Move to attach Campus Carry to the Texas Open Carry Bill

 The group "Students for Concealed Carry on Campus" is organizing a call to have campus carry added to the open carry bill, HB 910 now being debated in the Texas Senate.    Their proposal would attach the Senate version of campus carry, SB11 to the bill.  They have 20 Senators that they are asking people to email.  From their facebook page:

Please send an email to these twenty members of the Texas Senate, telling them you want to see House Bill 910 (open carry) amended to include Senator Birdwell’s campus carry language. You don’t have to email each member individually; you can email all twenty at once. The email can be as simple as this:

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Dear Members of the Texas Senate:

I wish to see Texas House Bill 910 (open carry) amended to include Senator Birdwell’s campus carry language.

Thank you,

FULL NAME
ADDRESS (if you live in Texas)
PHONE NUMBER (if you live in Texas)

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Here is the email list:

paul.bettencourt@senate.state.tx.us
brian.birdwell@senate.state.tx.us
konni.burton@senate.state.tx.us
donna.campbell@senate.state.tx.us
brandon.creighton@senate.state.tx.us
kevin.eltife@senate.state.tx.us
craig.estes@senate.state.tx.us
troy.fraser@senate.state.tx.us
bob.hall@senate.state.tx.us
kelly.hancock@senate.state.tx.us
don.huffines@senate.state.tx.us
joan.huffman@senate.state.tx.us
lois.kolkhorst@senate.state.tx.us
jane.nelson@senate.state.tx.us
robert.nichols@senate.state.tx.us
charles.perry@senate.state.tx.us
charles.schwertner@senate.state.tx.us
kel.seliger@senate.state.tx.us
larry.taylor@senate.state.tx.us
van.taylor@senate.state.tx.us
ltgconstituent.affairs@ltgov.state.tx.us

NOTE: Some people are mistakenly claiming that this amendment would force HB 910 to go to a conference committee, where it might run out of time and die. In reality a conference committee is only necessary if either the bill’s author or the originating chamber disagrees with an amendment added by the opposite chamber. Because Rep. Larry Phillips, the author of HB 910, supports a campus carry amendment and because a majority of the House supports campus carry, the House will be able to approve the amendment with a simple concurrence vote. Concurrence votes do not have to be scheduled (the author can call for one at any time), cannot be debated (can’t be filibustered), only have to be voted on once, and only require a simple majority to pass. The Texas Legislature has an entire day (this session it is May 29) when all they do is concur in opposite-chamber amendments; therefore, there is very little chance of a friendly amendment killing HB 910.

Some people have also expressed concern that the House parliamentarian might declare a campus carry amendment non-germane, thereby prompting the chair to disallow a concurrence vote. This is not a concern because the House parliamentarian has already declared the amendment germane to HB 910. When HB 910 was debated on the House Floor, Rep. Allen Fletcher (the House author of campus carry) offered his and Senator Birdwell’s campus carry language as an amendment. Another representative called a point of order, claiming that the amendment is not germane, but the parliamentarian declared that it is germane, and the chair overruled the point of order. Rep. Fletcher then pulled down the amendment (for reasons that shouldn’t concern anyone here), but the important takeaway is that the House parliamentarian has already declared Senator Birdwell’s campus carry language germane to HB 910.

For more information on why Students for Concealed Carry supports the legalization of licensed concealed carry (of handguns) on Texas college campuses, visit www.WhyCampusCarry.com.

 Procedurally, this is a fairly easy move.  It could work, as there is broad support for both bills in both houses, and Governor Abbott has said that he will sign them.

 ©2015  by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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