED. (by T. King). Representative T. King moved to suspend all necessary rules to take up and consider at this time HRi100.

10 The motion prevailed. The following resolution was laid before the house: HR 100, In memory of Bernard Duane Baker of Hondo. HR 100 was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. On motion of Representative Raymond, the names of all the members of the house were added to HRi100 as signers thereof. 566 86th LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION. HR 620 - ADOPTED. (by Harless). Representative Harless moved to suspend all necessary rules to take up and consider at this time HRi620. The motion prevailed. The following resolution was laid before the house: HR 620, In memory of Narda Rignault Martin of Spring. HR 620 was read and was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. On motion of Representative Toth, the names of all the members of the house were added to HRi620 as signers thereof.