On the evening of December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty in Boston implemented the famous Boston Tea Party.

The action of pro-liberty forces against the property of a private corporation, the British East India Company has much relevance, today.  It has special relevance to Texans as we approach the 88^th Texas Legislative session where we will try to stop violations of the natural and unalienable rights of Texans by private corporations.  The framers knew that it was not just government, but also private actors that can violate our rights.  And they had no problem with directing action against private corporations when those corporations were threatening their liberty.

The Boston Tea Party was another resistance in a series of attempts by the British Crown and its beneficiaries to rule Americans.  The Americans insisted that they had the right to self-government.

The battles began with the Stamp Act in 1765.  Sons of Liberty chapters sprung up all over the colonies and not a penny of stamp tax was collected due to resistance.  The Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, but replaced it with the Declaratory Act, stating that the Parliament “had hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America . . . in all cases whatsover.”  They had to show those peasants in America who was boss, don’t you know.

The Parliament followed up in 1767 with the Townshend Acts in 1767, imposing duties on a good number of products imported into the colonies.  The resistance in the form of smuggling and boycotts caused such losses for British merchants, that the Townshend duties were repealed in 1770.  All except one, that is – the duty on tea.  The Parliament still had to show who was boss.

Effective resistance continued against the duty on tea, so Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773 granting the British East India Company monopoly powers on tea to the colonies and a cut of the duties it raised for the Crown, thereby making it not only the only legal vendor, but the lowest cost vendor, to boot.

More boycotts and resistance ensued, setting up the Boston Tea Party, where Sons of Liberty men dressed as Indians, dumped the British East India Company tea from three ships into the harbor.

Parliament reacted to the Boston Tea Party with what the colonies called the Intolerable Acts, which quartered troops in Boston, shut down the harbor of Boston, and contained other punishments for Massachusetts.  By August 26, 1774, the Massachusetts patriots passed a stirring document of resistance called the Suffolk Resolves that presaged the Declaration of Independence.  By April of 1775, the American Revolution had sparked in Lexington and Concord outside Boston.

We are in our own struggle for self-government against globalists who want to reverse the victories of the American Revolution and return to an oligarchy where they rule and we are serfs serving them.  If I have anything to do with it, Texas will continue our resistance in 2023 to those globalists and their Great Reset.

This week could go down in Texas and American history as the week the tide turned in the global advance of tyranny into Texas.

I have often wondered what issue would be the flash point to activate Texans to draw a line in the stand and tell the collectivists and the cronies and the globalists that they will advance no further in taking the liberties of Texas.

We have now seen the issue that has mobilized Texans to take the stand – federal vaccine mandates.

A combination of pressure on the governor by the voters, the grassroots, the State Republican Executive Committee and lots of voters, the grassroots, and the cancellation of large numbers flights by Southwest Airlines caused the governor to realize that great damage is being done to the lives, businesses, and economy of Texas by the collision of two forces:

1) the 10 to 20% of the workforce of Texas that is willing to be fired from their jobs to not take the jab; and

2) the president of the United States declared intention to dictate that different sets of Texas employers be fined if they do not do the dirty work for the feds and fire employees who decline the jab.

The problem for employers is that if they agree to do the dirty work of the feds, they lose the best of their work-force and their ability to meet the needs of their customers.

Texas businesses and employers are already suffering from supply-chain shortages, making it difficult for them to do business. What many are realizing this week – certainly the governor is realizing it - is that when most Texas businesses lose 10 to 20% of their brightest employees, the economy of Texas will tank even more, causing untold billions in damage to our economy, our supply chain, and destroying even more lives, livelihoods, and fortunes in Texas.

If you have read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, this is a real world playing out of “Going Galt” in 21st century Texas.

This is an inflection point in the history of Texas and America. The words of Samuel Adams come to mind, and perfectly fit this time:

If we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom. It is a very serious consideration that millions yet unborn may be miserable sharers of the event.

This afternoon and evening, October 13, 2021, the House State Affairs heard testimony on the bill Chair Chris Paddie chose to address the governor’s call on stopping COVID vax mandates. The portion of the hearing I heard told me that many of the old school legislators, especially Chris Paddie and the very vocal Democrats on the State Affairs Committee do not understand that we are not in a business as usual situation. The hired lobbyists of the business interests in Texas, especially the health care industry was lockstep in the notion that they were willing to violate the rights of Texans to avoid trouble from the feds, but clearly not understanding that the workers of Texas make it where they CANNOT do the dirty work of the feds and remain unscathed.

Texas businesses are damned if they do the dirty work of the federal government because they lose their ability to do business. And they are damned if the resist the federal government – at least they think they are.

I once had the executive of a top American corporation that he had learned that if you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t, you are strangely empowered to do the right thing. And if you do the right thing and persuade others of the moral strength of your vision, you are more likely to win and get out of the dilemma.

In case you did not know it, Texas businesses and managers, the right thing to do in this situation is to fight the feds to stop them from telling you how to run your business.

And our Texas legislators right now, need to hear from all of us that the right thing for them to do is 1) to stop Texas employers from violating the unalienable rights of Texas workers to decline vaccination; and 2) to stop the feds from violating the rights of Texas businesses and Texas workers via any type of vaccination mandates.

Let us address the unalienable right to decline vaccination first. We are blessed in America with a document that tells us the fundamental principles upon which we are founded – the Declaration of Independence. It says that we “are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights” and that governments – especially our governments – are instituted to “secure these rights.”

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary tells us that unalienable means “that may not be transferred.” In other words, unalienable rights cannot be bargained away. An unalienable right is violated if a contract is made that requires that the right be transferred away in exchange for something else.

The framers also believed that private actors could violate rights as much as government. And they saw their role as securing rights from both private and governmental actors.

When it comes to real and personal property, being able to exchange it honors the right. The right to property is alienable. But rights having to do with bodily autonomy are unalienable. Rights like the right against involuntary servitude, the right against sexual harassment, the right against cruel and inhuman punishment all are unalienable, and employers are prohibited from violating those rights in Texas.

The right to decline vaccination falls solidly in line with those other unalienable rights, and it is the violation of the right to decline vaccination that is causing the problems for Texans and our economy. Benito Juarez said, “the basis of peace is the respect for rights.” No justice, no peace. There are sufficient numbers of Texans now, that our economy will back in the saddle until the feds (and Texas employers) stop the war on the unalienable rights of Texans.

HB 155 by Tom Oliverson, heard October 13 in State Affairs says that no Texas establishment (private or governmental) may not require a COVID-19 vaccination “to enter or gain access to, receive a service from, or be employed by” that establishment. He put a private right of action in court against establishments violating this statute that allows “injunctive or equitable relief or for compensatory or punitive damages.” His bill actually allows employer mandates, but requires them to accommodate exceptions for natural immunity, medical reasons, religious or conscience reasons. He thinks that by carving out exemptions in Texas law, that the feds, when they actually get around to formulating the rules to implement the president’s dictates, will allow those exemptions in Texas law.

During the hearing, we heard the lobbyists say that businesses don’t want mandates from either Texas or the feds, but they were opposed to the bill because they figured resistance is futile against the federal government. We heard medical service providers say that they fear that the new conditions put into Medicare and Medicaid mean that stopping them from getting paid by those federal programs.

We heard Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) say that Texas workers would just abuse the enforcement provisions of the lawsuit to shake down Texas businesses, so no protection of the unalienable right should even be attempted. (By that TLR "logic", we should get rid of laws against employers discriminating on race and sexual harassment.)

We heard soon-to-be-retired Chair Paddie express reservations about the bill. He also expressed that he did not see why we needed to act quickly.

In other words, the establishment of Texas thinks this is business as usual.

The people of Texas and the governor know it is NOT business as usual.

It appears to me that the legislature, especially the State Affairs Committees of both the House and the Senate and especially Chair Chris Paddie of the House State Affairs need to hear from you that this is NOT business as usual. That the Texas economy and the lives of Texans are being destroyed NOW. And we need action to stop the rights violations by employers and the tyranny by the feds NOW. And that we respectfully ask them to vote FOR HB 155.

At the end of the evening, Rep. Oliverson said that he would modify the bill in hopes of getting more support from the State Affairs Chair, the State Affairs Committee, and the House as a whole. Revise penalties in lawsuits. Work on conscience exemption. Work with healthcare industry to carve out exceptions for businesses that serve immuno-compromised patients.

Note that whether a bill passes in the next week or not, I think that Texas worker resistance will make compliance painful to both the employers, the Texas economy, to the feds, and to our military readiness. If the state legislature will not help us, we move to the counties, including our county prosecutors using the Texas Official Oppression Act (Texas Penal Code 39.03) to prosecute federal agents who try to enforce the federal mandates. That will further stop the feds from messing with Texas employers and Texans in general.

On August 26, 1774, the leaders of Suffolk County, Massachusetts (which included Boston) and surrounding counties gathered at what they called the Suffolk County Convention of the Committees of Correspondence to discuss what to do about the dire situation facing them.

The situation indeed was dire.  Ever since the end of what the Americans called the French and Indian War in 1763, the Parliament and King in Britain had been trying to repay their debts for the war from taxes collected in America and more importantly to deny the self-governance of the colonies, exerting their absolute power to tax and regulate the people of the colonies in America.

This history of Massachusetts from 1765 through 1774 was a series of British taxes and liberty deprivations, each resisted by the colonists, resulting in brief respites only to see another round of tyranny spring up again.  Each worse than the last.

It went from the Stamp Act in 1765 to the Townshend Acts in 1767, to military occupation of Boston in 1768, to the Boston Massacre in 1770, to the Tea Act of 1773, leading to the Boston Tea Party.

In response, the empire really struck back, passing from March to June of 1774, multiple laws to deny liberty to the colonists.  The Brits called them the Coercive Acts.  (Evidently, they had not figured out how to lie with the name of legislation, yet.)  The colonists called them the Intolerable Acts.

The Intolerable Acts closed the port of Boston until the colonists reimbursed the British East India Company for the tea dumped during the Tea Party.  They revoked the charter under which Massachusetts was formed and put Massachusetts directly under the dictatorial control of the British government.  All local leaders were to be appointed by the colonial governor, parliament, or the king.  They moved any trials of governmental officials out of Massachusetts back to England.

The convention was a discussion about what to do about the Intolerable Acts.  The people of Massachusetts, especially of Boston and Suffolk County were living under a military dictatorship.  They were denied a substantial part of their previous livelihoods, and the leaders were increasingly facing the prospect of being arrested for speaking out against the deprivation of the liberty of the people.

On September 6, 1774, Dr. Joseph Warren introduced a draft of resolves for the convention.  By September 9, the Suffolk Resolves were completed and approved and rapidly circulated around the colonies.  By September 17, the First Continental Congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves.

The Suffolk Resolves were a wonderful mix of statement of first principles, an explanation of why they were acting, and detailed acts of resistance planned.

The Suffolk Resolves were essentially constitutional enforcement.  They declared the Intolerable Acts to be violations of the natural rights, the British Constitution, and an illegitimate assault on their own local government’s foundational document – the Massachusetts Charter.  And then they said how they were going to resist.

While maintaining the fiction that the king was unaware of the acts of his ministers and Parliament so that they could profess allegiance to the king, the authors of the Suffolk Resolves made it VERY clear that they would not submit to rule by Parliament or the king that violated natural rights, the British Constitution, or their basic colonial charter.

When you stand up to a bully, what happens next depends on the bully.  He can back down . . . or he can double down.  Bully George III was not going to back down.  He doubled down by instructing the colonial governor of Massachusetts to clamp down hard on the colonists and their leaders, sending more troops and three highly respected generals to help in the crackdown.

That, of course led to Lexington and Concord and the battle of Breed’s Hill in which the author of the Suffolk Resolves, Dr. Joseph Warren gave his life for our liberty.

Here is a link to the text of the Suffolk Resolves.  It is well worth every American’s time to read the stirring, clarion call for liberty by those who stood and fought for our liberty.

Here are my favorite parts, partly because they challenge us to think about our own dire situation, and what we should do:

Preamble:  Whereas the power but not the justice, the vengeance but not the wisdom, of Great Britain, which of old persecuted, scourged and exiled our fugitive parents from their native shores, now pursues us, their guiltless children, with unrelenting severity; and whereas, this then savage and uncultivated desert was purchased by the toil and treasure, or acquired by the valor and blood, of those our venerable progenitors, who bequeathed to us the dear — bought inheritance, who consigned it to our care and protection, – the most sacred obligations are upon us to transmit the glorious purchase, unfettered by power, unclogged with shackles, to our innocent and beloved offspring.

On the fortitude, on the wisdom, and on the exertions of this important day is suspended the fate of this New World, and of unborn millions.  If a boundless extent of continent, swarming with millions, will tamely submit to live, move, and have their being at the arbitrary will of a licentious minister, they basely yield to voluntary slavery; and future generations shall load their memories with incessant execrations.

On the other hand, if we arrest the hand which would ransack our pockets; if we disarm the parricide who points the dagger to our bosoms; if we nobly defeat that fatal edict which proclaims a power to frame laws for us in all cases whatsoever, thereby entailing the endless and numberless curses of slavery upon us, our heirs and their heirs forever; if we successfully resist that unparalleled usurpation of unconstitutional power, whereby our capital is robbed of the means of life; whereby the streets of Boston are thronged with military executioners; whereby our coasts are lined, and harbors crowded with ships of war; whereby the charter of the colony, that sacred barrier against the encroachments of tyranny, is mutilated, and in effect annihilated; whereby a murderous law is framed to shelter villains from the hands of justice; whereby that unalienable and inestimable inheritance, which we derived from nature, the consti­tution of Britain, which was covenanted to us in the charter of the province, is totally wrecked, annulled and vacated, – posterity will acknowledge that virtue which preserved them free and happy; and, while we enjoy the rewards and blessings of the faithful, the torrent of panegyric will roll down our reputations to that latest period, when the streams of time shall be absorbed in the abyss of eternity.

(OK, I admit it.  I had to look up “parricide” which is a person who kills his relatives.  They were deliberately pointing out that Americans were the kin of the British and how wrong the Brits were to be treating the Americans so.  And, I had to look up “panegyric,” which is elaborate praise, usually at a festal meetings.)

These are my favorite of the resolves:

Resolve 2: That it is an indispensable duty which we owe to God, our country, ourselves, and posterity, by all lawful ways and means in our power, to maintain, defend, and preserve those civil and religious rights and liberties for which many of our fathers fought, bled, and died, and to hand them down entire to future generations.

Resolve 3: That the late Acts of the British Parliament for blocking up the harbor of Boston, and for altering the established form of government in this colony, and for screening the most flagitious violators of the laws of the province from a legal trial, are gross infractions of those rights to which we are justly entitled by the laws of nature, the British Constitution, and the charter of the province.

Resolve 4:  That no obedience is due from this province to either or any part of the Acts above mentioned; but that they be rejected as the attempts of a wicked Administration to enslave America.

Resolve 11:  That whereas our enemies have flattered themselves that they shall make an easy prey of this numerous, brave, and hardy people, from an apprehension that they are unacquainted with military discipline, we therefore, for the honor, defense, and security of this county and province, advise, as it has been recommended to take away all commissions from the officers of the militia, that those who now hold commissions, or such other persons, be elected in each town as officers in the militia as shall be judged of sufficient capacity for that purpose, and who have evidenced themselves the inflexible friends to the rights of the people.; and that the inhabitants of those towns and districts who are qualified, do use their utmost diligence to acquaint themselves with the art of war as soon as possible, and do for that purpose appear under arms at least once every week. (This led to the creation of the Minutemen that played such an important role seven months later.)

Note that this meme is not a direct quote of Warren or the Suffolk Resolves.  It is, rather, a wonderful, pithy summary of them that I discovered in the highly recommended and wonderful work of historical fiction called “The Adversaries: A Story of Boston and Bunker Hill” by Ned Ryan.

Texas is watching this legislative session to see whether our legislature will insure that the tyranny in the name of COVID that Texans endured this last year will never again be repeated in Texas.

Texans do not believe the big lie perpetrated by the establishment that dictatorial power saves lives during a pandemic.  We know that dictatorial command and control destroys lives and livelihoods and it kills people.  We know that freedom provides Texans the flexibility to adapt to what nature throws us.  Freedom allows us to take the risks we want in light of our own circumstances, life goals, and risk tolerances and it allows us all to maximize the happiness for ourselves and our families.

We want our government to surge resources where they are needed during a disaster and to provide information to us so that we can make decisions for our families that we think will best help them survive and thrive.

We recognize that the Texas Constitution does not allow dictatorial action during emergencies.  We understand – as the framers of the Texas Bill of Rights understood -- that if bad actors in government think they can gain complete control of us during emergencies, they will manufacture emergencies to get that control.

If there is a watchword for where we go in the future, it has to be, “A government’s GOT to know its limitations.”

We know that the Texas Bill of Rights is a list of limitations on government power during an emergency.  We liked the first sentence written by the Texas Supreme Court on those limitations as COVID progressed, “The Constitution is not suspended when the government declares a state of disaster.”  But we were disgusted when that very court has used procedural dodges to allow the executive branch at multiple levels to violate numerous provisions of the Texas Bill of Rights during this last year.

So, how are we supposed to fix this for the future?  The legislative answer lies primarily in what we do about modifying the statute called the Texas Disaster Act (Chapter 418 of the Texas Government Code), which the executives in Texas at the state, county, and municipal levels claimed was a delegation of power to them by the legislature during a disaster.

Two issues not mentioned often enough are: 1) the executives seized power way beyond that delegated by the Texas Disaster Act, and 2) the executives seized power that violated the natural rights of Texans protected by the Texas Bill of Rights.  The whole idea of natural rights and the protection of them in Bills of Rights is that NO actor in government can violate them.  In other words, delegation of the power to violate the rights of Texans to an executive is not the legislature’s to give.

The Texas Disaster Act is a delegation of power during disasters to executives to take immediate action needed to protect the lives and property of Texans.  But, because we know that the list of limitations in the Texas Bill of Rights tends to be ignored and not protected during disasters, we must add more clear, written limitations in the Texas Disaster Act’s delegation of power.  If that means we have to write in some of the limitations in the Bill of Rights into the Texas Disaster Act, so be it.  Obviously, when it comes to limiting government, you have to repeat yourself to be heard.

So, what limitations do we need to explicitly write into the Texas Disaster Act for the future?  Consider this to be the wish list for what legislation we need to see come out of this legislative session:

• Lockdowns never again – they destroy livelihoods and dreams and fortunes and violate the natural right to earn a living, assemble, and due course of law.
• Government should never intrude between a patient and a health care provider or presume to privilege patients with one disease over another – how many people died from lack of treatment for cancer and other diseases due to ham-handed efforts to open up beds in hospitals for COVID?
• Don’t mess with Texas churches – never again violate the rights of Texans to worship or assemble.
• Don’t mess with Texas firearms or firearms availability.
• No mandatory vaccinations – the natural and unalienable right to refuse vaccinations should not be infringed. Unalienable rights cannot be bargained away, and therefore vaccinations cannot be made a condition of employment, travel, education, governmental service, etc.
• No mask mandates by government – mask mandates falsely presume individuals to be guilty of being a threat to others without even a chance of proving innocence, thereby violating the most fundamental premise of due course of law. They are based on junk science and do not work, and Texas government should never again foist this placebo, feel-good sham on the public.
• No creation of tort liability by government bureaucrats – make sure that it is very clear that a bureaucrat’s opinions about what is best do not become a duty in Texas tort law that must be complied with to avoid civil liability.
• If legislators are going to delegate power to the executive to suspend laws, guidance as to limits and purpose must be included in the delegation – Art. 1, Sec. 28 only allows the legislature to suspend laws. If that clause of the Texas Bill of Rights means anything, it must mean that any delegation has guidance and limitations.
• Open ended criminal penalties in the Texas Disaster Act must be removed altogether or any penalties therein assigned to specific acts – defining a criminal penalty and allowing a future dictator to make up any act he or she wants use the punishment on is a quintessential violation of the Article 2 separation of powers provision of the Texas Disaster Act.
• State agencies should not be turned into armed, enforcement officers for executive edicts in the future.

If these limitations are added to the Texas Disaster Act, the worries about a governor becoming a dictator will be far less.  But there is one more structural change needed to procure liberty for our posterity.  We need to get the legislature quickly involved in decision making in widespread disasters.

So where are we so far this session in progress toward this vision?

SB 1025 by Senator Birdwell has passed the Senate and is now in the House State Affairs Committee.  It does a number of things, the most significant of which is that it insures that executive action will never again create lockdowns in Texas.  It also implements a proposed constitutional amendment to require legislative action to extend widespread disasters (or emergencies) beyond 30 days.

SJR 45 by Senator Birdwell is the proposed constitutional amendment that requires legislative approval to extend a widespread disaster or emergency beyond 30 days.  Constitutional amendments require 2/3 approval in both chambers and a vote of the people.  The governor has no say in the process of amending the Texas Constitution.  I expect that the House will provide an overwhelming bi-partisan vote for this proposed amendment.  It passed the Senate with only one vote in opposition.

Companion bills SB 18 (Brandon Creighton) and HB 1500 (Cole Hefner) have passed their respective chambers with only a small difference in wording between them.  They limit future executives from messing with guns, gun sales, and shooting ranges in future disasters.

Companion bills SB 26 (Angela Paxton) and HB 1239 (Scott Sanford) limit future executives from closing or limiting the capacity of places of worship.

HB 3 was planned by House leadership to be an omnibus bill limiting executive overreach, but despite its limitations on firearms and religious gatherings and an attempt to address civil liability, the grassroots viewed it as a bill that ratified and codified what happened, falling far short of what was needed to prevent future executives from engaging in tyrannical acts.  The outcry about HB 3 was so great, that the consensus at the Capitol is that it is dead.  Therefore other vehicles will be used to achieve limitations on future executives during disasters.

So, how do we get more than just a call of the legislature after 30 days of widespread emergencies, and limitation on lockdowns, firearms restrictions, and infringement on religious liberty?

Most political players realize that the only legislative vehicle where additional limitations can be added as amendments is SB 1025 as it moves through the House.  The firearms and religious liberty bills are single topic bills that make amendment under parliamentary rules difficult.  Only SB 1025 is broad enough in scope to allow amendment at this stage of the game.

As of this writing, Senator Birdwell has not yet found a House sponsor to steward SB 1025 through the House.  I am told that he expects to negotiate that by the middle to end of next week (April 23).

It is time to start talking to motivated House members or the House sponsor to prepare amendments for SB 1025.  I certainly plan to do that!  An engaged grassroots still has the ability to improve that bill to get us to what we need to protect the liberty of our posterity in Texas.

Tom Glass

Texas Constitutional Enforcement

www.txce.org

After listening to the Texas House State Affairs Committee testimony about Committee Substitute HB 3 on March 11, 2021, I will be submitting on behalf of the Texas Constitutional Enforcement eight listed amendments below.

Click here for current CSHB 3 text.  Click here for a PDF version of the proposed amendments below.  Click here to see the archived video of the hearing.  The layout, discussion, and testimony began at about the 2:20 timestamp and goes for well over 6 hours.  The citizen testimony began around time stamp 5:39.  My testimony can be found at time stamp 5:52.  These amendments address my comments and the testimony of others.

A lot of the discussion focused on how to get the legislature involved to reign in the governor or other executives if they become dictatorial.  I came up with my best solution on that in Amendment 7.  But I realized that most of the destruction wrought in 2020 was because there were not enough explicit limitations on the delegation of power to the executive in the original Texas Disaster Act.  Most of these amendments fix that problem by insuring that future executives will not think they have the power to become dictators or violate the natural rights of Texans as they assist our health professionals cope with increased demand.

Amendment 1 – Prohibition of Command and Control Interference Between Patient and Doctor 

Idea:  Many people testified about how the edicts by the governor to health care facilities to stop “elective” surgery in an attempt to free up space for anticipated COVID patients had the effect of causing deaths from other diseases like cancer that could have been avoided if not for the edict.  Sadly, it has been reported that many health institutions lost money due to these edicts because COVID demand did not materialize and desperately needed resources went un-utilized.

The irony of this action is that while the propaganda was telling people to trust the experts, the government denied health care professionals with the most medical training and experience as well as the knowledge of the demand situation on the ground to make the decisions they were best suited and situated to make.

The medical profession is trained to handle triage in high demand situations.  Command and control in such situations kills people.  Government’s role in high demand situation is to help surge resources – including personnel, housing, and PPE to meet demand.  If it tries to manage demand or privilege those with one disease over another, the deaths it causes can be higher than that caused by the pandemic.

Government can legitimately help surge resources to meet demand for health care services, but it cannot legitimately or effectively tell health care service providers how to do handle a surge in demand, or impose dictatorial restrictions of natural rights in an attempt reduce demand for health care services.

Suggested Amendment:  In Sec. 418A.004, add the following limitation:

(11)  permit any governmental official to instruct a health care facility or professional to give preference for one patient or disease over another or defer treatment to some to free space for others.  Triage in high demand for health services is the responsibility of the provider, not government.

Amendment 2 – Prohibition on criminal penalties with blank-check crime definition

Idea:  If Article 2, the Separation of Powers provision of the Texas Constitution, means anything, it means that the executive cannot define the criminal act via executive order to which a statutorily pre-defined criminal penalty is applied.  Combining the definition of a crime with the enforcement of that crime into one branch is a quintessential violation of separation of powers.

Saying that prohibition of an action to which a criminal penalty is attached is not a law, but has the “force and effect of law” is a deceptive sleight-of-hand.  A definition by an executive of prohibited action to which a criminal penalty is assigned is a rotten rose that by any name smells as foul.

No open-ended criminal penalties should be included in either HB 3 or the original Texas Disaster Act.

Removing the open-ended criminal penalties from HB 3 and the Texas Disaster Act will do more to stop future tyranny than any other legislative action.

Suggested Amendment:

1. Strike in its entirety, Sec. 418A.151 – PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH PANDEMIC COMPONENTS OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN

2.      Strike in its entirety, Sec. 418.173 - PENALTY FOR VIOLATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN.

Amendment 3 – Lockdowns Never Again 

Idea:  It is lockdowns that created the economic damage and destruction of livelihoods, life savings, businesses, and dreams of millions of Texans, destroying the Texas Miracle. Lockdowns are tyranny that violates the individual, natural rights protected in the Texas Bill of Rights that “shall forever remain inviolate.”  No branch of government, executive or legislative has the power to impose lockdowns. As such, any response to this past year must clearly and unambiguously prohibit future lockdowns. Looking back, statistics now show that the only thing lockdowns flattened were liberty, lives, livelihoods, and health care. 

Suggested Amendment:  In Sec. 418A.004, add the following limitation:

(12)  permit any governmental official to force a closure of the business or limit the capacity of use of a business.

 Amendment 4 – No Mask Mandates 

Idea:  Mask mandates violate due course of law as protected in Article 1, Section 19 of the Texas Constitution.  A fundamental principle of due course of law is presumption of innocence until guilt is proven.  Mask mandates presume everyone guilty of being a contagious threat to others, even though only small fractions of the population might be unknowingly dangerous to others.  Mask mandates build the presumption of guilt into the definition of the crime when there is no probable cause for such presumptions. Mask mandates are implemented in a way that disrespect many individual’s real inability to wear them. Mask mandates are based on junk science.  Although theories abound about why they help, the actual controlled tests of mask usage and actual statistical comparisons between similar demographic regions with different mask policies show no appreciable benefit from mask mandates, Mask mandates would never pass a scientific reliability causation challenge in a tort case in Texas. Mask wearing creates psychological and physical trauma in many. 

Suggested amendment:  In Sec. 418A.004, add the following limitation:

(13) permit any governmental official to impose mask mandates on the general public or fine businesses for not imposing mask mandates in their facilities. 

Amendment 5 – No forced vaccinations / immunizations 

Idea:  Every person has the natural, unalienable right to refuse vaccination.  Explicit prohibition of the power to force vaccination or make vaccination a condition of the provision of governmental service, travel, or employment should be included in the bill. 

Suggested amendment:  In Sec. 418A.004, add the following limitation: 

(14)  permit any governmental official to force any individual to be vaccinated or to make vaccination a condition of travel, employment, or provision of any governmental service. 

And, in Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 81.  Communicable Diseases, Subchapter E.  Control, Section 81.085 Area Quarantine; Criminal Penalty, Subsection (i) shall be stricken as follows:

(i)  On request of the department during a public health disaster, an individual shall disclose the individual's immunization information.  If the individual does not have updated or appropriate immunizations, the department may take appropriate action during a quarantine to protect that individual and the public from the communicable disease. 

Amendment 6 – No delegation of modification of election law to the Secretary of State

Idea:  Article 2, the Separation of Powers provision of the Texas Constitution prevents the legislature from delegating the power to modify election law to the Secretary of State.  It is bad enough to delegate such power to an elected governor.  It is even worse to delegate to an unelected executive.

Suggested Amendment:  Strike in its entirety, 418A.103.  LIMITATION ON ALTERATION OF VOTING PROCEDURES. 

And, in Sec. 418A.004, add the following limitation:

(15) delegate to any governmental official the authority to modify the Texas Election Code.

Amendment 7 – Extension of Pandemic Disaster Beyond 30 Days Requires Legislative Approval 

Idea:  Require legislative approval to extend a Pandemic Disaster beyond 30 days and prevent the call by the governor for a pandemic disaster that is the same or substantially similar to any declared disaster within the preceding 12 months. Stating this that simply forces the governor to call a special session under pre-existing rules if he thinks a Pandemic Disaster needs to be renewed or restarted for the same disease. This approach does not need a constitutional amendment and does not require a Pandemic Disaster Legislative Oversight Committee. 

Suggested Amendment:   Remove Section 1 (which creates the Pandemic Disaster Legislative Oversight Committee) of the current CSHB 3 in its entirety. And, replace Sec. 418A.053 with the following: 

Sec. 418A.053.  DECLARATION OF STATE OF PANDEMIC DISASTER.

(a)       The governor by executive order or proclamation may declare a state of pandemic disaster if the governor determines that a state of pandemic disaster is occurring in this state or that the occurrence or threat of a pandemic disaster is imminent, and may terminate the pandemic disaster via executive order or proclamation if the governor determines that it is no longer needed.

(b)       A state of pandemic disaster may not continue for more than 30 days unless renewed by the legislature.

(c)        The governor may not declare a state of pandemic disaster based on the same or substantially similar finding for which a state of pandemic disaster was declared within the preceding 12 months.

(d)       An executive order or proclamation issued under this section:

(1) must include:

(A) a description of the nature of the pandemic disaster;

(B) a designation of the areas affected or threatened; and

(C) a description of the conditions that caused the pandemic disaster or allowed the termination of the pandemic disaster; and

(2) must be posted on the Internet website of the governor ’s office and any state agency whose authority is affected by the order or proclamation.

(e) The governor shall:

(1) promptly disseminate an executive order or proclamation by any means intended to bring its contents to the attention of the public; and

(2) unless the circumstances related to the pandemic disaster prevent or impede the filing, promptly file the order or proclamation with:

(A) the division;

(B) the secretary of state; and

(C) the county clerk or municipal secretary in each  area  in  which  it  applies.

Amendment 8 – Explicitly state that a Pandemic Disaster does not create a new legal duty in a negligence claim 

Idea:  Prohibit anyone from thinking that the declaration of a pandemic disaster creates any new legal duty for a negligence claim. 

Suggested amendment:  In Sec. 418A.004, add the following limitation: 

(16)  create any new legal duty for a negligence claim.

This is another way of describing the mission of Texas Constitutional Enforcement.

Hat tip to Glenn Beck for coining the term. He came up with "Sanctuary State for the Bill of Rights," but we think it should be for the entire Constitution.

Mark Meckler, the founder and president of Convention of States (CoS), appeared on Glenn Beck on Monday, January 26, 2021, to discuss the progress of the application for a convention that CoS has been pushing (and that passed in Texas in 2017).

Mark told Glenn that 16 states of the necessary 34 have made the application so far. Glenn asked the question about how soon Mark expected the application to reach the 34 states that will trigger a convention, clearly expecting it to get done quickly. He was disappointed to hear that Mark did not expect the number to be completed until the end of 2024.

When asked, Mark blamed the John Birch Society for slowing the progress. He also said that only 31 state legislatures are GOP controlled, and that Democrat legislatures are less likely to pass the CoS application.

Toward the end of the interview, pretty obviously because he was hoping that CoS could be a solution to our short term tyranny problem, asked about turning states into "Sanctuary States for the Bill of Rights." He said his idea of that was that when the federal government was violating the Constitution, states would say, "We are not going to do that. We are just not." He worried that the feds would intimidate states into not doing that by withholding federal funds. Then he asked Mark Meckler what he thought about that as an interim solution until CoS kicked in.

Mark Meckler said he thought that was a fine idea!

For those of you who have been living in the trenches fighting for constitutional enforcement, you recognize that this is HUGE news. To my knowledge, Glenn Beck has never talked about our idea. It is fantastic that he is thinking about it, and I love the name he gives it. And, the other change, here, is that this is the first time I have heard a CoS leader acknowledge that they thought constitutional enforcement was constitutional. Historically, they have said that constitutional enforcement was illegitimate and that CoS was the ONLY way to stop the federal government from running roughshod over us.

Mark also mentioned his opposition to secession along the way, even though it is clear that he thinks the push for it very evident. His main objection to secession is that he does not think it can happen peacefully.

We in Texas Constitutional Enforcement will keep on preaching and advocating for the Lone Star State unilaterally enforcing the Constitution within its borders, using the Texas Sovereignty Act (HB 1215) as our flagship vehicle.

I hope that Glenn Beck figures out that the Texas Sovereignty Act is the mechanism by which Texas becomes a Sanctuary State for the Constitution and Bill of Rights!

Note that officially, this group does not take a position on CoS or secession. Our uniting principle is that we want our liberty protected, and we think that enforcing the U.S. Constitution against the feds (and the Texas Constitution against state officials) is the strategic way to win our liberty back. We have people in this group who support CoS and vehemently oppose it. We have people in this group who want to move quickly to secession and those who do not think that the prudent path to liberty yet. We recognize proponents of CoS and secession as people who share our passion for being free and consider them to be fellow travelers. We just prioritize constitutional enforcement as the quickest path to liberty.

As of January 20, 2021, the federal government is in the hands of those who would destroy the Constitution and the liberties of Texans.

Texans desperately need their elected officials to protect them from the coming tyrannical onslaught. 

Just in time, Representative Cecil Bell, Jr. has filed the Texas Sovereignty Act in the 87th Texas Legislative Session in the Texas House on January 20, 2021.  The bill number is HB 1215.

Summary of Texas Sovereignty Act
HB 1215

Basic Approach

Provide streamlined approach for the Texas legislature to formally declare that specific acts of the federal government are unconstitutional.  Creates a standing legislative committee to review federal actions for constitutionality.  The full legislature votes on declared unconstitutional acts and the governor reviews.  Federal actions subject to Texas review are legislation, regulations, executive orders, federal judicial orders or decisions, and treaty enforcement.

Once an act is declared unconstitutional, law enforcement can arrest and prosecute federal agents who attempt enforcement action under the color of declared unconstitutional acts under the Texas penal code, including explicitly, the Texas Official Oppression Act (Texas Penal Code 39.03).  While maintaining the ability of local district and county attorneys to prosecute, the attorney general is also given prosecutorial power to prosecute federal agents if a federal act has been declared unconstitutional.

Details 

• Explicitly states that this bill does not prohibit a public officer who has taken the oath from interposing to stop acts of the federal government which in the officer’s best understanding and judgment, violate the Constitution.
• Includes canons of construction guiding the analysis of the constitutionality of federal acts. The canons urge reliance on the text and structure of the Constitution and in cases of ambiguity, on sources that evidence original intent.
• Allows Texas citizens to seek an opinion about the constitutionality of a federal action in a Texas court.

Rationale

Our state and nation are dying because the federal government is violating the Constitution every day in many ways – and no one is stopping them.  The feds will never limit their own power.  Texans must honor their oaths to defend the Constitution, and stop federal action in Texas that violates the Constitution.  This requires the exercise of independent judgment about constitutional meaning, rejecting the notion that the federal judiciary is the sole or final arbiter of constitutional meaning.

This approach relies completely on Texans and Texas officials to secure the liberty of Texans, and can be implemented immediately.  No relying upon, or waiting on other states to secure our liberty.

Click here for a downloadable PDF one page summary of the Texas Sovereignty Act.

Representative Bell has filed this bill in the two previous Texas legislative sessions.  In 2019, it was HB 1347, and om 2017, it was HB 2338.  In 2017, Senator Brandon Creighton filed it in the Texas Senate as SB 2015.

In 2017, the bill gained 5 joint authors and 8 co-authors.  A substitute passed out of committee in the House and died in Calendars.  The language that passed out of committee in 2017 is the starting point for what was filed in 2019 and 2021.

At the heart of the constitutional enforcement idea is independent judgment AND action about constitutional meaning - especially by those serving us in government.

I have laid out what I and others think the Constitution says about the powers and duty of Mike Pence when he presides over the electoral vote count. I have also presented Jenna Ellis' tweak to that proposal.

The fact is, that IF Pence is persuaded that he has the power and duty to stop the illegality and the unconstitutionality and the fraud and the coup that is in process of being perpetrated, there is nothing that will stop him in his implementation.

And note, those engaged in the coup are asking who will stop them. Mike Pence is the man who can - and he has a duty to do so.